True Blood's Christian Conservative Vampire-Hater Speaks Out

From io9

We interviewed True Blood's vigilant vampire hater, played by Michael McMillian, and learned a little more about the Fellowship Of The Sun's televangelist golden boy, who says he's a cross between George Bush and Bruce Wayne.

We got the chance to chat via email with actor Michael McMillain, and learn a lot more vampire-loathing character, Steve Newlin, who's really a complicated enigma, combining fanaticism with a sense of compassion. There's even a bit of a King Arthur sprinkled into the fold of this character's persona.

What do you think this great character Steve Newlin? He appears to have it all put together, but there's got to be something looming underneath it all (as is the way with all things True Blood).

This is why Steve's a fascinating character to me. He is a living ideology. It's like trying to figure out who [George W.] Bush really was, in some ways. Like, did he really think he was a hero? Did he really think he was a great Christian? Steve repeatedly speaks in terms of black and white — this "with us or against us" terminology we were so accustomed to hearing over the past decade. Is it all just bullshit? It's almost archaic in this modern day and age. I talked to Alan Ball and the writers about where Steve is coming from, and we all agreed on the same thing: he is absolutely being true to himself. He believes everything he says. He's driven by what he was raised to believe in and his conviction that his father was murdered by agents of evil. In some way's he's like Bruce Wayne. He's setting out to ensure that what happened to his family won't happen to anyone else. And, I mean, he has a point. Look what happened to Jessica. That scene in the first season, when she was kidnapped and turned, was a nightmare. So I'm not sure how troubled he really is, beyond the fact he's troubled by the growing acceptance and tolerance of Vampires.

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