Bite this: Talking to the stars and creator of "True Blood"

HBO's scary, superfun vampire series "True Blood" gets underway Sunday night. At press tour a few weeks ago, we had the chance to talk with creator Alan Ball ("Six Feet Under") and stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer. First a little background on the series is necessary. This is what I wrote in July:

I sat up till midnight last night watching the first two episodes on closed circuit, and the new series from "Six Feet Under" creator Alan Ball is hilarious and horrifying and sexy all at once.

Based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris, "True Blood" takes place in an alternative present in which vampires have...there is no other way to say it...come out of the closet. The invention of mass-produced synthetic blood has freed vamps from the need to feed on humans, as long as they can pick up a six-pack of Tru Blood at the convenience store. Congress is debating the VRA - the Vampire Rights Amendment - and there is also a backlash, with graffiti on the streets such as GOD HATES FANGS.

This, though, is simply the richly detailed background for the story of small-town Louisiana barmaid Sookie Stackhouse, played by Anna Paquin. Sookie is a cheery, smart girl whose life has been pushed off center by the fact that she can hear the thoughts of everyone around her. She doesn't date because she knows exactly how the boys lust after her - yuck. So when she meets a handsome, tormented vamp who's new in town and realizes that she can't hear what he's thinking, it's kinda love at first sight. Even when the vamp, played by Stephen Moyer, turns out to have the exotic vampire name Bill.

Anyone who's seen "Buffy" knows what will happen next: ultraviolence, heavy breathing and the exchange of bodily fluids and risque double entendres.

Now on with the interview...

Question: I was just curious, with the somewhat graphic sex there, especially in that pilot episode — it’s not a criticism. Just curious why you chose to go that way.

Ball: That was an instinctive choice. It felt like it was a part of the world. Having read all of the books, as I did, it really felt like that was just a part of the whole world that the Sookie Stackhouse novels take place in. Also, one of my main characters is totally sexually compulsive, so it sort of feels like you have to go there. And also — well, that’s really the only reason. (Laughter)

Question: Can you  talk about how you came upon these novels and Charlaine?

Ball: I found the first book totally by accident. I was early for a dentist appointment. I was wasting time at Barnes & Noble, waiting for the time for me to go sit in the lobby. I saw a book, the first book in the series, “Dead Until Dark.” The tagline was “Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend wasn’t such a good idea.” And I thought it was really funny. I bought the book. I started reading it, and I couldn’t put it down. It’s the kind of book that you think, “I’m going to read one chapter before I go to bed,” and you read seven. And about midway through the second book, I thought this — I think this might make a good television show because it’s got this great sort of — you just want more. You just want more of this world and these characters. And then I got in touch with Charlaine.

Question: How much do you view, through the way the vampires are, trying to assimilate themselves in the world, as a metaphor for gays in America right now, and is that something that was part of the books or something that you are applying?

Ball (right in pic): Well, that was certainly in the books. All  of that is in the books. I really don’t look at the  vampires as a metaphor for gays in a very specific way.  I mean, part of — for me, part of the joy of this whole  series is that it’s about vampires, and so we don’t have to be that serious about it. However, they totally work as a metaphor for gays, for people of color, in previous times in America, for anybody who is misunderstood and feared and hated for being different. I think, because of the cultural climate that we exist in today, it seems like, oh, well, they are a metaphor for gays because gay marriage and gay rights and that kind of thing. But I think it’s a bigger metaphor, and at the same time, it’s also not a metaphor at all. It’s vampires.

Question: Anna, can you talk more about the love story that's going to develop?

Paquin: Well, obviously, there’s an immediate fascination and attraction between Bill and Sookie if for no other reason than anyone else is terrified of him and she’s just dying to go up and take his drink order. And
we do get to see the roller coaster of that relationship because, obviously, as, I guess, the title of the book
would suggest, having a vampire as a boyfriend isn’t always the simplest of things to choose. So I don’t now how to say much more about it without giving away the plot.

Question: Is there anything from your personal experience that you bring into the role?

Paquin: Well, I mean, I stopped dating vampires when I was 15. So I couldn’t possibly remember. (Laughter)

Question: There have been, of course, so many times that the vampire myth has been explored even on television and including most recently on CBS in a show that, while it attracted a cult audience, didn’t attract a big enough audience, I guess, to survive on that network. Can you tell us how the mythology in terms of the literally the lure of the vampire will be different in this show from some of those others, if you know? And, also, are there lessons from shows like “Moonlight” to be learned in terms of what to avoid or what to do?

Ball: (Re: "Moonlight") I think it’s pretty lame when you let your vampire go out in the day just because you don’t want to shoot at night. I personally have never seen “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” or “Angel.” I don’t — I’m not really a big vampire fanatic. This was really my first — I’ve never read the Ann Rice books. This was really my first foray into the world of vampires. All I knew was the movies that I’d seen, and so I think, probably — I mean, I can tell you some specific ways the mythology differs.  Vampires — in our world, a lot of the myths about vampires were created by vampires themselves over history so that they could pass because, if you could convince everybody that, you know, you couldn’t be seen in a mirror or that you would freak out if somebody shoved a crucifix in your face, then you could prove you weren’t a vampire pretty easily.

We went to great pains to sort of depict a certain kind of physiology for the fangs where they actually are
retracted like rattlesnake fangs, and then they click forward. I wanted to approach the supernatural not as
being something that exists outside of nature, but something that is more deeply rooted in nature, perhaps
more so than our physiological perception apparatus is equipped to perceive. There are differences in what
happens to vampires being staked. I wanted to avoid the instantaneous incineration or the instantaneous turning into dust. I think, probably, if I felt like I — I wanted to avoid the vampires getting strange contact
lenses when their fangs came out or any sort of head prosthetic because, first of all, it’s a TV show. We
don’t have time or money to do that and, second of all, just let the actors act it. Give them fangs, and that’s
all they need. I’m trying to think if there’s anything — yeah, there is a specific thing that happens in our show to vampires who get staked which is probably different than what we’ve seen before. There’s what
happens to vampires when they burn in a fire that is different than what we’ve seen before.

But, for the most part, I didn’t really want to focus too much on visual effects or special effects. I wanted it to be a show about characters and to really explore what it means to be 170 years old and what it means to fall in love with somebody who basically part of the relationship would involve, in a world that’s mutually satisfying, being fed upon, you know, not being able to see this person except at night, having the entire town think, What? Are you crazy? and that kind of thing. I hope I answered your question. I think I just sort of rambled, but —

Question: As far as the mythology thing, there were a couple things that struck me about properties to do with these particular vampires ...  they have physical properties, things to do with their blood. ... In this world where there’s a blog about every particular thing, you know, that you could ever want to know about, do you think people know this stuff about vampires, about what the properties of their blood, things like that?

Ball: I think part of the appeal to me for working on this show is that it’s a world that isn’t so media-saturated. It’s a world where people are actually interacting with each other than, like, sitting at their computer and reading blogs all the time. So I don’t really — that’s a long-winded way of saying I don’t
really care. (Laughter)

Question: Charlaine has a huge fan base...are you ready for the crazy fans?

Moyer: Bring them on.

Paquin: How is having people who are really excited about your show ever a bad thing? I mean, come on. That’s what you hope that a show is going to have, and if they are already there, waiting to be really excited, then awesome.

Moyer: I think that, as a vampire, you — I mean, it’s the kind of — it’s a fantastic part to start with, but everybody has their idea of what a vampire is going to be, and they are never pleased all the time. If you look at something like “Interview With A Vampire” and those two amazing actors, not everybody liked what they did. Some people loved it. And, you know, I’m well aware that there’s going to be people who really like it and people who say — “Stake him.” I think it’s part of when you get into the genre, that’s something that’s going to happen.