“It’s just a question of mental and physical health. Running a TV show is huge. There’s a reason people take a year off and stuff like that. I’m at the point where the show is very strong. All the writer-producers know what they’re doing. Everybody is operating at the executive producer level. I need a break to clear my brain. Clear the deck. Live as a human for a few months.”
Now how does Alan think the show will be able to go on without his voice?
“I believe I’m leaving it in very good hands. I’m OK with not being in control. I am a control freak, every show-runner is, but I’m happy to let go of this control. I’m not one of those guys who writes every single word. I empower other writer-producers on staff, they do a better job that way. I don’t want to develop a drug habit to meet the output level. But the nature of horror genre means there is a heightened, visceral, Grand Guignol kind of aspect to it. The vampire idea is basically people feeding on other people. It’s a horrifying concept once you look at.”
How did Alan start planning on the creative direction for this new season?
“For me the jumping off point was watching the Republican primaries, watching Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and asking what would it be like to have a theocracy in America – which is way more terrifying than any fictional monster could ever be. Our jumping off point was “OK, what is a vampire theocracy?” You don’t really see vampires being religious creatures. They are excluded from God. But what if there was a vampire bible? A religion? Theocracy? How would that impact our human characters, or vampire characters? I haven’t really seen that before.”
So the big question comes into why did he chose Rick Santorum?
“What’s terrifying is how many people agree with him. Chris Meloni comes in, he is the guardian of the blood. Supposedly they have a vial of blood of the first vampire – like a Catholic icon. The governing body of vampires is like the Catholic church plus the Supreme Court for vampires. But it’s a very secret organization.”
So beyond True Blood what other projects does Alan have coming up?
“I have tons of things I want to write. I have a movie in development at Paramount – “The F Word.” Elan Mastai is the writer – I read his spec script. It’s a big commercial comedy. This movie I wrote, “What the Matter with Margie?” is currently being financed. It stars Elizabeth Banks, directed by Dan Minahan, about a woman who has a bad day and starts fighting back.”
So does he see himself ever getting back into movies?
“I’m a little old for the TV grind. I would like to play around in the feature world. It’s a little scary, seems like impossible to do anything these days. But I don’t want to go from being a workaholic to being another workaholic. I need to create more psychic space.”
It is very interesting to see how Alan came up with all of the ideas for the new season. What are your thoughts with how he came up with the new season and how do you like the new season? Tell us below.
Source: TheWrap.com – “Rick Santorum Inspired ‘True Blood’ Season 5, Says Creator Alan Ball”
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images