VIDEO: Nelsan Ellis Speaks From the London MCM Expo

Nelsan Ellis, who plays the flamboyant short-order cook, Lafayette Reynold on Alan Ball's hit HBO TV vampire series True Blood recently attended the London MCM Expo where his interview was captured on video by Essex UK TV. Nelsan discusses in detail his character Lafayette, his experiences with the fans and working on the show.  It was a pleasure to watch Nelsan and to get to know him better outside of his Lafayette character because as we all know, and Nelsan has mentioned it many times, he is nothing like his character.  Enjoy!

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VIDEO: Stephen Moyer Interview From A Coffin

Stephen Moyer who plays the handsome vampire Bill Compton on Alan Ball's hit HBO TV vampire series True Blood recently conducted an interview with Steve Jones from UK Channel 4 from the comforts of a coffin.  That's right you heard me correctly, a coffin!  As Steve Jones states Transylvania was too far and the local graveyard was just not right so the next best place to interview a vampire would be in a coffin.  This is a fun interview with Stephen as he discusses his character, the blood that he drinks on the show and his response to the comment about the racy scenes to which Stepehn says,

"that there is a little a bit of saucy actions every now and then and sometimes backstage as well."

You have to love Stephen's interviews, they are always so much fun to listen to. Enjoy the video and many thanks to UK Channel 4 for informing us about this video. SOURCE: UK Channel 4

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Inside Look at the Making of True Blood's Opening Credits

We recently found a video showing a behind the scenes look at the production of the opening credits for True Blood. As the video starts we hear the crew explaining how they came up with the concept for the opening credits. They wanted the feel of a predatory creature watching humans. They also wanted to incorporate the sexiness and violence that goes along with the show. The idea of the credits was to have these feelings and emotions build and build until you felt like you couldn't take it anymore. The credits were produced in more of a documentary fashion rather than normal film making. All types of different techniques and equipment were used. The church scene that takes place in the credits was actually a last minute shoot taken in Chicago. They cast an actual church and shot the scene in the basement of the church. You also get an inside look into how they shot the final sequence where you see the True Blood title under the blood. It was very inexpensive to create and the crew was extremely proud of how it turned out. This is a neat inside look into one more facet of this amazing show! Enjoy! True Blood Making of and Featurette from DIGITALKITCHEN on Vimeo. SOURCE:  Digital Kitchen

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Nelson Ellis Interviewed At London's MCM Expo 16

True Blood's Nelsan Ellis who portrays the always fabulous Lafayette Reynold attended London's Movie Comic Media (MCM) Expo 16.  At a round table discussion with British press, Nelsan discussed his role as Lafayette and gave some great insight into his experience working on the show. Nelsan spoke about meeting his fans, both in Britain and back in the United States:

It's cool meeting the fans across the pond. They're just like the fans over in America, and they say the same things about the show, so it's like, wow, I guess the show makes the same impact....It makes you feel good that your work has translated across the screen and some person comes from Manchester just to go, "Wassup, I like your work." You have to appreciate stuff like that.

When asked about his character, Lafayette, Nelsan gushed that he was attracted to the role because:

...he has so many colors! I mean, it's just, it's an actor's wonderland when you can just play so many things and do so many things, and I love putting on lipstick and the eyeliner and the eye stuff and do all this crazy stuff!

While he loves the character, however, Nelsan insists that he is not really like the character he plays on True Blood:

Well, they [fans] think that I'm like Lafayette. I am kind of a shy dude, but I'm not Lafayette. The luxury with being an actor is that all the things you...all the courage you wish you had, you get it out in the character. Because I don't have Lafayette's character, his courage, and certainly I don't have his sexual prowess. Many people think I do, so I've had some strange situations happen to me. But I'm kind of a reserved dude. But Lafayette is kind of reserved. He's big when he needs to be big, but he's also pretty chill.

Episode 5 of Season 1 is Nelsan's favorite episode because of Lafayette's AIDS burger scene in Merlotte's.  He said he was thrilled when he read the script, because he was going to get to do so much in that episode:

I get to do all this stuff in one episode and so I love that! I know it's egotistical of me to love the episode that I dominated, but I like that episode. Normally I have two scenes, and I have four in that episode and I got to do some fun, fun, fun stuff.

On the show, Nelsan does all of his own stunts, and in the round table discussion, he talked and laughed about that experience:

Well, I tell you this, bro. The first day that I had to do a stunt, they brought up some stunt dude and stunt dude was gonna do my stunt, and I was like, "Y'all just wasted money 'cause he's gonna sit there.... I'm doing all my stunts." And I'd do all my stunts and then they stopped giving me a stunt double. So I do all my own stunts. It's weird, though, when I'm in a fight scene and I'm fighting another stunt double instead of the actor, 'cause nobody else does their own. Rutina does her own stunts too. HBO is good like that. They listen to you. You can say, "I wanna do my own stunts" and they'll go, "Okay." 'Cause HBO is cheap, so that helps them save money if they don't have to hire a stunt double. So they're like, "Cool!" ...I punched a dude in the face before! And I thought he was gonna hit me back!...It was a stunt man. He was like 6'4", 235. I was like, "Bro, I'm sorry. It was a accident." And they were like, "Go on! Why'd you stop? That's the tape we coulda used, 'cause it was real!" I was like, "But he's bleeding!"

Nelsan also opened up about some of the more explicit elements of True Blood, the way his family has reacted to the show, and the nudity in some of the episodes:

I don't have to...well, I'm glad I don't have to bare all like some of my other cast members, but I am from a very religious background. My father hates the show. My mother hates the show. I don't care. It doesn't bother me except if I have to show my ding-dong. Then I'm like, "Really? Really?" It bothers my parents, you know what I'm saying, but they're closed minded, Southern Baptist, kooky people. The only thing that bothers me is if I have to show my...piece...my bits and pieces. Then I want a stunt double. Show his bits and pieces. I don't wanna show all my bits and pieces. I don't want everyone knowing my measurements. It's crazy. Ryan Kwanten, they have all these zoom in pictures, they throw them up on the internet. I don't wanna go through all that business!

The one character Nelsan thinks would be the most fun to portray is Eric Northman.  Nelsan says:

He's 2000 years old, he does not know fear, so he's just chillin' all the time. All the chicks want him. All the dudes want him. You know what I'm sayin'? He's just in the middle just cool, suave, collected, got it together.

Nelsan spoke about his break into showbiz, some of his other work before True Blood, and then said that the important thing he's learned from working on the show is:

Stay committed to your instincts. Keep listening to that small voice inside of you that tells you what to do. 'Cause when you start listening too much to people, you can sabotage yourself. That small voice has guided you through life and it keeps you true to the character.

For British fans just now getting a taste of True Blood, Nelsan gave a few hints about what they could look forward to in Season 2, just enough to whet their appetites, but giving nothing away. The folks at Geek Syndicate posted a link to the full fascinating and humorous ten minute interview. Click hear to listen to Nelsan which is fantastic and should not be missed. SOURCE: Geek Syndicate (Photo credit: Geek Syndicate)

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Nelsan Ellis At The London MCM Expo: A Fan Encounter

Our dear friend in the UK, Joao Vasconcelos, was so kind to send us a write up of his experience attending the London MCM Expo and meeting True Blood's Nelsan Ellis. Many thanks to Joao for sharing his experience with all the True Blood readers for it must have been a fantastic experience to meet Nelsan in person!  So let us sit back and enjoy Joao's encounter with the very talented Nelsan Ellis. During the weekend of October 24th and 25th, the ExCeL Center in East London was the host to the London MCM Expo in which many people gather to celebrate many cult classics. Around the center, there were people dressed as characters from the Star Wars series to Master Chief from the Halo Series. However there was one person that I was particularly excited to see. Nelsan Ellis was there to sign and take pictures with fans. Nelsan was really kind to the fans and had no problem signing the many things that they brought to him or taking many pictures with them. Nelsan looked completely different to his alter-ego on the show. He was dressed very smart and was unshaven. I first saw Nelsan being shown around the center before he started signing and on first look, I wasn't too sure if it was him. It wasn't until I looked over my shoulder that I noticed that it was him. There was a reasonably sized queue waiting to see Nelsan with many carrying various merchandise consisting of DVDs, posters and the Sookie Stackhouse novels. Those without anything had a choice of two promo shots from Season One featuring Nelsan. Upon meeting Nelsan, he was very kind and gracious. He signed both promo pictures for me and my Dead Until Dark book. After signing, he took a picture with me and wished me a good day and I wished him one back. Before letting the next fan in the queue walk up to Nelsan, I wished him good luck on Season 3 and congratulated him on Season 2 in which he replied, "Thank you very much good sir".

Joao Vasconcelos

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VIDEOS: True Blood at the 2009 SCREAM Awards

If you missed watching last night's Spike TV's 2009 SCREAM Awards then you missed watching the cast of True Blood walking up the stage and accepting their awards.  Well you almost missed it.  Here are a few clips from last night's award show as the whole cast was thrilled at winning the awards.  As always they were gracious and showed how much of a close "family" they have all become.  A funny point in one of the videos was when during Alan's speech a group of women scream "We love you Stephen!" and everybody's enthusiastic response particularly Anna's.  It was great to watch the whole cast having so much fun with each other that those few moments helped feed the True Blood withdrawal many are feeling.  Enjoy the videos!

True Blood Wins Best TV Show | SpikeTV | SPIKE.com

Stephen Moyer Best Horror Actor | SpikeTV | SPIKE.com

SOURCE: Spike TV

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True Blood Season 3: Spoilers and Casting News

True Blood's third season won't be showing up on our television screens for another 8 months or so, but filming begins in early December. This means that we can all be very excited for whatever news comes out to see what might be revealed. A casting call for the first few episodes of Season three hints at several characters that will be introduced. What's going to happen to Bill?! He's going to be spending some time with an "intensely beautiful" male vampire named Talbot, described as cheerfully talkative and sarcastic, where Bill will be forced to stay as a "guest". Also listed is a character named Cooter, aka "Coot," the menacing leader of a biker gang. He and his crew (Louie, Jimmy, and Gus) apparently like to stab Bill repeatedly and feed off of him in order to get high on V!!!  An interesting side note is the introduction of a character named Olivia who is described as an elderly woman in her 80's who lives in a house in the middle of nowhere who mistakes Bill as her son.  Now if according to the spoiler information above, if Bill is being held captive by these thugs, how does he end up meeting this old woman in the middle of nowhere? How will Sam's search for his family go? One notice calls for a series regular to play Tommy Mickens. Aged 18-25, he will be dirty but good-looking, with a big scar running across his face. Tommy works at an Arkansas tire depot and comes from a family with a bad reputation for being in debt. When Sam approaches him, he hides his identity. The role will require some backside nudity, so raise your hand if you think shapeshifter! There are also a couple of characters mentioned that Sam meets in Arkansas and asks about his family. Is Eric pining for Sookie? This character description would suggest not! Yvetta is a gorgeous Eastern European young woman who gets a job dancing at Fangtasia and has a sexual relationship with Eric. The actress must be comfortable with nudity. How does Jason's shooting of Eggs affect him? Two college girls named Jen and Missy spend the night with Jason. They try to get him excited for some threesome fun by making out with each other, but he doesn't seem very enthusiastic. Probably haunted by what he did, he admits that he can't stop picturing them without bullet holes in their heads. What will Tara's emotional roller coaster bring her to next? Apparently, a sexy vampire named Franklin Mott. "Tall, dark, and handsome," he has an immediate connection with Tara. He meets her at bar and later comes to her aid against a couple of racist rednecks. Also a pastor tries to comfort Tara and help bring her closer to her mother. Who is going to be Lafayette's love interest? Although this character is not specified as having an encounter with Lafayette, his description makes him seem like a good candidate! Jesus Velasquez is an attractive Latino male nurse in his 20s-30s. Taking care of people in a nursing home, this young man is good-natured even in the face of occasional racist remarks from his elderly patients. If he is in fact the one that will have a relationship with Lafayette, wouldn't that be a great contrast to our flamboyant, outspoken fry cook? It's good to remember that not every spoiler turns out to be true as shows sometimes like to be tricky and throw fans off by leaking false information. We will have to wait and see what Alan Ball has planned. But this seems like an intriguing group of characters! I can already feel the suspense building. SOURCE: spoilertv.com (Photo credits: HBO Inc.)

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