Music: {allcanada} 'True Blood' actors have bite

Friday, July 29, 2011

{allcanada} 'True Blood' actors have bite

Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer are just your average, everyday married couple.

"We do ritualistic animal sacrifice, we host orgies on our trampoline every other Sunday - you guys didn't get our Twitter feed on that?" said Paquin, standing beside her husband Moyer, in a small media scrum following the True Blood session at the Television Critics Association tour.

"And then every once in a while we run through the city and drain people and drink their blood," Paquin added. "It's really very romantic."

Paquin plays Sookie Stackhouse and Moyer plays vampire Bill Compton in True Blood, which currently is airing its fourth season Sunday nights on HBO Canada.

Paquin, 29, and Moyer, 41, weren't a married couple when True Blood began, but they are now, having tied the knot last year. Ironically, as Paquin and Moyer got closer off-camera, their characters had a big falling-out on-camera.

"I actually pitched to Alan (Ball, True Blood creator) that I was getting a bit bored with our life, and could he add somebody else to the mix," Moyer said.

"Thanks, babe," Paquin responded, rolling her eyes.

An aside from a journalist's perspective: Generally, I don't like interviewing two people at the same time. Often they talk to each other, or at the very least they instinctively edit each other, rather than having a genuine conversation with the interviewer.

But I have to say, Paquin and Moyer were charming as a duo, especially in the small scrum after the formal panel. They were more animated together, playful even, than on previous occasions when I've seen each of them speaking with the media on their own.

For example, at one point Paquin and Moyer were asked what they do during their down time on the set.

"A quick 10 minutes in the trailer?" Moyer, asked, rhetorically and hopefully.

Again, Paquin rolled her eyes.

Certainly with Sookie and Bill on the "outs", and Sookie now protecting and finding herself attracted to Bill's enemy Eric (Alexander Skarsgard), Paquin and Moyer don't have as many scenes together this season as they've had in the past.

"Truthfully, we got to know each other on set, and all the crew and everybody knows us together," Moyer said. "So they kind of tell us they miss it - I mean, they're probably lying, but they tell us they miss seeing us together."

When Paquin and Moyer are with each other at home, their favourite TV show - besides True Blood, I assume - is Breaking Bad.

"Absolutely, utterly obsessed," Moyer said of Breaking Bad, which airs Sundays on AMC.

Paquin and Moyer also took time to give credit to two of the other actors on True Blood who they feel don't get as much attention as they should.

"There's always a lot of talk about the weres (werewolves) and the vampires, but Ryan Kwanten (who plays Jason Stackhouse) and Sam Trammell (who plays Sam Merlotte) are unbelievable and consistently amazing," Moyer said. "I love watching both those guys."

"And they get so little credit for how incredible they are," Paquin added. "So a big shout-out for them."

Despite genuine admiration for the rest of the True Blood cast, Paquin and Moyer mostly have radar for each other. So how long did it take before they realized they could be more than co-stars?

"I waited for her to tell me that she really fancied me before I admitted anything," Moyer said.

Yet another eye-roll from Paquin. But without a doubt, there was love in those peepers.