The Vault – TrueBlood-Online.com

Earlier this week I spoke with Mariana Klaveno over the phone about True Blood and Lorena. Unfortunately there was a little delay in the connection and she heard a big echo, so I had to talk slowly and clearly for her to understand me well.

You can listen to the recording of the interview.

Kudos to Mariana Klaveno portrayal of Lorena, Bill’s maker. I loved to hate her and couldn’t wait for her to get staked, but at the same time I will miss her and I hope she will be back in flashbacks in future episodes. She was a complete psycho, but as a Billsbabe I can most certainly understand her obsession with Bill.

We had great fun watching you, Mariana.

Mariana: Thank you. You know what? She was loyal; she was always loyal and never wavered on her love of Bill.

Is a role on a show like True Blood every actor’s dream?

Mariana: Yes, it really is. Because you don’t get to play parts like that normally in television, you don’t get to do storylines of the same scope in television. It is really a dream come true. When the scripts of season 2 were coming in I was literally pinching myself because I thought there is no way that this can be real; I get to do a 1920’s and a 1930’s flashback and the character arch that I got to go on alone was just incredible as an actor.

You had some of the most amazing scenes. Bill’s turning, the bloody bed scene, the twisted sex, the torture, the staking…. Which of these scenes are you most proud of?

Mariana: That’s a good question. I think actually the first of the torture scenes when Lorena opens up Bill’s chest and he talks to her about her human life. I think that when I watch it, and it’s still difficult for me to watch myself and I still cringe and think “I should have done this or that.” I love that scene because there are so many different changes, subtle changes, in Lorena and it was really fun and challenging to go from sad to scary to distraught to angry; it went all over the place in a very quick succession, it was not a very long scene. It was a beautifully written scene, I really loved it and Stephen [Moyer] was an amazing scene partner that day, he is always an amazing scene partner. I loved shooting it and looking back on it for the most part I am happy with how it turned out.

The staking of Lorena was a very impressive dying scene with all the blood coming out of your mouth. How do you top that?

Mariana: [laughs] Luckily the blood coming out of my mouth was all computer generated I didn’t have to spit out a fountain of blood, thankfully. But it looks great, it’s pretty cool.

Who suffered more in the torture scene… Bill or Lorena?

Mariana: I think Lorena did, but Stephen may disagree [laughs]. I think for sure she did. As long as she was alive and well she always had something to sort of to live for, in the vampire sense of living. There was always that hope that someday they would be together again and this was the end of the road, she no longer has that option and you see how much it pains her to know that all this came to an end and she has no choice. Yes, I think it was more painful for her.

How did you prepare for the role of Lorena, how did you become her?

Mariana: I did a bit of research into the general world history to get where she’s been and what she experienced. I also did some vampire research; I read the original Bram Stoker “Dracula” for the history and better understanding of the mythology of vampires. Honestly, when it came down to shooting I had the feeling I knew whom this girl was and once I had gone through hair and make-up that honestly did a lot of the work for me. If I would come in in jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers, no make-up and a ponytail: as myself. And then transform into a super glamorous woman with elaborate hair and make-up, with 6-inch stiletto heels and gorgeous gowns. Once you have all that going on it already does a lot of the work for you. Lorena had some gorgeous outfits and once you’re in those clothes I never had to worry about how does she walk or how does she hold herself: it just was, she came alive in that sense.

Did you bring any experiences from your own life into the character?

Mariana: No, I have never been that crazy ex-girlfriend, I don’t relate to Lorena in that way [laughs]. To me she is a very tragic character and she was in so much pain. When it came down to it, everybody has pain in their lives so if you can identify with that in some way then you can go from there, but I don’t have a lot of parallels in the back story between myself and Lorena. I don’t stalk any ex-boyfriends.

Lorena picked Bill because he was an honorable man, but she corrupted him and destroyed the values that she loved about him in the first place. As an actress how do you work with this contradiction in your character?

Mariana: That’s a really good question and I don’t know I can really articulate that. It’s one of those things that magically happens when you are an actor, the same reason why we can pretend that we’re someone we are not or to pretend that we are in a place we are not. People are very complex and it’s not always black and white: they want something, they get it and they feel good about it. I think people are a lot of times very complex and they don’t realize what they want, they think they know what they want, but that is not actually what they want. I think that Lorena is in the same way. She obviously was drawn to Bill for all the right reasons, but didn’t know how else to interact with what she saw as the companion and her soul mate. She didn’t know what else to do aside from turning him into someone horrible and evil and doing all these unspeakable things; to her that is how you live as lovers who are vampires. That is how I justified those contradictions; she doesn’t really realize that those were evil things. To her this is what we do, this is fun and entertaining, I want to be with you always and do everything with you; this is how we go through the world and obviously Bill has always struggled with his vampire existence, it really didn’t fit well with him.

I think one of Lorena’s biggest flaws was that she was incapable of change; she was rigid.

Mariana: She was. She is definitely a broken character, she is cracked and she could never really see the errors in her ways and how to fix them; she was incapable of that and because she was so broken as an individual and emotionally hurt and I think that also came from her human life. I think she lead a very tragic human life and that also informed how she lived her vampire life.

Kissing with fangs is risky business, how did that go with you and Stephen in the bloody bed scene in season 2?

Mariana: It is tricky especially when both of you are wearing fangs. I believe we were wearing our hard fangs. We each have two sets of fangs, soft fangs and hard fangs. Soft fangs for the scenes where we really bite into somebody, but the hard fangs look better on camera and Stephen always prefers to wear the hard fangs. I remember that I was so nervous for that scene, I hadn’t been wearing the fangs very long and this was our first love scene and I was just nervous and feeling awkward anyway and I was so terrified that I would literally bite into his lip. Somehow we managed to do it, we very carefully did it and I remember praying that it would come out ok. And I think it did, I don’t think anybody hurt anybody. But it’s a difficult thing; love scenes are weird anyway but adding those components makes it even more strange.

What was it like to work with such an experienced actor as Stephen Moyer?

Mariana: Oh my gosh, he is incredible. Not only is he a wonderful guy and a wonderful scene partner he is so generous and he is always making sure that you are being taken care of, whether it was me or whether it was an actor or actress that had just come on for the day with one or two lines. He is very conscientious of others and making sure their experience on the show is as good as it could be and that is the way a leader should be and I really admired him for that. I would literally sit back and watch and just try to learn as much as I can from him. He is the most technically skilled actor that I have ever worked with. He understands camera angles and lighting and all of the details better than anyone I have ever experienced. Most actors are like me and don’t even think about that stuff. I come from theatre so my first instinct is all about character and the acting of it, I don’t think through a camera lens. He does. He read the scene and thinks of it through the camera lens and how it would look the best. He would block all of our scenes, which I loved, [laughs] I wouldn’t have to worry about anything. I would literally look at him and say: “How are we going to do this?” And he would say: “I think it’s best if we start in a 2 shot, you move over here and I go over here.” He just would conduct the scenes a lot of the time, I don’t mean to say that he directed them, we have amazing directors that work on the show, but it was really impressive and astounding and I tried to learn as much as I could from him.

If you could write a flashback scene for Lorena what would that scene be about, which part of her would you like to show to the audience?

Mariana: I doubt that this will ever make it into the show since it wouldn’t involve Bill, but I would love to have a scene of Lorena’s human life, even if it was tiny and brief. I think that would be really interesting, obviously I would think it would be interesting [laughs]. Alan [Ball] planted a little seed in the torture scene about my maker, he barely mentioned it, but it was so fascinating that it made me want to see more and … who knows maybe he will, maybe he won’t. But I think it would be really interesting to see what she was like in her human life and get a glimpse of that.

I thought it was very interesting that Lorena’s maker Istvan was mentioned, that certainly opened the door for Lorena’s return in flashbacks further. The Truebies are already speculating who could play Istvan.

Mariana: Oh really? I hadn’t even thought about it. Because Lorena had her swan song, I did not let myself daydream too much. But that is truly interesting. What names have come up?

We are hoping for a certain actor, who is also interested in a part on True Blood: Michael Emerson.

Mariana: Oooooh that would be interesting! Then, he and Carrie [Preston] can both be on the show, that would be fun.

Carrie was on LOST of course, she played his mother and gave birth to him. We would like to bring Michael Emerson to True Blood.

Mariana: That would be fantastic because he is such an amazing actor, that would be fun.

In season 3 in the flashback with Caroline we see a different side of Lorena when she teaches Bill that he has to stay away from the humans he loves. Do you believe that a union between a vampire and a human could actually work?

Mariana: I don’t really know. It seems that it could last for a time, but inevitably it would come to an end. But all things do, also in a normal human couple somebody is going to die before someone else. That reality exist for everyone, but immortality I don’t know if you could actually get around that 30 or 40 years in. But I am a romantic at heart so I’ll say I’ll hold out hope that maybe it could.

How would you react if vampires really existed and came out of the coffin?

Mariana: I would hope that they liked my performance so that they wouldn’t take any revenge, that’s what I would hope [laughs] and I would try to make friends with the oldest, meanest one around so I would get protection Kind of like it is in prison.

Are you working on anything at the moment? Are there other projects in the near future?

Mariana: I’ve been looking at a lot of scripts and auditioning. I’ll tell you one thing, it’s really hard coming from such an amazing character and show and group of people. It’s been hard to pick up scripts that come close to it. I also want to do something very different, as an actor I always like to challenge myself and put myself in situations where I don’t feel comfortable, I would like to so something very anti Lorena, anti sexy vampire to keep myself fresh. So I am looking and hopefully the right thing will come along soon because I am eager to get back to work, but I want it to be the right project.

Part of being an actor is auditioning and rejection. How do you deal with rejection?

Mariana: I usually go drink a bunch of wine afterwards [laughs]. Sometimes it’s not that difficult to deal with and sometimes it is. I think it depends on if you really wanted to do the project because if you don’t really care about it the rejection doesn’t really hurt, but if it’s something that you read and really had a connection to and you could really see yourself doing it and you really gotten excited as an actor and as an artist, those are the ones that are hard to take when the door slams in your face. It is part of the life of an actor, for better and for worse; you just pick yourself up and get back out there again. Some days it’s easier then others. It never hurts to pick up the phone and talk to another actor and share horror stories, that always makes you feel better and a nice glass of red wine at the end of the day always saves the day.

Are you on Twitter or do you have a Facebook page?

Mariana: I am not on Twitter yet, people have been asking. Maybe I should, but I am so terrible with computers and technology. I do have an official Facebook fan page, so people can find me there. I’ve had some impostors too, I don’t have a personal page, I just have a fan page. In the past there have been people pretending to be me, which is very odd.

Do you visit the fan sites? Do you read about yourself?

Mariana: I don’t. Which is a shame in one sense because I don’t mean to ignore the fans in any way. Early on there was such a negative reaction to my character, understandably, but it was hard because people were attacking me personally. I think it can be poisonous to read all of the blogs and see all the comments, so I kind of stay away and let my friends guide me into the right things. If there is something really great, people will say that I should look because someone wrote a great article or said something really nice about you. I had to stop reading the blogs because there is a lot of negativity coming my way.

Not only your way, there are people who say bad things about everybody.

Mariana: Exactly they say it about everybody. I get it, it’s the world that we live in, but we have fragile egos. You can only read so many times how ugly people think you are.

Then let me close by saying that what I read on my websites is all very positive about you; we love to hate you and we think that you were amazing as Lorena…

Mariana: Oh thank you so much. I appreciate you saying that, I will go on your website now and connect with the fans.

You tortured our poor Bill, but we loved you for it.

Mariana: I did. But in her defense I think she took quite the beating this season before she tortured. Bill wasn’t innocent, he lit me on fire; he broke my neck; he punched me in the face… I think he deserved a little torture [laughs].

This is a sticky post. More True Blood news under this article.

Tanya Wright was born in New York, but although she moved to Los Angeles a decade ago to pursue a career in acting, she still doesn’t consider herself a Californian girl.
“When I am in California and I start talking I always get “New York right?” So, yes I am a New Yorker”, Tanya tells me when I interviewed her via Skype last week.

She looks different from her True Blood counter part Kenya Jones: her hair is down; she is very talkative and smiles a lot more too than the Bon Temp deputy sheriff.

From a young age Tanya Wright has dreamt of becoming a writer, she never gave up on that dream and earlier this month her debut novel Butterfly Rising was published. The book is based on the screenplay she wrote and the movie Butterfly Rising is currently in post-production and will be released some time next year.

Tanya is a passionate woman, she speaks with great enthusiasm and excitement about her work on True Blood and the Butterfly Rising project that is so close to her heart.

A native of the Bronx, Tanya grew up with her mother who was 15 years of age when she gave birth to the first of four children. She and her younger sister received scholarships to the George School in Pennsylvania, a Quaker boarding school; Tanya then completed an independent/writing major at Vassar College.

Her first job, fresh out of college, was for nine months at the New York Times as a news clerk. So how did the girl who wanted to be a writer become a successful Hollywood actress who never had to work odd jobs and has always been able to support herself through acting?

“I like to always say that it happened by a happy accident. I met the guy who played Theo on the Cosby Show many years ago, Malcolm Jamal Warner. He said that they were looking for someone to play his girlfriend on the show, I was very young and in high school. I wasn’t much interested in acting, I always wanted to be a writer, but I auditioned and I got the part. The acting just happened, it sort of took off for me and that’s how I’ve made my living all of my life really.”

We often hear that Hollywood is brutal and that out-of-work actors move from one audition to another, barely making a living. Tanya doesn’t believe that she was just lucky. “I am a true believer in people creating their own luck. I am a very hard worker. I am very disciplined and I am very focused. And I don’t usually stop until I get what it is that I want. Even more than talent, and I won’t be the first to say this, determination and persistence is really key to anything being successful. You just don’t stop.”

When True Blood was half way into shooting season 1, Tanya received a call from her agent about an audition for a new show created by Alan Ball based on the books by Charlaine Harris, with which she was already familiar.

When she received the script she thought about the little things that she could do to make it interesting and different and fun. She auditioned before Alan Ball and writer Nancy Oliver and during her performance they laughed in places that she didn’t expect them to. “But hey, I am an actor and I take the laughs where I can get it”, she says with a big smile, although she did ask herself whether they were laughing at her or with her. Obviously it worked out well. “I was really excited about getting the part. It is HBO and it is Alan Ball and we know they both do great work. I didn’t know how many episodes I was going to do, but I knew it would be an exciting ride.”

With her co-stars William Sanderson (Bud Dearborn) and Chris Bauer (Andy Bellefleur) she forms the “country chorus of Bon Temps” as she calls it. “We are so different in so many ways and that makes for a really good threesome.”

We don’t know if Bud Dearnborn will come back to Bon Temps or if he will pursue a career in square dancing, but it was one of his speeches that are Tanya’s all time favorite on the show. When he spoke about the gaps in his brain and the polyps in his ass, Tanya had difficulty keeping a straight face with every take of that scene. “You read it in the script, but when you hear somebody actually say these words you think: “You gotta be kidding me! I love it!”

“True Blood has become a cultural phenomenon!” Tanya responds when I ask her about the success of the show. “Everybody who works on the show has been really great, from the crew to the writers and producers to the actors.”

The table reads are especially fun because that is the time that everybody sits down with the script for the first time. Because of all the intersecting storylines they don’t get to see each other all the time.

“It’s the first time you hear these words and these characters come to life. I often sit at those table reads and I say to myself “Man, these people are good!” I am jazzed and happy to be part of this group because they bring it every time when they come to play. This world, this heightened reality, is such a gold mine for an actor: vampires, people shapeshifting, its great!”

When reading a script does she ever think, “How are we going to do this? This is crazy!”

Pretty much all the time! [laughs] How are we going to do this? Or “we are actually going to say that?!” It’s so exciting! Where else on network television do you get to say some of the things that we get to say? It is so much fun!

As so many of the True Blood actors Tanya does visit the fan sites from time to time. “The fan sites are like crack. Once you start reading the fan sites, you go to another and another and as an actor it is not always a good thing to know what people are saying about you because people can be mean, but they can be really nice as well [laughs]. I think it’s a good idea to know generally what is being said and what is going on in the world.”

Deputy Sheriff Kenya Jones doesn’t let herself get carried away by the supernatural and it’s very unlikely that she will fall for a vamp or were any time soon. “Kenya doesn’t get excited about anything”, Tanya explains about her character. “ I would describe her as an aggressive non-believer and I would love to see this woman thrown into a situation where she would literally see somebody shapeshifting right before her eyes. How would she handle that truth? Her truth is so different from what is going on in the town; it is so completely opposite, I think it would be hilarious!

If she could write a scene for Kenya she would like Ryan Kwanten to be her scene partner. “Ryan is terrific. He comes up with something new every take of every scene that is fresh, interesting and funny. It would also be really interesting for Kenya and Lafayette to do something together, that would be a lot of fun.

Tanya does see a little bit of herself in Kenya. “A general overall quirkiness [laughs] and I think that I approach my life in a very real way. I am a very grounded person and I don’t do a lot of bullshit, it is what it is and maybe that is the New Yorker in me. I am pretty straight forward and I think Kenya is too, maybe she is a little too straight, she could be a little more flexible with people. I would love to see her in situations where she is forced to change her mind about things.

Unlike many of the other cast members Tanya doesn’t spend a lot of time in wardrobe with Audrey Fisher. Kenya has one outfit and that is her police uniform, so it was a welcome change for Tanya to wear a dress and have her hair down in season 3.

“One time and I was very excited about that”, she tells about her scene in Merlotte’s. Would she like to wear fabulous outfits like Pam? “I would love it! Just give me a month to work it off! [laughs]”

As Deputy Jones she is very convincing, but it doesn’t help her much with the real police. “I was pulled over by a cop about a week ago and playing a cop on television doesn’t help anything! He was not interested! ! [laughs] But he didn’t give me a ticket, just a warning, which was great.”

Tanya is an independent woman who knows what she wants. Her dream project Butterfly Rising is now in it’s final stage. The book came out early August and the movie will be released in 2011.

“Butterfly Rising is the story about two women”, Tanya explains. “Two very unlikely women who become fast friends. Lilah Belle is a grief-stricken singer who is outlandish and dances in the streets. She is known as an oddball in this small town of Lucasville. Rose Johnson has a torrid reputation for her relationships with other women’s husbands. These two women have to make a hasty retreat out of town, they steal a vintage pick-up truck and they set out on the open road to a place called New Hope to meet a mythical medicine man named Lazarus of the Butterflies. They have an encounter with this man and their lives change forever.”

Renaissance woman Wright wrote the screenplay after the death of her brother in 2005, she directed and produced the movie in which she also stars in the role of Rose.

“The movie focuses on the road trip, while the book expands on the life long friendship of these women and goes deep into the characters to explain why they do the things they do and their past and history. And some other aspects of their lives that I couldn’t explore on film”.

In the story the brother of Lilah dies, but Tanya choose not to play that part, but the part of Rose. “I am dual aspects of both of these women, just like writing and acting are both sides of my brain in a way Rose and Lilah are too. I could have played either of these characters and at the time I was in a really deep grief state because of my brother’s death and I wanted to leave that be. As an actor I was more interested in exploring the character of Rose.”

Actress, writer, director, Tanya is all three, she needs each one of them, one feeds the other. Being an a writer helps her as an actor, being an actor helps her as a writer, the director is the compass and she wouldn’t be satisfied just doing one of them.

A lot of time was invested in the preparation of the movie, so by the time she got on set to shoot the scenes it was actually quite easy. Also directing herself wasn’t as difficult as it sounds. “It was my first time as an actor where I wasn’t interested in pleasing anybody. It was one of those rare extraordinary times in my life as an actor where I allowed myself to be directed with the idea that I already had the architecture and the house down for this movie. It was really an extraordinary experience: you make a movie but you get made in the process, you see what you are made of too. The experience and the film have exceeded my expectations in every way.”

Butterfly Rising was Tanya’s dream and she hopes that the story will inspire other people to live their dream and dream big. That’s what Tanya does, she is already working on her next dream, a television project set in the South called Biloxi.

True Blood is getting cleaned up for syndication. Truebies have expressed their concern. Will it be possible to preserve the essence of the show?

Yes, I think so. There are lines on the show we say for HBO and there are lines we say for syndicated reason that are a lot more sanitized. It’s still saucy but it doesn’t have as much bite as “ass” and all the wonderful things we say on the show. It may give the show an even bigger audience. This show is so incredibly unique and I don’t know if there is anything you could do to make it not as unique as it is.

True Blood is pushing the envelope. Some say it goes too far. Tanya is not sure what too far would be. “I am an artist so of course my inclination is to go as far to the left as you can take it, my inclination is not to censor or slow anything down. I think people will let us know how far is too far.

Deputy Jones doesn’t care much for vampires, but Tanya wouldn’t mind if vampires really excited and would come out of the coffin. “I would be like.. ok… cool. I live a very simple life, but what goes on in my mind is so strange that it would not be out of the ordinary for me to even consider entertaining that reality. I wouldn’t at all be like Kenya, not at all.

Do you believe in the supernatural? “Yes I do. There are some elements in Butterfly Rising that I explore that are a little bit provocative in that way, but yes, very much.

“The fans of True Blood are great and we love you. It is such an enthusiastic supportive group and it lets us know that what we are doing as actors, writers and creators is being enjoyed. We appreciate that, we appreciate you guys and the work that you put into the fan sites. We really appreciate it.”

“I have done a few big shows, I was on the first season of “24”, NYPD, the Cosby Show, but this show is very different. It is not an understatement to call it a cultural phenomenon. There are so many provocative themes on the show; it has touched the consciousness of humanity in some way. The show deals with being an outsider, being different, love and sexual themes, political statements and religion. What other television show does all that in a really interesting, entertaining and unique way.”

As the fans say: In Alan Ball we trust.

“In Alan Ball we trust. I trust too!”

Butterfly Rising official movie page

Follow Tanya Wright on Facebook and Twitter

Meet Tanya at the following upcoming events:

August 27th 6:00PMReading/Signing
Moravian Book Shop
428 Main Street, Bethlehem PA

September 3rd
Tom Joyner Family Reunion Event – Author Panel and Book Signing
Expo – Gaylord Palms Resort
6000 West Osceola Parkway, Kissimmee FL

Sunday, September 12th
Brooklyn Book Festival – Debut Author’s Panel
Location: Brooklyn Borough Hall, Brooklyn NY

September 28th 7-9:30PM
Fourth Wall Arts Salon Reading/Signing
The Arts Garage,
1533 Ridge Avenue
Philadelphia PA 19130

Saturday, October 30th
WBLS Circle of Sisters – “Brand New You” Career Panel and Book Signing
Jacob Javits Center
655 34th Street, New York NY

Second installment of the adventures of Shadaliza at the True Blood convention Bitten in Northampton, UK, August 6-8, 2010.

Read the first part here.

Check out the Photo Gallery for more photos from Bitten.

Convention days start early; we all had to be ready by 9am for the first photo shoot with Jim Parrack on Saturday morning. The restaurant was full with Truebies dressed in various True Blood t-shirts when I arrived for breakfast and Jim, dressed in a suit and sitting alone reading his bible, stood out. Going against all fan convention codes I walked over to say “good morning” and he invited me to join him.

Thirty minutes later day 2 of Bitten was in full force. Fans moved between the photo studio and the main hall to collect their autographs and get their pic taken with Kristin, Sam, Jim and Todd.

In the afternoon the four individual talks of the cast and the guest encounters were scheduled. The guest encounters were sold by auction; maximum 12 fans got to spend 45 min with one of the guests. Unfortunately they were scheduled at the same time as the talks, so one could only attend one or the other.

The four individual talks lasted about an hour each and they were all very interesting and entertaining. I had sent in several questions for each guest and I am proud to say that many of my questions were presented to the cast.  During the afternoon of the third day Jim and Todd did a talk together and so did Kristin and Sam and the last talk was with all four of them. Because season 3 has not yet aired in the UK we were not permitted to ask questions concerning season 3, but every now and then season 3 scenes were mentioned even though no big spoilers were revealed for those who had not yet seen it.

We were not allowed to record during the talks and it is hard to recall what was said exactly.  I will do my best to list some of the highlights.

Sam did an impression of how Lafayette moves. Jim did the vocal impression: “You eat it the way I fucking make it!” Sam repeated the Andy lines that made him crack up on set over and over again: “Annie the Nanny”. Todd does a mean Willy Nelson. and the fans cheered when they all did “Sookie” the way Bill says it. Other favorite lines were “Smite me” from Sam, Kristin mentioned her Pam line about smiling too much and wearing pink, Todd loved his list of 10 and Jim was impressed by the lines where he tells Jessica that she is beautiful and shouldn’t be ashamed.

Nudity was mentioned of course, Sam told about awkward moments in his trailer with the make-up lady rubbing make-up on his naked body. Kristin recalled the season 3 scene where Alex and Natasha we the most comfortable on set and they were the ones that were naked. Sam didn’t like the butt of his body double in the season 1 finale and decided to do the graveyard scene himself.

Jim’s party trick is impossible to carry out for most people: walking in a straight line. Sam juggled with 3 bottles of water. Kristin could knot a cherry stem with her tongue (!) in college, but not any more: she is married now. Todd’s party trick left Kristin sitting for moments with her mouth open of surprise, which was:

Pick a number between 1 to 10, multiply this number by 9 and add the 2 digits together. Subtract 5 from this number and think of the letter of the alphabet with the same rank as his number. Think of a European country with a name beginning with that letter. Think of an animal whose name begins with the last letter of the chosen country. Choose a color with a name beginning with the last letter of the animal’s name. NO, there are no orange kangaroos in Denmark!

Kristin told a wonderful story about her audition for “Bones”, she gave the performance of a lifetime with shitty lines and got scared because she got the job and knew she would never be able to repeat her Oscar worthy performance. She never saw her “Bones” episode, but the paycheck cleared. She thinks it’s funny to say “Chris Bauer” to Chris Bauer every time she sees him, because how many shows have a Chris Bauer and a Kristin Bauer? Chris never smiles though…

One of the highlights of Jim’s life is his wedding day. Getting married was pretty special to Kristin as well, as was losing her virginity during the honeymoon.

Todd would like to turn Terry into the Frankenstein monster, Sam wants to shapeshift into a dinosaur, Kristin is still impressed by the burgundy 80’s jumpsuit she wore, Sam would like to invent a gadget to keep his coffee hot (that’s called a thermos, Sammy). Kristin and Abri can never find the remote in bed.

Ipod music. Sam: The National, Jim: Nina Simone, Kristin: Abri van Straten, Todd: Willy Nelson. Sam didn’t know The Final Countdown by Europe, it has now become the theme song of Bitten 2010. Abri air guitared on it while we all sang.

Jim spoke about his director’s debut that he is working on with his wife and family called “Post”. “You all celebrate Christmas but like I died a couple of months ago.” He instructed his family before saying “action”.

Todd will spend some time recording with his Pilbilly Knights, Sam is on vacation in Italy right now and Kristin and Abri are in South Africa.

The message we received loud and clear from all of them is how much they enjoy being part of the True Blood family. They all feel fortunate and blessed to be able to work on this amazing show and they are very grateful for the love and enthusiasm of the fans.

Saturday night the party theme was Fangtasia. The main hall was transformed into a vampire bar including Eric’s throne, grunge music and pole dancers. Many fans had dressed up in fangbanger style wearing vampire bait outfits.

Kristin, Abri, Sam, Missy, Jim and Todd mingled amongst the fans, chatting with everyone that came up to them to say hello. All the fans were respectful and the guests were never crowded. They moved around the party, Todd and Jim even gave the pole a quick try and danced with fans.

Together with a few of my friends I had the chance to talk with Jim and Todd about season 3 and after the jet lagged cast had gone to sleep I chatted with Kristin’s husband Abri for some time. The next day I received a signed copy of his latest CD.

Sunday night’s party was in a smaller setting, many of the fans who lived nearby had gone home. The theme of the party was Descendants of the Glorious Dead and several fans had dressed up accordingly.

A special shout out to Jason Smith and his wonderful costumes.

When entering the lobby we ran into Kristin, Abri, Jim and Todd. Sam and Missy had already left for their vacation in Italy. We took a few photos with the guests and I spoke with Todd and Kristin. Entering the party again the men were dancing and Abri accompanied Kristin onto the dance floor while the fans cheered.

Bitten was a wonderful experience for both the fans and the guests. So much positive energy and love, we were all there because we share a passion: True Blood.

Bitten will be back in 2011, you can already buy your tickets in the Massive Events webstore.

Special thanks to Giles Golding for letting me use his photos.
http://blog.gilesgphotography.co.uk/2010/08/bitten.html

Special thanks to Tinchy and Mary for sharing their photos.

Check out the Photo Gallery for more photos from Bitten.

Having my home base in Italy I didn’t expect to be able to attend any True Blood fan conventions any time soon, but when I heard about the Bitten event in Northampton (UK) organized by Massive Events, I bought my ticket and booked a flight; I just had to be there.

And I am so glad that did. I have no words to describe the amazing positive energy that flowed around in the Park Inn hotel this past weekend. The guests, the fans, the crew…. I can speak for all of them when I say that we all had a blast and that the event was a huge success.

For the first time I experienced first hand how difficult it is to be a fan and report at the same time, the days at a con are long and full, there is so much going on and I didn’t even have the time to take notes.

This is my story about the first day.

My journey to England on Thursday August 5 was a total disaster. I departed from Pisa after a 5 hours delay (there had even been talk of canceling the flight altogether) and stumbled into the Park Inn in Northampton at midnight. After only one hour of sleep, I was woken up at 2am by a sound in my room that was so loud that it could have woken up vampires in daytime. It took me a few moments to realize that the noise wasn’t in my head but that it was the fire alarm. Outside I found myself surrounded by people who were clearly not attending the Bitten event, except for one couple: Kristin Bauer (looking lovely dressed in a white bathrobe) and her husband Abri van Straten. Fortunately, there was no fire and we were allowed back into the hotel, only to find ourselves outside again 30 minutes later. A technician solved the problem and we could finally all go back to bed again.

On Friday at the registration desk I met several online friends and while chatting with them in the lobby, Sam Trammell and his girlfriend Missy Yager arrived. Sam was very kind and took the time to shake hands and say hello before going up to his room.

Moments later Kristin and Abri walked in and the first thing that came to my mind to say to her was: “Did you really have to set off the fire alarm last night? Twice?” I’ve been in email contact with Kristin and it was wonderful to meet her in person.

She introduced me to Abri and we spoke a few moments about his first solo album that has just been released and the charity work connected to it. When the CD will be for sale on Amazon in September they will send a signed photograph to everyone who buys the album (a part of the proceeds will go to the IFAW).

The Vault will help with the promotion, so stay tuned for more info.

At 7pm it was time for the opening ceremony. Mark and Jason of Massive Events explained the do’s and don’ts and called the cast on stage for a quick hello. I was so busy cheering for Jim Parrack that I forgot to turn on the video camera and I missed how his chair broke when he sat down, but there were 4 chairs on stage…..

After the official opening the Gold ticket holders all went to the main bar for the reception with the guests. All the fans had the chance to speak with each guest in small groups of no more than 4 or 5 people; the rotating system worked very well, kudos to the crew.

The highlights for me were that I spoke with Kristin about how she experienced Comic Con and the wonderful remark she made about Alexander Skarsgard during the panel.

Even though Sam has said in interviews that he doesn’t read the fan sites, he knows The Vault and loves the apron I designed for him that the Billsbabes gave him last year at the Eyecon convention in Florida.

The first thing Todd said to me was: ”You are just as pretty as your Facebook photo”. Who would have expected Todd to be such a charmer?

I looked very much forward to meeting Jim. I’ve been in contact with him for quiet some time now and meeting him in person was definitely a very special moment for me.

Together with a few other girls I spoke with the lovely Missy Yager, she told us the story how she and Sam met and got together and she added that he is a good man and the look on her face confirmed that statement.

It’s remarkable how similar some cast members are to the characters they play and how others seem to be completely different, that’s good casting and good acting. When I watch True Blood I see Pam, Sam, Hoyt and Terry. For me the actors and the characters they portray are completely separated in my mind; they are different people. But meeting Kristin, Sam, Jim and Todd I can’t help but see a little bit of the characters they portray in them.

Kristin told us during her Q&A that she does have some Pam in her somewhere, her warm and kind personality makes that hard to believe, but I do see glimpses of Pam in Kristin’s dry and, at times, sarcastic sense of humor. But I sincerely doubt that Pam would tear up talking about cruelty against animals and meeting the in-laws for the first time.

Sam and Sam could be twin brothers; both good men and they share a very similar taste in clothes. I find Trammell Sam more charming than Merlotte Sam, he smiles a lot more too, that may be because he found the love of his life in Missy Yager and Merlotte Sam is moving from one disaster to the next.

When you look at Todd from a distance you don’t know whether you are looking at Todd or Terry, but Todd is definitely more laid back than Terry. He enjoyed talking to the fans, is passionate about his music (“country music is three cords and the truth”) and he has as few party tricks up his sleeve that I will explain in full in a next article about Bitten.

Jim and Hoyt were made from the same cloth, but because of the lack of life experience growing up in a place like Bon Temps Hoyt is in some aspects still a boy. Even though they have the same age, Jim is definitely more mature; he could be Hoyt’s older brother.

The evening ended with a country style party including a mechanical bull. I was beat and was in bed before midnight. None of the guests partied hard that night, I believe, the jet lag caught up with them and everybody had to be fresh and ready the next morning at 9am for the photo shoots and signings.

Check out the Photo Gallery for more photos from Bitten.
Special thanks to Tinchy, Mary and Jennifer for sharing their photos.

To be continued…

The “Stephen Moyer Kids Theatre Fundraiser” kicked off on June 12 and we are proud to announce that we have reached a total of more than $2000.

The theatre’s patron Stephen Moyer signed 19 items to give away as prizes in our fundraiser. Wait….. 19?

No, Stephen Moyer signed 20 items……..our #1 prize is Stephen’s own t-shirt ! We have given names to most of his t-shirts that he wears often and we are calling this one the Porky shirt. When he came over to Lynnpd’s place to sign all the merchandise he said that this used to be one of his favorite t-shirts but that it’s a bit too small now. He looks like a snausage in it (his own words). Yep, that’s what happens when you buff up because you have to look good on True Blood…..

The Porky shirt is the #1 prize in our fundraiser and will be awarded to the person who writes the absolute most eye catching, moving, funny or inspiring message for their brick.

In support of the 2010 Christmas show “The Plotters of Cabbage Patch Corner”, the “Stephen Moyer Kids Theatre Fundraiser” offers fans the opportunity to buy a virtual brick with a personalized inscription, the bricks will be displayed on the “Stephen Moyer Fan Wall” on AllStephenMoyer.com. Everyone who donates has the chance to win merchandise signed by Stephen Moyer.

All donations made to Brentwood Theatre by fans of Stephen will be used toward the children’s Christmas show; to provide complimentary tickets and low-cost transportation for the children of surrounding schools that would otherwise be unable to attend and experience the thrill of live theatre.

Do you want your name and message on the fan wall? It’s easy….. buy your brick on the special fundraiser page and automatically participate in the contest. The message you write for your brick could win you one of the prizes signed by Stephen Moyer.

Go to the ‘Fans of Stephen Moyer Wall‘ or go to the special page for the ‘Stephen Moyer Kids Theatre Fundraiser‘ and participate.

Stephen Moyer thanks the fans with a personal message:

Last Saturday night, I attended one of the iOWest Festival performances at the iOWest Improv Theater in downtown Hollywood, The performance I attended was the E.J. Scott Improv session where he was awarded the Chris Farley award.  Also at this event were three True Blood cast members, EJ’s girlfriend, Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica), Jim Parrack, (Hoyt) and Michael McMillian (Rev. Newlin).  Before the show I spent some time with Deborah, E.J., Jim and Michael.

You can read my interview with EJ and Deb which is in a separate posting about EJ receiving the Chris Farley award by clicking here.

I separately interviewed Michael and Jim in the upstairs section of the main lobby of the theater and it was a quite casual and friendly time where friends where mingling together before the show.

I first interviewed Michael and in his interview, he hints that Rev. Newlin might be in Season 3 and also tells me about his new comic book, “Lucid“, which can be purchased at your local comic book store.  He instructed to ask for “Lucid #1″ when you go to your local store. You can read more about Michael’s comic book here.  He also talked about his upcoming independent film of “Half Dragon Sanchez” which is currently making the rounds of independent film festivals.

Then, I met with Jim who shared information about his own independent film that he is currently working on and directing, “Post“.  His wife Ciera Parrack plays the lead role and they will continue shooting this summer in Los Angeles. He then spoke about his upcoming film Battle Of Los Angeles.  When asked about True Blood, he mentioned what all of the cast seem to feel, that there is a real appreciation for each other, Deborah shared the same impression with me.  It seems that True Blood is a great ensemble group that cares about each other and works well together. I think it shows in the performances.

Below is the video of these interviews with Michael McMillian and Jim Parrack.

Then, once the show began I got to see EJ and the Improv troup along with the three True Blood cast.

Here’s a sample of what we saw that night in the videos below:’

It was a great evening and I enjoyed meeting and hangin’ out with all four, EJ, Deborah, Jim and Michael.

As we reported last week, iO West is a comedy theatre in Hollywood that opened its doors twelve years ago. The home theatre in Chicago has been active for over 30 years and has launched the careers of well known actors like Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Andy Richter and Mike Myers.

E.J. Scott, boyfriend of True Blood actress Deborah Ann Woll, is a former student of iO West until he moved to Chicago where he continues his performance at iO Chicago.  On Saturday, June 12, EJ received the Chris Farley Award from the hands of Deborah Ann, following in the footsteps of former recipients Pat Finn and Andy Richter.

The Chris Farley Award is named after former iO West performer Chris Farley who passed away in 1997. After his death it was discovered that Farley was involved in several charities, he did a lot of volunteer work at different Catholic charities that even his close friend James Grace, Artistic Director of the iO West Theater, knew nothing about. He didn’t do it for publicity, but because he was a devout catholic and felt it was his duty to give back. The Award named after Farley was created three years ago to honor his memory and his charity work. Each year it is given to a person in comedy that does outstanding charity work. According to Grace it is a perfect fit for EJ because he works so tirelessly for Choroideremia, the eye disease that is affecting his sight.

At the event were many very funny improv artists and Chris Farley’s brothers attended. It is great to see the award that has been set up in his memory.

I was privileged to attend this special event during the festival on June 12, when I met with the couple and asked them a few questions about the award itself and also about EJ’s own ailment, Choroideremia and his association with the Choroideremia Research Foundation (CRF), for which he works tirelessly.

What does it mean for you to receive this award EJ?
EJ: It means a lot for lots of different reasons, but mainly because of the work I’ve done for the Choroideremia Foundation which has basically occupied my life for the last 7 years, so it means a lot.

How special is it that you will receive the Chris Farley award tonight from Deborah?
EJ: Ehhh [laughs], no it’s a hugely special. She is very special to be doing it for me? I appreciate it.

Deborah, are you proud to be giving the award to EJ?
Deborah: Nah, [laughs and looks at EJ] Absolutely, I’m proud. I’ve never really seen anyone who has such hope and is such an inspiring advocate for something like this, particularly one who is afflicted with it himself. You see a lot of parents or family members or friends who do that but to have someone who is so strong and is also fighting for himself as well as others it is really amazing.

What does it mean to you that True Blood Fans have stood up and supported the CRF?
Deborah: It’s shocking. I never thought in a million years that is what might come out of this, but it is one of the most touching and life changing things that has happened since I’ve started working on the show.
EJ: It’s always impressive to me when somebody cares enough or gives enough. My friend Johnny, his little girl who is like five or something just gave me $9 or $8 from her piggy bank as a donation and it trying to get some more. It’s awesome.

What are you both doing on premiere night?
Ej: I’m teaching a workshop until 8 on Sunday and she’s already seen the first episode twice.
Deborah: We’re just going to hang out, eat dinner and watch the show, be home bodies.

But it’s really good, right?
EJ: Yes,it’s really good and I’m seeing it as a fan.

After the interview, the improv show began. At the beginning, Deborah presented the Chris Farley award to EJ in a very emotional and touching presentation.

Trouble viewing the videos?

Press pause or slide it back and let the entire video load before viewing.

I wish to personally congratulate EJ on his award and thank him and Deborah for the opportunity to meet. As a couple, they are quite beautiful and touching, and their fondness for each other is very evident.

Deborah is an extremely nice and lovely person, and I was so happy, while also feeling extremely privileged, to have time to sit and chat with her before the interview while EJ was preparing for the show.

Then, the improv cast began to perform and the cast this night included not only Deborah but also two other True Blood cast members, Jim Parrack and Michael McMillian. I had the opportunity to interview them also and you can read about it here.

EJ is quite a funny and creative guy and I enjoyed seeing his improvisations on stage. From this performance I would have never guessed that he too suffers from Choroideremia and is slowly losing his sight. Please help to keep people like EJ seeing what we all can see by clicking on the link below to support the Choroideremia Foundation (CRF).

Help EJ make his goal of raising $100,000 this year by clicking on the link: : http://ejcurechm.blogspot.com/ Donations are tax deductible for US residents.

Every local bar has one, a lonely middle-aged woman who drinks cheap brandy and hopes to meet somebody to keep her company, even for one night. In Merlotte’s her name is Jane Bodehouse. Actress Patricia Bethune brings Jane to life and transformed her from a sad barfly in the first season into a wild orgy beast in season 2.

Patricia is thrilled that True Blood has become such a big hit and I was very happy to receive the invitation to talk with her about it.

Patricia Bethune is a very versatile character actress with an impressive resume that lists over 50 television, film and stage roles including parts in well known tv shows such as Desperate Housewives, Two And A Half Men, My name is Earl, Cold Case, Boston Legal, Grey’s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls, Everybody loves Raymond and Seinfeld.

Becoming an actress was not a childhood dream for her however, first she worked as an insurance underwriter until she realized that this was not the right path for her to follow.

“I was from the Mid-West and not really from an arts community per se, it wasn’t anything that even would be conceptually in the mind to do to make a living”, Patricia explains. “I remember hearing the story about a woman who didn’t have the financial base to leave a bad marriage with her children. As a young person I thought that’s terrible, I better make sure that I can always make money no matter what my life is. That sent me towards the direction of business and making money. “

“Then I realized, well if I’m going to live a long time I should probably also add in something I love to do and I started to try and figure out what it’s that I want to do. I started with voice over and radio and then I got brave with acting on stage and taking classes and it just came very naturally to me. And I loved it. I auditioned and received parts; a number of plays in a row which I thought was a nice sign. I started taking it seriously as a business. I just loved the freedom and the safety of being other people and sharing their stories. So I found my path a little later but my business background helped me with the everyday discipline to pursue it and to do the work. It’s work to look for work and that I knew how to do.”

Can you explain what it is about acting that you enjoy so much? What is the magic?

“It’s being able to share stories of individuals, by reading the character, I read the heart. I will always care about whomever I’m playing, I think everybody needs a voice. I think acting provides a voice to a lot of human beings that exist because a character is written that people disregard or don’t pay attention to. And as a character actress I really love to tell regular people’s stories and showing their value in this world when sometimes they don’t get the attention they deserve. To tell stories about issues and moments in time and it’s very fun.”

Are you comfortable watching yourself on screen?

“Well, it’s awful really [laughs]. It takes me 3 times a scene sometimes to actually see the performance. The first couple of times you are just looking at every flaw and how you know you don’t look like that, you look so much more fabulous [laughs]. But then I get over it and I can see if I look like who I am playing and that is far more important to me. But it takes about 3 times and then if I can see the story.”

Your list of work is very impressive, stage, tv and film. Do you prefer one over the other or do you like them all as much?

“I do like them all as much, really. Stage is very freeing because no one stops you once it starts and it’s nice to have that control and be in the moment with the energy of the audience and taking a story from beginning to end without interpretation from the director or any one else coming and stopping you, that is really quite freeing emotionally and wonderful. But I have come to really enjoy both television and film. I like the challenge of being fresh 50 times, depending on what angle they are shooting it from. It’s a great exercise. And being able to correct and getting it a little bit different each time, or try to stay consistent but keep it fresh, that is a great personal challenge and I enjoy that a lot. I also enjoy that family and friends can see what I do, most people live far away from me and can’t see me perform on stage.”

Many True Blood cast members auditioned for more than one part in the show before landing their role. Patricia only tried out for Jane, it was a good fit.

“In the very first season I auditioned for Jane Bodehouse with Alan Ball and the casting people, it was just supposed to be a possibly recurring part. I had read the books when I heard I was auditioning, so I had an idea who Jane was. I showed up at the audition seemingly drunk, I went into the room as Jane and almost fell of my chair. I think that’s what got me the job. “

How would you describe Jane Bodehouse?

“I think Jane is hopeful in a very sad way. She hasn’t given up, she is not staying at home, but I think she knows that she is at the end of what she can have in life and she is making the best of it. Some days are just harder than others.”

We know so little about her, what do you think her back-story is?

“Charlaine Harris has never given her a back-story in the books although she is mentioned throughout all of them; she is kind of a staple of the town and in the bar. Alan and the writing team have developed her far more than she was in the books. She is a nice painting on the wall in the books and kind of established what is happening in the bar at any given time. She represents the town. As far as the back-story goes, I make up my own, but I don’t say it out loud because the writers will change that on any given day. I’ll let them decide and I’ll work up a back-story that matches it.”

What would make Jane happy?

“My standard answer is: a big good laugh or a good lay, not necessarily in that order. [laughs] Truthfully I think Jane just wants company, she is very lonely and looking for companionship. I don’t know if she is really able for much more than short term company, but I think that if she had somebody in her life to talk to she would be OK, but I think she is on her own.”

They should hook her up with some nice vampire of shapeshifter….

“Yes, I think that would be good. A shapeshifter would at least keep her interest.”

Obviously you look very different from Jane…. [Patricia burst out in laughter at this point]… how do you get in character for you scenes?

“The hair and makeup people are great. It starts with Audrey Fisher and the costume itself. When they first were costuming me what I was wearing was probably smaller than my bathing suit, it took some time getting used to. They go from the underwear all the way to the outside. It all starts really with the costume and the hair and makeup and as far as the rest … I know a lot of these kinds of people who basically spend their evenings like Jane, their only contact with the community is through a bar. So I knew where to start with her. I don’t think that they are necessarily bad girls, nobody should write them of just because they don’t fit the picture.”

I enjoyed watching Jane Bodehouse’s transformation from desperate town drunk to wild orgy beast. What was your first reaction when you heard you had to do all that crazy stuff?

“We didn’t know until right before shooting each episode what was going to happen. So I really didn’t have a heads up on it other then I knew I would be the first to be turned and wear the black contacts. That much I knew. And after that it was pretty funny. John Billingsley who plays Mike Spencer is a wonderful guy, but we had not met before we started mashing on each other. I know his wife and have worked with her in the past, so that helped to make us comfortable with one another. But we had a very funny conversation as we were sitting “so how often has this come up in your career?” [laughs] The two of us were supposed to be rolling around naked with one another and I said well it’s a first time for me, it has never come up before and he only had had it one time before. I said well just make a leap and have a good time and I know that they’ll take care of us. And they did.”

What was it like to shoot the orgy scenes?

“It was kind of a worst nightmare, in some ways [laughs]. Thankfully I didn’t have to be out within it. For most of the night it was so cold and my feet got a little frostbite whenever we had to do the dancing and grumping around on the ground because it was 30 degrees, it was cold! Thankfully the black contacts provide no peripheral vision so I didn’t have to look a lot at the other people and what they were doing. There were very intimate moments for the atmosphere people who just wanted to stay warm and did what they could and many of them obviously had no problem with being naked and they kind of enjoyed it. Some had boundary issues, not with the performers though, all the leads and regular cast were quite professional. When it came to very close up intimate scenes we were by ourselves, they shot it in a way that everybody had their private scene.”

What is your favorite scene that you filmed on True Blood?

“There were a couple of different ones, of course where I am cutting off my finger. It was such a brilliant contrast between singing children’s songs and slicing my finger off at the same time. That was really my favorite. The other was the night where we capture Sam in the bar. Ryan was so hysterical on top of the truck with that mask on his face; it was a really long night. All of us being a little out of it, but it was very fun. Ryan was brilliant, he is an amazing technical actor, he pays attention to everything, so he is not just beautiful. He is a very fine actor.”

What is your all time favorite True Blood scene?

“Oh….. wow … let me think. I do love the scenes with Hoyt. I think the very first time that he meets his new mate. It is so beautiful between the two of them. Deborah Ann Woll is lovely, I love to watch her work, she is very special. Those two met each other that night at Merlotte’s, I think that is my favorite: sweet and scary amidst all of the vampire stuff. It was just beautiful. Jim and Deborah captured high school feelings and awkwardness: truly beautiful work.”

Do you check out the fansites to read the comments?

“I don’t. I am not really internet savvy; I am still finding my way through on how to create fan pages and how to respond if somebody writes to me directly. Those things I do. But I don’t go look at the other fan sites because I don’t want my feelings hurt [laughs]. I am glad that people are that involved but I also don’t want to be swayed by any kind of comment; good or bad.”

Do you Twitter?

“I have an account and I am learning that as well, I am about four pages behind on the next technology. I don’t know what I would be twittering about, but I will start looking into that.”

Recently Patricia landed a role on another very successful show: Mad Men. The new season starts on July 25th and Patricia’s character appears in the fifth episode.

“I just started working on Mad Men. Unfortunately I cannot say anything about the part I am playing, they asked us all not to give away anything: the year, the name of the character, anything that might give a clue to what is coming up. To honor their fan base and keep it all a surprise. But I can say that my character is a complete opposite of Jane Bodehouse, they won’t be hanging out together [laughs].”

Your wardrobe must be very different.

“The wardrobe is from support hose to girdle and bra to the slip and then the clothes come on top of that. And then the hair and makeup. I was brought to tears the first time I looked in the mirror with it all on because it was like looking at old family photos of my parents and my aunts and uncles. It really touched my heart. You are very fortunate to have all of that and then all you have to do is pay attention to the words because the visual is so taken care of.”

When not working, Patricia mentors new actors, as well as folks transitioning from one career to another. She also devotes time to several charities including the Rosalyn Carter Institute for Caregiving.

“There are a few charities that I am involved with, but my main focus is on the Caregiver Advocate. I have done quite a bit of caregiving myself to people who have been ill until they passed so it is close to my heart to provide support for the caregivers. I work with the Rosalyn Carter Institute for Caregiving, which was the former first lady and has an institute which is a science base, but basically it’s a research place to help provide support for caregivers. I have a commercial spot that is airing all over for the Alzheimer patch which is the first spot that has ever focussed on the real trials and tribulations of the caregiver. Because the patient really isn’t aware of what is going on. But how you lose your life and your income for a period of time because you are doing a private gift to a human being. I am hoping to try and change that, because in the next few years in the United States one out of five people will be a caregiver to someone. And as we age we have to find a way to make it easier on us, so we can still live our lives while taking care of people. I have been a caregiver in the past and I have friends who are caregivers and I am trying to find a better path for all of us.”

For more information about Patricia Bethune visit her website

and become a fan of her official Facebook fanpage.

The more I learn about the making of True Blood, I realize how much talent and skill is involved in the creation of each episode. I am more and more astonished that not only does this show have a superb ensemble of actors, writers, set decorators, music supervisors, etc., but it also has brilliant technical people who help to make each and every episode memorable.

Overseeing the production of each episode is a director and on True Blood, there are four primary directors, Scott Winant, Daniel Minehan, John Dahl, and Michael Lehmann. There are also several guest directors and even Alan Ball directs from time to time on the show.

While they all have their strengths and provide excellent direction, Michael Lehmann has stood out for me as one that seems to hit the mark each time. He has directed two episodes in season one and at least three episodes each subsequent season and from my perspective, as viewer and fan, he seems to have successfully directed some interesting, if not more technically difficult, episodes. Among those he’s done that seem to be more of a challenge, in my opinion, are:

• Season 1, Episode 8, Fourth Man In The Fire, that included the famous graveyard sex scene.
• Season 2, Episode 6, Hard Hearted Hannah that included the flashback scenes of Bill and Lorena from the 1920′s and also, although more subtle in nature,
• Season 2, Episode 4, Shake and Fingerpop, which was recently chosen by HBO to be included in the package sent in for Emmy consideration.

Last month, Michael was kind enough to grant an interview to The Vault where he shared with me information about his career, his vision as a director, and how much he enjoys the work he is doing on True Blood as one of its directors.

But before we head to the Q&A interview, here’s a bit about Michael’s background:

Michael Lehmann, is a well known Hollywood director currently active primarily in television. Recently, he has not only been directing episodes of HBO’s “True Blood,” but also other HBO shows like “Big Love” and “Bored to Death” and also Showtime’s “Californication.” While he may be focusing on television right now, he has also directed several well known films such as “Heathers,” “Airheads,” “The Truth About Cats and Dogs,” and “Because I Said So,” just to name a few.

Here’s the trailer for Heathers

Michael began his career in 1980 working in his home town of San Francisco with Francis Ford Coppola for his company American Zeotrope. Working for Coppola gave Michael the opportunity to experience film making at an early age without a formal film degree. Although he did eventually get his master’s degree in film, it wasn’t until later in his career that he obtained his Master’s Degree at the University of Southern California (USC). Michael explained: “My original intention had been to go to film school because that is what people did and what I thought one had to do.” So, he applied to USC and UCLA and had plans to go to those schools but then he got the job working for Coppola and decided it was better to stay there than to go back to school. He says, “I had already finished my undergraduate work, which wasn’t in film, and after a few years with Francis, I went back to school”. It’s a long story, but basically USC had lost my application, but later they found the application and sent me a letter saying do you want to go to this school and I said, yes. I had worked on about four feature films, but hadn’t been making my own so I went back to school and got into the graduate program at USC, spent a couple years and that’s what really provided the ground work for me becoming a director.”

Interestingly enough, Michael explained to me that he came from a fairly artistic household although his father was a Freudian psychoanalyst, German born and a wonderful person. His mother is an artist, a photographer and a writer and she lives in San Francisco. His sister is a novelist who writes young women’s fiction.

Read the Q&A with Michael, after the cut, where he talks about the filming of True Blood, his favorite scenes, the most difficult scenes, and what it’s like to collaborate and work on such a great show.

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“The True Blood set is the best place to be”, says Jim Parrack via Skype from his LA home. He smiles and leans back into his chair as I watch his dogs Stella and Jack getting comfy on the couch behind him. Jim is happy to be back on the True Blood set again, but he didn’t let the hiatus between the two seasons go by idle. The shooting of the sci-fi action movie “Battle: Los Angeles” brought him to Louisiana and he wrote and directed his first independent movie called “Post” starring his wife Ciera Parrack and his own family as lead actors.

I learned that Jim is not a very technical guy, but he did manage to make the webcam work. Not too bad because until last August he didn’t even know what Skype was, it was Stephen Moyer who pointed out to him that it was a great way to talk to his wife Ciera while apart.

Jim says about himself that he talks too much. “Keep on talking”, I answered him and he did. The 3-parter that I joked about to him became reality. In this first article Jim talks about True Blood, the parts about “Battle: Los Angeles” and his directing debut will be published at a later date.

Jim loves the American theater and attends lessons of Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West in North Hollywood. The approach of acting taught at this institute seems to work best for him. He explains that he works from a personal place within himself in order to understand the situation the script has given him. That means that in an emotional scene he wants to feel and experience the emotion. “I want to have a real experience up there”, Jim explains. “And that unfortunately involves feelings and when the experience the writers give you is “your mother betrayed you the same day your girlfriend leaves you”, you have to go find some pain within yourself and it has to be real. I try to wake something up inside me, pay attention to my partner and let their behavior affect how I am going to say a line, the same way as we do in real life. It sounds easy enough but unfortunately it has taken years of training [laughs].

But that is what I like about acting, the emotional story you tell.”

Jim’s True Blood alter ego Hoyt Fortenberry didn’t play a prominent role in the first season but when the storyline of the cute momma’s boy took a few very interesting and unexpected turns in the sophomore season the fans’ interest was suddenly raised. Torn between his vampire girlfriend Jessica and his selfish and overprotective mother, Hoyt finds himself caught between a rock and hard place and it is painfully clear that life as he knew it is no more.

Shadaliza: How do you look back on Season 2 of True Blood? Are you happy with the result?

Jim Parrack: “I actually am. It’s probably the first time professionally I feel like I was able to tell the stories the writers have given me. Of course I am always thinking about how I could have done better but overall I was able to get into that story and live it out.”

“That to me is kind of the measure of did I get it or not, was I able to experience it instead of showing, and it’s not to say that I did that perfectly, but Deborah [Deborah Ann Woll who plays Jessica] and Dale [Dale Raoul who plays Hoyt’s mother, Maxine] make it all very, very easy to go in there and experience something. They gave us about as good a story as you can get to act and I am super grateful for it; it’s the most satisfying thing I have done professionally and I actually feel ok about what I did.”

Hoyt Fortenberry is a young man with very little life experience and to my surprise that was exactly the thing that presented the biggest challenge to Jim in his portrayal of Hoyt.

“I had a tough time getting to a place where all of this would have been brand new”, explains Jim. “The thing that I had a really tough time with was imagining myself as someone who had never had a relationship because I am 28 and I have probably lived about 55 years in those 28 [laughs]. So that was a real challenge, how do I, a 28 year old person with plenty of experience in heartache and falling in love, get to a place where it is all brand new and fresh. But I found a way…  I found a way… [stops talking and laughs].”

Do you care to explain or is it a big secret?

“No, it’s not a secret, but it would lose its potency for me if I would talk about it. I promise it is not a secret; I just keep it to myself. “

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I love the scene in Merlotte’s when Jessica and Hoyt meet; it is one of my favorite scenes from season 2.

“Yes, it’s my favorite too”,  Jim says.  ” At Merlotte’s and later at vampire Bill’s house, those two are my favorites. That was the first day that I ever felt ok about my acting on True Blood. I thought that Raelle [Tucker] wrote the best scene, that’s my favorite scene of the whole series, if I wasn’t in it, it would still be my favorite scene.”

Jim continues to explain what makes the “Hoyt meets Jessica scene” so special for him. “More than anything that I’ve shot that most directly was the moment of Hoyt coming in contact with the one thing that he’d love his whole life and hopes of. Hoyt is a person who really wanted real, true love and have someone appreciate him and like him, but also someone he can be there for and Jessica was kind of a combination of all those things and she walked right into his life. The excitement any time you have a character that so badly desires one thing and then has the opportunity to have that or lose out on it when it comes along, then you have a good situation to act.”

Hoyt was hanging out in Merlotte’s with no place to go, he doesn’t want to go home and in walks this beautiful girl….

“Right. Right!

I was thinking you don’t want to go home because mom’s there; one of your best friends died two weeks ago, your other best friend has disappeared to run off to live with a group of religious fanatics. There is nobody else in town for him, he was completely alone.”

“I thought I am going to play it as if I were sitting in that booth praying to God “please give me a girl, I’ll be a good boyfriend, I’ll treat her the best I can and than bam she walks in the door. That way something very real started to happen inside and it carried over to the scene. For the rest of the season I was able to say that it’s not just a girl I like, but the girl God sent to me.”

Jessica is obviously a girl with a few extras… can Hoyt handle a girl like that?

“Yes, there are going to be a lot of problems, but I know for certain that Hoyt is the kind of person who believes that love and going through something together will smooth out all the rough spots. In the end there will just be little bumps in the road, but I don’t believe that there being a difference of that kind makes it impossible. Just because Hoyt is new to all this doesn’t mean that he is not made of the stuff a person needs to be to have a relationship. Hoyt is probably more capable of having a real relationship than people who have been doing it for a long time. He is made of the stuff that you need to have good relationships: tenderness, lovingness and selflessness. He is the perfect guy to be in a real relationship. “

“But Hoyt has been deceived all along about whom his mother is. He picked his mom over his girlfriend and he picked the wrong person. Hoyt made a mistake when he sided up with his mother. She wasn’t the one out of those two who really loves him. She is not. But I never thought that was the kind of thing that couldn’t be reconciled; I never thought that what he said to Jessica made a relationship impossible from that moment forward. He was hoping that if he would show up with flowers, they could pick back up where they left off and he could apologize properly, but Jessica is not there…”

How would you describe the relationship between Hoyt and his mother?

“Unfortunately I think it’s a pretty realistic relationship. I know there is a lot of humor in it and there is a lot of things that jump out as being bit extreme, but I know quite a few people, man and women, that have that kind of relationship with some kind of matriarch that has convinced themselves that so long as they are a mother they are a good person. They have to keep their children as babies so that they can continue to be a mother. It’s made funny when you take a big giant person like myself and put him in a situation like that because it is so clear that he is not baby. “

“It’s a selfish relationship on her part and selfish relationships can never be real relationships. That is the thing I came to realize in the last couple of episodes of season 2. I don’t know what they are going to do but personally I would be ok for Hoyt to not speak with her until she makes some kind of change in her life.”

Hoyt’s mom is of course played by Dale Raoul and Jim has nothing but praise for her.

“Dale is just such a wonderful gal. From the beginning I really liked her a lot and felt very comfortable with her. She is fun; she is supportive, gentle and encouraging. I count myself so blessed to have the kind of two-fold way the story went last year, on one side there is Dale and on the other side there is Deborah and in both cases generous, patient and just wonderful people who are so encouraging.”

How do you look at yourself onscreen?

[laughs] “Cautiously. At that point there is nothing than be done. If I like it, I don’t get too excited about it, but if I don’t like it, I get really down on myself because it is there for good now. The curse of film is that once it’s there, it’s there. “

“I am beginning to feel more comfortable in front of the camera, which you think by now should be easy, but it really isn’t for me. Deborah actually helped me out a lot. She taught me to think of the camera in a certain way that made it more familiar and comfortable to me. She told me to treat it the way I would treat an audience when I do theatre, which is that you don’t pretend that they are not there, you are glad that they are there, you just don’t let them worry you. She is a lot smarter than I am [laughs]. And it was good because in theatre the only thing I have ever concerned myself with is having an experience. That means that if you had the experience, and it went well the audience relates to it, but with the camera people relate to an image and I have always felt a little uncomfortable about the image. There is suddenly another thing to think about and it prevents, in my case, the experience from happening. So Deborah said not to worry about it and not to be afraid of it. It snapped me out of something and it’s been something that I was able to take over to “Battle: Los Angeles” as well. I am very grateful that she taught me that little lesson.”

So it is safe to say that it’s been a pleasure working with Deborah?

“Absolutely. It’s been absolutely a pleasure, she is a dear friend now and of the people I’ve got to really work with professionally, I enjoy working with her best.

Dear friend or not…. Jim did bruise Deborah’s arms while shooting a scene.

“I felt horrible in that scene where I have to pull Jessica off of my mother, we shot that so many times and I had to pick that girl up and move her and I felt terrible because at the end of the day she had a bruise on her. A couple of days later there was the season 2 premiere and EJ [E.J. Scott Deborah’s boyfriend] was there and he said: “Thanks man, you fucked her up.” [laughs].

How did you prepare for the intimate scenes, did you rehearse those?

“Not so much, because I am married and Deborah  is in a serious committed relationship with EJ. We  know that we’d be fooling ourselves if we said we have to go practice kissing. You don’t need to work on that [laughs].. . or she and I don’t need to work on that, there might be people who need to practice but….”

You both have mastered the technique…

“Yes, yes [laughs]. So when we would rehearse, we would look for the essence of a scene, the behavior and the emotion of the scene, we would try different things and when we get to the physical aspects of it we would just pull back because what happens next is that you kiss and you don’t need to practice that.

“You really have to trust the other person especially when you are in a relationship or when you are married, you have to trust that the other person is doing this for the story you are telling, not to get some kind of kick out of it. Deborah and I have that trust and we maintain that trust and when the time comes to do it you really open yourself up to the other person and what you feel for them and let yourself feel as much as you can for the other person and that usually takes care of the intimacy. “

“Ciera and EJ are both in interesting positions, my wife’s husband and EJ’s girlfriend are in a love story together. I tried to reach out to him early on and let him know that I have no other intention than to tell that story with his girlfriend. Ciera and Deborah have become friends and it’s a better way to handle the feelings of everybody to consider them first. And it frees Deborah and me up a lot too not to have to worry about how they feel because we know that we are doing the right thing in terms of taking them into consideration.”

“If I were to act out killing somebody, you don’t really do it, but when you act kissing somebody, you do. Of course it’s still acting and it’s an imaginary circumstance but it’s kind of the one place where you can’t fudge it and you can’t fake it, you really have to do it and that’s where trust comes in.”

How do you feel about onscreen nudity? How far would you go for a scene?

“I am open to it. If somebody could convince me that it was a better way to do it than without, I mean somebody I trust like Alan [Ball], than yeah I’d do it.
I just directed my first movie with my wife and my family and I’ve written other things and most of the time I think if there is anything else you want to say in a scene and you put nudity in the scene that other thing will get missed [laughs]. If you have just the sex scene and that is all… then yes, when people are having sex they are generally naked one way or another. But if you want to reveal someone’s heart while they lay in bed smoking a cigarette naked and they’re topless, than, at least from a male point of view, everything goes away except for the nudity so you miss storytelling in favor of sensationalism and that I am not for. In just purely sex scenes there is nothing that you would miss by having nudity but I don’t know if a ton is gained by it either. So somebody would have to build a good case for me in order to convince me. “

Besides Deborah can you tell me what have you learned from your other True Blood colleagues?

“Yes, I can try, but people are going to get left out, I learned something from all of them.
What I learned from Ryan Kwanten is to enjoy myself and not put so much pressure on myself to perform, that I can trust myself and enjoy my work.
What I learned from Stephen Moyer is that this thing has a dignity and has to be taken serious, but that doesn’t mean that you have to take yourself seriously.
What I learned from Anna Paquin is that we actors have an endurance that we probably have not tapped into and she proves it day in and day out.
Chris Bauer and I have a lot of philosophical discussions about acting and we approach it in different ways but we are after the same thing.”

“I am amazed that there is nobody on this show that comes at acting the same way, none of us have the same approach. But my God, look at the work on this show. I learned so much just spending time watching other actors work; it is an education in itself. By maintaining what is my approach now, but staying open to the way everybody else approaches their work, I am bound to learn something because these people are too good.”

“It is such a generous group of people. We don’t fight, there are no egos, and there is none of that nastiness that you get on almost every other set that I have ever been on. There is a willingness to help the person across from you with the scene and help them to do the best they can do, you share in their joy when they do it well and you encourage them if they feel bad about and it’s a pretty ideal place for this type of creativity.”

“The True Blood set is the best place to be and I mean that.”

We are all dying to know some more about season 3, but although Jim has read the scripts of the first four episodes, he is not allowed to reveal anything about the storylines. But what he did say is : “In my personal opinion season 3 is even more exciting than season 2 because it’s more active. There is more adventure.”

I would say that season 2 was pretty active…

“Yes it was, but I would say that this is even more … dynamic is a better word.”

Ok, that’s a good description, because I don’t want to know yet what will happen in season 3.

“I do. I’d like to know where we are headed.”

Stay tuned for part 2 of the Jim Parrack interview where he talks about his new film “Battle: Los Angeles”.