Well, another bloody year has come and gone and here we are again on the eve of a new year. Today we’re taking the time to go through the True Blood News events of 2010…
As usual, the year started out with the various award shows. First up was the Golden Globes and True Blood was up for Best Drama & Anna Paquin was nominated for Best Actress in TV Drama. Although neither won (Mad Men & Julianna Marguiles took the honors), it looked like the True Blood cast had a blast at the event.
Maryann spreading that crazy orgiastic party influence again...
Next up was the SAG Awards where Anna presented the Award for Best Comedic Actress. The cast was nominated for Best Ensemble Cast. Again, they lost out to Mad Men. The fans were the winners though as a bunch of goofy photos were taken at the after party.
In April, we had the chance to interview Sam Trammell, where Sam confirmed that our wishes of a Sam/Bill daliance (even if imagined) might be possible.
June was an exciting month for all True Blood fans beginning with the 3rd season premiere at Arclight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood on June 8th. On June 13th, the first episode of season three premiered on HBO to a record number of viewers who found out right away who stole Bill Compton.
The beginning of True Blood’s third year also launched The Battle of The Fang charity competition which ran until the season finale. Team Eric and Team Bill put their money to super good use while supporting their favorite vampire. Our sister site, alexskarsgard.net proved formidable competition, and from the very beginning, the race was close. Stephen Moyer talked about it backstage at the Tonight Show:
Denis O'Hare at HBO's True Blood Panel during 2010 Comic-Con
Thank you, Skype, because we can now enjoy a delightful chat about Comic-Con between Denis O’Hare and James Sie, a friend he’s known since college. More conversational than a usual interview, Sie posted this exchange on his blog and was kind enough to allow us permission to share it at the Nest. If you have time, read the blog entry in its entirety; it’s definitely worth your while, as Denis O’Hare, as always, offers a fascinating and unique perspective. (PLUS, there was an altercation with the cast of Star Trek: TNG! How cool is that?!)
James Sie (JS): Comic-Con. What were your impressions?
Denis P. O’Hare (DPO): Gosh. Well. It’s definitely overwhelming but good-natured. Sort of like Mardi -Gras meets a science fair…. I also thought it was busier and bigger and more diverse than I would have thought. I loved how the crowd was multi-ethnic and spanned a huge age range… The people are not at all menacing -The opposite of a Monster Truck Rally weekend or a Tea-Bagger convention and how that sort of crowd would feel…this was so gentle in its madness…folks were less mob-like and more herd-like (I mean that in the nicest way) They sort of followed from place to place, pleasantly, no one getting hurt…no hostility, no menace— just good-natured wandering—
Kristin, Abri & Denis
JS: Yeah, well, I heard someone stabbed a pencil into someone’s eye at a symposium…
DPO: Yes, I heard about that. What I heard was that it was an injury below the eye and wasn’t as bad as first reported… Still— don’t mess with someone in line to see the Fringe Panel.
JS: No over-the top crazies for you? Did anyone ask you to bite their neck?
DPO: Yes. There was a rooftop party at the Hard Rock Hotel and we were stopped by a woman and asked for badges or bracelets and just as things were threatening to get officious, she suddenly screamed, I mean screamed and was like, “Oh My GOD!!!! It’s Pam and the KING! She let us in the party and then we took a series of pictures with her and her friends and she directed us to bite her friend’s neck. Which we promptly did.
JS: I recall you being besieged as soon as you stepped into the convention floor. Did that happen the whole weekend, and did it wear on you, the attention?
DPO: Ummmm, it was novel so it wasn’t really that bad. I did begin to feel odd though when I was on the street or walking around in the convention—like I was unprotected and just sitting out there for all to see. After the Fringe panel, Hugo [Denis' husband] and I walked home— sending away the car and driver (WE CAN WALK AMONGST THEM MY GOOD MAN) and Hugo and I went to the loo but I lost him when I came out and I was standing against the wall waiting for him and the longer I waited the more nervous I got and I turned to the wall and acted like I was texting. I could feel people walking by and I could almost hear them thinking, “Hey…isn’t that…?”Finally I saw Hugo and I ran over to join him and we left.
JS: Harrowing.
DPO: I was stopped quite a bit. People were always very respectful and easy about it, though. It was like that scene in the Birds. You know…”Now children, don’t run…just walk…”
JS: Do you feel like you’re on a team with your fellow TB-ers, or was it every man for himself? Did you get support from the rest of the cast during your official duties?
DPO: Yes and no. I didn’t have my publicist with me so I was being handled by HBO and they were great. Other cast members had their own publicists so they had different interviews and agendas. But Kristin (Bauer, Vampire Pam) and Joe (Manganiello, Werewolf Alcide) and I stuck together a lot and were sort of buddies.
JS: Best memory?
DPO: I had a really good time with the cast. The panel was a trip. Coming out into that room where 5,000 people are screaming and applauding and laughing… that was sort of a once in a lifetime moment.
Seriously, you should go and read the whole thing. It’s as enchanting as O’Hare’s sherbet-hued shirt…
TV Done Wright commented in an interview with Denis O’Hare that True Blood’s Big Bads disappear at the end of a season and hopes that doesn’t happen for season three. O’Hare replied, “You and me both!”
Make that three of us, or more like a few bazillion of us as the King of Mississippi has proven the most popular bad guy ever on the show. O’Hare is also popular with fans as he learned during Comic-Con last month in San Diego:
Adam: True Blood has some of the most devoted fans on TV today. Since joining the cast, people must recognize you on the street or in public. What’s the most common thing people tell you?
Denis: I get a variety of things – from someone bowing to me and saying “Your Majesty” to a stewardess who, when I told her that I’d have the chicken, said, “But you’re not supposed to eat”. I’ve lived in my neighborhood in Brooklyn for 12 years and yesterday a woman on the street said to me, “What are you doing here?” I was like, “I live here.”
Nelsan Ellis talks to Access Hollywood in this Comic-Con interview about passionate fans and how he enjoys that fans are more familiar with the characters after two seasons. Enjoy!
Welcome guest poster, @RynBlair, who agreed to share her Comic-Con experience with us!
Hello all you fellow Truebies out there! Sheriff of Charlotte, North Carolina Area reporting here on this year’s 41st Annual Comic-Con in San Diego. As an East Coaster transplanted on the West Coast for the first time, I am not sure Comic-Con was the best introduction. With that being said, I wouldn’t trade it for the world! In fact, I have already committed to next year’s Comic-Con and have begun my preparations. I hope to see you all there!
The foremost reason I took the trip to San Diego was to experience the wonders that are True Blood at Comic-Con. If you have never been to a con, I am not sure that anything I say will do it justice. I hope that perhaps I will inspire you to experience it for yourself.
My trip begins on Twitter. If it were not for you all on Twitter, I would not be here writing this today, and for that, I thank you. @TrueBloodHBO started it all for me, the rest just fell into place. I am a @BillsBelles and am true to @VampireBill and Stephen Moyer. I also have many friends who are of another persuasion, @VikingWenches or EL’s as they sometimes call themselves. I love them all and couldn’t ask for better friends! For this trip, I met up with some of my fellow Truebies as well as some of my other #ultimatetetruebie sheriffs. I also made some amazing new friends!
Reverend Steve Newlin, vampire-hater extraordinaire (played by Mike McMillian) has confirmed that he’ll return to True Blood.
“You have not seen the last of Reverend Steve,” he told MTV at Comic-Con. “That’s probably all I can say!”
Of course, that’s not all that McMillian could say, as the actor went on to praise his “True Blood” colleagues for giving him the “best acting experience I’ve had so far…. Working with Alan Ball and that entire cast and crew is absolutely amazing,” he said.
TV Done Wright commented in an interview with Denis O’Hare that True Blood’s Big Bads disappear at the end of a season and hopes that doesn’t happen for season three. O’Hare replied, “You and me both!”
