Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Forbes names Anna Paquin on of the Year's 10 Fastest-Rising Stars

7. Anna Paquin

Paquin is back, playing the lead role in HBO's True Blood, proving once again that vampires sell. The cable program's opening broadcast totaled 2.1 million viewers in September 2008. Because of her new role, however, Paquin did not return to her role as Rogue in the cast of the X-Men franchise, which released its fourth film this spring.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/06/the-fastest-rising-stars-business-media-rising-stars_slide_9.html?thisSpeed=15000

Vampires strike back: 'True Blood' boils anew in Season 2


By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY
These are sanguine times for vampires.

The Twilight novels and movie are huge hits with young women, The Vampire Diaries is coming to CW, and the return of HBO's True Blood (Sunday, 9 p.m. ET/PT) is eagerly awaited by rabid fans.

Buzz has been building for Blood. The show is based on Charlaine Harris' nine-book series about vampires gingerly entering society after the discovery of synthetic blood eliminates the need — if not always the desire — to feed on humans. Season 2 roughly follows Harris' second Sookie Stackhouse novel, Living Dead in Dallas.

In tune with the "popcorn for smart people" label that creator Alan Ball once assigned the show, he promises a second season of "just more — sexier, hotter, funniser, scarier, more violent."

"Nakeder," too, says Anna Paquin, who plays Stackhouse.

As the 12-episode second season opens, telepathic Sookie (Paquin) and the vampire Bill (Stephen Moyer) are a happy couple (Paquin and Moyer are in real life, too) in Bon Temps, a rural Louisiana town surrounded by wild nature, where shape-shifters and otherworldly creatures also live.

read on

‘True Blood’ Stars: What Makes Vampires So Sexy?


Move over plastic surgery and tweeny boppers – the undead is all the rage in Hollywood right now.

With the success of the “Twilight” saga and HBO’s “True Blood,” which returns for Season 2 on June 14, vampires, in particular, are everywhere – and they’re hotter than ever!

AccessHollywood.com hit the premiere of “True Blood” Season 2 in Hollywood on Tuesday to ask the stars of the show: What is it about vampires that’s so darn sexy right now?

“I have no idea! We were doing our show and I guess there was a bunch of other vampire stuff happening at the same time, but you don’t really know that until it all comes out. I just thought we were doing this really unique, interesting, cool, quirky, sexy, crazy, scary show. But you know, who knows why things take off?!” – Anna Paquin, who plays Sookie Stackhouse on the show

***

“You know, we’re in the middle of an economic depression and I think there is something really wonderful about truly escaping and questioning other worldly aspects and sort of coming out of the rooted uncomfortableness that is happening in this country right now.” – Michelle Forbes, who plays the mysterious Maryann on “True Blood”

***

“They’re sexy, they’re dangerous. They are completely fictional so you can have a lot of violence being taken by fantasy without it really being remotely real. I think it all comes down to they’re sexy. They’re hot. Vampires are hot, you know? What can I say?” – “True Blood” executive producer Allan Ball

***

“This is what I’ve been saying, but Albert Einstein said that the most beautiful thing that we can experience is the mysterious, and for many people vampires represent the absolute epitome of mystery.” - Ryan Kwanten, who plays Jason Stackhouse

***

“Well, the biting thing is pretty interesting. So is blood. I think there is a real sexual quality to that, that maybe we have some trouble admitting to…but I’ll say it.” – Deborah Ann Woll, who plays new vampire Jessica

***

“Because they’ve always been hot! And people love the mystery of vampires. People want to get bitten, you know? They say they want to get bitten, but I bet you if the vampires were actually walking around right now, it would be more like it is in Bon Temps, people would be like ‘what the heck is going on?’ You know? I don’t think if a vampire approached me I would actually be like ‘Yeah, bite me.’ I think I’d be like, ‘Nevermind, I’m scared.’ Because you could die, you know? It’s like serious business. But they’re sexy, and they’re supposed to be good in bed so I think that’s probably what it is.” – Rutina Wesley, who plays Sookie’s BFF Tara

***

“I don’t know what that is, except that it is legitimate fantasy. I mean , I’m mystified — they kill people!” — William Sanderson, who plays Sheriff Bud Dearborne

***

“It’s the great undying love story, no pun intended. Its romantic, it’s scary, there is an element of protection if you’re a women. You’ve got this man who can protect you. I don’t know, I just think that people are really drawn to the romance of it.” – Merlotte’s bartender Arlene, aka actress Carrie Preston

***

“I think there is something sexy about them and the whole mystery of what is it like to live for long periods of time. I mean, I guess you kind of cast worrying aside because what is there to worry about, you know? So I think that’s sort of why. They’re sexy, mysterious…I don’t know if I would want to drink blood all the time, and I think I would really miss food, I am a big foodie so… that would be the hard part, but I would take the other stuff.” – Valerie Cruz, who plays Isabel, who Cruz describes as a new “fabulous, 600-year-old vampire” in Season 2

***

“I remember when I was young I was really into vampires — I liked to pretend that I was a vampire. But then, it was Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and those guys doing it. And it seems like the myths get mixed. I saw that movie ‘Twilight’ and it seems like we share a lot of the same kind of vampire mythology. And I have heard there is another show on another network about vampires and it kind of borrows people dating vampires and that sort of thing. So maybe that’s what people wish they could do in real life.” – Jim Parrack, who plays Hoyt

***

“It’s like that UK Subs song, that punk rock song form the 70’s, ‘Sex and Violence.’ There you have it.” – Alexander Skarsgard, who plays Bon Temps vampire Eric

Copyright 2009 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

photos videos and more here :

http://www.accesshollywood.com/true-blood-stars-what-makes-vampires-so-sexy_article_19087

6 Musicians Who Should Join the Cast of True Blood

The second season of HBO’s acclaimed vampire series True Blood is fast approaching (June 14th) and, honestly, we’re pretty damn excited. While the show is already jam packed with memorable characters, being a music site and all, we can’t help but wish that some of our favorite (or not) musicians could make a cameo appearance or two. Why? For starters, because some of them just look like they would fit the part. Others would maybe fit the part, but we mostly just want to see them die a violent on-screen death.

Here is who we have in mind…

http://beatcrave.com/2009-06-10/6-musicians-who-should-join-the-cast-of-true-blood/


Dallas celebrates the return of True Blood with a Contest #8 Sookie Books and Short Stories


Sookie Books and Short Stories

What is your favorite Sookie book ?

What is your favorite short story ?

Tell me the name of the next Sookie book coming out and describe it

Tell me the name of the next short story anthology and when it will be released ?

answer 3 of 4


Good Luck

Email: "Dallas " at Loving True Blood in Dallas

Here is list of available prizes ! HERE

SOME of these prizes WILL be offered everyday - NOT all the prizes.(we randomly draw 4 available prizes each day so all the "good prizes" won't disappear the first few days )

Each day (June 3rd - June 14th) there will be a chance for you to win a prize.
The entrants will be randomly numbered and the winner will be chosen by the Twitter character @TaraThornton each evening.

That days contest ends 4 pm cst the following day.

You foreign folks are welcome to play but if you win you will have to pay postage I can't offer to mail stuff internationally, sorry.

True Blood's Nathan Barr Film, TV music composers urge copyright law change


LOS ANGELES, June 10 (Reuters) - Nathan Barr has scored horror films like "Hostel" and the HBO vampire series "True Blood," but what really keeps the composer up at night is fear he will not get paid for music distributed online.

"'True Blood' is my first big show for TV and it's definitely going to see a lot of play on the Internet. It's a big issue for me," Barr, 36, told Reuters in an interview. "I don't understand why composers don't get paid if someone downloads it."

The issue is the latest digital copyright debate pitting creators in the entertainment industry on one side and studios, broadcasters, cable operators and technology companies on the other. Barr underscores how a growing number of artists -- writers, actors and, yes, composers -- feel they are not fairly compensated for content distributed on the Internet.

read on

Emmy Roundtable: Showrunners ( with True Blood's Alan Ball)



The showrunner is the workhorse of the television business, acting as the head writer, producer, casting director, editor, sound mixer, studio liaison, network communicator, hand-holder and surrogate parent. The Hollywood Reporter's Ray Richmond and Matthew Belloni recently gathered six of the best in the business -- Alan Ball (HBO's "True Blood"); Greg Daniels (NBC's "The Office," "Parks and Recreation"); Katie Jacobs (Fox's "House"); Jenji Kohan (Showtime's "Weeds"); Shonda Rhimes (ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," "Private Practice"); and Matthew Weiner (AMC's "Mad Men") -- to explain how they wear so many different hats.

The Hollywood Reporter: What do you tell people who aren't in the business when they ask what your job is?

Matthew Weiner: I tell them I'm a writer -- the head writer, sometimes. And I tell them that I basically have a job where I get to oversee the writing and control all aspects of physical production, from casting to editing to sound mixing. And while any show requires hundreds and hundreds of people to put it together, I see myself as the guiding taste on the show.

Jenji Kohan: We are the big casting agents for our show. We cast our writers' room. We cast our crew. We cast our department heads. There's a skill there for understanding who will be good at their jobs.

THR: So you're basically saying it's the perfect job for a control freak.

All: Oh yeah. Absolutely.

Read on

True Blood TV Guide article shoot

TRUE BLOOD Interview with Deborah Ann Woll


From IESB.net

Making a brief appearance at the end of Season 1 of the hit HBO television series True Blood, Deborah Ann Woll will be making quite an impression, as newborn vampire Jessica Hamby, in the highly anticipated Season 2.

Mixing romance, suspense, mystery and humor, True Blood takes place in the not-too-distant future, when vampires have come out of the coffin, thanks to the invention of mass-produced synthetic blood that means they no longer need humans as a nutritional source. As Season 2 begins, the mystery surrounding the serial killer in Season 1 has finally been solved. But, just as things are settling down, deadly new twists threaten Sookie Stackhouse (Academy Award winner Anna Paquin) and everyone around her.

In this exclusive interview, Deborah Ann Woll spoke about learning to talk with fangs, mastering a Southern accent and the mischief that Jessica will get in as she discovers herself this season.

IESB: How did you get into acting?

Deborah: I started out mostly in music and dance. I took piano and partner dancing, all through my grade school years. And, through that, I just found that I had a passion for creativity and art, and I liked the idea of working within a form, like a play or choreography or a piece of music, and bringing to it my own experience and feeling that was unique to me. After that, I started doing plays in high school, and I did a couple plays with a classical theater in New York, and I really fell in love with it through classical work.

IESB: When did you know that you wanted to make a career out of it?

Deborah: I was never really a good enough pianist or dancer to take that to the professional realm. But, I remember I was working on Madea, which I was way too young for at the time, and it was a character that was so unlike me and so out of my comfort zone and type, but yet I could still find something to say with it and have an experience with this woman, who I really had nothing in common with, except our humanity. That was a moment where I went, “Wow, I really seriously, honestly felt something there and, if I can find that with this character, then it should be easier with someone who I’m a bit more akin to.” So, I started to really take it more seriously, at that point.

read on

More photos and video from True Blood Premiere

35 great photos from Mercury news
http://www.mercurynewsphoto.com/2009/06/peopleproject06102009/

Anna Paquin, In Flesh And 'Blood' on NPR Fresh Air Today


Here is audio for this story will be available at approx. 5:00 p.m. ET

Fresh Air from WHYY, June 10, 2009 · In 1994, Canadian-born actress Anna Paquin became one of the youngest Academy Award winners in history when, at age 11, she was recognized for her performance in Jane Campion's film The Piano. Since then, Paquin's career has continued to blossom. She currently stars in director Alan Ball's vampire-themed series, True Blood, on HBO.

Paquin's list of credits includes films as varied as Noah Baumbach's indie drama The Squid and the Whale and the three X-Men movies. She was also featured in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous and Gus Van Sant's Finding Forrester.

In True Blood, Paquin plays Sookie Stackhouse, a small-town Louisiana waitress with telepathic powers. Paquin earned a 2009 Golden Globe Award for her work on the show.

Stephen Moyer on The View this morning !

True Blood Season 2 Spoiler clips

Here are the 4 from yesterday without the annoying ads at the beginning







ET video from True Blood Premier last night in Hollywood



ET was there as the stars of "True Blood" descended upon Hollywood on Tuesday night for the L.A. premiere of the second season of HBO's hit vampire series.

Click the video to watch ET have a bloody good time with stars including Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Ryan Kwanten, Carrie Preston, Rutina Wesley, show creator Alan Ball and many others.

The stars of the show tell ET what makes vampires so interesting and appealing to the fans.

"The myster, the fact that there is so much of the unknown," Ryan Kwanten explalins. "They have sort of a sixth sense, whether it be the sexual side or the ageless thing."

http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/06/75131/

Thanks Jessica!

Anna Paquin Has a Good Bra

Anna Paquin insists she’s the best supported actress in Hollywood — thanks to her incredible bra.

The X-Men star, 26, thought she would have to be padded out to play a busty blonde barmaid in hit vampire drama True Blood, but has instead gained all the front she needs for her character with special lingerie.

“I have an incredibly good bra,” explains Anna. “They don’t give me a lot of clothes, but the ones they do are all designed to push, lift, accentuate. It’s the if-you’ve-got-it-flaunt-it method of costuming.

read on

http://www.showbizspy.com/article/187396/anna-paquin-has-a-good-bra

Dallas responds to Charlaine's blog comment about DAG

We are having a great discussion in the comment area of the Charline Harris blog post that I posted yesterday. ( read it here )

This was my response to those that have been critical ..

The Sookie books are famous for inaccuracies and I think only 2 or 3 mistakes in 10 year's and 9 books are mistakes of import. I would also note that in subsequent printing the mistakes are being fixed.
In a very detail filled book series filled with hundreds of characters and entire worlds of supe cannon -I'd say that's a pretty good average.

I fault 80 % of these problems to the people who earn (lots) money from the sales of the Charlaine Harris books. (Publishers, agents, proof readers, editors etc) Everyone one who works with her KNOWS that she is not a detailed writer that plans and outlines in advance - THEY should help her fact check the books.

What I fault Charlaine for is NOT hiring ( and asking for ) help, until just the last few months she has run the Charlaine Harris.com empire from her little garage office in Arkansas without even employing an assistant. She has been writing all the books (over 30 from all 3 series) done the marketing and promotion without adequate assistance. I'm sure that mind set come from the YEARS of being a starving author who just has to do it all alone and on a shoe string. (I know you authors are familiar with that) I think it also may be a 'woman thing' to think you can do it yourself and handle everything and you must be weak in some way if you can't do all this and raise a family, make a life with a spouse, take care of elderly parents and be involved with your church and community. CH it seems is sure like a lot of us.

Now, as to the complaints about DAG that CH is addressing here, you know I've talked to lots of fans through this web site and on my radio show (I spoke to 20 reviewers recently on my blogtalk radio show ) and MOST of the complaints weren't about the little detail mistakes THEY were as she said "readers felt they should have had a vote in the plot developments of my book. They were angry with me that the book hadn't followed their own desired blueprint"

When I spoke on the DAG review show THIS IS exactly what I addressed , in my opinion if you are a strong shipper ( you want a permanent Sookie relationship) for one of the Sookie suitors you saw the book completely different than other readers who are not. In my experience, ( and obviously Charlaine's ) talking to folks about the book, most who were complaining were not complaining about the Clancy / Chow mistake or even the death of Claudine they were complaining about the plot and that they felt that all wasn't revealed or presented about their favorite character in the way and in the light in which they wanted it to happen.

Charlaine has not blogged one word in the last month. She had bit her lip, let the dust settle and calmly now written her opinion about the complaints and I say, HURRAH Charlaine!

One more point to folks who are ticked about purchasing books and not getting what they wanted for the money, NO ONE in this country has to purchase a book. Luckily almost everyone everywhere is only a few miles from a public library where books can be checked out for FREE! Check out the next Sookie book from the library first and decide whether you want to add it to your personal library.

This is just my opinion and I cherish Charlaine's opinion and all of yours .
Thanks guys for the GREAT discussion..

Visit Charlaine here http://www.charlaineharris.com/

If this subject intrigues you, I would highly suggest you read this article from the Wall Street Journal article "Lost in Fiction " HERE

**Kate Bee also says "Neil Gaiman had a wonderful post on the issue of readers being upset with authors: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html "

True Blood: When Marketing Goes For the Jugular

From Religion Dispatches ( you want to read this - FotS anyone ?)

An HBO show about vampires in the rural South depends on “viral marketing” for its buzz. But some people resent the conflation of fact and fiction that this kind of advertising entails. And what of the new religious movement known as the Vampire Community?

This June, HBO will launch the second season of True Blood, a soap opera featuring psychics, vampires, and shape-shifters based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series by Charlaine Harris. The story takes place in a world where vampires have discovered a synthetic beverage that can slake their thirst for blood. No longer a threat to humans, many vampires reveal themselves to the public, form advocacy groups, and begin dating human waitresses. Set in rural Louisiana, the vampires’ struggle against prejudice carries strong echoes of the civil rights movement.

Last year’s season drew an average audience of 7.8 million viewers per episode. This was due, at least in part, to one of the most bizarre marketing campaigns in history.

HBO hired an agency called CampFire NYC to use a technique known as “viral marketing.” The strategy was to pique interest in True Blood by deliberately confusing fact and fiction. This was primarily done online, where Web sites such as TruBeverage.com were created, complete with product descriptions of various synthetic blood types. Vampire profiles began to appear on Myspace, Facebook, and livejournal complete with fake news and fake discussions on how Tru Blood would affect the vampire political structure. YouTube clips began to circulate in which actors in fangs snarled into webcams that the hackers who had found their secret vampire Web sites would pay.

Read on

Loving True Blood in Dallas book suggestion: The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

Just for fun...

Catherine Jinks asks her readers to think -- really think -- about what being a vampire might involve, especially in modern Sydney. You can’t eat anything you used to enjoy. You’re unlikely to be able to drive, unless you got your licence before you were turned. If you were elderly, like Bridget, a former nun who was turned at the age of 80, you’ll have arthritis and other aches and pains involved with being elderly forever. You still have to make a living, but you can’t do a normal job. Not if you turned in 1908, anyway. Nina, the narrator, who died in the 1970s, writes adventure novels with a feisty vampire heroine. But Nina was turned at 15, which means she will be a teenager forever, with all the problems this involves.

These vampires don’t live in crypts, though they do have weekly group therapy sessions at the local Catholic church. This means they have to find homes with blackout facilities. And they have nothing to do all night but watch dull television shows.

Read on here

True Blood: Merlotte's new waitress Daphne (Ashley Jones ) speaks



Part 2 here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AMQ8SLAgXM

And from SciFi Wire
If Ashley Jones joined True Blood as a waitress, why'd she taste blood?
http://scifiwire.com/2009/06/if-ashley-jones-joined-tr.php

New American Vampire League ad

This is the BEST thing Bloodcopy has produced this year ..

True Blood's Anna Paquin : The onetime wunderkind has turned into a real vamp.

from Timeout New York

Vampires do love the good girls—like in Dracula or Twilight—so it’s no wonder that 26-year-old Anna Paquin is up to her fingernails in fake blood. Still remembered for scoring an Academy Award at age 11 for The Piano, the New Zealand import has since managed to lie low, avoiding that telltale trail of scandal and paparazzi. These days, as telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse on HBO’s True Blood, Paquin runs from vampires (occasionally) and macks on them (about every five minutes).

So you slept through our original interview time. Out late last night, huh?
We shot nights for two consecutive weeks. We’re on vampire hours. I don’t party. I’m not that cool.

Never?
It’s not like I’ve never partied. As soon as you don’t need a fake ID, it kind of loses its appeal.

You had a fake ID?
Course I did. I look like I’m 12! Especially when I was in college. A couple of occasions I had a bouncer look at it and go, no, you’re not so-and-so. If I tried to say yes, I am, they’d go, “No, you’re not, you’re Anna Paquin!” Like, they’ll know because my movie is playing across the street. They’d be like, this is the worst fake ID I’ve ever seen, go away.

And now that you’re of age?
I look forward to sleeping on the weekends. I do occasionally get my nails done on the weekend, but usually because there’s some miscellaneous vampire-related crap that ended up under them.

Er, blood? Dirt?
Miscellaneous. Mysterious. The cuter the outfit, the more you’re about to get really messy in it on set. There’s eye blood, there’s mouth blood, there’s congealed blood, there’s liquid blood, there’s old blood, there’s crusty old blood.

Read on

Photos from the Premiere Of HBO's "True Blood"

Last night big premier of True Blood Season 2 in Hollywood

Thanks to Barb from ( http://alexander-skarsgardfans.com/) for sending me this nice large photos of Alexander Skargard / Eric and you can look through 3 pages of shots here I'll post other sites where they are posted here too.

My favorite thing to do was see how many photos were mis-labeled with who was in the shot, see if you can spot a couple ...

HBO Presents The Premiere Of "True Blood" - Red Carpet
06/09/2009 - Paramount Studios
Los Angeles, CA, United States

http://filmmagic.com/ItemListing.aspx?cgl=376151&evntI=0

true Blood Video of the Day: Halo by Beyonce Knowles



Halo by Beyonce Knowles

Thanks, redneckgrl2