The Vault – TrueBlood-Online.com

The Paley Center hosted a Vampire Weekend in New York City on Saturday, November 14, 2009. LISMlvr and ONLYBILL were happy to attend on behalf of The Vault and the BillsBabes. The following is the account of their visit:

It was very dark, dreary, and stormy as we boarded the train to New York City to attend the Vampire Weekend/Takedown at the Paley Center. The first room we entered was the Steven Spielberg gallery where scenes from True Blood and Twilight were displayed along with four television sets airing Ausiello’s interview with Sam, Nelsan, and Rutina. There was a 12:00 p.m. showing of interviews from Paleyfest ’09 with the writers and casts of Angel and True Blood. Since LISM and I do not watch Angel, we took our seats at the end of the Angel showing. The room was pretty crowded considering the eroding weather conditions outside. When the Angel showing ended, there was an electric charge to the room, as everyone waited while the True Blood showing started.

First off, we must state that we are BillsBabes through and through, but we have to say that Eric (Alex Skarsgård) certainly got his share of the love in the room. Although we’ve seen the video of the Paley panel session many times, it was delightful to see it on the 8X6 foot screen. It was fun to watch and we were thrilled to see our fellow BillsBabes called upon to stand up and take a bow. We clapped for our Babes loud and clear. BillsBabe Billshuman was shown asking her question and made us BillsBabes proud. Of course, there are always a few in the midst who need to shout their displeasure of Alan Ball not following the books and not giving Eric enough air time, but the rest of the crowd was very attentive and quiet.

LISMlvr and ONLYBILL at the Paley Center in New York

Afterwards, we went downstairs to the “Vampire Takedown” where a panel was assembled to argue for their favorite vampire. The auditorium was broken down into various sections: “Bon Temps,” “Forks,” “Mystic Falls,” etc. The moderator was Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly who did a good job of keeping the pace moving. As each panelist came to the stage, they gave a brief synopsis of their vampire and then a clip was shown. The audience got quite a laugh at the campy scenes from Dark Shadows, a show that we remember watching when we came home from school. Another laugh came when a clip from Salem’s Lot was aired. There was discussion as to how today’s vampires are quite good looking (no kidding) compared to the past (Jonathan Frid was 40+ years when he played Barnabas Collins) and why we are so obsessed with Vampires today.

The panel was asked several questions, the first of which having to do with why they thought the vampire phenomena is so pervasive, a question that has been repeatedly asked of the True Blood cast. Answers included the viewing public’s interest in the romantic outcast, and that we are drawn to these creatures that find humans fascinating … we like to feel special and irresistible. There was also discussion of vampires being used as metaphors for various minorities.

The moderator asked the panel what they thought of the loosening of the old hard and fast rules of vampire lore, and the deviations we now see. For the most part, panelists enjoyed the new “innovations” such as rings and consumption of animal and synthetic blood. It was agreed that vampires are no longer unattractive and this is a result of commercialization and demographics.
The subject of women’s passive roles in these types of stories was discussed and it was agreed that that female characters, the likes of Sookie Stackhouse and Buffy the Vampire Killer have moved women away from being the fainting screaming victim we were accustomed to seeing in old Dracula movies.

Afterwards there was a trivia contest. We are ashamed to say that we were knocked out in the first round. The lucky winner went home with a Sparkly Edward Doll. We had great time at the Paley Center and received a goody bag with a DVD of the first season of True Blood, a bottle of TruBlood, a Dark Shadows calendar, and fangs! Don’t ask; the fangs are mine!

© The Vault – TrueBlood-Online.com

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Friday, November 13, 2009 to Sunday, November 15, 2009 – New York

For those of you who were unable to attend past PaleyFest events, and you live on the east coast, you can now see screenings of these events as well as attend a panel with other fans to discuss them at the New York Paley Center for Media - 25 West 52 Street, New York, NY 10019.

The Paley Center for Media has partnered with Entertainment Weekly to explore what’s going on with the craze for vampires. EW’s Ken Tucker will moderate a panel of informed fans to debate the relative merits of vampires across media, with special attention to the rankings of the Paley Center’s TV Vampire Poll (vote through November 2). A display of EW’s coverage of the undead phenomenon will be on view in the Spielberg Gallery through November 15.

And don’t miss the screenings of several past PALEYFEST events—with reunions of the casts and creative teams of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, True Blood, and Dark Shadows—along with the uber vamp Nosferatu and Guy Maddin’s hypnotic Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary.

Tickets- Screenings are free to Members and $10 (general admission) for nonmembers. No reservations are required.

The Saturday Vampire panel: Free to Members and $10 (general admission) for nonmembers. Reservations are recommended. The first 200 ticket holders will receive fang-tastic vampire giveaways.

Friday Screenings, 2:00 to 4:30 pm

PALEYFEST: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reunion (2008) – The cast and creative team of Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunite to discuss the groundbreaking series. With Sarah Michelle Gellar and Joss Whedon. [Own a DVD of this event.]

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horrors (1922)
The German Expressionist silent vampire classic—on the big screen!

Saturday Screenings, 12:00 to 2:30 pm

PALEYFEST: Angel (2001) – Angel’s actors, writers, and producers on everybody’s favorite brooding Irish bloodsucker. With David Boreanaz and Joss Whedon.

PALEYFEST: True Blood (2009) – The cast and creators of television’s hottest vampire series take you behind the scenes of steamy Bon Temps. With Alan Ball, Anna Paquin, and Stephen Moyer.

Saturday Event, 2:30 to 4:00 pm - TV Vampire (s)Takedown

Our panel of expert fans will debate the relative merits of different vampires across media in an appropriately spirited and irreverent fashion. Special attention will be paid to the rankings of TV vamps determined by the Paley Center’s TV Vampire Poll (vote through November 2).  Come argue for your vamp of choice. Trivia, special gifts, and a bloody good time for all!

Panel:
Angel Cohn, Senior Editor, Television Without Pity
Sammy Buck, Blogger, tvland.com
Chelsea Doyle, Freelance Writer, Starpulse.com
Jim Pierson, Author/Producer, Dark Shadows DVD releases
Moderator: Ken Tucker, Editor-at-Large, Entertainment Weekly

Free to Members and $10 (general admission) for nonmembers. Reservations are recommended. The first 200 ticket holders will receive fang-tastic vampire giveaways!

Sunday Screenings, 2:00 to 4:30 pm

PALEYFEST: Dark Shadows (2001) – Dark Shadows alumni reunited to discuss the classic series. With Alexandra Moltke and creator Dan Curtis.

Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary (2002)
Guy Maddin’s visionary ballet based on the Dracula myth.

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The Paley Center has released a video of a part of the True Blood event that took place on April 13, 2009.

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Fear.net shot some footage of the fans outside the Arc Light Cinema waiting in line for the Paley Fest on April 13. Billsbabe Lynn was interviewed while the other Billsbabes showed of their t-shirts.

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HBO released the sneak peek of Season 2  that was shown at the Paley Fest last week.

Season 2 of “True Blood” debuts on HBO on June 14th, while Season 1 of the series will be released on DVD/Blu-ray on May 19th. The soundtrack will also be released on May 19th.

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I’ve been to many fan events over the years, but something about True Blood is different. A lot of the fans I’ve talked to are new to the whole fandom experience and it’s exciting to see it through their eyes. Fandom is an amazing thing. It brings people together from all walks of life from all over the globe to experience similar interests together. Things that would get you strange looks in the real world are not only understood by other fans, but shared as well. Friendships are made that can last a lifetime.

When I found out I could go to the Paley True Blood panel in Los Angeles, I was excited. Imagine my surprise when I found out that another fan that was going and I had talked to online, lived only 20 minutes from me. We were able to travel together which made the experience even better.

Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer at the Paley Fest 09

We arrived Saturday and spent it and Sunday exploring parts of the Los Angeles area.

Monday morning we got ready to go to the ArcLight Cinema and the Paley event. When we got there, fairly early, there were about 6 people in line. We settled in to wait until it opened. It was a nice experience with several friendly discussions between book fans, Bill Fans and Eric fans. Our “Billsbabe” shirts were getting a lot of attention. It was also interesting seeing the number of male fans in the audience. Most fan events in my experience are populated mainly with woman with one or 2 men there. This time the mix, while admittedly largely female, had a lot of males as well.

Finally it came time to go in. We got seats in the third row and settled down to wait for it to start. The first thing up was a clip from Dark Shadows.  After that clip was shown, they played about 10 minutes worth of clips from the first season, which had all the fans singing along with the theme song and reciting the lines with the characters.  They finished up the clips with about 3 minutes of scenes from season 2 which looks like it will be very interesting.  Then the host of the event said a few words. Finally, came the cast introductions. First up was Alex Skarsgard, entering to screams of delight from the Eric fans. Next was Carrie Preston, looking lovely in black, then Nelsan Ellis, Rutina Wesley, Sam Trammel, Ryan Kwanten, Stephen Moyer, the man most of us “Billsbabes” had come to see,  Anna Paquin, who is even prettier in real life, and finally Alan Ball.

It was surreal seeing them sitting there, and they seemed as passionate about the show as the fans are. They described the casting process each had gone through, as well as their favorite (or least favorite for Sam Trammel) scenes. Alan talked about finding the “Southern Vampire” series of books and how he personally bought the rights, and then brought HBO in on it. He said that he plans on sticking to the spirit of the books, but it would be impossible to stick to it exactly due to the fact that it’s a first person narrative by Sookie.

The fan questions varied, but the subject of the dirt in the graveyard came up, and Anna seemed surprised that fans were worrying about where it ended up. Stephen said they built a little shed under the ground for him to sit in, then he had to sort of “give birth, alienlike”.

One of the Billsbabes asked a question and brought the entire houses’ attention upon us. They made the entire row of Billsbabes stand up.

Most of the rest is a blur. I mean it’s hard to pay attention to what they are saying when all you want to do is stare. Too quickly it was over and they were allowing people to approach the stage. Boy what a mess. There was little organization so there was a lot of pushing and shoving going on. Stephen even tried to get people to back up so my friend Lynn, who was trapped by the stage, could get out. Stephen graciously signed my program. When asked by another autograph seeker for an autograph, Stephen responded by saying that he had to go see “his Billsbabe.” He then proceeded over to one of my friends to get their picture taken together. He seems like such a nice man who really appreciates his fans.

We mingled a little bit longer before heading back to the hotel. Some of our group were heading over to the Sendler premiere, but alas I was not one of them

Over all it was a great time. The cast seemed to enjoy it as much as the fans. They were very personable and generous to their fans and it was very exciting to meet them.

Written by Camelot

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Article on Laist by Beth Kopley

At 5 p.m. last Tuesday, the line for the True Blood panel at PaleyFest snaked around the Cinerama Dome toward the Arclight entrance. Many of the predominantly female fans of the HBO series had been camped out since early afternoon, traveling from as far as Texas and New York.

When the program began at 7 p.m. there were only a few empty seats toward the back of the balcony. The lights dimmed and, courtesy of The Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio), a 1967 excerpt from Dark Shadows – the cheesy low-production-values vampire soap opera – ran on the screen. The audience shrieked, although not half as much as they did when the highlights reel from Season One of True Blood followed, winding up with a two-scene preview from Season Two featuring telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse in peril, her vampire boyfriend, Civil War vet Bill Compton being dunderheaded as usual, and, best of all, a scary new supernatural creature!

The audience screamed again as the principal actors in the cast marched onstage. Alan Ball, creator of True Blood and the much-beloved Six Feet Under, explained that he was “sucked in” by author Charlaine Harris’ first vampire novel, Dead Until Dark, even though it wasn’t his usual read. He pursued the rights, and then HBO, until he got the green light on the series, which he noted has not yet been renewed for Season Three. “The best way to make sure this series runs forever,” he told the fans, “is to buy the DVD as soon as it comes out.”

Moderator Stuart Levine of Variety asked the cast how they got their parts and how they felt about their characters. Sam Trammell, who plays bashful bartender (and shapeshifter) Sam Merlotte, bashfully admitted, “I screamed like a girl” when he got back to his car after being cast. Rutina Wesley, whose work as Tara (a minor character in the books, but a major one on the TV show) impressed many, said, “Some of Tara’s life experiences are familiar to me.” Wesley’s Juilliard classmate Nelsan Ellis, who sashays through the campy role of Lafayette, commented that his character has made such an impression on people that they confuse him with Lafayette and “they take some liberties,” adding that he would only disappoint them, because “hangin’ with me is like watching TV and playing Scrabble.”

Anna Paquin, the Academy-Award winning actress who plays Sookie Stackhouse, who can hear people’s thoughts, said that people often yell at her on the street, “What I am thinking, Stackhouse?” Carrie Preston launched into a monologue worthy of her character, Arlene the redheaded waitress, who doesn’t want vampires around her “keeyids” (that’s kids, in Preston’s hilariously exaggerated Southern accent). The audience screeched when the tall, blond Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard, who plays vampire Eric Northman, admitted that he is flattered by their attention, although he did not expect it when he took the role. (Eric is the books’ – the ninth is published on May 5 – sexiest man undead.)

There was lots of joking among the cast members about the mens’ nude scenes and the “sock” they have to wear. Skarsgard commented, “I’m from Sweden, so I’m disappointed that I don’t get to be naked all the time.” In response to a question about whether he would wear the hot pink Spandex leggings that Eric wears in Living Dead in Dallas, the second of Charlaine Harris’ books, Skarsgard said, “If I can find an excuse to wear those, of course!” There were more goodhearted giggles about the scene in which the vampire Bill Compton, or “grilled Bill,” starts turning to toast from the sunlight. Actor Stephen Moyer quipped that his scenes as the damaged Bill were “quite a lonely time,” since no one wanted to stand near him or even look at the elaborate makeup designed to portray a crispy vampire.

Faithfulness to Charlaine Harris’ original plots and characters is a point of contention among some book fans, but Alan Ball made it clear that he loves Harris’ work, emphasizing that he thinks it is important to remain “true to the spirit if not the actual stories” of her books. In response to a question about actors improvising, Ball said that his initial reaction was “writer proprietary asshole behavior” at thinking the actors were rewriting his script. However, he said that once he saw and heard Nelsan Ellis improvising his first scene as Lafayette, the short-order cook, in the kitchen at Merlotte’s, he was so impressed with Ellis’ work that he has unbent on that issue.

And, in response to a common question about the graveyard scene – when vampire Bill literally rises from the grave to let Sookie know that he is still undead – Paquin said that, although they used organic peat moss for the dirt, the last thing she would be worrying about when she discovered that her boyfriend was not permanently deceased was “where the dirt might go.”

Season 2 of True Blood begins on HBO on June 14; the soundtrack to the first season will be available on May 19.

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After the Paley Fest last Monday night members of the True Blood cast met up with fans outside The Arclight.

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The Billsbabes get another mention in the online press. Korbi TV writes:

“True Blood” is the sort of show the Paley Festival is really about. People flew in from other states, camped out in lawn chairs on the pavement by the Arclight theater and went fully insane when they finally made it inside and the cast was trotted onstage for their viewing pleasure. There was an entire row of women wearing “Bill’s Babe” t-shirts. It was fun.

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Article on IGN.com by Matt Fowler

Waiting in the press line at The Paley Festival’s True Blood night, one could still see the line of fans outside the interview tent. They were a mix of local hardcore fans and people from all over the world who had flown in to see the stars of their favorite bawdy vampire soap – and most of them had been waiting there since the morning.

I got a chance to have some few choice words with some of the featured players on the show. Nelsan Ellis, who played the fan favorite character of Lafayette, in Season 1, was in attendance. There are a ton of people that hope that one of the ways that the writers of the show will deviate from the books is by keeping his character alive – even though the last scene in Season 1 played out just like it did in the first book, with the discovery of his dead body. Still, he was there so I decided to ask him what his, hands down, favorite scene was as Lafayette. “AIDS burger. I loved loved loved that scene,” Said Ellis. “We did five takes and for all five I just loved doing it. You know, it’s always fun to beat someone’s ass.”

Up next was one of the stand outs of Season 1, despite his small amount of screen time, Alexander Skarsgard (a name that’s hard to say out loud without the female fans squealing with glee). Skarsgard plays Eric, the Nordic hunk of a Vampire leader, who gets to boss the character of Bill around. For fans of the Charlaine Harris books, Eric winds up becoming a way more interesting enticing character than Bill. It’s clear that that design might not hold up on the TV show however. How does Skarsgard feel about being on a show like True Blood? “It’s a lot of fun,” said Skarsgard. “It’s a tremendous character to play, and it’s also kind of scary, because when you’re on stage or shooting a movie you have the whole arc. You see the beginning, the middle and the end of the character so you know where you’re going. On a TV show, I don’t know what we’ll be shooting two weeks from now. It’s kind of scary, but it’s also very exciting.”

As Season 2 plays out, there are rumors that Skarsgard’s Eric might make a play for Sookie herself. “I just think that, in general, he’s not very interested in humans,” Skarsgard smiled. “In the beginning of this, it’s a very professional relationship. He’s an entrepreneur. He’s a business man. He thinks “alright, I can use this girl.” But as it goes on then…you know, of course he’s interested. There’s something about this girl. There’s something kind of intriguing about her. And, to tell you the truth, I don’t know where it’s going to take us. I don’t know what Alan and the other writers are up to.”

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