AOL Interview With "True Blood's" Anna Paquin

[JamesG]

True Blood Star Anna Paquin on Stephen Moyer, Nude Scenes, and Dating Vampires

Sexier, tougher, naked-er. That just about sums up the second season of HBO's vampire drama True Blood. (Yeah, this definitely isn't Twilight.) Star Anna Paquin loves that "anything is possible" on her show -- even if it involves a lot of nudity.

She talks to AOL TV about filming steamy sex scenes with her on- and off-screen boyfriend Stephen Moyer, that other vampire franchise and whether she'll return to the X-Men movies. -- By Kelly Woo




Creator Alan Ball told us this season would be sexier. How sexy can it get?

Other things happen in the plot, you know what I mean? It's not as much as people may think ... There's actual plot. But yes, it's a sexy vampire show and yes, there's more getting it on, so to speak.




How do you feel about filming all those nude scenes?

I feel fine. Although the way that people ask me about it all the time, I feel like maybe I should feel uptight about it. But I really don't [laughs].




You never pipe up and say, "Wow, this is a lot of me being naked"?

I wouldn't do it if it was too much. Everyone's very respectful of the boundaries of whichever actor is doing stuff like that on set. So it's not cameras being thrown anywhere and anything can happen, you know? It's quite choreographed.




Your partner on and off screen, Stephen Moyer, recently said your personal relationship helps the sex scenes. Would you agree?

Obviously, if you're already with that person then you're not having to sort of get over the "Wow, I'm naked with someone that I don't even know the middle name of!" [laughs]. I think that regardless of what kind of scene you're doing, the better you know the person you're working with and the more comfortable you are with them, the more open and real your performance can be. And that goes for stunt scenes and heavy emotional scenes and sex scenes. OK, so I have a little bit of a leg up in that particular area with my on-screen [partner].




Vampires are very hot right now. Do you get sick of comparing True Blood to Twilight?

It seems kind of funny ... just because two things happen to end up being released around the same time, it's not like we all got together beforehand and had a chat about how we're going to make sure vampires had a comeback. But from the way people ask about it, you'd think that we'd all had sort of a sit-down. But it's coincidence, really [laughs].




Would you date a vampire if they existed?

You know, I don't have any hard and fast rules about types or people I would or would not date, so why not?




This season, your character Sookie gets out of her small town and goes to Dallas. What does she learn about vampire culture there?

It's a big city and ... there are more open vampires, or outed vampires. I guess the analogy is if you live in a small town, there may be a gay bar, where as if you live in a big city there could be a whole bunch of them. I think that's one of the obvious parallels that gets drawn with our show, that people's chosen lifestyles and whatever are more accepted in bigger cities.




It seems like Sookie's growing up. What is her journey this year?

She was kind of victimized quite a lot early on in her life and in her relationship with Bill, and she's kind of sick of that. And she's been through a lot, she's survived it and she's come out the other end tougher and stronger, as a lot of people do when they go through really traumatizing events. Some people kind of curl up and hide, and some people get tougher -- and she's gotten tougher.




What else can you tell us about the rest of the season?

Well, I can't really tell you any plot stuff because I'm pretty sure they can like, fire me or sue me or something if I give away the secrets [laughs]. I err on the side of caution when it comes to opening my mouth about anything plot-wise ... I'm sure if you go searching online you can probably find plenty of speculation or truth about our show. But it's not going to come from me. [laughs].




You won a Golden Globe for playing Sookie last year. Was that as exciting as winning your Oscar? Do you even really remember winning the Oscar?

More so, because I actually know what it means [laughs]. Sure, [winning the Oscar] was all kinds of weird, and I had no idea what I was really in for, or what to expect ... It was sort in that way that when big or strange things happen to kids, it's like you adapt very quickly to that being your new normal, and that became my normal. I really didn't get what the big fuss was about. But it's just part of who I am now.




Are you hoping to wake up in a couple weeks and hear your name announced as an Emmy nominee?

I just hope to be able to do another season of my show, and hopefully more to come, and that people will go on the ride with us because we as a cast and crew and production are so passionate about this ...It's not about awards.




Are there any roles you regret not getting?

I firmly believe that you do or don't get parts because you were or were not really ultimately supposed to play them. And yes, obviously, there've been things along the way that I really wanted that I didn't get. But pretty much all the time, it usually is because something else came along five days later that was actually really perfect ... I just think you can't get too hung up on the rejection. Otherwise, you'd never get out of bed in the morning. You get rejected more than you have people saying yes.




Did you ever think about doing something besides acting?

That was why I wanted to go to college and why I did a year right after high school, because I was curious to see if there was anything else that made me as passionate ... and all it really did was clarify that I was exactly where I wanted to be. It was great, and at some point I do intend to go back and finish. This is definitely my arena of jobs -- either writing or directing and producing. I love storytelling. It's what I feel passionate about.




Are you going to return to the X-Men world in the future? Would you like to revisit Rogue?

It depends on if they ask me back [laughs]. Conceptually, yeah, obviously it would depend what I was going to get to do [laughs]. I mean, I'd like to be part of something more vaguely resembling action. There are a lot of options as far as that character, taking on other people's powers and then getting to be part of action, and I didn't really do any of that. Don't get me wrong -- I love doing those movies. But that was not the focus of my character, and if I was going to do more of it I would really like to get to kick some ass [laughs].




What do you watch on TV?

Generally, I'm not really up to date with what's currently playing, but I do DVDs and iTunes. I am really loving Rescue Me. I haven't seen this season yet because I'm just working my way through the backlog. I'm up to season 5, I think ... I think that between that show and The Shield, FX does some ridiculously, confrontationally amazing stuff. The acting on those shows and the content, it just kind of blows my mind a bit. So, that's my current obsession. But then, you know, I also enjoy my Gossip Girl and 90210 and Grey's Anatomy [laughs].


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