The September 2011 issue of Australian AXN magazine features a picture of Alexander Skarsgård, but the interview inside the magazine is about True Blood’s creator, Alan Ball. Alan talked to the magazine before his first trip to Australia about sex with vampires, casting True Blood, and politics of the show as an allegory for the gay rights movement. Some of the other male stars are also featured inside the magazine, as you can see in the scans below.
Alan Ball: “I think there’s also something really sexy about the notion of being so incredibly intimate that you share your essence with someone. The idea of feeding on each other is kind of insane, but at the same time very alluring.”
I love his comment about the type of look the male actors playing vampires have to have. None of them are the traditional Hollywood youthful boy/man type that’s so popular on 90% of tv shows now. When you see them playing the flashback scenes, they’re as believable as they are during current day scenes. It makes you buy into it.
It’s easy to picture Stephen moyer in an old tin type photograph and it’s easy to picture Alex in a 500 year old painting. They look like men, not boys.
That’s a great photo of Sam in the article BTW. lovely….
I agree with hdgcat. I was at the Sydney Opera House to see Alan.
Nice article, I like the focus on all of “our boys”!
I also liked what Alan says about the look of the vampires in True Blood. I’m very happy that he didn’t go down the route of having weird prosthetics like Buffy, or contacts like Twilight. There’s something very grounded about the True Blood vamps. It also pleases me that Stephen Moyer and Alexander Skarsgard don’t have those horrible Hollywood-style capped teeth – that just wouldn’t have been realistic for someone who is supposedly from hundreds/thousands of years ago!
Why didn’t they put a picture of Alan Ball on the cover if he gave the interview? Not that I object to a pic of Alex…ever. It’s just funny. Great interview. Thanks for posting.
I was thinking the same thing and was going to write that myself – why Alex when it is an AB interview?
maybe Alan told them they’d sell more magazines if they put one of the “boys” on the front! LOL!
Alex sells more magazines….He is the MOST POPULAR on TB. Hopefully this year he will get higher billing in the credits. He is like 6th or 7th on the rolling credits. What’s the deal? And he (AB) had definitely got to do something about the storyline…yes it is filler…but let’s get on with it.
I’m an Aussie and I have NEVER heard of this magazine. Neither have the majority of Aussies. I doubt it would have sold many issues.
Guess what! AXN is an On line magazine. A GAY magazine for men. How about that!
How about that? Anna is bisexual. Alan Ball is gay. Alex is in a gay magazine. No big deal.
TB is very popular with gay folks, and unlike some, HBO and TB don’t shy away from that. So , that just makes sense to me. *shrug*
The struggle for HBO is keeping the straight guys watching which is why we get the gratuitous t*tty shots here and there , plus excessive blood and gore from time to time.
Doh! Instead of speaking of the interview we are again starting funny battles.
WHo is more popular? who deserves to be in the cover? who deserves to have the bigger picture inside? is the magazine important…?
People in real world are not aware of the shit storm that will cause to pick one actor over the other… they just want to sell / attract readers and this time, the editor thought this one was better for the purpose. (Not to offend Alan, but a pic of Stephen or Alex sure will help to attract more readers than a pic of him) Just get over it, next time it’ll be Stephen. The world does not turn around you.
And Paula, I’m not sure what are you trying to mean by remarking this is a gay magazine regarding the cover pick. But somehow, I don’t feel comfortable with your comment.
Thank you ZZ. My sentiments exactly. I didn’t feel comfortable with that comment either, considering ALL the guys were featured very nicely in that article.
I didn’t mean to start a battle. I just thought it was weird for this magazine to use old pics of the actors and not show one photograph of Alan Ball, particularly since he was the subject of a prominent interview and the producer of the show…and also happens to be a gay man. Frankly I don’t care what kind of magazine this is. It was a terrific interview. It’s always nice to hear Alan’s perspective on his project.
Oops, there was a small pic of AB inside, but he still should have been on the cover. LOL
Also, I don’t think that Paula meant anything negative by her comment about this magazine being an online publication for gay men. It may seem strange to us women because we think that the guys of True Blood belong to us and us alone, but the show and the actors have a wide appeal across all demographics. True Blood doesn’t shy away from the topic of homosexuality, so it makes sense for the show to be featured in this magazine. As far as I’m concerned, the more fans, the merrier. Long live True Blood.
Sorry, but my computer was doing weird things when I posted and I had to turn it off. It was a gay Mag so it would have been more appropriate to have had AB on the cover. A majority of my best friends are male gays. I don’t find them offensive, quite the opposite.
Not a bully. Just stating my opinion.
I, for one, don’t think that gay oriented magazines need to have a defacto gay person on the cover. Gay people, straight people, or simply.. people oriented magazines can have any sort of person on their cover because really – it’s about what we all want to talk about. Straight people just don’t fancy information about straight people, the same as gay people don’t just want to read about gay people. I wish for the day we can all just be people and stop all this bullshit.
Here in the UK, the majority of the guys on the covers of Attitide and Gay Times are straight celebrities. I actually find it quite surprising that this is the first time (as far as I’m aware) that one of the actors from the show has appeared on the cover of a gay magazine, given the huge following the show has among the gay community.
Alex was on the cover of the October edition of Out, a gay and lesbian mag here in the States. So I guess this would count as around the same time, publication-wise.
I’m sorry Paula, but putting AB on the cover wouldn’t sell as many mags as one of the younger guys like Ryan or Alex. Does Maxim put pix of middleaged women on their cover? No, it’s always hot women and the younger the better cuz that’s what guys want, no matter their sexual orientation. Women hate hearing that, but it’s true.
See, I happen to think that Alan Ball has a unique and timeless look himself and takes a damn good photograph. He would have looked great on the cover and would have been inspirational. However, the magazine decided to put a young straight stud on the cover instead of a nice looking, very successful, openly gay 56 year old man who is the producer of the show discussed in the article and the subject of the interview. And apparently there are photos of male butts in jockstraps in this magazine too. I think we live in very sad times when we can no longer tell if a popular magazine is a respectable publication or a masturbatory aid.
Hate to tell you this, but for men, there’s no difference. LOL!
Well probably if all my best friends were male gays, I would know that gay males are fans of many straight actors just like we are. I would also know that many FEMALE singers are gay icons…such as Madonna, Lady GaGa, Britney, Cher.
Fandom has little to do with personal preference. You can be a fan of an actor or singer and have a different preference in your personal life. So….I don’t think it is appropriate to say that only gay men should be on the cover of a gay magazine or to think anyone is gay because they are on the cover of a gay magazine. So unappropriate and incorrect.
Now having said that, I think it was a shame that Alan Ball wasn’t there…but only because it was his interview. But hdgcat is probably right, they went for the hot young one here because that is what sells.
I never thought this article would cause a stir, because they covered ALL our guys. Can’t we just be happy for that?
Like I said in my very first comment, I only thought AB should have been on the cover because it was HIS interview. I didn’t know it was a gay magazine until Paula found it online. I just thought if AB was featured inside the magazine, he should have been on the cover. I mean I love ASkars to death, but why was he singled out for the cover as opposed to Stephen Moyer, or Ryan Kwanten, or Sam Trammell, or Joe Mnganiello, or Nelsan Ellis? They are all beautiful successful men. The pic of Alex on the cover when he wasn’t even interviewed is totally gratuitous–just there to peddle this magazine to unsuspecting gay men. I realize that this may sound naive, but sometimes the techniques that the entertainment industry uses to sell their products just really bother me.
NO , we cannot be happy for that. It’s a proven fact that Team Bill and Team Eric cannnot be happy or exist in a non-confrontational status in our universe. I have however made a recent discovery of a parallel universe where Team Bill and Team Eric get along great, they sing, they dance naked around campfires and eat S’mores until they throw up.
If anyone would like to buy a ticket to the wormhole that leads to this parallel universe, I will need a transfer of $1,000,000 dollars to my Paypal account pronto.
Thank you, you may now return to your regularly scheduled hair pulling.
ps.ZZ, I’ll give you a special rate cuz I like you and I feel sorry for you having to deal with this BS day in and day out. For you, it’ll only be $900,000
OK just send away your paypal account. Can I make the payment in two parts? ;)
Paula, I don’t think you were being homophobic, or bullying, or insulting to Alex, or saying anything that was meant to antagonise any fans of the show, just perhaps being a little naive about the gay press. And as you are, I assume, a straight woman, then I don’t think there’s anything unusual about not having prior knowledge of the target audience, editorial decisions, or marketing strategies of a gay magazine that none of us have ever heard of!
Thank you ZZ! I check in here every now and then for news of TB and am very tired of the few bullies on this site (and others I have visited). They know who they are and they seem to all be rabid Bill fans. So Bill’s babes, please stop acting like Bill’s bullies. You are scaring many of us away from participating in the conversations.
I feel you! This site isn’t ’bout bullying,
i don’t care if its a gay mag or not?
If we are aloud to have nice pictures of hot vamps in our magazines, then hell so are they.
I mean, that’s my opinion.
A lot of Bill fans say EXACTLY the same thing. So I guess there is an antagonistic minority which is to blame on both sides that are turning fans off of participating? I know that there are some things that both Bill fans and Eric fans say here that make me facepalm and wonder why people feel the need to be so rude over which fictional character they prefer in a TV show.
But I really don’t see why an interview with Alan Ball, in which all the actors/characters are fairly represented, has anything to do with team war nonsense?
Just to clarify a thing or two – this is an actual magazine and not just an on-line one. I had the winning bid on eBay to get it. Yes, it is a gay men’s magazine. FYI, the opposite side of the red pic of Alex, Anna, Stephen & Joe shows a close-up of the backside of a guy in a jock strap.
I agree that it was a shame that they didn’t put Alan on the cover, but I am happy they included a bunch of the guys from the show.