Author: Austin Siegemund-Broka

HBO

Stephen Moyer

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from last week’s episode of True Blood, “Love Is To Die.”]

True Blood will meet the “true death” on Sunday, but will Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer)?

The vampire’s fate is one of the biggest questions heading into this weekend’s series finale. The previous episode brought him to Sookie’s (Anna Paquin) door to explain his decision not to cure his Hep-V—a choice that surprised Moyer to begin with, he tells The Hollywood Reporter.

“I had a slight issue with it, because I couldn’t understand why he would go to the storeroom to Fangtasia and then say no,” he says. “Ultimately, he goes because he wants to do right by Sookie. His decision to not turn around then and there is his going along with what Sookie has tried to make happen, and it’s really only when he’s right there that he thinks, ‘no.'”

But no matter how his fast-accelerating sickness resolves, Bon Temps’ “vampire Bill” won’t be back on HBO in the foreseeable future. Sunday’s finale ends the Alan Ball-created drama’s seven-season run, which has brought Bill from love interest to vampire king, to daywalking god, to local patriarch — and in which Moyer met his wife Paquin.

“It’s really hard sometimes — regardless of the fact that obviously I met Anna doing this job and we got married and had babies, if that hadn’t been the case, this would still have been an extraordinary seven years. Playing some of those locations for the last time, it was really hard,” he says. “The guy who’s sitting behind the camera is the guy who’s been sitting behind the camera for seven years. It was all very wrapped up in the emotion of that being the last time.”

The actor tells THR about his character and the final season:

Bill’s held many roles in the show’s seven seasons. What were your favorite storylines?

What I was attracted to in the script was a hint of darkness in the very nature of the thing that he is, and yet it was wrapped up in this enigmatic, rather quiet person. There will always be a part of me that’s — not smitten, but that first couple of years and the first year specifically was such an amazing ride, being able to make Alan’s dream, that crazy dream that he had that seems like a lifetime ago.

I was very unsure about the nature of where Bill was going in season three. He gets kidnapped by Russell [Denis O’Hare] at that point, and he becomes quite evil with Sookie, not telling her that he had been sent originally to procure her. I was pretty unsure. The way that they were sending him was really vicious with her, and then he has the creepy breaking Lorena’s [Mariana Klaveno] neck. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to play it — I was unsure of the motives behind it. Alan was fantastic and tried to explain it, and actually that incarnation of Bill I think probably remains my favorite. Of course, it was great fun to do when suddenly he was omnipresent and omnipotent. The thought of his power at that point, that’s very difficult to play, but I loved it.

Who is Bill this season?

This year, I think that the writers wanted to create an essence of that first season, that first couple of seasons where the show was smaller, wasn’t as multi-story-layered, and one of the things they did with Bill to make that happen was a sort of an echoing of his past. When he loses the power, all his powers, and he can no longer daywalk and everything is gone, he gets reset in a way. There was a really nice scene in episode one of this season that we cut out — it was Andy [Chris Bauer] and Bill driving in the car, and Bill is talking about this fact that he feels different, that he can kind of sense that there is something different about him. He’s thinking about the past, and one of the nice things it did was set up the idea that we were going to start seeing echoes of him.

Is there a common thread through his storyline?

I think the common thread that sort of runs through him is this desire to recapture his humanity, to find his what it was that made his heart beat. I think in that way he differs from most vampires, because vampires in their very essence are superior to humans, and this is why to other vampires he feels like an anomaly. I think that to other vampires the thought of wanting to go back to this weakness is insane, it doesn’t make sense. It’s frustrating that he feels like, “I am of this nature, I am of this frailty, and I want to rekindle that somehow.”

One of the things that Anna and I said — we had a dinner with Bucky [showrunner Brian Buckner] a year ago, before we had started filming, when they were just conceiving of this year, and quite frankly sat down with him and said, “We do not need in any way need you guys to try to tie up the Bill-Sookie love knot. If you don’t feel like that’s part of the show, we absolutely don’t need for it to be that.” I had said, “If you want that, we both do. If you see the show as Alcide [Joe Manganiello] and Sookie, that would be totally cool by us. If you see it as Eric [Alexander Skarsgard] and Sookie, that would be absolutely cool.” I certainly didn’t want to play an obvious part. One of the things we’ve been good at is surprising the audience, not always giving them what they want or expect. So for me, it’s been interesting to sort of find that character again. He’s been so many things. I think he’s had the most difficult arc in many respects, trying to find that sustenance and feeling.

What can fans expect for Bill in the finale?

At the end of [episode] nine, he has called Sookie and had the conversation with Eric, Eric’s gone back, and he knows that he’s going to talk to her. He’s going to see her, because she deserves it and is owed it, to know what’s been going on for him and why he is doing what he’s doing. We sort of enter into the episode right there.

Is there anything you wish the show had explored more fully?

I think that one of the first things that Alan said to me half of the show in, the first six episodes in is, “Is there anything you’re missing, anything you want to do, anything about the character?” I had said, “If I had been this person, if I had been alive for 100 and however many years, I would want to have read all the books that I could possibly have had, learned every language, and see all the great wonders of the world, but then, what is there left once you’ve done all that?” That boils down to the very essence of what a vampire is. They’ve done everything they could have done. Then — this is the interesting question — what is there left to do?

And there’s Bill and Eric. There’s moments where in Victorian times we’re together, and then we as an audience don’t see them again for a hundred years until they see each other in Fangtasia for the first time in season one. We always wanted to do something with, where did the animosity come from when they first see each other in Fangtasia? Where did that stem from? Obviously the scene between him and Pam [Kristin Bauer van Straten] from 100 years ago [in which Bill and Lorena visit Pam’s brothel] would not have been the reason for that animosity, it was just two vampires feeding. I had always wanted for us to see a flashback to that, and so that Alex and I got a chance to do more flashbacks together. That was where our characters differed from the human characters, where we got to play all those different eras.

Email: Austin.Siegemund-Broka@THR.com
Twitter: @Asiegemundbroka

HBO

Jim Parrack and Ashley Hinshaw

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from this week’s episode of True Blood, “Love Is To Die.”]

The romance between Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) and Hoyt (Jim Parrack) was rekindled in this week’s episode of True Blood. It was a long time coming — well, sort of.

Hoyt returned to Bon Temps two episodes ago with “a different kind of confidence,” Parrack tells The Hollywood Reporter, after spending two seasons working on an oil rig in Alaska. His reunion with Jessica when he saves her from Violet’s (Karolina Wydra) torture chamber established an immediate attraction between the former lovers. In this week’s episode — the penultimate of the HBO drama’s final season — their connection led to a sex scene and a surprisingly touching monologue from Jason (Ryan Kwanten). Parrack explains what draws them together.

“I don’t think they’re meant for each other,” he tells THR. “In the beginning, what maybe Hoyt had to offer Jessica was acceptance, to look at her when she felt freakish and say, ‘you’re beautiful.’ That would help, and then beyond that, there’s no indication that these two are wired to do well together.”

“The only thing that proves they’re good for one another is how they feel,” he says. “It might be purely romantic. It’s purely some fantastical idea about seeing someone and feeling a certain way about it and knowing.”

The actor tells THR about where the relationship will end in the series finale and what it was like returning to the show.

How has Hoyt changed since viewers last saw him?

In the beginning, I had a lot of fun — when the show started, I played the role as it if were somebody that was much younger, a child. I just didn’t want there to be any trace of that anymore. This was somebody that did hard work, did it well, made new friends and had a girlfriend, had a different kind of confidence. That’s a lot of what it was, it was a different kind of confidence. I tried to incorporate that into what was written.

What was it like returning to this character?

It was easy enough. The thing I gave some thought to what happened in those two years. Starting with his reason for leaving — it was more than to get out from under an ugly situation. It was a situation where I couldn’t find out who I was as a man, with the trappings of an overbearing mother and a community that had come to expect me to be whatever they’d decided I was. I thought about what it would be like to be on your own, carving out an identity for yourself. There were some clues. You’re surrounded by a certain kind of man, the kind of workers I was around. 

Were there other aspects of the character you wanted to learn more about? 

No, not really. They really did a good job of fleshing things out. My questions, they had answers, but mostly I would just make something up that would make sense. I’d write about it in a way that would support what they had on the page.

You kept a journal for the role?

With that particular part, I knew I’d be playing it for a long time. I wanted to be able to keep track o the choices and little ideas I’d had. Maybe with a movie you don’t need to keep an ongoing journal. I’d never played a part for so long. I’d just write my ideas down, kind of a journal of what life in Hoyt’s shoes would be like.

What were some of the big insights from that process?

The idea that I had seen a glimpse of belief in a god beyond religion. There’s a little thing in the scene where [Hoyt and Jessica] meet, I improvised it, where in the script I think he takes a slug of beer to steel his nerves to talk to this girl. I had it instead that I was at the table feeling low, and I was praying to God, saying, “if you give me a girl like my heart desires, I’ll be the best man I could possibly be, but I want some answers.” You’ll see me muttering to myself — I just made that up. That’s not on the page.

Then that girl walks in, and for the rest of the series it’s a different relationship than a single guy who walks up to some cute redhead in a bar. It’s, “that’s the girl I’m positive God want me to have,” and that unlocked a lot of meaning for me. That touched on a nerve later. He has this feeling of “how could this go so wrong, that’s what I was certain of.” And I think the rest of the town of Bon Temps, they have a religious outlook on God, a very gospel-driven sense of God, and Hoyt has a different kind of religion. That’ allowed me to accept vampires, not being gospel-like, but accepting everybody.

Hoyt returns because of his mother’s death. What does that relationship mean to him?

I have wonderful parents so I didn’t have anything to use for that. What’s funny is early on I decided the dad had bounced because the mom was so crazy, and without me ever sharing that with the writers, they gave me that. I came up with that myself and then they gave me that. In a situation like that where you’re a son and an only child, you bear the burden of being their significant other as well. Maybe that’s ok when you’re a child and it’s all fun and games. Later, as a man, when you want to break away and find a woman for yourself or start a life, it’s an added pressure of almost leaving a spouse behind, because in her mind that’s the man in her life. You can get possessive people keeping grownups stuck in a state of childhood or a state of adolescence where they think they depend upon their parent.

That’s what I found myself in with the Hot situation — it wasn’t out of respect [that the character stayed at home], it was out of habit and feeling pressure, being told there are no other options. The Jessica relationship showed me there was other stuff, that your mother would guilt you into staying a child and there are people who will let you be who you are. The way that came full circle is to come back to the small town and have carved out a place for myself in the world, have a profession and girlfriend. That was to me a nice arc. That’s the kind of thing I like to act.

What’s your favorite of Hoyt’s scenes?

When Hoyt and Jessica meet — that was the first time I ever felt like comfortable as an actor. I don’t know. I’d done good acting in little tiny theaters but nobody had ever seen it. It’s a common thing, I guess — I just put an extraneous amount of pressure on myself to be good [on set], and I wasn’t doing that in theaters and in class, and so a real spontaneous work would happen. Then I’d go to set and feel stifled and trapped and ridiculous. That scene where we met at Merlotte’s, I decided to fully let myself go and just trust the process I had learned, and that was a piece of acting where I thought, “hey, that looks like the kind of actor I want to be.”

In what kind of place will the series leave Hoyt and Jessica’s relationship?

A hopeful one.

Email: Austin.Siegemund-Broka@THR.com
Twitter: @Asiegemundbroka

HBO

“True Blood’s” Alexander Skarsgard

True Blood is ending, but fans will be able to take pieces of the show with them.

Auction service Screenbid is partnering with HBO to sell props, outfits and other items used in the filming of the supernatural drama, which has its series finale Aug. 24. The auction will be open from Aug. 20-25.

There are 54 different items (though several have multiples), and they come with certificates of authenticity from HBO. Items include Eric’s (Alexander Skarsgard) iconic Fangtasia throne, the puddles of bloody goo vampires turn into when they die and the contract that binds Sookie (Anna Paquin) to Warlow (Rob Kazinsky).

Also up for bidding are costumes galore, from Arlene’s (Carrie Preston) wedding dress to the high heels essential to a certain death scene. The lots even include fangs worn onscreen by Bill (Stephen Moyer), Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare) and queen Sophie-Anne (Evan Rachel Wood) — though the catalogue cautions, “Item not intended for wear.”

The seventh and final season of True Blood premiered to a strong 5.8 million viewers in June, with the final two episodes left to air.

Screenbid has held several auctions for recently departed hit shows. The Breaking Bad auction featured 399 items, including Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Skylar’s (Anna Gunn) cars, Tio Salamanca’s (Mark Margolis) bell and Walt’s Leaves of Grass book. Smaller auctions for Psych and Californication were also held this year.

Email: Austin.Siegemund-Broka@THR.com
Twitter: @Asiegemundbroka