Now that “True Blood’s” Anna Paquin has been “initiated into the followed-by-paparazzi crowd,” as she told Self magazine in their July issue, she’s learned to care even less about what people think of her.
The breaking point for Paquin came when she was made fun of for wearing a helmet while riding her bike. “I was like, OK, that would be a really stupid reason to die,” she said. “At that point, I was done.”
Paquin's newly developed thicker skin also came in handy to deal with the aftermath of announcing that she's bisexual.
“I understand why it's a big deal to some people, but to me, it's not. I've probably always known I was bisexual,” she said. “I'm really lucky; I grew up in an open-minded, supportive family, so my sexuality was never stigmatized or scary or out of bounds.”
Paquin also spoke of her real-life relationship with “True Blood” co-star Stephen Moyer, explaining the two went into the relationship knowing there could be complications. “You can't choose who you fall in love with, as inconvenient as that may be,” she said.
In the end, Paquin feels lucky with her situation. “It's a luxury to get to go to work with the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, because I love my job and I'm really happy,” she said.
Paquin attributes this happiness to her also being content with her body. “I don't know too many women who are 100 percent happy, but I'm the happiest I've been,” she said. “For me, it has more to do with being fulfilled in other areas of life, not how many hours I'm at the gym.”
Last week's True Blood premiere attracted over 5 million viewers, and we bet most returned for yesterday's episode. Naturally, we asked July cover girl Anna Paquin to share the deets on America's other vampire craze.
SELF: So, how about that True Blood porn parody?
Anna Paquin: How funny is that? Someone brought their computer to set and we all watched the trailer for it. We all think it's hilarious! Though, there are those who might say our show didn't really need to have a porn parody because we do a pretty good job. How much racier can it get? Well, obviously it can, but you know...
Speaking of those steamy scenes, was it hard keeping your real-life relationship with on-screen boyfriend (Stephen Moyer) a secret?
It wasn't really, because we've always had a job to do. I've always been of the opinion that if it's nobody's problem, it's nobody's business. You don't bring your personal stuff to work. But, who knows who knew what and when. Clearly, Alan Ball, the show's creator, cast us because we had chemistry!
What's it like kissing someone with fangs?
Sharp. Dangerous. Those things are actually really expensive and quite fragile! They are not toys.
Why do you think America is so obsessed with vampires these days?
I have no idea! I'm going to go with: they're sexy and dangerous and all of that. Vampires tend to get cast in TV and movies as really good-looking people. They generally seem to be having a lot of fun and living outside the law and civilized society in some way, and there's a fascination with that. There are wildly over-tortured cliches which are cliches for a reason - they're based in reality.
What are your thoughts on the Twilight saga?
I've never seen any of them, so I have very few thoughts about them. I'm sure if I was a teenager, I'd probably love it. It's all about age-appropriate entertainment - the values and morals and the whole idea of chastity and all that. lol wut There's plenty of time for people to watch us sucking and screwing and doing all this nefarious stuff with each other on True Blood.
Speaking of sucking, how does that vampire blood taste?
The actual blood makes me want to gag! It's some kind of sweet corn syrup. They try to make it taste relatively good-flavored, but there's an aftertaste that's less than pleasant after the tenth take. In season one, they asked me if I wanted sugar or sugar-free. I was like, "Sugar-free blood? Sounds great!" Big mistake. Because then it only tastes like the latex plastic tubes it's coming through. I was feeding ravenously from Bill's arm, so I probably drank a gallon. By the next scene, I was like, never again.
Because of the nature of vampires, are you working a lot of nights?
Yea, it's just one of those things you train your body to get used to. Once you get used to it, it's not so bad. I keep myself up with coffee and kombucha. what the hell is kombucha
Are you still shooting in Bon Temps, Louisiana?
So far, I've not been anywhere else but Los Angeles. There are a lot of sets that they've built for us on stages, and there are a lot of exteriors that we can shoot her, on ranches in Malibu Canyon. Some of crew has been shooting exteriors in Mississippi, but I don't know if our cast will take a trip down there yet - we're only up to episode eight right now. We went to Baton Rouge at the end of production last year, so who knows? There's nothing quite like being in the south as far as the feel when you're supposed to be shooting there.
