With the season five of True Blood coming to an end within a few hours RollingStone Magazine was able to have a Q&A with Sam Trammell who plays our favorite bar owner shifter Sam Merlotte.
In the episode called “Somebody That I Used To Know” Trammell had a dual war by playing Sam and Luna (she shifted into Sam). Now playing a role of someone else shifting into Sam isn’t unknown since he had to play this role last season when Tommy shifted into his brother. Now with that in mind did Trammell write this into the episode of “Somebody That I Used To Know” since he did that already or did they ask him to do that again?
“I didn’t request it, and I can’t speak for the writers because I’m not exactly sure. But I know I had a blast doing Tommy last year, so maybe they did think about that. They’re always trying to think of ways to stay a couple of steps ahead of the audience, and I think having Luna turn into me, and then on top of that us running into each other was pretty unexpected. Now I want to know who I’m going to turn into next year!”
He seemed to pull off Janina Gavankar (Luna) almost to the exact t. So what was he process for pulling something like this off?
“I spent a lot of time with her and, like I did with Marshall, I recorded every scene that she had ever done on the show on my iPhone and rewatched and rewatched and tried to key in on her voice rhythms. Janina was more of a challenge for me than Marshall because she doesn’t have a really discernible accent, and she’s a woman, so her physicality is different than mine. Also, I wanted to do Janina. Like you mentioned, it wasn’t just any woman. So it was difficult, but I actually got her to read some of the scenes with me. I didn’t do that with Marshall, but with Janina I was having a tricky time with it, so that was really helpful. And she was very supportive – that’s kind of a tough position for her to be in because she knows I’m going to be doing “her.” So I basically spent a lot of time watching her, watching how she walked, and trying to get little bits of information on her rhythm of speech, and I just did my best!”
How where you guys able to shoot the scene where you are holding yourself on your lap?
“There was this big piece of machinery that moves the camera exactly the same way every time. It’s really complicated – it’s not stop-motion, it’s a motion-control camera – and if you remember that shot, it pans behind the chair and then it goes up to me and her, and we just did it with me as Luna and we did it with me as Sam, and we had a double for me, who I acted with – but the tricky thing about that scene was that we did the rehearsal, and that motion-control camera is really loud. And I told Stephen [Moyer, who directed the episode], “Listen, we got a problem with sound. It’s going to be too loud.” And he said, “Yeah, sorry, mate, I know, you’re going to have to loop it.” So not only did I have to play both parts, but then I had to go and loop both. Parts. In. The. Booth. So I had to do those performances again. Looping is hard because you have to match the intensity and also the mouth movements.”
What was Sam’s favorite scene from this season?
“The scene that immediately comes to mind is one I did with Sookie, in the hospital when I’m telling her about how frustrated I am being a shape-shifter and how everybody is dying. It was just a really well-written scene – Brian Buckner, one of our writers, wrote it – and it was just meaty and it had a lot going on. And it was great to work with Anna [Paquin] – we don’t get to work together that much.”
In the True Blood world Sam has been considered a minority but this season he has been on the list of a anit-supernatural hate group. So what your prospection of the story line with this? Also do you find it very head on example of how certain people in this country have become so narrow minded?
“Yeah, I mean, Sam is a Caucasian male and he probably never considered himself a minority or anything like that. And now all of a sudden he is shown how quickly people can define different and be scared of that difference and then act hateful of that difference. That’s really what it is – the fear of what’s different. That’s what homophobia and racism are. And it’s interesting for a character like Sam because he’s shown what it’s like to be a victim. You’re put into a group and then people decide they hate that group – it’s just arbitrary. So, yeah, there are all kinds of groups that are victimized in this country and in this world who are treated unfairly. I don’t think we were trying to necessarily speak for any particular hate group or any victims, but just in general, I think this definitely happens all the time.”
So the question that we are all waiting to know the answer to. What can you tell us about the season finale?
“In all honesty, I think we have the best cliffhanger of any season we’ve ever had. There’s something that happens in this last episode that’s really unexpected. I was very surprised when I read it, and it’s exciting and surprising and fun, and I think people are gonna dig it. I think the writers, as well as write great dialogue and great characters, always want to surprise the audience, and they’re definitely going to do that with this.”
To read more of the interview head over to RollingStone’s website.
So what are your thoughts about Sam’s character this season? What are your thoughts about what Sam had to say in this interview? Feel free to tell us below.
Source: RollingStone.com – “Q&A: ‘True Blood’ Star Sam Trammell Teases Season Finale Cliffhanger”
Image Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
