We know “The Vampire Diaries” is huge here in the USA, but the show is now officially an international phenomenon, too. Indonesian magazine Da Man spoke with star Paul Wesley about playing Stefan Salvatore, his biggest acting influences, and being a part of an international phenomenon.

Paul knew “VD” could be a hit from the start, as long as people watched three or four episodes, he told Da Man. “I knew we’d have a really good shot, because of the genre and the people involved,” he said. “I was very confident of the writers and I was very confident working with the cast while shooting.”

Speaking of the cast, yes, he does spend time with his costars, Ian Somerhalder in particular. “I hang out with Ian a lot. We spend a lot of time together professionally and we’re on set all the time, so we’ve developed a very close bond. He’s a great guy.”

Paul said his favorite part about playing Stefan on “VD” is that the character’s willing to grow. “Stefan is 165 years old, but he’s going through so many changes right now, especially what we’re going to explore during Season 2. And he’s a very complex character, because he has a lot of things inside of him, but he’s still a vampire, so he’s still tempted by the dark side. He has a lot of hurt and pain and suffering. And he has to manage all this while trying to be a normal person for Elena’s sake.”

But lest you think playing a lead on the show gives him a little more insight into where the writers are going with his character, know that Paul’s just as clueless as the rest of us. “It will be interesting to know where the story goes,” he said, “because they haven’t told me. But I feel very lucky, very fortunate.”

Paul, who counts Philip Seymour Hoffman and Daniel Day Lewis as inspirations, also talked about when he decided to become an actor. “I decided to go to college first, so the day I decided was the last day I could drop out of college before it would have any negative impact on my academic career. I had to drop out because I couldn’t sit there and study and try to live this acting thing and make it work. So, I decided to forgo my academics and commit to doing this as a profession. And it was a big moment for me because for 18-19 years studying things that had nothing to do with acting, so to let that go of that was a very weird feeling. Then, it was very freeing.”

Paul said he’s a big fan of independent and foreign films along with mainstream movies — Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrik, and Martin Scorsese in particular. “I’ve probably watched ['Goodfellas'] 10 times. I just enjoy watching it because I think the performances are incredible.”

But he’s not all serious — Paul said he loves comedies too. “I love Christopher Guest, who did ‘Best in Show’ and ‘Waiting for ‘Guffman’ and was a writer/actor on ‘This is Spinal Tap,’” he continued. “It’s such a good movie. Every time it’s on, I can’t help but think ‘How brilliant.’”