Ian Somerhalder Talks THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and the Final Season of LOST

Not only does Ian Somerhalder get to have a great time playing the bad-ass and oftentimes evil vampire Damon Salvatore on the hit CW television series The Vampire Diaries, but he will also be reprising his role as Boone for the Final Season of the ABC drama Lost. A logistical nightmare, with his current day job being located in Atlanta, Georgia, while Lost films in Hawaii, Somerhalder is fortunate that the executive producers for The Vampire Diaries are working out his schedule to make it all happen.

While at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, Ian Somerhalder talked to IESB about how lucky he feels to be able to have the closure for his character on Lost while playing a sociopathic vampire who kills purely for the enjoyment of it on The Vampire Diaries.

Q: Can you talk about returning for the first Lost episode this season?

Ian: Not even a little bit. Out of respect for them, I can’t say anything.

Q: What was it like to be back?

Ian: It was great. It was so fun to be back. I was shooting all day, landed in Hawaii, went to set, did hair and make-up, and then slept. I woke up the next morning, went to set and then left.

Q: So, it was a whirlwind for you then?

Ian: Yeah, but it was amazing to see everyone and be a part of that group again. Everyone has stayed the same, yet changed.

Q: What memories stand out for you, from being a part of Lost?

Source

Ian: Almost every aspect of it. I know that’s a blanket answer, but it’s everything from being on a set with those phenomenally talented actors, to watching rainstorms come, to looking at a 767 that’s completely torn apart on this deserted beach in the middle of nowhere, to being a part of one of the most amazing, historic television shows ever made. I wish I had stayed on the show, but it all works out the way it does. To be able to go back there and have that experience, with all of those people whom I’ve known for so long, and to have Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse still want me around, was a really, really cool experience.

Q: Did you take any souvenirs home?

Ian: I’m going to go back to do more episodes. It’s an almost 10-hour flight each way, so in a 48-hour period, I was in the air for 20 hours and on the ground for 20-something hours. Within that time, I still got to have dinners with my buddies, Matt Fox and Josh Holloway and their families, I went to four of my favorite restaurants, I went snorkeling in my favorite snorkeling place, and I shot what I needed to shoot for the show. That was back in September.
Q: So, you’re going to return throughout the season?

Ian: I think it will be spread out, throughout the season.

Q: Are you doing multiple episodes each time?

Ian: No. In the season opener for that show, I was so blown away, impressed and thankful that I was even a part of that. It’s big. The script weighed about four pounds. You just sit there and go, “Wow, this is an episode of television.”

Q: Did you get any sense of closure, returning to Lost?

Ian: I don’t know if it’s closure yet. I’m assuming that in another six months, I might have closure.

Q: Have you kept up with the show, since you left?

Ian: I didn’t really get a chance to. I kept up with little bits, but I didn’t get a chance to keep up with it as much as I wanted to.

Q: Did you have to catch up on the seasons at all, before you returned to the set?

Ian: I caught up as much as I possibly could, just to be prepared and know what I was talking about.

Q: Are they working around your schedule on The Vampires Diaries, so that you can return to Lost?

Ian: Luckily, Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, and Damon and Carlton, and the line producers from Lost and The Vampire Diaries, are making it happen. It is a feat.

Q: Is it fun to go back and forth between the roles?

Ian: Yeah, because Boone was so out of his element. He was thrown into a really iffy situation. Boone was at a tough point in his life, at that point, and Damon is so fun. To go from heavy-headed, heart-broken, I-just-slept-with-my-sister Boone to Damon was a really funny transition.

Q: Which character are you most like?

Ian: Damon, with the preface that I’m not a sociopathic killer.

Q: Would you like to explore the good side of Damon Salvatore?

Ian: I think there’s as much room for good in Damon as there is for evil in Stefan. We all have it inside of us.

Q: How much did you enjoy having Damon spend time with Elena?

Ian: We really, really had a lot of fun on that episode. There’s a very interesting thing that happens with Damon and Elena, and that is that when you take vervain out of the picture, Damon has to really make a decision whether to be really devious or actually be polite. Whatever that decision is, he makes a decision and sticks to it, and delicately creates a balance. Elena has a good time with Damon. He says things that are true. Damon is very truthful when he speaks. Even if he’s a deviant bastard, he’s still telling you the truth, and I think Elena feels that she’s been lied to by Stefan. In Stefan’s defense, he’s essentially had to lie to her to protect her.

Q: How do you prepare for playing a vampire?

Ian: It’s a little strange. I actually don’t like blood. It freaks me out, a little bit. But, when you think about being hungry, and you think about a time when you were stuck on a plane or you were somewhere without food, or you see people that are starving in the world, and you think about how intense that is, and then you imagine being a vampire and having 160 years of life experience, and the knowledge of humanity, love, death and history, and on top of that your senses are heightened by 1,000 percent, it’s a very intense proposition. So, trying to inhabit someone who has that much knowledge of the world is a feat. I hope I’m doing it right and living it as truthful as possible.

Q: Which of Damon’s powers would you like to have?

Ian: The mind-compulsion thing is pretty cool. He can literally look at people in their eyes and then make them do whatever he wants. That could be really dangerous. He can also get into people’s minds and move at the speed of light. Being able to read someone’s mind and get inside of their head could be really dangerous. He can also make them see what he wants them to see.

Q: Do you have a favorite vampire book?

Ian: I don’t have a favorite book, but Lestat is one of the coolest dudes ever. I grew up on the lake in New Orleans, on the north shore, in a more rural area, and I could look across the lake and see New Orleans. I remember always thinking, “There’s vampires over there.” Sometimes we’d go over there when I was a little kid, and it wasn’t that it was scary, but it was enticing. It was the not-knowing. Now that I’m on this show, it’s cool to go back there and see it. I thought, “Wow, I used to look at that skyline from 26 miles away, across this huge lake, and think, ‘Are the vampires going to get me, mom and dad?’”

Q: Have you read any of the Twilight books or seen any of the movies?

Ian: I haven’t seen Twilight movies, and I haven’t read the books. I didn’t want to make that comparison. I will not be seeing them. Maybe I’m one of the only people in the country who will not be seeing them.

Q: This is a very different story, though.
Ian: There are some common denominators, but it is its own entity. Kevin, Julie and everyone have worked very hard to make sure that it is its own entity. It’s a living, breathing, evolving show, on its own.

Q: Are you inspired by any vampires of the past?

Ian: Oh, my God, I was so obsessed with The Lost Boys. One of my favorite vampire movies is Shadow of the Vampire because it was just so not this romanticized, physicalized, sensual, beautiful thing. It was really what I always imagined vampires to be. With that film, you can almost feel what it would be like to be cold and dead. Willem Dafoe is just on another planet, as far as how talented he is. But, the inspiration I have comes more from other actors that I remember watching growing up.

Q: Have you had any embarrassing moments on the set?

Ian: We have some embarrassing things that happen. I’ve had some Freudian line slips. I can’t repeat it, but they’re on the dailies. I don’t know where it’s coming from or why, but I’ve had some pretty significant Freudian slips.

Q: Have you had any, off set?

Ian: People have been wanting me to bite them, which is not a good idea. I get put in an embarrassing position. It’s a bad idea because not only of hygiene, but there’s a legality factor, and I don’t think my girlfriend would really appreciate it. Also, by virtue of the fact that it’s almost impossible to tell how old someone is, it’s a bad idea. You have to extricate yourself from the situation. But, they’re so sweet and so great.

Q: Do you play any pranks on each other?

Ian: I think Paul [Wesley] may have done some things to Nina [Dobrev]. No one messes with me. They’re smart enough not to.

Q: Is it weird to play a character that has such an age difference from you?

Ian: Damon is 162 years old. It’s not that it’s weird, but it is interesting. We spend our lives searching for knowledge and learning history, art, music and film, and we travel, and Damon has so much of that. When he does talk to Elena, who his 17 years old, he finds a commonality there that is unexplainable. There’s chemistry. My niece is a year and a half old, and the time that I have with her is my most cherished time on the planet. When you’re sitting there with this person who is this big, everything they do and say blows your mind, and you connect with that child, even though she’s 30 years younger than I am.

Q: How much fun is it to play bad-ass? What do you get out of the enjoyment of being able to be this guy?

Ian: It’s more fun than I could ever possibly imagine. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had, in the entire run of my career, and it just continues to be more and more fun, every day.

Q: Where do you get that bad-ass quality?

Ian: First of all, I am not a maniacal killer, but I do find some similarities and things I have in common with Damon. The reality of it is that Damon is a very lonely guy, and we all know what it’s like to feel lonely. There are two relationships that he wants back, his brother and his girl. I know what it’s like to fight with my brother, and I know what it’s like to not have my girl, so I think there are a lot of common denominators between me and him. And I appreciate him. I find that I can’t judge him, even though sometimes that’s a bit difficult, due to his actions. To sum it all up, I think he’s doing all of this for love, strangely enough, and he thinks he’s just completely justified. It makes this such a great experience and such a fun thing to do.

Q: Do you think it’s a shame that, given Damon’s long life span, the only thing he seems interested in is aggravating his brother and getting Katherine back?

Ian: That’s all it’s about for him. It’s pretty interesting that this person who has access to the most unbelievable historical events, and access to monetary and travel resources, he still wants to be in this small town in Virginia, with his brother and to find his girl. That’s powerful.

Q: What scares you?

Ian: Nothing scares Damon. Bad cooking scares me. Not mine. I’m a good cook. I’m from Louisiana. I eat all day long. I eat everything I can put in front of my face. I wouldn’t recommend that for everyone because health is wealth. What scares me is microwaves. It’s ruining our culture and our bodies. It changes the integrity of the protein and the molecular structure of it, so our bodies digest it differently. It’s just killing us.

Q: What would people be most surprised to learn about you?

Ian: Oh, my gosh. I don’t know.

Q: How surprised were you by the fact that The Vampire Diaries won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama?

Ian: Incredibly because it’s a numbers game. It’s about the number of people who vote and, crazily enough, they voted for our show. It’s a really active audience.

Q: How do you think The Vampire Diaries is raising the bar for television?

Ian: I hope it’s raising the bar for this kind of show. This show looks and is the way it is because of every single department.

Q: What are Damon’s motivations for all of his antics?
Ian: Love and loneliness, for his brother and his missing girl. Damon is a lonely bastard. Imagine being that old.

Q: Can you hint at anything else going on, for the rest of this season?

Ian: A lot of stuff will be going on. You’ll get to see Paul and I with our shirts off, a lot more. You’ll get to see some of the girls, half-naked. We’re going to be dealing with the tomb. With this relationship between Damon and Stefan, you’re going to find out all the reasons why they are the way they are together. And we’re going to start diving into Katherine and all the antics and things that she brings with her. It’s going to be good.

Q: How close do you get to opening the tomb this season?

Ian: Damon is gettin’ in that sucker. It’s going to be cool.

Q: Will the people who read the Vampire Diaries books now what’s coming in the finale, or are you shaking things up?

Ian: We deviate a lot, and it’s necessary just for production reasons. This isn’t a movie. This is a show that’s going to evolve with these characters. We’re hopefully going to get to see every one of these girls, half-naked. I want the audience to be satisfied. We’re going to be naked, all the time.

Q: Had you always wanted to play a vampire?

Ian: I did. And then, when I blew my audition with Alan Ball and didn’t get True Blood, I was so pissed. I couldn’t watch that show until just recently, when I got The Vampire Diaries. I was so bummed.

Q: Of all the roles you’ve done, what’s the one that people recognize you for the most?

Ian: It was Lost, but now it’s shifted to The Vampire Diaries. When I was in Hawaii shooting Lost, I was in Jack Bender’s office, the directing executive producer, and I looked up on his wall where he has all these big newspaper clippings. It said that the Lost Season 2 premiere had 31 million viewers in the States. That is a massive amount of people. This show has five million viewers, so it’s significantly less, but it’s the power of the youth culture. That’s what’s so amazing.

Q: What are the noticeable differences between Lost fans and The Vampire Diaries fans?

Ian: Either way, these fans are awesome. The Lost fans are amazing. The Vampire Diaries fans are a lot younger, which makes it really adorable. Every 13-year-old girl in America who’s not watching Lost is watching this show, and they’re so cute and so into it. They have so many questions and they get so excited. I just want to hug them. The little girls get scared because they think I’m a vampire and that I’m going to kill them.
Q: What has it been like to deal with fans, or are you protected because you’re in Atlanta?

Ian: I think we’re extremely isolated. First and foremost, and I’m not being negative or complaining, it’s a very heavy workload. By virtue of that, we’re not out much. And Atlanta is very good to us. We’re not exposed. There’s no media there that we have access to.

Q: When you do get to meet fans, what do they say to you?

Ian: Some of them are all questions, like “What’s your favorite color?” Some of them are really insightful and really heartfelt. These young teen girls are so into the love aspect of the show, and they have so many questions about love. It’s crazy. They’re just so inquisitive about it.

The Final Season of LOST premieres on February 2nd. THE VAMPIRE DIARIES can be seen on Thursdays on The CW.

• » People's Choice Awards 2012 - Ian Somerhalder
• » Peoples Choice Awards Gallery Update
• » Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev Dish on 'Vampire Diaries' Kiss!
• » Дима Билан, Ian Somerhalder - Blind Love Official Music Video
• » Ian Somerhalder and Kat Graham at "The Ripple Effect" Benefiting The Water Project Charity

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 12:48 am and is filed under Ian Somerhalder. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.