True Blood Season 5 comes to an end this Sunday and the action in Bon Temps seems to be centered around the vampire Authority. Even shape-shifters Sam (Sam Trammell) and Luna (Janina Gavankar) have found themselves in the middle of the mess. Trammell spoke to TV Guide this week about semiotics, working on True Blood and the departure of the show creator Alan Ball.
The interview takes place as Trammell is preparing to go surfing and the first topic of discussion is the fact that he went to Brown University and was studying to become a theoretical physicist. Eventually he changed to semiotics and even went to Paris for a year to study there. Trammell fully admits that it was a side of him we don’t see now saying:
It’s the most pretentious there is. We were all wearing black, smoking cigarettes, thinking we were the smartest people in the world. “The hegemonic transcendental signified forced upon the proletariat” — that was the kind of thing we were talking about. It was ridiculous.
After college Trammell got himself and agent and worked in the theater in New York. Eventually he moved to Los Angeles and auditioned for the role of Sam Merlotte on a new show Alan Ball was creating. Trammell admits that when he got the part he wasn’t even aware that Sam was a shifter and didn’t find out until later during a lunch with Ball. He goes on to talk about the amazing detail that goes into making the Merlotte’s Bar but he says even though the food may look great he doesn’t think it actually tastes great.
According to Trammell he thinks that Sam still carries a torch for Sookie (Anna Paquin), especially when you consider that only a year and a half has passed in Bon Temps since the series began. When it comes to Luna though he thinks that Sam has the real thing:
He does have trust issues — that irrational fight-or-flee impulse. But I think he’s found real love [with Luna], and he’s learning how to hold onto it. It’s about that moment when you know you want to pursue it in a serious way.
We’ve heard numerous times how well the cast gets along and Trammell credits that closeness to the fact that they all barely see each other. With all the separate story-lines often they can go long periods of time without seeing the people that are not closely related to their storyline. He does reveal that there was a bit of worry when it was revealed that Paquin and Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton) were a real life couple because there was that worry of “what if they break up” but ultimately it has made the show stronger. Moving to the departure of Alan Ball Trammell says that everyone wishes he would stay but he won’t be completely gone.
As a shifter Trammell spends a lot of time naked on the show and TV Guide asked him what it was like filming the love scenes. He says that between the sock they have to wear, all the people that are around and the fact that they are trying to block certain things from the view of the camera, its actually quite an awkward experience and its definitely unerotic. Overall though he doesn’t have a problem with the nude scenes:
It’s just that as you get older, it’s hard to keep your body looking…not even great, but just TV-passable. Especially when there are a lot of naturally fit people on the show—like Ryan [Kwanten], Joe [Manganiello]- the bar is very high. You just try to keep up. It’s more effort than you think just to not look horrible!
Be sure to tune in Sunday night to see how Sam gets out of his predicament with Bill and The Authority. The Season 5 finale airs at 9:00pm.
Source: TVGuide.com – A Day Out With True Blood’s Sam Trammell
Image Credit: HBO
