Friday, July 16, 2010

'True Blood' runs through Alan Ball



Stephen Moyer is baring his fangs like he means it. Over and over and over again. In character as the 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton, the star of HBO's campy drama "True Blood" is hovering midair, poised for a real throw-down.

Fans won't see this scene for several more weeks, so revealing the bizarre and complex events that have led to it would only spoil the fun. In this densely plotted series, which recently garnered its first Emmy nomination in the drama series category, each episode is so revelatory that HBO has built its own wiki to help fans keep up. So far, 11.7 million of them are up to the task, tuning in each week for what show creator Alan Ball calls the " 'I can't believe I'm watching this' moments."

On this massive West Hollywood soundstage, the mood grows tense as Moyer's flying rig repeatedly sends him swaying ever so slightly off his mark. The crew eventually pulls it together. And to his credit, Moyer is believably vicious every time. After all, in the "True Blood" universe, the timing of a "fang bare" can make or break a scene.

read on

0 comments: