HBO’s “True Blood” comes to Clinton, La., to film

From LSUReveille

Trash lined the streets, panties hung from the statues and graffiti stained the walls of downtown Clinton on Friday afternoon.

Mardi Gras didn’t come early — the cast and crew of HBO’s hit show “True Blood” were in town, filming scenes for the 10th episode of the show’s second season.

At sunrise, crew members transformed Clinton’s quaint town center into Bon Temps, the fictional Louisiana town where the series is set. Its littered, disruptive look was for a yet-to-be-revealed plot twist.

“True Blood” follows feisty, mind-reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her relationship with the dashing Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) — a 173-year-old vampire.

In Sookie’s world, vampires have “come out of the coffin” thanks to a newly developed synthetic blood drink that allows them to survive without human blood.

But not all vampires choose to give up humans cold turkey — making Bon Temps a dangerous place to live.

This isn’t “Twilight” — the violence is brutal, and the sex is explicit. A creepy gumbo of mystery, dark humor, romance and Louisiana culture, the season premiere of “True Blood” on June 14 attracted more viewers than any other HBO show since the series finale of “The Sopranos” two years ago.

“True Blood” was created by Alan Ball, the man behind HBO’s popular, Emmy Award-winning series “Six Feet Under” and the Academy Award-winning film “American Beauty,” and is based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.

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