Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

True Blood
8/28/08 - Alan Ball, who created the upcoming HBO vampire series True Blood, said that he learned about real-life communities of self-styled vampires from two companion documentaries, which the cable network will air before the show debuts. Has he met any real vampires? No. At least, not yet. "I have not gotten into that community," Ball in a conference call with reporters on Aug. 27. "I've only met the people who own the locations we are using and have not gotten into meeting anyone for whom this is more than fiction." That being said, Ball's friend Nancy Oliver--who is now a writer and producer on True Blood--told him about coming across real-life "vampires" in Los Angeles. "[She] told me about when she first moved to L.A. and looked at an apartment in Hollywood, and after she looked at it, the person said, 'By the way, you should know we're vampires. Everyone who lives in this building is a vampire,'" Ball recalled. "And she said, 'You mean they all work at night?' And the person said, 'No, we're really vampires.' She said, 'Oh, that's very interesting, well, I'll call you.'" Ball got a sneak peek at the two HBO documentaries that will precede the premiere of True Blood. "Those vampire-legend documentaries were very eye opening," Ball said. "I didn't know about these alternative communities. It certainly does help." HBO has done two companion pieces, scheduled to air Sept. 6, called True Blood Lines: Vampire Legends and True Blood Lines: A New Type. The shows document the recent surge of interest in the walking undead, which has sparked more than 15,000 vampire Web sites. "They are definitely worth watching," Ball said. "They actually talk to vampires and interview them in their vampire communities. Some of them have actually had dental work done, so they really do have fangs." True Blood, about vampires living among humans in a small Louisiana town, was inspired by the books by Charlaine Harris. It debuts on HBO on Sept. 7. -Mike Szymanski

7/11/08 - Alan Ball, creator of HBO's new vampire drama True Blood, said recently that he didn't know too much about vampire movies or lore, so he created his own mythology.  "In our world, a lot of the myths about vampires were created by vampires themselves over history so that they could pass, because if you could convince everyone that you couldn't be seen in a mirror or that you would freak out if somebody shoved a crucifix in your face then you could prove you weren't a vampire pretty easily," Ball said.  True Blood is based on the Southern Vampire series of books by Charlaine Harris. The show is set in Louisiana and centers on a parallel world of vampires, who have learned to co-exist with humans by drinking synthetic blood.  In his series, vampire teeth are important. "We went to great pains to sort of depict a certain kind of physiology for the fangs, where they actually are retracted like rattlesnake fangs and then they click forward," Ball said. "I wanted to approach the supernatural not as being something that exists outside of nature, but something that is more deeply rooted in nature."  Killing a vampire on True Blood is different, too. Ball said, "There are differences in what happens to vampires being staked. I wanted to avoid the instantaneous incineration or the instantaneous turning into dust. ... It's probably different than what we've seen before."  The 12-episode first season of True Blood debuts on HBO on Sept. 7, 2008.

AlienAlmanac.com    2008