With the fifth season of True Blood in full swing it seems like everyone wants to get all of the information on the new season and what will be happening in the next season (since it was announced that a sixth season will be happening). eCentral was able to get a interview with the True Blood creator Alan Ball in his office and also get a invite to tour Merlotte’s Bar & Grill. Here is what Alan had to say about the bar:
“The set designer (Suzuki Ingerslev) thought of everything when she made this. What makes this place come alive is the details.”
Those details would be the pictures on the wall showing the main show characters. The bar also has beverages, food, utensils, cutlery, appliances, a jukebox and more.
Back in the office Ball talks to them about the fate of True Blood for the sixth season since he will not be coming back for another season.
“It is for mental and physical well being – it is such a demanding job. I’m very close to being seriously burned out.”
Even tho’ he is leaving the show he is leaving in good spirits and in good hands.
“I have been working a lot of the same writers since the beginning, so the show kind of runs itself now and I feel very confident that it will maintain a level of whatever it is that makes True Blood, True Blood.”
Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse) feels the same way about him leaving.
“I have huge abandonment issues so I will be sending him letter weekly to make him feel guilty. Honestly though, he wouldn’t leave if he felt that we weren’t in amazing hands. I think we’re all sort of in denial with the fact that he’s moving on to other things but in all fairness, I’m not sure that man has slept since the show started prepping six year ago. That concerns me a little.”
Of course there are a few other things that are changing over on the True Blood set as well. Anna Paquin is pregnant with twins with husband and co-star Stephen Moyer who plays Bill Compton in the show.
“It was always in our minds to plan for this in a way that wouldn’t affect the schedule…oh I’ve gone all American! I said ‘shed-ule’ instead of ‘sked-ule’, I’ve sold out. Seriously, though, it was just important to the both of use to make sure that (if we were to get pregnant) it wouldn’t affect our gang. The show is people’s bread and butter, you know, and you don’t want to mess it up for them.”
Even if the pregnancy isn’t going to affect the show’s filming that much it is starting to affect the wardrobe a little bit. Here is what Alan had to say about that:
“A few weeks ago, the costumer came to me and said ‘Sookie cannot wear her Merlotte’s uniform from this point forward’. So, we thought okay, that’s fine because Sookie is hardly in her uniform anyway as she’s almost always out getting killed or killing people!”
Even with Alan leaving the show after this season he has caome up with some ideas on which way the story should best take. This direction would give character more or less prominence.
“Somebody that we always thought was very good is going to be very bad.” Says Alan.
Anna talks about who she thinks could be going to the dark side:
“Oooh…really? Like ‘Dark Sookie’? Well, how many times can a person get kicked around before she kicks back, right? Bu then again, Sookie may or may not even be who Alan was talking about.”
With Alan leaving it seems like someone is already gearing up to take over for directing. That someone would be Stephen who has already done one episode this season. The episode that he has directed is called Somebody That I Used To Know. Here is what Moyer had to say about directing:
“I got the chance to direct a film when I was in my mid-20’s but at the time, taking the job would have meant that I would have to stop working in a sitcom (Conjugal Rites), which I got paid handsomely for. I took the coward’s route and went with the money. But really I just thought to myself that acting was what I’ve always wanted to do; directing was just a sideline at that point. I thought that maybe if I continued acting first, one day I would be in a position where it makes more sense to move on to directing. I didn’t think it would take 15 year though.”
With this season of True Blood us Trubies are seeing a different side to our favorite characters. The first thing we have noticed is the “bromance” going on between Bill Compton and Eric Nortman (Alexander Skarsgard).
“It’s weird for Eric to be saving Bill. Or for Bill to save Eric. It’s like, ‘Why am I doing this? I hate him!’ But at the same time, it’s good to see something new like this happening on the show” Says Alexander.
Stephen had this to add with his comment:
“It was nice to give our characters a different dynamic. Instead of the usual animosity between them, Bill and Eric are actually having fun with one another.”
In fact the two of them are having so much fun filming there scenes Alan had to call them into his office.
“Yeah, Alan called us into his office and told us that we needed to keep the stakes up on the show so we had better stop fooling around so much.” Says Skarsgard.
Stephen was kind enough to tell us what really happened on set:
“It’s kind of hard to be locked in the trunk of a car with somebody and having to say lines like ‘reach around’. I mean, how do you not laugh and make obscene jokes at that? It got to the point that we couldn’t even look at each other’s face because we would just burst out laughing. But I’m much worse than Alex, he’s a lot more professional.”
But in the end of the day the cast and crew of True Blood are really just one big family.
Here is what Anna had to say about being a family:
“I love playing Sookie and I also love working with the people I get to work with. It’s a family. You get to explore so much more of who they are, and see the different aspects. That can be challenging.”
Stephen is proud of how his character has progressed over the year. He has also claimed that in his real life he has improved a lot as well. And becoming a father (he has two children from former relationships) has helped him with that.
“I sing in a school band. We’ve got this sort of ‘parent’ band in my daughter’s school, which has Ewan MacGregor, Ben Harper and Chris Shiflett of the Foo Fighters. It’s nuts, right? And you’re asking me why I sing in this band? It’s Chris Shiflett!”
Of course Alexander is more homesick then any of the cast members it seems.
“It’s suck a big part of my life. I came here (Hollywood) eight year ago and have been with this show for five. It has become my family away from home. I come from a big social family and I’m still close to my friends whom I grew up with. I don’t get to see them all the time though because they live in Stockholm. I have a lot of friends here now, too, but most of them I met through work so they are all in the (movie) industry. My friends back home are not – my best friend is a carpenter, one friend is unemployed right now and another one is still in university. It’s just nice to have people around you who are from all walks of life.”
To read more about what Alan, Anna, Stephen and Alex had to say about the show for this season and next you can read the article here. What are your thoughts about this being his last season working on the show?
Source: ecentral.com – “Supernatural beings get even busier this season in True Blood”
Image Credit: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images
