Anna Paquin won an Academy Award for The Piano at the tender age of 11, so winning a Golden Globe 15 years later should be old hat, right? Not quite.
Not only does Paquin call her win for playing (cue creepy southern vampire voice) Sookie on HBO's True Blood a total surprise, she also says it's "100 times cooler" than winning an Oscar. Say what? See why she thinks so, plus see just what she had to go through to land her award-winning role in the video after the jump.
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Alan Ball by John P. Johnson/HBO
From the dead to the undead Alan Ball the creator of the dearly missed mortuary drama Six Feet Under turns his darkly comic sights on the supernatural with True Blood Sundays at 9 pmET HBO the story of a telepathic Southern waitress who takes a stab at romance with a 173-year-old vampire Kate HahnTV Guide What was it about the Sookie Stackhouse novels that made you want to turn them into a seriesAlan Ball I bought [the book] because of the tagline Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend wasnt such a good idea which struck me as funny[Author] Charlaine Harris created such an imaginative and clever world thats frightening funny sexy and deeply romantic all at onceTV Guide Anna Paquin looks so different in the series blonde and tan Weird for a vampire showBall [Laughs] Ive tried to be as true to the books as possibleThere are legions of fans for Charlaines books and I want them to be fans of the show too And after she did it Anna actu
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Stephen Moyer in True Blood by Jaimie Trueblood/HBO
Feels like old times, having a Sunday HBO lineup to get excited about again. But excited I am, having seen the first five episodes of the wildly entertaining new vampire mystery/romance/comedy/thriller hybrid True Blood, and the first four episodes of Entourage’s much-improved fifth season.I posted my initial thoughts on True Blood in a Dispatch filed shortly after HBO’s presentation during TCA press tour this summer, at which time I had screened the first two episodes. Since then, I’ve watched more and have also devoured the first two books in Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series, which are also great fun. (Season one of True Blood roughly tracks the plot of Harris’s first volume, Dead Until Dark.) All I can say is: I’m hooked.Alan Ball’s colorful adaptation goes way over the top as only pay cable can do, both in terms of sexuality (especially where Sookie’s horndog brother is concerned) and in terms of broadly played Southern caricatur...
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Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer by Prashant Gupta/HBO
I dont usually look like this Anna Paquin says with a laugh ushering a visitor into her modest dressing room on the set of True Blood HBOs eagerly awaited vampire series Shes referring to the giant shiner an impressive black-and-blue masterpiece courtesy of the makeup department that covers her left eye But theres an even more striking change Paquin 26 a familiar big-screen face since her Oscar win at age 11 for The Piano is no longer her well-known wan brunette self but a spray-tanned bleached-blonde bombshellJust as the X-Men star doesnt look quite like herself True Blood which marks the return to TV for Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball doesnt resemble a typical blood-sucker saga On the show set in the near future vamps have come out of the coffin so to speak and are even campaigning for a Vampire Rights Amendment Theyve made their presence known to mankind Ball says Theyre struggling for equal rights and assimilation A new sy
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Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer with Alan Ball on the set of True Blood by Jamie Trueblood/HBO
Vamp fans—and you know who you are (I hear from you often enough)—I know you’ve had a tough year, still mourning Moonlight and Blood Ties and all. Time to cheer up, and get ready for a wild ride this fall with HBO’s frightfully funky Southern Gothic ghoulash True Blood (premiering Sept. 7). With equal parts humor, horror and a sexuality that goes beyond the usual supernatural swooniness to graphic raunchiness, Alan Ball’s 12-episode adaptation of Charlaine Harris’s cheeky novels—the first season roughly follows her first book, “Dead Until Dark”—is one of the few buzzworthy shows to emerge in the new season.Still, you’d never accuse Ball of (pardon the pun) sucking up to the die-hard cultists. Asked if he’d taken any lessons from the cancellation of CBS’s Moonlight, for example, he quips: “I think it’s pretty lame when you let your vampire out in the day just because you don’t want to shoot at night.”...
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Question: First, thanks for your insight on all things TV. I have you to thank for many of my favorites (FNL, VM, BSG), and I was curious about the new HBO series True Blood. When I heard that Alan Ball was picking up the reins of this show, I bought the first book in the Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire series and was immediately smitten. She creates a very fun alternate world full of fascinating characters that could make for really great TV. I was further interested when it was announced that Anna Paquin was cast in the lead, though less so about Stephen Moyer (who was far from intriguing in The Starter Wife). Do you have any thoughts on True Blood?
Answer: I'm curious about this show, too, but I won't have any real thoughts to share until I actually see it. I haven't done my homework yet, but I'd like to read at least one of these books (reading, what a thought) before sinking my teeth — sorry — into the adaptation. I love the idea that HBO is getting back into the genre of the
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Anna Paquin by Ryan Born/WireImage.com
HBO has sunk its teeth into an order for the True Blood series, Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball's new drama based on Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire novels. Set in a world where vamps can live off Japanese-produced synthetic blood, the TV adaptation stars Brit Stephen Moyer (Quills) as a vampire who falls for a waitress (Anna Paquin) who can read people's minds. Though a premiere plan has yet to be detailed, production starts this fall.Related: X-Men's Anna Paquin Banks on Blood
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Rainn Wilson, Neil Patrick Harris and Sally Field are among this year's Emmy nominees.
We know what you think about the nominees for this year's Primetime Emmy Awards, but what do the lucky nominees have to say about their good fortune? Some of your favorites reveal what went through their minds as the good news got out.
Doug Ellin, executive producer of Entourage (Outstanding Comedy Series nominee) "The New York Times called Entourage the best show in its first season. If for some reason [the voters] appreciate it more and we win this time, there's nothing we've consciously done to change it.... I spoke to Jeremy [Piven], who's in London doing a movie, and I'm playing golf with Kevin [Dillon] in about two hours. Jeremy is kind of our home-run hitter, I knew he was going to get nominated, and when Kevin and Martin Landau also got nominated, it was just great."
Tim Kring, executi
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August Schellenberg in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Annabel Reyes/HBO
Nominations for the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, to be broadcast Sept. 16 on Fox, were announced Thursday morning. Here are the major races in the miniseries or TV-movie field.Lead Actress in a Miniseries or TV-movie:Queen Latifah (Life Support)Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect: The Final Act)Mary-Louise Parker (The Robber Bride)Debra Messing (The Starter Wife)Gena Rowlands (What If God Were the Sun)Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV-movie:Robert Duvall (Broken Trail)Tom Selleck (Jesse Stone: Sea Change)Jim Broadbent (Longford)William H. Macy (Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King)Matthew Perry (The Ron Clark Story)Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or TV-movie:Greta Scacchi (Broken Trail)Anna Paquin (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee)Samantha Morton (Longford)Judy Davis (The Starter Wife)Toni Collette (Tsunami: The Aftermath)Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or TV-movie:Thomas Haden Church (Broken Trail)August Schellenberg (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee) Aidan Qui...
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Anna Paquin, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
This Sunday at 9 pm/ET, HBO premieres Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a wrenching adaptation of Dee Brown's history of the hardships the Indian nations suffered in late-19th-century America. In it, the quirkily charismatic Anna Paquin plays Elaine Goodale, the wife of a Dartmouth-educated Sioux (SVU's Adam Beach) who devotes her life to the tribe. The Oscar winner spoke with us about the film.
TV Guide: How would you describe Elaine? Paquin: She's strong and modern. Most people weren't interested in working with native populations at that time, but she spoke the language fluently and lived on the reservation. She knew the culture from the inside.
TV Guide: Wha
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