Dennis O’Hare will be attending the Australian Supernova Pop Culture Expo in Melbourne & Brisbane this April. This will be his second fan expo (his first was Comic-Con) resulting from his role of King Russell Edgington on True Blood.
Denis recently spoke with the Australian Associated Press about the great cast of True Blood, living in New York and busting out of his concrete imprisonment. Here’s an excerpt:
“True Blood is a special group of people. It really is a really intense group and not everyone lives in California, which makes a difference.”
O’Hare traveled back and forth from New York, where he lives, while filming the television series, and he says so did many other cast members.
“Chris Bauer, who plays Andy Bellefleur the cop, he lives on the east coast when he’s not filming True Blood so he goes back and forth and I go back and forth,” he says.
“A lot of folks have lives that they kind of travel around. Kristin Bauer (van Straten) comes to New York often and Steve (Moyer) and Anna (Paquin) come to New York often … and Grant Bowler, he always seems to be back and forth between Australia, LA and New York for work.”
Most of the cast, including O’Hare, also have stage experience, which he says is another anomaly for a US television show.
“I think (stage experience) is what makes the show have a kind of pop,” he says.
“Carrie Preston is graduate of Juilliard and is a very good actor, Nelsan Ellis who plays Lafayette is a very, very good stage actor, Anna Paquin has a lot of stage experience.
“She’s done quite a few plays and Stephen Moyer’s done quite a few plays as well. I know Alex Skarsgard has been on the stage back home (in Sweden). It is unusual to have that much stage experience.”
Read the entire interview at the source, as usual, Denis gives good interview.
Aussies Ryan Kwanten and Grant Bowler celebrated the 2011 G’Day USA Black Tie Gala at Hollywood Palladium on January 22. G’Day USA is an annual program designed to showcase Australian business capabilities in the USA.
Grant Bowler, who portrayed the skeevy but sexy “Cooter” in the 3rd season of True Blood has a new gig hosting the Amazing Race Australia.
Seven Network made the announcement on Saturday, after production of the reality television show began earlier this week.
“This race is going to be enormous,” said Bowler, who is fresh from a stint on US series True Blood.
“The route is simply amazing. We have a wonderful cast, with incredible diversity between the teams and within the teams,” he said.
“There are some fantastic characters that are iconically and classically Australian.”
The Amazing Race Australia continues Bowler’s association with Seven, having started his television career on the police drama Blue Heelers, before hosting The Mole, working on Border Security, and more recently starring in the US series Lost and Ugly Betty.
“Hosting is something I haven’t done in a long time, and I really enjoy it,” he said.
“If you’re going to do it, this is the show to do it on. The Amazing Race is the best format in reality television, and it’s just incredibly exciting to be a part of.”
Damn goodlooking Ozkiwi acting legend Grant Bowler chatted with EW yesterday about his fun role as the new badass werewolf minion of the King of Mississippi. Remembering the scene where Coot drinks from Bill Compton in the sadly departed Beemer, he joked:
White trash legend Cooter.
“That was a love scene. It took all day to shoot, and Stephen Moyer and I laughed so hard in the back of the car – we were almost blowing takes, we were giggling so much — that we actually fell in love. We’re having a bromance.”
It looked like kinda a nasty scene on our TV screens, but it was actually a blast for them to shoot. “Don Swayze was irrepressible. Swapping the blood [with the front seat passenger] was in the script, but the entire way Don went about doing it, the complete wrongness of it, that was all him. ‘Shall I lean in right over his mouth?’ Ahhh. Don is fearless. He’s absolutely fearless. We’re in the back of that shot, and I’m howling with laughter and it’s all that Moyer can do to keep a straight face and look like he’s in agony ’cause Don Swayze just pushed the boat out and let go.”
But he also warned that won’t be the only pain he will inflict on Bill Compton: “Look, Coot absolutely delights in Bill Compton’s misery… I get a wonderful chance to revel in his misery. That’s about as much as I can tease. I can’t get in trouble with Alan.”
Grant also explains how he channelled his inner Aussie-Kiwi bogan in order to get into the role of Coot- “I grew up in a neighborhood [in Australia] that Coot would come from, so I’d put on AC/DC, turn the volume up to 11, drive to work, and I’m there”
Its a pretty interesting interview where he also chats about his upcoming roles. So,
Season Three is all about the werewolves, and Grant Bowler (who plays Cooter) spoke with TV Guide about his role as a vicious, v-addicted role.
TVGuide.com: What can you tell us about Cooter and his pack? Cooter is a joy to play. I play him like a redneck Romeo. [Laughs] These werewolves have a very strong agenda; they’re not just kicking around looking for someone to beat on.
TVGuide.com: What can we expect between Cooter and Bill now that Bill seems to be cooperating with the King of Mississippi? It starts off professional with them, but it gets personal very, very quickly. I love the relationship that develops between the two. They just hate each others’ guts and need each other dead. It’s a really strong, fun dynamic to play.
TVGuide.com: What’s it been like acting in some of those really dark, graphic scenes? The amazing thing about True Blood is how far they’re prepared to go. I’ve never heard one of the directors, or Alan, or any of the writers once say, “Uh, that’s going too far. Can you pull back?” Whenever I was on set and it felt like we were pushing it too far, we’d look over at them and they’d be grinning and making “go further” motions to us. I think that’s unique to the show. It’s incredibly freeing as an actor to be working with people who are so adventurous, unafraid and just want to push everything.
TVGuide.com: What was it like on set with that cast? I think there were 34 actors and every one of them was as sharp as a tack, perfectly cast, and brilliant at what they do. It just makes it a joy to walk into work and know you have to bring your best game. And they’re incredibly welcoming and fun to work with. It’s very laid-back, and they laugh their butts off. They have to — that material is so dark and so fraught. They just laugh from dawn until the next dawn.
TVGuide.com: Any teasers for us diehards? Expect stuff out of Sookie that you’ve never seen before. She’s a bit special, that girl — a lot more special than you think.
Season Three of True Blood starts on New Zealand television next week (Prime, Wednesdays at 9.30PM, Kiwi kids), and of course us Kiwi’s are very proud to have yet another expat thespian in the show representing us in nakedness, sweariness and exciting criminal behaviour. TheNew Zealand Herald interviewed Grant Bowler about his role as Cooter, the werewolf with the embarrassing name (I didn’t even know what that word meant, thanks for enlightening me, Yanks). Awesomely, it seems that Coot will be around for most of the season squabbling with Bill and terrorising stupid humans. Click on the link below to read more, he’s a fun guy.
Grant Bowler
So what’s it like working with a fellow Kiwi on set? Do you and Anna ever discuss Kiwi icecream or anything?
New Zealand? All the time. I was over at their place last Sunday and we were talking about it. Although she likes to tease me that I’m an Aussie.
And would you say you were?
No, I wouldn’t say that I was one or the other. Whenever I have been asked that I say I am both. I’m an Australian and a Kiwi. I really do feel I have been influenced by two places for that very reason. I call myself an Oziwi.
So what are the rules of your werewolf? Do you morph at the full moon?
Every time someone does vampires or werewolves or ghosties or whatever, the trickiest part is figuring out the rules and sticking to them, I guess. On True Blood there are times when werewolvess really, really want to shift – you know like maybe a full moon or whatever, they have a really strong desire to shift. But they can also shift at will.
Okay, so they are more like the Twilight ones then.
I don’t know. I’ve never seen Twilight.
Is there anything your werewolf has to avoid?
Apart from traffic cops and dog-catchers, no.
And how did Coot become a werewolf?
Basically the rule in True Blood is that the weres are like the pure-bloods of shifters. They are at the top of the food chain in terms of any creature that can shift. So for a were to be a were they have to have two were-parents.
Did I read somewhere that you like scenes where you get to bash people?
I said the older I got, the stranger I found it that the jobs I tend to get offered are jobs where I bash the guys and kiss girls – and that was fine with me.
Do you kiss girls on True Blood?
Yep, I get to kiss girls, terrorise people and get into a bit of biffo, so it’s a trifecta.
And when you do your transformations, how much is you and how much is done behind the scenes later, digitally?
Basically [creator] Alan Ball’s take on shifting is that the whole bones popping, hair growing out of the face kind of thing works in a movie because you do it twice maybe three times, but in a series you are looking at doing it 25, maybe 30 times. And so the whole way that weres shift in True Blood is based on wanting to get on with the bloody story, so we shift quite simply and quickly.
HBO is releasing a series of videos intorducing the new members of the True Blood cast. This one features Stephen Moyer and Grant Bowler, the actor who plays Cooter. (Does anyone else childishly giggle every time that name pops up?)
