Sep 18,2009
‘The Vampire Diaries’ May Deviate Often From Books, Ian Somerhalder Warns CW show’s star explains that the series isn’t ‘married’ to the details of L.J. Smith’s novels.
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“The Vampire Diaries” may be based on L.J. Smith’s young adult novels from the ’90s, but star Ian Somerhalder warns that the show doesn’t stay completely faithful to the books. So, it’s probably a good thing he hasn’t read much of them yet.
“I was actually told not to,” he told MTV News. “I think by virtue of the fact that they may be deviating very often from the books and not to be married to whatever was in those books. But now I’m checking it out.”
What little he has read, however, has helped the TV vampire find his inner teenage girl. “It’s on my bedside table. I feel like a young girl when I wake up,” he joked. “Grab my coffee and open ‘The Vampire Diaries.’ ”
One major deviation from the book is the nationality of vampire brothers Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon Salvatore (Somerhalder). In the novel, they hail from Renaissance-era Florence, Italy. And on the show, though they’re still named Salvatore, it appears that they spent their human lives in Civil War-era Virginia.
But Somerhalder thinks that will play out just fine on the small screen. “Because I don’t speak Italian accent, and they just decided that would be problematic,” he joked of the decision to Americanize his character. “No, I don’t know [why]. I think we’re still Italian. We bear the name Salvatore, but I think it spins it more of an American sort of story.”
After the first episode, which debuted last week, it looks like viewers are drinking up that story in droves: According to the CW, 4.8 million viewers tuned in, making it the network’s biggest series premiere ever.
And the show definitely holds true to the supernatural sibling rivalry that drives all the action in the novels, and will be interesting to watch on the small screen. “I have a lot more power ’cause I still eat people,” Somerhalder explained of bad-boy Damon. “And [Stefan] decided to stop eating people and lives off of squirrels and rabbits and mice, and so it makes him a lot less strong. He has a lot less power than I do, which may change at some point, which is going to be big trouble for me.”
Sep 18,2009
‘Vampire Diaries’: Ian Somerhalder Tells Us How Close The Series Will Stay On Track With The Books
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Get excited! A whole new episode of “Vampire Diaries” airs tonight! With all those enthusiastic words you guys wrote in the comments section of our recap of the season premiere last week, we kind of have a feeling “VD” is going to be a mainstay on your pop culture radars — much like that other vampire franchise that you may have heard of called “Twilight.” But, just as fans of Stephenie Meyer’s novels want the movies to remain true to the books, so too do lovers of “VD” author L.J. Smith.
That has to mean then that Damon Salvatore himself, Ian Somerhalder, has read the “VD” series backward and forward then right? “I was actually told not to,” he told MTV News. “I think by virtue of the fact that they may be deviating very often from the books and not to be married to whatever was in those books. But now I’m checking it out.”
Phew! Guess that means by now he’s realized then that Damon and his vamp brother Stefan (Paul Wesley) are supposed to come from from Renaissance-era Florence, Italy instead of Civil War-era Virginia like they are portrayed on the new CW series. He has, and it turns out he thinks it’s for the better. “Because I don’t speak Italian accent, and they just decided that would be problematic,” he joked of the decision to Americanize his character. “No, I don’t know [why]. I think we’re still Italian. We bear the name Salvatore, but I think it spins it more of an American sort of story.”
One storyline that won’t deviate far from the novels is all that supernatural stuff that so many of us love fantasizing about. “I have a lot more power ’cause I still eat people,” Ian said. “And [Stefan] decided to stop eating people and lives off of squirrels and rabbits and mice, and so it makes him a lot less strong. He has a lot less power than I do, which may change at some point, which is going to be big trouble for me.”
Press play on the video clip below to hear more from Ian and don’t forget to check back with Hollywood Crush tomorrow morning for our weekly recap!
Sep 18,2009
‘The Vampire Diaries’: Slowly but surely crawling out of ‘Twilight’s’ shadow
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The second episode of “Vampire Diaries” had a lot of hype to live up to. Not only did last week’s “Diaries” boast the CW’s most-watched premiere since the network’s 2006 debut, but the episode was followed by a minor scandal when details of four cast members’ arrests leaked. The arrests were more misunderstanding than misdemeanor (and the all-smiles mug shots looked more like head shots — did they think it was a photo shoot). But otherwise the press was mostly positive, stirring up plenty of free publicity for the show.
I’ll admit it – I like my entertainment as soapy and cheesy as it gets. I still watch “One Tree Hill,” and I’m ashamed to say that my DVD collection includes at least one movie where Paris Hilton dies. So when the CW announced “Vampire Diaries,” I salivated. Broody guys with dark secrets and perfect hair! Mean high school history teachers! Love triangle angst!
Thursday night delivered all the gooey first-kiss melodrama I’d been hoping for, as well as a healthy dose of the good old-fashioned horror. The series has guilty pleasure written all over it.
Yeah, yeah, we all know the “Twilight” phenomenon is undeniably what got this show on the air. But if anything is going to pull it out of Edward Cullen’s sparkly shadow, it’s that there are two hot vamps on the loose: Stefan and Damon, (Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder). The chemistry between the estranged brothers is palpable: Stefan’s every move is calculated and careful, and Damon’s reckless, bloodthirsty antics seem all the more dangerous.
Their showdown on the roof Thursday night was, as the kids say, pretty epic…
Damon tried to tempt Stefan into feeding on the high school’s hot stoner chick, Vicki, but in the end, Stefan was the master manipulator. He may be the strong silent type, but he’s got his brother wrapped around his finger -– he not only made Damon let Vicki go, but he got Damon to happily wipe Vicki’s memory of the incident. I’m looking forward to seeing how their relationship plays out — sibling rivalry probably get a little intense after a couple of centuries.
By the way, how chilling is Somerhalder’s devious little smirk? I was way more uneasy when he smiled than I was when he jumped out of the shadows with bloodshot eyes and bared fangs.
The good guy vs. bad boy thing could have been overdone, but there’s something refreshingly different about this one: While Stefan would love to date Elena, Damon would love to slaughter her and drink her like a nice Chianti.
Speaking of Elena, I’m still undecided on our heroine (Nina Dobrev). She’s recently orphaned and that’s really sad and all, but writing in your diary about how no one sees your inner pain while sitting alone in a foggy graveyard is a little melodramatic, even for my tastes.
Still, Executive Producer Kevin Williamson has a pretty good history when it comes to his dark-haired ingénues. Sidney Prescott toughed it out through the entire “Scream” trilogy, and who didn’t love Joey Potter’s wordy banter? So I’m willing to stick it out with Elena for now (but it’s whether she’s worthy of sharing a network with Blair Waldorf remains unclear.)
The show hasn’t yet addressed the creep factor of a centuries-old vampire lusting after an emotionally vulnerable teenage girl. She’s talking to her friends about texting as an “important milestone in any relationship,” while he’s haunted by grisly memories of the Civil War. When Stefan and Elena shared their first kiss, I was half enthralled and half waiting for Chris Hansen to pop out from around the corner. ”Hello, Mr. Vampire, why don’t you have a seat right there…”
Thoughts? Think I’m being too hard on Elena? Prefer Damon over Stefan? Let me know below. And check back after next week’s episode.
Sep 18,2009
Ian Somerhalder: ‘The stakes to get this show were really high’
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Most of us first fell for Ian Somerhalder in the fall of 2004 when he rose to fame as the ill-fated Boone on ABC’s “Lost” Five years later, starring as the bad boy, blood-sucking lead in The CW’s new hit “The Vampire Diaries,” Somerhalder took a second to chat about his career, the new series and what’s to come. And, strangely enough, he did it while on location in Hawaii where he flew in to film a guest spot for the final season of “Lost”…
Thanks so much for taking the time to talk. I hear you’re in Hawaii right now!
IS: Yes and I just came from set and saw everyone. It was awesome.
Is this your first day there?
IS: Yeah. I just flew in about an hour ago.
Is it weird to be back there after all this time?
IS: It never is weird. Hawaii is one of those places that is so special to me and is so much a part of me, that it’s like an old friend, you know? When you don’t see them for quite a while and then you talk again, it’s as if you’ve always been there. Read the rest of this entry »
Sep 18,2009
The Vampire Diaries Star Ian Somerhalder Says Damon Weasels His Way Into Stefan’s World
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Quantrell Colbert/The CWThe CW’s breakout hit The Vampire Diaries returns tonight, and we caught up with Ian Somerhalder (who plays wicked brother Damon) to find out what’s in store for the Salvatores and their new pet Elena. (Hint: Damon stays just as mean as we saw in the premiere.) He told us how he insinuates himself into their world, with complicated results.
Plus, find out what Somerhalder can share about Boone’s return to Lost and whether or not it will involve Ms. Maggie Grace…
Damon starts out pretty darn evil—is he likely to soften, or is that something he’ll stick with for a while?
He sticks with it for a little while. I think that’s his thing, and he has such a good time doing it. There are moments where you may see some sort of humanity in him, and there are moments when you may see that he may not be as intense as he appears to be.
Damon definitely seems like the more free-spirited and lighthearted brother, which is fun, but what appealed to you about the character?
That’s why I love him. You just said it. He is a lot of fun, and I’ve been really lucky in this thing—I guess we call it careers—but he’s the most fun character I’ve ever had the opportunity to play. And again, and it sounds kind of strange, but it’s all about perspective. From his perspective, it’s normal to eat people. It’s like if you go to market and you know…
Are Damon and Stefan close at all, or is it strictly sibling rivalry with those two?
Stefan is not a fan of Damon, and for good reason. Whatever happened in the past, something happened between these two to yield an enormous amount of animosity, equally shared. Damon harbors a lot of anger toward Stefan for something he did in the past. So at any given moment, Stefan finds himself in a place where he’s happy, Damon will show up to ruin it. And that’s intense. Make no mistake about it, Damon loves his brother. He would never let anything happen to his brother. He’s the only one he has. And to be honest with you, Stefan is the only person who truly understands Damon, who understands what he’s been through, understands what he’s coming from. So in that sense, the relationship is one-sided in that Damon does love his brother, and he misses his brother.
The books tell a fairly wide-ranging story. Do you see the TV series falling more on the epic, romance side of things or small-town gothic side of things?
The beautiful thing about Kevin is that he has this ability to mix together a genre, the small-town aspect of it, and take epic romantic aspects of it and then the scary aspect of it, where when you finally settle into your seat or couch a little bit, it pops up and makes you jump. To answer your question, I don’t see it in any one given place. I see it as a mixture of all those elements.
What’s surprised you the most so far?
I’ll quote Kevin really quickly because he always talks about this isn’t a film. It doesn’t have a beginning, middle and end. A series evolves, and you get to evolve with these characters. Going from the pilot into the episodes and seeing the different interactions between characters has surprised me greatly, because I start to ingratiate myself into the town and try to weasel my way into Stefan’s world, which I start to do with varying amounts of success. That surprises me, which has been a lot of fun. It’s been a lot of fun to be in the room with a bunch of other people because it could have been that my relationship with Stefan and or Elena was all you saw. But that’s not the case because Damon has an agenda. He does. And that’s what’s so cool about him.
Do you mind if we talk about Lost a little bit?
Not at all. I’m literally in Hawaii now. I just landed.
How much are you going to shoot?
I don’t know that much. That’s the funny thing. I’m going to do several episodes, and [laughs] that’s basically all I know.
What do you want the fans to see of Boone that they didn’t get to see the past few seasons?
I think that due to Boone’s untimely death, I don’t think anyone really got to see that there was strength in him, that there was goodness in him that went beyond his obsession with taking care of Shannon. I think that he had a life for himself. There were good things that Boone had to give the world, and I don’t think he really get a chance to explore those things. Maybe, just maybe—I’m not sure—maybe we’ll get to see a more-relaxed Boone. Maybe we’ll get to see a Boone who’s just happy. But who knows? I don’t know. I really don’t know.
Do you think we might see Boone and Shannon together again?
Yeah, that would be great.
Have you seen Maggie Grace at all?
Oh yeah. Absolutely. Maggie and I live very near to each other in California, and we’re very, very close friends.
The Vampire Diaries
