HBO’s TRUE BLOOD: Comic Con Report

We are just a few minutes away from the Comic Con panel for HBO’s new vampire drama, TRUE BLOOD.

TRUE BLOOD takes place in the not-too-distant future, when, thanks to the invention of synthetic blood, vampires no longer need humans for their fix and can walk freely, if not yet comfortably, among their living counterparts. With their integration into a small Louisiana town causing a stir, a love story ensues between Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin, the X-Men films; Academy Award winner for The Piano), an innocent waitress with the unusual ability to read minds, and vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer, The Starter Wife).

TRUE BLOOD premieres in September but here’s a few notes from today’s Comic Con panel:

Attendees: Creator Alan Ball and the cast of TRUE BLOOD

• Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress in a smalltown diner
• Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton, a vampire with whom Sookie falls in love
• Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman, a thousand-year-old vampire Viking
• Ryan Kwanten as Sookie’s brother Jason Stackhouse
• Sam Trammell as Sam Merlotte, the owner of the restaurant in which Sookie works
• Rutina Wesley as Tara Thornton, Sookie’s best friend.
• Jim Parrack as Hoyt Fortenberry.
• Chris Bauer as detective Andy Bellefleur.
• Nelsan Ellis as Sookie’s coworker Lafayette Reynolds.
• Lynn Collins as Dawn Green, Jason Stackhouse’s love interest.
• William Sanderson as Bud Dearborne.
• Lorin McCraley as a Grabbit Quick Clerk

•  Sookie, Anna Paquin’s character, is telepathic but she can’t read the mind of the mysterious new vampire n town played by Stephen Moyer

• The idea for the series came about when creator Alan Ball found the book series by Charlaine Harris in a Barnes and Noble

• Alan Ball hopes to avoid the vampire cliches of blue light, contact lenses, and opera music.

• Anna’s character is Sookie is a virgin – mostly because she can read people’s minds and she hasn’t found anyone that she wants to get to know anymore than what she’s heard by sitting across the table from her.

• The moderator is obsessed with the sexual elements of the show.

• Vampire fanboys and fangirls are called “Fangbaners” – that’s all kinds of awesome.

• Lafayette Reynolds  is a vampire blood dealer who runs a gay porn website and is an escort.  Or as he puts it – he’s an entrepreneur.  Already my favorite character.

• Vampire blood is a powerful drug, but not everyone can handle it.  Can you ride the wave?

• The show will be serialized so definitely watch from the beginning. Uh oh, that’s sometime the kiss of death for me.

• There’s a lot of great stuff online if you’re interested in the show.  Check out www.lovebitten.net

• The “True Blood” cocktail – V8, Vicodin, Vallium and Viagra.

• A few people from SIX FEET UNDER are on the new show.  But more new blood than old blood.

• A lot of the questions in today’s panel are coming from fans of the original book series.  And dare I say there are actually a good bunch of questions, but they’re kind of giving away future plotlines.

• Alan Ball does take the original fan base very seriously but he has to work on his own vision.  And he doesn’t have enough time nor does he want to be one of the Executive Producers who goes online and changes the show based on fan feedback.

• The first season will follow the first book in the series.

•  Do any of the actors relate to their characters?  I wish one of the vamp actors would answer with “Yes, i actually like to kill people for their blood.”

• The question was asked about yet another vampire show.  Alan Ball doesn’t feel any competition in the world of vampires.  Good for him.  Does he know there is a lot of competition and yes, he will be judged.

• Anna Paquin has read some but not all of the books but she thinks it’s actually very helpful to have that source material available to her so she has much more insight to the character.

And we’re done.  Check out TRUE BLOOD on September 7th.