The final day of Dragon Con 2013, True Blood ended up being the first panel of the day on Sunday. Throughout the convention, one has had to get very close to their fellow con goers in the elevators. On Sunday morning, I took my very first solo ride down from my hotel room and my hotel was remarkably quiet compared to the sounds of partying I had fallen asleep to the night before.
When we arrived to the True Blood panel, Tara Buck (Ginger), Lauren Bowles (Holly Cleary), and Rutina Wesley (Tara Thornton) started things off. Janina (Luna) was unable to make it and Jim Parrack (Hoyt Fortenberry) was mysteriously delayed.
Some of my favorite moments from this panel ended up being the discussion of the sets. Tara spoke about Fangtasia and how the recreation of it from the real location in Long Beach floored her. She also talked about the details put into Ginger’s house like a shopping list and other kinds of props later on in the panel. Lauren talked about walking into the Merlotte’s (now Bellefleur’s) set for the first time after being a fan of the show for such a long time. There is so much detail in the restaurant that it could be a real working one. Rutina discussed the bset and how creepy it was having the morgue drawers around the gen pop set. She wasn’t too keen on the idea of having to climb inside of it.
Jim arrived about 10-15 minutes in and was promptly teased by his fellow castmates for his absence. It sounded like he had a bit of fun the night before. In addition to starring in the upcoming movie Child of God with friend James Franco, Jim has also been working on a movie entitled Black Curry that centers on bullying in adulthood. Lauren Bowles also revealed that she had just finished shooting a movie entitled What Lola Wants with Todd Lowe (Terry Bellefleur) playing husband and wife.
But the best moment probably had to be when Rutina stood up and imitated Pam’s “Blah Blah Vampire Emergency Blah” line from season 3 because the moderator mentioned that she was wearing a button with the line on it. It was a great impression. And in addition, Lauren mentioned that she and Rutina attended a women of True Blood dinner with Kristin Bauer van Straten and some of the other cast members because Charlaine Harris had bought it and attended with her daughter as a way to help raise money for Kristin’s documentary Out for Africa.
