Anne Rice Interview : she likes Bill Compton

Dean: What do you think of the current vampire types like those in "Twilight" and "True Blood?"

Rice: It's fun. I think there's nothing there to be frightened about or upset about. I've seen both the "Twilight" series and I think they were just romances for young teens. I mean, it's the same formula as "Jane Eyre" basically. The young girl ... the other mysterious figure takes an interest in her and is both protective and yet is a threat. And it's kind of, I think, Stephenie Meyer hit on that formula and it's a formula that always works. She's just done it in a new way. I'm amazed that parents are kind of frightened. I think the kids reading the book know that it's fiction. There were people a hundred years ago frightened when people were reading the book "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë. There's nothing to be frightened about. It's just fiction.

And I think "True Blood" is very clever. I really like Bill Compton. I think he's a nice, really melancholy, tormented vampire. I think Southerners really like "True Blood" because they got the South right. It took a vampire show to get it right. So often they get it totally wrong, but somehow or another, it totally works.

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