The Vault – TrueBlood-Online.com

Carrie Preston was interviews by radio station Q98Five and discussed her character Arlene and the second season of True Blood.

You can listen to the interview here. Carrie’s interview starts about half way into the broadcast.

Alexander Skarsgård returned to Los Angeles earlier this week after a two week vacation in Sweden. “Two wonderful weeks. I hang out with my friends, visited my mother in the Stockholm archipelago for five days and went to see my dad at his rural location on Öland for a few days”

“For the first time I felt that I came home when the plane landed in Los Angeles”, says Alexander in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Expressen. “I love Sweden and my family and my friends there, but I have lived in California for five years now and have begun to rekindle my career here.”

During the first three years, Alex lived on a couch at a friend in Hollywood. “I fought hard rock on the roles, just as so many others and many of my talented friends here are still trying to get their breakthrough.”

About True Blood Alexander says that he he loves the series’ mix of sex, desire and danger of the impermissible. “There is attraction, it’s easy to go wrong.  Eric is not as crazy as many think, but he has a strong will and justify their actions.”

And to the question if we will see him naked on True Blood, Alexander answers: “For me, it is no big deal, I’ve been naked in other roles I have in the past both in the theater and in films. Here they wanted to test everything from a sock or a body-colored mini underwear, but it just felt weird. I prefer to be fully naked instead. As long as you and your co-star are ok with it, it is no problem and we are a tight bunch that make this series.

At Paley Fest we learned that the cast refers to “the sock” as “the sack of destiny”.

He would not reveal who he has sex with on “True blood”. The reporter from Expressen assumes it will be Sookie Stackhouse, but I seriously doubt that… not this season anyway.

And is he surprised that True Blood is so successful? “No, not at all. My contract extends over six years. How many seasons it will be, I do not know, but I am pretty sure that True blood continues for the next couple of years.

In a couple of weeks Alexander will start shooting the movie “Straw Dogs”.

“Should be great fun, I go to Mississippi on August 2 to prepare, especially for the southern dialect and then we start to shoot on August 17.”

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Michael McMillian is Rev. Steve Newlin, the leader of the Fellowship Of The Sun Church. Before True Blood Michael played roles in Veronica Mars, What I Like About You, Without a Trace, Big Love, Saved and The Hills Have Eyes II.

There is something off with Steve Newlin, but he doesn’t have a secret career as a porn actor. Michael McMillian gives us a little inside information on Steve and on his own life.

You come from a small town in Kansas. What makes a Kansas boy want to take up acting and move to LA? Do you come from an artistic family?

Well, to be straight, I grew up in suburb of Kansas City, KS called Olathe. It technically wasn’t a small town, but it was far away from Hollywood. I grew up during a time when there was fortunately a lot of theater available for kids and high school students in the community. So I grew up doing shows like “Guys and Dolls” “Bye Bye Birdie,” and “Oklahoma!” For a while I thought I was going to be an animator when I grew up, or a comic book artist- my sister and father are both good artists- but theater brought a much larger collaborative and social experience along with it. I liked showing off and there were always pretty girls hanging around… I knew by 15 that I wanted to be an actor. Then it became about getting out of the Midwest and getting somewhere where I could achieve that. I started taking it more seriously as I got older.

Which actors did you look up to and influenced you?

Harrison Ford was a household name in my home. My family had its differences, but he wasn’t one of them. Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Michael J. Fox and Bill Murray were my heroes. We also watched a lot of Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart growing up, and even though the movies were old, those two were just as contemporary in my eyes. I think Jimmy Stewart in particular had a big influence on me. As I got into high school I became obsessed with guys like Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly and William H. Macy- that whole Paul Thomas Anderson crew.

What was your first paid acting job? Do you remember what you did with the money?

I got cast as a non-speaking role in WONDER BOYS my freshman year of college. I was basically a glorified extra. You can see me sitting next to Katie Holmes in the first scene. I’m pretty sure I’m staring directly into camera. I probably spent the money on comic books and beer.

Did you have any interest in the vampire genre before True Blood?

I’m a horror movie buff and a genre geek, so vampires have always captured my imagination. I loved movies like LOST BOYS and FRIGHT NIGHT as a kid. I read a couple of the Anne Rice books in high school, but never fully got into any of the vampire literature until TRUE BLOOD came along and I read the Sookie Stackhouse books.

When you first read the script of True Blood, did you like it immediately? What did you think of it?

When I heard that Alan Ball was doing a show about Vampires, I got really excited. After SIX FEET UNDER, of which I was a huge fan, I was expecting TRUE BLOOD to be about depressed, dysfunctional vampires sitting around the dinner table and not communicating with one another. I was surprised to discover how steeped in genre the pilot script was. Obviously that stems from Charlaine Harris’s books, but it was so much more colorful than I had predicted. I loved it. I loved the setting, particularly Merlotte’s, and dug the murder mystery aspect. The moment where Bill walks into the bar for the first time really captured me. It’s an important scene. The whole series spins out of that meeting between he and Sookie. It’s the same moment in the book where the reader falls for Sookie’s world and I thought it translated to the screen very well.

Can you tell us something about how you got the part of Steve Newlin. What was the audition process like? Did you originally audition for the role of Steve Newlin or were you up for another role?

I originally auditioned for Sam, which is hilarious, because it’s so obviously not the right role for me. Sam Trammell is just absolutely a perfect fit. And it showed too, because my audition was pretty lousy… I was lucky casting brought me back in for Steve Newlin. That was episode 3 of the first season, and the part was tiny, but there was talk of it becoming a larger role in the second season. Alan Ball was there, whom I had read for years before on SIX FEET UNDER. He’s the best guy to go in a read for in a room- he really makes the actor feel comfortable- he just gets it. We worked the scene a couple times, I went home, and a few hours later I got the call that they were bringing me on for a couple episodes. True to their word, the role carried over into the second season. It was a rare audition process where this single casting session lead to a series regular role. I kind of slipped in the back door, I guess. I got lucky.

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The Boston Herald interviewed Nelsan Ellis and asked how it was having to keep the secret of Lafayette’s fate for so long.

“I was getting very upset with getting asked that question a million times a day,” Ellis said and then laughed during a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles.
“My father would call me four or five times a week and say, ‘Your Aunt Esther, she wants to know if you’re dying. She just wants to know.’ Or, ‘My friends from work want to know if you’re dying.’ ”

But soon after everyone learned Lafayette lived, a new question arose. Now everyone wants to know if Lafayette, who survived being kidnapped by vampire Eric (Alexander Skarsgard), will be turned into a vampire.

“I personally don’t want to be a vampire,” he said. “I would say Lafayette should be a vampire in the very last season, but up until that point, I don’t think he should be a vampire.”

Ellis will only say that for the duration of this season Lafayette works for Eric.

“He’s sort of beholden to Eric, how deeply, that I can’t say. And he goes through post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s not the Lafayette that we know. That was hard. These new circumstances that he’s in calls for a completely different mind-set and attitude and behavior, and I kept going, ‘I want to have some fun.’ But you can’t really when you’re going through post-traumatic stress disorder. He’s not the tough Lafayette. He’s not the sharp-tongued Lafayette. He’s another Lafayette entirely.”

The Juilliard-trained actor also is a playwright and has written plays based on events that have affected his life. While he was attending Juilliard, his sister was murdered by her boyfriend, and he wrote a play about domestic violence that he hopes will be produced for TV. “It’s an epidemic of great proportion,” he said. “People responded to it. It sparked conversation that otherwise might have been taboo.”

Ellis had no idea how popular his character was until a reporter told him toward the end of the first season. “I’m just around, for the most part, my family and friends,” he said. “And my family don’t really dig the show because I have a very conservative Christian family. In my mind, I thought everybody felt like my family and friends.”

He’s still not sure why his character is so well-received. “The majority of people just tell me they have not seen a character like this on TV, and I’m grateful for it because it’s keeping me working.”

He’s put his character completely in the hands of executive producer and creator Alan Ball and has only one request.

“I think his mama should make an appearance, since she apparently has been a big influence negatively on Lafayette. That’s the only thing I would actually say to Alan Ball: ‘Can his mama make an appearance and can she be played by Viola Davis?’ ”

I receive many questions of fans who are looking for the Venice magazine issue with Stephen Moyer on the cover. You can order your copy from Venice Magazine by phone: 310 452 8452. Many have already ordered and I hear that the magazine people are very nice on the phone.

Venice magazine website.

Glorioso Casting in Shreveport is currently accepting submissions for STAND-IN’s and PHOTO DOUBLES for Straw Dogs!

Please read the following descriptions and how to submit carefully:

James Marsden Stand-In/ Photo Double: (Please Submit if you are close to the following SPECS)18-35 YRS, SHOULD HAVE BROWN HAIR, MUST BE MALE, SHOULD BE 5’10″, WEIGHT 150-155LBS.
DOUBLES: MUST FIT THE FOLLOWING SIZES: 30 WAIST 31 LENGTH, 38-39R SUIT, 15.5/ 33 SHIRT. MUST HAVE A GREAT ATTITUDE AND WORK ETHIC. STAND-IN EXPERIENCE IS APLUS

Kate Bosworth Stand-In/ Photo Double: (Please Submit if you are close to the following SPECS) 18-35 YRS, SHOULD HAVE BLONDE HAIR, MUST BE FEMALE, SHOULD BE 5’5″ – 5’5.5″, WEIGHT 110LBS.
DOUBLES: MUST FIT THE FOLLOWING SIZES: DRESS 0 or 2, SMALL OR XSMALL SHIRT. MUST HAVE A GREAT ATTITUDE AND WORK ETHIC. STAND-IN EXPERIENCE IS APLUS

Alexander Skarsgard Stand-In/ Photo Double: (Please Submit if you are close to the following SPECS) 18-35 YRS, SHOULD HAVE BLONDE HAIR, MUST BE MALE, SHOULD BE 6’4″, WEIGHT 170-180LBS.
DOUBLES: MUST FIT THE FOLLOWING: 34/33 PANTS, 42-44L or XL JACKET, 16-16.5/ 36 SHIRT. MUST HAVE A GREAT ATTITUDE AND WORK ETHIC. STAND-IN EXPERIENCE IS APLUS

**To Submit for these positions, you should live in or around the Shreveport area. These positions would work for approximately 8 weeks starting 8/17/09 (Maybe a few Test dates the week before).

PLEASE EMAIL A CURRENT PHOTO WITH YOUR NAME, PHONE NUMBER, EMAIL, HEIGHT, WEIGHT, SIZES.

(IN THE SUBJECT LINE PLEASE LABEL “STRAW DOGS STAND-IN”)

PLEASE EMAIL TO: Staff@GloriosoCasting.com

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Latina.com interviewed Valerie Cruz

Your character Isabel isn’t your typical vamp, is she?
As far as vampires go, no. She has a penchant for humans and a vulnerability. She wants to try to find a way to co-exist with them.

So in a crowd of evil vamps, Isabel is like the Edward Cullen of True Blood—a vampire with a soul?
Yes, definitely! That is actually a very accurate description.

Except that she lived during the Spanish Inquisition and she’s 600 years old! Does she feel old?
I think she does in the sense that she’s become a little world-weary.

How did you come up with Isabel’s Spanish accent?
I’ve been doing accents for a long time. The people I modeled it after would have to be Penelope Cruz or Antonio Banderas, or somebody from Spain. That was very important for me {to get the accent just right}, because when you have a character on a show that has a big cast, every bit of that character matters–from her hairstyle and accent to the way she dresses.

Speaking of Isabel’s wardrobe, that white dress she had on Sunday night was really elegant! Would you ever wear something like that in real-life?
No! Probably not. It takes a lot of confidence to wear that thing. I’d be too self-conscious. Unless I’m feeling especially saucy that day. And that outfit is pretty tight! But the wardrobe designers and the hair and makeup people on the show are amazing. I told them my ideas and they ran with all of them. I wanted to really define where she came from—what region. I had read stuff on the Spanish Inquisition, and jotted stuff down. There’s a sophistication in Old Spain and that was an element we brought in–that Isabel never lost that sort of, that heritage. You will see a Spanish element (to Isabel) throughout.

Sunday night’s episode made it abundantly clear that the Dallas Vamps—most of whom we haven’t met yet—are NOT to be messed with! Seriously, they sound like they’re nuts. How crazy and dangerous are they?
They’re big city vampires. They are crazy. Stan is crazy. They are looking for domination, and there are vamps in their nest that have no qualms about taking human life. They definitely feel like they’re the superior race, so to speak (if you can call vampires a race). There are definitely some crazies in there too. That’s why Isabel is so intense with Stan, because she’s outnumbered in regard to her feelings of starting a war–she doesn’t want to start a war.

Sunday night, Isabel and Stan were acting like they were a couple, fighting as they were during the entire episode. Are they romantic?
No, they are definitely not. You’d think so, because they’re kind of these sexual beings, vampires. It’s like when Bill and Eric fight–there is a sexuality there, a tension that’s always there between, even the male to male vampire {relationships}. These are two people who can bite each other in the jugular so there’s a basic carnal sensuality to those kind of people even when they argue.

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Ashley Jones, Merlotte’s waitress Daphne, was interviewed by Stardish.