TVD Bite me. No, really, bite me

I thought this was pretty funny, Ian Paul and Nina's answers



AT THE risk of receiving hate mail written in blood from besotted teenage Twilight fans, I hereby make known that Edward Cullen turned me off vampires.

I mean, Bela Lugosi was a vampire a girl could really respect. But a bland, mopey tree-climber with the face of Robert Pattinson? Sorry, Edward.

And then I saw Ian Somerhalder in The Vampire Diaries, and I totally changed my mind about teen vamps. Yeah, I could fall for a vampire who was that dark, delectable and deliciously bad - even if he is in high school. (He's over 100 years old - he's definitely legal.)

In fact, the entire cast of The Vampire Diaries is gorgeous. Bulgarian-Canadian actress Nina Dobrev (Degrassi: The Next Generation) stars as Elena, a high school outsider who meets a mysterious new pair of vampire brothers: Stefan Salvatore, played by Paul Wesley (Everwood, 24), is on the side of good; his brother Damon, played by Somerhalder, is on the side of evil.

Before long, Elena, who's the spitting image of Stefan's historical love, Katherine, finds herself romantically caught between the two.

When I spoke to the trio via video-conferencing in Los Angeles - they were busy filming up in Georgia, where the landscape looks more conducive to vampiric activity - it seemed fitting that Wesley and Somerhalder, at the ripe old ages of 28 and 32, respectively, were playing century-old vampires pretending to be high school teens. While they took pot shots at each other, 21-year-old Dobrev just rolled her eyes. Boys are such dweebs.

Incidentally, if you're wondering how someone gets to be as good-looking as Somerhalder, the Lost and Smallville star was raised on an organic diet that excluded sugar and white flour. As Wikipedia puts it, "he lived a life of soy and homemade root beer".

I guess that could make the blood of nubile maidens comparatively more appealing.



The Vampire Diaries is available any time on demand through SingTel mio TV's Season Pass. Call 1800 737 1111 (9am to 9pm daily) or visit any SingTel shop to sign up. For more information, log on to www.singtel-ustv.com.



How would you explain the evolving image of vampires? Twenty years ago, they were associated with blood and death, and now they're sexy and adorable.

Ian Somerhalder: It's deviated, yeah. First of all, let's all be honest - we're all sitting in this room because of the success of Twilight. This genre is now a massive ball that can't be reckoned with. Vampire lore is a really great basis for storytelling. You have the ostracised outsider who is very introspective and conflicted in every way, shape, and form.

Nina Dobrev: A lot of girls like bad boys. It's the whole mysterious, sexy, scary, and dangerous vibe. The vampires of 20 years ago were scary and crazy, and you didn't want them to bite you. Now, every girl wants a vampire to bite her.

Paul Wesley: I also think it's very interesting to have this creature that's so violent and gory and twisted inside this shell that's pale, thin, frail, youthful ...

Ian: Are you calling me pale and frail?

Paul: Yeah. You need to get some sun.

Nina: You both need to get some sun.



Film, television and literature have a long history of using vampires and the supernatural to allow us to explore humanity. Why do you think that works so well?

Paul: Because it's extreme human emotion times 1,000, right? So if someone has a lustful craving, it's that times 1,000. And then the feeling of being lonely and secluded, of course - a vampire feels that way because he watches everyone die around him. And the romance is so extreme because you know that sucking the blood out of this girl will kill her, but you're in love with her - every relationship kind of has this double-edged sword.

Ian: Wow. "I love you, but I want to eat you."

Nina: That's what it is. A lot of relationships are love/hate. You love someone so much, and then they get on your nerves so much. "I love you, but I want to kill you."

Ian: That's initially the dynamic between Damon and Stefan. It's that love that is so powerful that it makes you hate someone - you realise how dependent you are. We are, as a human race, so dependent upon one another. We are a socialised civilisation. And it really does throw you sometimes when you lose someone and you realise how interdependent we are on each other.

Paul: "I love you so much that I hate you"?

Ian: I love you so much, Paul, that I hate you.

Nina: Ditto.



Paul and Ian, teenage female vampire fans tend to be incredibly enthusiastic. What kind of strange fan encounters do you get?

Paul: Fans ask us to bite them. So that's always good.

Ian: I have! But there's the whole legality aspect to it. The fact that it's illegal to bite someone - and if they say they're 20 but they're really, like, 13, and their father is standing around the corner with a baseball bat - it literally is not a good idea. I came to understand that by trial and error.

Paul: Or perhaps they were just being sarcastic, and you bit them anyway, and they punched you in the face.

Ian: Well, there was that woman who said something about her "book". You thought she wanted you to bite her, and she actually wanted you to sign her book.

Paul: I don't recall.

Ian: That was hilarious.

Paul: You're delusional.



Okay, so we all know that vampires are among us, and we should be on our guard. What are the telltale signs that my next-door neighbour might be a vampire?

Nina: If they never come out during the day, that would be one indicator.

Ian: You see little trails of blood.

Paul: Actually, you wouldn't know. I actually have my suspicions about you guys here. I'm thinking one of you. I won't mention whom.