Ian Somerhalder breathes new life into the undead on ‘The Vampire Diaries.’

Ian Somerhalder

Sarah Kuhn – HollywoodReporter.com

In prepping to audition for “The Vampire Diaries,” Ian Somerhalder employed an unusual approach. “I found out about the meeting at 9 o’clock the night before, and I was in Vegas, a five-hour drive away from L.A.,” he recalls. “I taped my sides together in the car and drove across the desert in the morning. That’s how I worked on my script.”

While this may not be the method most recommended by in-the-know acting coaches, it appears to have worked: Somerhalder nabbed the role of nefarious Damon Salvatore, a devilish bloodsucker who spends most of his time tormenting his younger, more earnest sibling (Paul Wesley). Somerhalder brings a wicked sense of fun to the role; with his well-timed smirks and smooth line delivery, he steals nearly every scene he’s in. In a way, he makes it all too easy to root for the bad guy.

“Damon is, by societal standards, bordering on the level of a sociopath,” says Somerhalder with a chuckle. “But here’s an interesting thing: My coach, Ivana Chubbuck, one phrase that she coined about Damon is that Damon has ill intentions but for righteous reasons. People like that are beyond dangerous. On a positive note, what makes that really fun is he truly believes in what he’s doing and he loves it.”

After reeling in a decent chunk of viewers with its moody early episodes, “The Vampire Diaries” was picked up by the CW for a full season. For Somerhalder, this lessens the sting of failing to book a part on that other vampire show, HBO’s runaway hit “True Blood.” The actor auditioned for the role of troublemaking Jason (which eventually went to Ryan Kwanten), but it didn’t go so well.

“I wanted it so badly, and I blew my audition with [show creator] Alan Ball,” Somerhalder says bluntly. “I had rehearsed this stuff so many times and it worked. And then I got in the room and I just blew it. I was bummed about that, and to be honest with you I couldn’t watch ‘True Blood’ until I booked ‘The Vampire Diaries.’ ” He chuckles bemusedly. “Then I realized, ‘Wait a minute. I have my own vampire thing now.’ “

Continue reading Sarah’s article HERE

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The Vampire Diaries

Nina Dobrev as Elena

By Ken Tucker – EntertainmentWeekly.com

You need to look elsewhere if you were hoping that The Vampire Diaries would mark the beginning of the end of the current vampire craze (Twilight, True Blood, Glenn Beck). Fun stuff mixing blood with soap, Diaries signals a welcome return to form for writer-producer Kevin Williamson (Dawson’s Creek, Scream).

Paul Wesley as Stefan

Based on the popular young-adult novels of the same name, Diaries is cleverly cast with faces familiar to the CW demo and beyond. Nina Dobrev from Degrassi: The Next Generation is emotionally open as Elena, who pours her soul into diary entries that we hear in voice-over. Paul Wesley (Everwood, Army Wives) is Stefan, the vampire every TV review is required to describe as ”brooding.” His naughty brother, Damon, is Ian Somerhalder, back from the Lost dead. Or, I guess technically, returning to the dead as a vampire competing for Elena’s attention.

As with any good Kevin Williamson production, there’s a lot of snappy dialogue and quirky pop cult references.

Diaries’ variations on vampire myths include a big, clunky ring Stefan wears that (I think) protects him from daylight, but mostly it’s the stuff you know and love: Stefan’s eyes go red-rimmed with lust when Elena gets a bloody cut, and Damon uses smoke and black crows to make an entrance. ”I promised you an eternity of misery,” Damon tells Stefan. And Diaries promises us a season of sharp-tongued amusement.

Katerina Graham as Bonnie

It’s a Canadian horror comedy and it’s called ‘Suck’

by Monika Bartyzel – Cinematical.com

These days, vampires are almost as prevalent as the mirrors they never cast a reflection in. True Blood, Twilight, Lestat, Underworld, The Vampire Diaries, Cirque du Freak, Priest,

Malcolm McDowell

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter… They’re everywhere. However, while we might be inclined to knock any new film that tries to jump onto the pile, we can’t really fault any horror indies. Vamps have always thrived in that realm; it’s their home turf.

So you might remember that last year, I wrote about a little Canadian horror comedy called Suck and its interesting cast list — Jessica Pare, Malcolm McDowell, Dave Foley, Iggy Pop, Moby, Alice Cooper, Carol Pope, and Henry Rollins. The film has since wrapped, is heading to TIFF next month (hat tip to MTV), and you can check out a trailer for the bloodletting after the jump. The brainchild of Rob Stefaniuk (of Phil the Alien fame), Suck focuses on a struggling band who finally finds success when the leader’s (Stefaniuk) ex gf and bandmate Jennifer (Pare) becomes a vampire rife with “sexually charged charisma that drives the audiences wild.”

McDowell co-stars as Eddie Van Helsing — a one-eyed vamp hunter who’s afraid of the dark, while Foley plays their manager, Pop plays a music producer, Cooper plays a bartender, and Rollins plays “Rock’n Roger” — a radio dude with terrible hair. That alone has me sold. Heck,

Jessica Paré

McDowell with a flashlight to “keep the dark away” is gold just on its own. But just to sweeten the pot some more, the film’s full of songs like David Bowie’s “Here Come’s the Night” and The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil.”

Make Up Department
  Graham Chivers … dental technician
  Cliona Furey… hair department head
  Iantha Goldberg … assistant makeup artist
  Colin Penman … assistant makeup department head
  Jordan Samuel … makeup designer

Special Effects Department
  Graham Chivers … special effects technician
  Steve Newburn … special effects technician
  Ron Stefaniuk … special effects coordinator

Visual Effects Department
  Tony Cybulski … digital compositor: C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures
  Luke Groves … visual effects production manager: C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures
  Mark Thomas-Stubbs … lead digital effects artist
  Chris Wallace … digital intermediate colourist

David Arquette confirms: Courteney Cox & myself are ‘doing Scream 4’

 Michael Sheridan  -  New York DAILY NEWS

Get ready to “Scream” one more time.

It appears another sequel to the once popular horror franchise is coming together, that is at least according to actor David Arquette.

“We are going to be doing ‘Scream 4′,” Arquette told E!’s Marc Malkin, indicating that both himself and wife, Courteney Cox, will be returning to the roles that brought them together.

Rumors of a fourth “Scream” film have been stabbed before over the last few years, but Arquette’s comment seems to suggest it may actually happen. He went on to say that screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who penned the original films, was working on the script.

“Hopefully Wes Craven is going to direct,” he added. Arquette and Cox met while making the first “Scream” film in 1996.

Williamson suggested last month via Twitter that Neve Campbell, who starred in the original “Scream” fright flicks, had already said no to returning to the franchise.

“Trying to figure out a Sid-less scenario. She won’t do it. This sucks,” he reportedly wrote, although this “tweet” has since been removed.

Since then, all Williamson – who is presently working on the upcoming series, “The Vampire Diaries,” for the CW – has only “tweeted” the following about “Scream 4″:

“Thanks to all for their S4 support. Nothing new to report. Still writing away. Forgot how much I loved these characters.”

 

GoreMaster’s Editor note:

The earlier Scream entries featured the work of some of the giants in the Makeup Effects industry like Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman and Greg Nicotero.

Inside the ‘The Vampire Diaries’

by Noelle Talmon – Starpulse.com contributing writer

“I am a vampire. And this is my story,” begins The CW’s upcoming fall drama “The Vampire Diaries.”
   Suspiciously similar in premise to the “Twilight” series, “Vampire Diaries” centers on Elena, a human, and Stefan, a vampire. In the pilot episode it’s love at first sight for the star-crossed lovers when they meet outside the boys bathroom on the first day of school. Elena is an orphan – her parents died in a car crash the previous spring – and Stefan is an orphan too. They both also happen to keep journals. 
   They meet for a second time in, how appropriate, a cemetery. No, we’re not making this stuff up. But he quickly splits after finding out Elena is bleeding on the shin. “I get it. Blood makes you squeamish,” she later says.
   The first episode is full of cheesy effects – mysterious mist, awkward vampire flying routines, etc. – but it is sure to be a hit with tweens who swoon over Robert Pattinson and the “Twilight” crowd. It’s also a PG alternative to the hypersexual and gory “True Blood” on HBO.