True Blood News at The Nest

Minor spoilers that probably will surprise no one… just reportin’

Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris, the author of the super popular Sookie Stackhouse books has been interviewed by Metro.co.uk. In this interview, Ms. Harris discusses the difference between Alan Ball’s approach and her own, how she is might be growing tired with her characters and how her younger readers like it when Sookie has sex.

Metro: What do the readers expect from your books?

CH: They want vampires, of course, and don’t mind seeing werewolves and fairies too. The younger readers like it when Sookie gets to have sex but that doesn’t happen in every book.

Metro: You wouldn’t know that from the TV show.

CH: No, you wouldn’t. That’s where Alan Ball [True Blood’s producer] and I have a different approach.

Metro: What are the other differences between the books and the TV show?

CH: There are extra characters on the show. We had to bring the other characters forward because Sookie can’t be on the screen all the time. Alan’s very talented. I had several offers to adapt the books and feel I went with the right person.

Metro: You’re very prolific – is it easy to churn them out?

CH: I wrote two books a year for three years, which was hard. A book a year is easy. Some are hard no matter how many years’ experience you have. They become hard when I’m growing tired of the characters or can’t think of new things to do with them.

Read the rest here.

OK, it’s been a day of crazy so… ease back a bit and behold the super-sexy Mehcad Brooks (Eggs!), Fernando Verdasco, Hidetoshi Nakata & some guy from Twilight (Kellan Lutz! only kidding!) in the Spring 2010 Calvin Klein X Underwear VIDEO. No really, it’s f*cking hot and sort of sweary. Wait, where’s the uncensored version?

Alan Ball did an interview with the Guardian UK about True Blood season 2 (which premieres tonight). A lot of this we’ve all already read, but some of Alan’s comments are new. I’ve posted excerpts from the interview below:

Can we talk about themes? I’ve noticed a lot more religion in series two.

We definitely get into the nature of religion and the nature of dogma and how that affects people, and why religion exists. With the Fellowship of the Sun, it was fun to create a false organisation that targets one particular group and uses religion as a tool of fear and power, because we know that happens on a daily basis. Certainly you can’t turn on TV or go on a computer in America and not see somebody go on about how America is a Christian country and other bullshit. Originally when I started working on the series, I wanted to explore the twin polarities, in the south, of Sunday morning revival church meetings, and Saturday night at the bar where you go and get so drunk that you give yourself permission to do the things you wanna do. Because they’re opposite sides of the same desire, which is the desire for transcendence.

Here it’s shown on two channels, and both have advertising

Hmmm. I don’t write breaks, so somebody’s making some arbitrary choices about where the breaks should be.

Have you seen it like that?

I haven’t and honestly it would be upsetting to me. I’d be like, what’s that doing there? [laughs] I couldn’t work at a broadcast network now. I’m too spoiled. The executives at HBO don’t want things to be easy and overly explained and pre-digested. They want things to be complicated. If this show was on a network then Bill and Sookie’s relationship would be perfect and he’d never do anything horrible and it wouldn’t be messy and you’d never see them have sex and him actually bite her. But that’s the point.

And it’s shocking, the first time you see it

Yeah! It’s shocking but it’s also like, OK, that’s what this relationship is. That’s why the idea of having a vampire lover is one that so many people fantasise about. It supports this entire cottage industry of vampire romance fiction/TV shows. Whether it’s for preteen girls who are afraid of sex or whether it’s for horny housewives whose real life with their husbands isn’t exciting. I actually had one of our assistant directors went home to visit her friends in Texas, and one of her friend’s husbands came up to her and said, “We just want to say thank you for that show because we’re having better sex than we’ve had in years on Sunday nights.” Hello, vampires are about sex.

There was some controversy over here when series one aired, because a journalist assumed the show was aimed at teenagers

But it’s never been for young teenagers. I’ve always thought it was a show for adults. And by the way, if people think teenagers aren’t having sex, they’re out of their minds! I mean teenagers are like vampires. They basically are sex!

Read the entire interview here.

C.C. Sheffield ~ Missy in Season 3

A couple weeks ago, casting was announced that C.C. Sheffield was selected to play the part of Missy in Season 3, episode one – “Pack of Wolves.” We had a chance to catch up with CC and here she is, on the set.

TB-N: How does it feel to be a part of True Blood?

CCS: I feel very excited I’m huge fan of Alan Ball, and all his work. So I was honored as an actress to work on a show that has top notch quality writing, and acting. Oh and hot hot guys.

CC and Ryan ~ On the set

Here’s a video of C.C. Sheffield’s “Escape Me” from Tiësto’s album “Kaleidoscope.”

Ryan Kwanten & Sam Trammell with clothes on

What’s the deal with all the articles about True Blood nudity today? We’re not sure, but hey, the more the merrier. Here’s the latest from People – oh and yes, they really did call him Sam Merlot. (As in “I go for Merlot” – aw I miss you Eddie.)

True Blood fans with a taste for male eye-candy can breathe easy: stars Ryan Kwanten and Sam Trammell promise they’ll spend very little time in wardrobe for the show’s upcoming third season.

“We joke about it — and who has the record for the most disrobes,” says Trammell, who plays the shape-shifting Sam Merlot. “I think Ryan does. But I’m close behind him at this point because I’ve already disrobed like four or five times this year and I don’t think he has at all. I’ve got to fight that out with him. Ryan is definitely ready to show up and flaunt it, because he’s got the bod to back it up. He’s probably the least bashful.”

“I tend to think that I live my life relatively fearlessly,” admits Kwanten, who plays the heroic if not always clear-headed Jason Stackhouse. “If HBO knew half the things that I do in my personal life they probably wouldn’t be too happy about it … I have no fear. I sort of hide behind the guise that I am playing a character … Personally, I’m quite restrained and almost introverted. But as Mr. Stackhouse, I can’t afford to have any of those sensitivities.”

Trammell says the show’s producers don’t exactly help the cast stay in top shape for their frequent nude scenes. There is no exercise equipment on set, but plenty of tempting food on the craft services table. “[Working out is] up to us,” he says. “They’ve got the cookies out.”

He said the cast has gradually gotten used to performing in the buff. “Some of the ladies are kind of shy sometimes … Pretty much the process is: You’re shy, you take off your clothes once and then it’s done.”

OK, I’m sure everyone’s very very excited to be reassured that Alexander Skarsgård has already had some tasty nekkid scenes shot for season 3. What I’m excited for though, is what Sam Trammel said about the “shocking”  scene in the first episode. Please please please let that scene be what I think it might be!

Good news for True Blood fans!

We’re told we can expect much more nudity during Season 3 of the hit HBO vampire series, which began filming again last month.

“A lot of people will be getting naked this season,” TB‘s Todd Lowe (aka Terry Bellefleur)  told us at the 16th Annual SAG Awards Saturday night.

In fact, according to castmate Carrie Preston, baring it all is especially a cinch for hunky 33-year-old Swede Alexander Skarsgård…

“Alex is not shy about getting naked at all!” said Preston, who plays Arlene Fowler. “And there will be lots of those kinds of scenes with Alex this season.”

Lowe said, “He’s already been naked a time or two so far since we’ve gotten back to filming.”

Nelsan Ellis, who plays same-sex lovin’ Lafayette, said, “There are a lot of hunky dudes and beautiful women who have been added to the cast, so it doesn’t surprise me that more clothes are coming off.”

At the recent BAFTA/LA tea party, Sam Trammell, who’s already gone practically full frontal as Sam Merlotte, said that he’d like to have a bigger share of the fangelicious hanky-panky.

“I’m not having any sex yet,” Trammell told us. “They really should provide Sam with more sex.”

But then he added, “There is a suprising—well, shocking—scene in the first episode. Some people will be happy and some people will not.”

source

The New Zealand media have been giving fairly good coverage to Anna’s wee trip to the Golden Globes, and last night they showed this interview on Close Up, a usually zzz current affairs show. It appears to be quite an old interview but still fun, cut with bonus smutty clips from Season 1 and possibly embarrassing footage of our gal winning her Oscar at the astonishing age of 11. I remember that day, she was all kinds of cute. Click on the picture and it will take you through to the site to watch the clip. I love how her accent flip flops between LA and Wellington, hee! Warning, not safe to watch at work or around youngins because of awesome nekkidness.

Source : www.stuff.co.nz

Alan Ball did a charming interview with Abbie Bernstein @  Buzzy Multimedia which was published today. There’s a lot of stuff in here that we have already heard, and some things that I don’t think we have. There are spoilers in here for those not finished with Season 1 or Season 2, so beware those of you that are behind.  Of special interest, we find out that HBO has renewed True Blood for a fourth season (!), which should bring a smile to all you “Dead to the World” fans out there (and to all True Blood fans for that matter). See highlights below:

The cable network is so pleased with Ball and company that, Ball relates, “I just closed a deal to show-run True Blood for two more seasons, so I would assume that [the series is at minimum] going through Season Four.”

As True Blood continues, Ball says, “I think we’re always going to use the books as sort of a foundation, but I just don’t see how, as time goes on, you can’t diverge from them a little bit more each season. I don’t know, though. We’re starting to work on Season Three and we actually are really, really sticking to the books, at the beginning at least.”

Anything Ball can tell us about where Season Three is going? “Season Three is a big Eric [the vampire played by Alexander Skarsgard] season and Season Four is really big for Eric’s character, according to the books.”

Also, Alan remarks on the difference between the sex/violence shown in True Blood than what was originally written in the Sookie Stackhouse books:

True Blood the series has startled some of Harris’ fans by being more overtly sexual and violent than the books are. Even in the relatively tender romance between Paquin’s Sookie and Moyer’s vampire Bill Compton, Ball says, “Certainly, the first time that they get together, we made it pretty bloody.” The episodes are indeed harder-edged than Harris’ prose, Ball adds. “It’s a little more violent. The books are violent, but I think it’s one thing to hear about it and another to see it.” So far, he adds, HBO has not objected to what has been depicted on the show. “I have never had a situation where they’ve said, ‘You can’t show that.’ Obviously, there’s a lot of sex in this show, but it’s never going to be pornographic. I’ve never had a situation where [the network has complained]. But I’m sure if I did something graphically pornographic, they would say, ‘Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?’”

Read the entire interview at the source

Chicago Now featured the bare chests of the True Blood cast (sorry guys, men only here) in yesterday’s Show Patrol. As usual, Jason Stackhouse was mentioned primarily, but interestingly enough, the gallery includes not only the usual (Stackhouse, Eric & Bill), it also includes Lafayette, Godric and even poor dismembered Jerry. Check it out –  even Mr. Merlotte got some chest time here.

Thanks to HBO, the hunks of “True Blood” are this week’s SMotW (Shirtless Men of the Week). The network begins a week-long marathon of “True Blood” on Monday, Dec. 28. Three Season 1 episodes will air from 7-10 p.m. (central) each night through Dec. 31.