The Vault – TrueBlood-Online.com

Sam Trammell attended the Los Angeles premiere of “Whip It” directed by Drew Barrymore at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on September 29, 2009 in Hollywood.

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We still all have True Blood’s season 2 freshly in our memories, but the first casting calls for season 3 have already gone out. The King of Mississippi was the first to be added to the list of fresh blood. Another character that has already been spoken about a lot is Alcide. Alcide is a werewolf who plays an important part in the third book of the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, “Club Dead”.

I would like to suggest Mr. Will Swenson for the part of Alcide.

Will Swenson and Mary Jo

Will Swenson was born in 1979, is 6.2″ and was nominated for the 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance for a Featured Actor in a Musical for “Hair”.

My friend Mary Jo went to see “Hair” on Broadway the other day and waited outside the stage door like a teenage groupie to catch a glimpse of Will. He graciously signed her playbill and posed for a pic. When asked if he would be our Alcide he responded: “Not that I know of, but I’d love to!” He also went on to say: “Keep spreading the rumors!”

We have no idea yet who will play Alcide, in Mr. Ball we trust. But who would you like to see as Alcide? Post your ideas in the comments.

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Alan Ball

As Season 1 of True Blood is set to air on October 7 on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom,  Chris Ayres of TimesOnline met with Alan Ball and asked him to share information about his past and why the vampire series was the perfect next step.

When he was 13, Alan Ball was a passenger in a car driven by his older sister — it was her 22nd birthday — when she was killed in an accident. “She drove off the highway, there was a blind spot, and she pulled out,” he recalls, still flinching slightly. “The impact broke her neck. It was very bloody. At that impressionable age, Death came and stuck its ugly old face in mine, and said: ‘Hello, here I am.’ ” Ball escaped without a scrape.

It was that terrible event perhaps more than any other that shaped Ball, who ultimately went on to become a playwright, sit-com producer and Oscar-winning screenplay writer — he was responsible for the 1999 Kevin Spacey masterpiece American Beauty — and at the age of 52 has emerged as one of the most unusual and unsettling creative forces in American television.

But as much as he might still look as though the weight of several planets is upon him — on the morning we meet he sports a greying beard with hiking boots, jeans and a woodcutter shirt — Ball claims that True Blood is his way of lightening up. “Six Feet Under was about life in the presence of death,” he says. “But after that show ended I thought to myself: ‘OK, I’m done looking into the abyss now. I’m ready for a theme park ride.’ ”

Based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries novel series by Charlene Harris, True Blood is certainly a change of tempo. The title sequence, set to Jace Everett’s country stompalong Bad Things, features pole dancers, faith-healers and close-ups of blood-red lips and roadkill. The plot centres on a telepathic waitress named Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her vampire love interest, Bill Compton (played by the British actor Stephen Moyer, now engaged to Paquin in real life).

“I was never into the vampire thing,” Ball says. “I never saw Buffy. I never read any Anne Rice novels. But vampires are sexy: it’s the penetration, the exchange of fluids … they’re a very potent metaphor, especially for people who like to fantasise about being taken. What makes it OK is that vampires aren’t real. No one wants to fantasise about being taken by a real human being because that’s terrifying.”

He adds that when he first picked up one of Harris’s books, “I promised myself I’d read a chapter before I went to bed, and before I switched out the light I’d read seven.”

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Interview with Alexander Skarsgård from Channel4.com By Benjie Goodhart

As a child actor, Alexander Skarsgård turned his back on the industry aged 13. It was only after a seven-year hiatus that he decided to give acting another go. It was, it would seem, a good decision. Just how good, the next few years will reveal.

You’re from an acting background, and obviously your dad [Stellan Skarsgård] is hugely successful. Did you grow up proud of his level of success, or did you just take what he did for granted?
He wasn’t that big a star when I grew up. The thing that brought him to Hollywood was Breaking the Waves, the Lars von Trier movie, which was in 1996. I was already 20 years old by that point. Growing up, my father was working at a theatre in Stockholm, so he was mostly a stage actor. He did movies as well, but smaller Swedish movies. I’ve got younger siblings, and it was different for them. They did more of the travelling around the world, being on sets and all of that exotic stuff. For me, it was running around backstage at the theatre, and I didn’t really think much about it.

On the subject of your siblings, a few of them have gone into acting as well, haven’t they?
Yeah. I’ve got a brother who’s two months old, and it’s kind of difficult to say what he’ll do! But I’m the oldest, I’ve got a brother who’s four years younger than I am, and he’s an actor back home in Sweden. And I have another brother who’s 18, who’s working doing movies in Sweden right now as well.

How old were you when you started acting?
Seven. I did my first movie when I was seven, and then I worked for about six years, doing movies and television in Sweden. But then I quit when I was 13, and didn’t work at all for seven years.

Why did you quit?
This was in 1989, and back then in good old Sweden, we only had two TV channels. I did a movie for television there, and whatever was on, people would watch, so the impact that had back then was huge. Suddenly people recognised me wherever I went, and it just made me very uncomfortable. It was a weird age to become famous. I didn’t know how to handle it, and I was very self-conscious and stressed out about the whole situation. I just wanted to be one of the guys, so I quit, basically. I didn’t have the urge to act for seven years.

What drew you back into acting?
I was 20, and like most guys of that age I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. I was thinking about different options, and naturally acting came up again, and I thought about it, and I felt that it might be different now I’m 20 instead of 13. Hopefully I’m a bit more sure of who I am and what I want in life, and maybe I can handle it better than I did when I was 13. Leaving acting had never had anything to do with the craft, the work, at all. It was only because I wasn’t comfortable being recognised, and I thought that might be better. So I decided to give it a go again, and went to New York to study theatre for a while, and got hooked pretty instantly.

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Have fun this Halloween and go see Sam Trammell be  interviewed in Charleston, West Virginia.

On Oct. 30, Sam Trammell will be transforming back into a West Virginian.

Trammell says “I really am thrilled to be coming back to Charleston,”. “I consider Charleston home. My mom and dad still live there. I really miss it, and I’m excited to see all my friends and family. It’s great to be coming home.”

But the main focus of Trammell’s Charleston visit will be supporting the work of East End Main Street, a program of the Charleston Area Alliance dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Charleston’s oldest and most diverse neighborhood.

Trammel will be the highlight of EEMS’s inaugural HallowEast fundraiser, participating in “Inside the Main Street Studio,” a sit-down, “Inside the Actors Studio”-style interview, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at Kanawha Players, 309 Beauregard St.

David Wohl, dean of arts and humanities at West Virginia State University, will be asking the questions, and a Kanawha Players performance of “Dial M for Murder” will follow Trammell’s appearance.

Trammell fits well with HallowEast, of course, because he considers Charleston his hometown. Being a star on “True Blood,” though, helps, because the show’s dark theme mixes well with a Halloween event.

“It’s a good fit for Halloween,” Trammell said. “If you’ve read the Charlaine Harris books (on which the show is based), you know she introduces a whole host of fantastical creatures. For sure, it’s a Halloween sort of show.”

And viewers in West Virginia, like fans all across the country, are engrossed in the evolving storyline, one that continually weaves Louisiana culture and vampire lore into a tale that is all at once scary, funny, captivating, provocative and smart.

“It’s always interesting to hear from people who are really into the show,” Trammell said. “It attracts a wide demographic. Sometimes, people will ask my dad what’s going to happen next on the show, and he has no idea. It amazes me people in West Virginia are actually keeping up with what I’m doing on the show. The attention is completely new to me.”

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The first Annual Long Beach Comic Con will take place this weekend from October 2 – October 4. True Blood actor Michael McMillian (Steve Newlin) will participate on the ARCHAIA PANEL: THE MOUSE THAT ROARED on Saturday October 3 at 12:00 in Room B.

ARCHAIA: THE MOUSE THAT ROARED
With special guest David Petersen’s MOUSE GUARD: WINTER 1152 now a bonafide New York Times bestseller, Archaia is an independent publisher on the rise. Come celebrate Archaia’s fantastic slate of upcoming projects with a panel overflowing with creators excited to tell you about what’s coming next. Joshua Hale Fialkov (TUMOR), Josh Finney (TITANIUM RAIN), Joe LeFavi (FRAGGLE ROCK, THE DARK CRYSTAL, LABYRINTH), Michael McMillian (LUCID), David Petersen (MOUSE GUARD), Tom Pinchuk (HYBRID BASTARDS!), Kat Rocha (TITANIUM RAIN), Trevor Roth(DAYS MISSING) and Ryan Schifrin(THE DEVIL’S HANDSHAKE) will share exclusive news, showcase fantastic art and shower a few, lucky attendees with free Archaia t-shirts and other great prizes. Don’t miss it!

Michael McMillian is working on the comic book “Lucid” that will be published by Zachary Quinto’s (Heroes, Star Trek) company, Before the Door Productions, which recently partnered up with comic book publisher Archaia Studios to launch a series of new comic book projects. Michael told The Vault about “Lucid”: “The story is set in an alternate universe where major world powers have secret agents working for them, trained in the ancient art of sorcery and magic. It’s a blend of James Bondian action/adventure with hints of modern day fantasy. Cool stuff. I’m really excited about it. I hope faithful “True Blood” fans will check it out. “Lucid” should debut in the winter of 2010.

For more information on Long Beach Comic Con and tickets go to www.longbeachcomiccon.com

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Yet another vote, however, this time it’s not the leading men, but their supporting vampires who are getting the nod. While Stephen Moyer, Robert Pattinson and Paul Wesley may steal the spotlight in “True Blood”, “Twilight” and “The Vampire Diaries” — they all have blood-sucking sidekicks that give them a run for their money as the hottest vampire on-set!

Who is the hottest supporting vampire? I wonder who the visitors of this site will vote for? I’m guessing I already know.  The candidates are as follows:

• Cam Gigandet from “Twilight”
• Kellan Lutz from “Twilight”
• Alexander Skarsgård from “True Blood”
• Ian Somerhalder from “The Vampire Diaries”

Click here to cast your vote.

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As I mentioned in my post from yesterday, I knew there were more fan art pieces out there from the wonderful group of Stephen Moyer fashion photos that were featured on The Vault last week.  The following two images are from Gretchen, our roving reporter and artist, who makes the greatest avatars, as you saw last week.  Well, now she has also done two wallpapers for us to oogle at.  Great job, Gretchen!

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The Paley Center in Los Angeles is giving True Blood fans the chance to get up close and personal with the geniuses behind TV’s hottest vampire series.

This is your chance to hear scoop on the upcoming third season from the writers themselves, including show runner extraordinaire Alan Ball.

Tickets for True Blood: Inside the Writers Room will be available this Thursday, Oct. 1 at the Paley Center website.

True Blood: Inside the Writers Room happens Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m.

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