This week’s issue of Star ups the ante on the tabloid’s previous “entitled diva” reports concerning Stephen Moyer’s behavior on the set of “True Blood.” However, the latest rumors are getting far too personal because they concern Moyer’s jealousy of the obscenely steamy sex scenes between his real-life wife, Anna Paquin, and co-star Alexander Skarsgard. Of course, this story could be entirely made-up because it ties in so nicely with the fact that Alex recently split with girlfriend Kate Bosworth. Regardless, Star maintains that the tensions are affecting the hit HBO show (which has just been renewed for a fifth season) to such a degree that Paquin has been forced to run interference:

The steamy nude love scenes between True Blood‘s Anna Paquin and Alexander Skarsgard during the show’s fouth season have set pulses racing. But the couple’s chemistry had Stephen Moyer, their costar — and Anna’s real-life spouse — boiling! He flipped out several times, an insider tells Star, because he felt Anna was way too enthusiastic about fooling around with Alex, who is fresh off a split form Kate Bosworth.

“Anna is very secure in her sexuality,” the insider explains. “She threw herself into her love scenes with Alex, and they’re really hot. He was clearly turned on — and Stephen was not amused, to put it mildly.” Things became so tense between the show’s male leads, adds the insider, that creator Alan Ball even jokingly threatened to make them “hug it out”!

Anna, 29, was truly surprised by Stephen’s reaction, the insider says. “I think everyone was caught off guard. There has been nothing but friendship between the three of them until now, and there’s always been lots of sex on the show.”

To soothe her husband of one year, Anna began doing double duty on set. “Between scenes, she seemed to make a point of walking over to him to whisper something in his ear or grab a quick kiss,” says the insider.

Fortunately, Stephen, 41, and Alex, 34, have been able to move past the awkwardness — for the most part. “Anna is hugely relieved,” says the insider. “She says that a large part of True Blood‘s appeal to viewers is, well, the hot sex. If Stephen kept taking her scenes with Alex personally, his jealousy could take down the entire show.”

[From Star, print edition, August 22, 2010]

I wonder if this is true or not; but if so, Moyer’s just going to have to learn to deal with watching Skarsgard sex up his wife because, you know, it’s part of the job. Besides, it’s not like Paquin doesn’t have to deal with Moyer’s love scenes with other women on the same set as well, right? Granted, “True Blood” sex scenes are much more intense than the average television sex scene; but still, suck it up, dude.

Meanwhile, Alex was snapped looking all lanky and sultry in New York City this week. Honestly, a man should need a permit to stand like this:

And just yesterday, here Alex is on the set of his new film, What Maisie Knew, in NYC as well. Lucky Manhattan.

UPDATE: Denials from both men have already arrived! Moyer, who apparenly is not a jealous man, has already proclaimed, “Ha, ha. I have also had hot love scenes with others so it is something we have to deal with. It is part of the job so it is ok. I am actually happy that it is with Alex since I like him so much.” Alex has also chimed in with “I know he doesn’t see me as a potential threat, and it’s really not uncomfortable at all.” So yeah, this is merely more fabricated drama from Star.

Photos courtesy of WENN, PCN, and Fame

Anna Paquin worked a very tight, very short v-neck red dress with zippers up the side at the Comic-Con panel for True Blood on Friday. She looked great and I wish she would get it right like this on the red carpet. Maybe she should have thought twice before crouching down though.

The True Blood Comic-Con panel was large and featured nine of the lead actors including creator Alan Ball, Kristin Bauer (Pam), Alexander Skarsgard (Eric), Kevin Alejandro (Jesus), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette), Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica), Ryan Kwanten (Jason), Rutina Wesley (Tara), Stephen Moyer (Bill) and Anna Paquin (Sookie.) You can watch the Comic-Con True Blood session in five parts on YouTube and here are some of the better excerpts, with more at the source.

Potential Spoilers

How do you feel about Sookie losing her innocence?
Anne Paquin: There is part of here that is sweet and innocent, and another part that has very dirty vampire sex with possibly multiple vampires.

Since the memory erasing incident, we’ve seen a lighter Eric. Do you like playing him?
Alexander Skarsgard: Yes

Why does he forget to wear shirts? And what’s with that outfit he wears?
Skarsgard: Sookie finds me in the woods. And when she finds me, she dresses me. It’s something she found at her house. Where did that come from, Alan?
Ball: If you translate the spell, it will say “You will lose your shirt, but find a dorky outfit that you will wear for several episodes but still be insanely hot.”

First you have weird head-twisting sex, than you have sex with your great, great, great granddaughter. What’s up with that?
Moyer: If Bill did a little work at the library, she could have figured out who she was. They will see each other again, but Bill has bigger fish to fry.

Is Lafayette along for the ride with the witches because of Angel, or does he believe?
Nelsan Ellis: He loves the dude. He didn’t want to step out into the supernatural.

Tara’s transformation from victim to kicking ass and taking no prisons. What do you think of the evolution to lesbian cage fighter?
Rutine Wesley: I love MMA. I think Tara was sideswiped by love and didn’t know what happened. I think it’s awesome that she’s happy and smiling.

Ryan, tell us about being strapped to the bed and ritualistically raped?
Ryan Kwanten: It’s interesting for an actor when all you have to use is your face, especially for Jason who is a physical type of guy. It’s strange for him, especially being called “Ghost Daddy.”

We all know what happens when a person drinks vamp blood, so what will happen when Jason drinks Jessica’s blood?
Deborah Ann Woll: We all know what happens, but it’s more interesting on what happens when it wears off.

What do you think of Pam’s “face off” with Marnie?
Kristin Bauer van Straten: We work hard to make you squeamish. It’s very physical. I was told to “find the hole in my face and push up.” Only on “True Blood” will you get that kind of direction.

Will Eric remember what happened with Sookie?
Alan Ball: That moment if it comes, if you know it is coming, it won’t be as good. So, maybe.

Bill and Sookie be together again?
Anna Paquin: It will be a complicated road back. It’s impossible for me to call that one.
Moyer: There are only so many telepathic waitresses in town. It’s not like I can just move on to the next one.

What is up with creepy baby doll and Arlene’s baby?
Moyer: I was with Alan when he looked at the set for Jessica and Hoyt’s house, and he said, “This is a great place for that baby to be born. There is something not right about that baby.”

Will fans get the infamous “shower scene” from the books?
Ball: There will be a moment where Sookie and Eric are in a shower. It won’t be exactly like the books. It might be weirder and dirtier.

What are your favorite moments of this season?:
Ball: I like the ritualistic rape of Jason Stackhouse
Kwanten: Me too. It was a bizarre sense of therapy.
Wesley: The cage fighting
Skarsgard: I enjoyed the swimming in the sun.

[From Showblitz]

Spoilers for last night’s episode of True Blood
Last night’s True Blood was decent but the show has kind of lost its luster for me. It seems to be meandering a lot lately and there are quite a few plot lines that bore me. I’m also kind of tired of the constant dream sequences. The Jason explained to Hoyt how he was systematically raped in Hot Shot was almost as if the writers were trying to justify it. I found that explanation more disturbing than those scenes. It’s telling that Alan Ball says that’s his favorite part of this season. The potential romance between Jason and Jessica is very promising, though. I’m looking forward to that as much as I am to Sookie and Eric finally getting it on.

How drunk do Alex Skarsgard and Stephen Moyer look?

Also, Deborah Ann Woll’s outfit is adorable. She’s so pretty.

Photo credit: WENN.com

Some of the men of True Blood are featured on the cover of the new issue of TV Guide, with stars Alex Skarsgard (Eric), Stephen Moyer (Bill) and Joe Manganiello (Alcide) in a sexy photoshoot and joint interview inside. Contrary to some of the rumors we’ve heard about the male stars’ egos clashing on set, which they sort-of acknowledge, they seem to get along well and have a casual, joking camaraderie that comes through in print. I would have loved to have seen Ryan Kwanten (Jason), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayatte) and/or Sam Trammell (Sam) mixed in, but since they all play non-supes (with the exception of Sam) who aren’t interested in Sookie (again with the exception of Sam), it might have been too confusing to do more than the top three. This gets me thinking that all of the supes just want a piece of Sookie, which should be obvious to me from the books and series so far, but it seems like they’re hitting us over the head with it on the show.

Here’s some of their interview, with more at the source. There are major spoilers for the show here, but ones that are somewhat obvious to anyone who has read the books. It’s up to you of course whether you want to skip this.

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE: What’s it like to play your characters now that they’re in such different circumstances this season?
STEPHEN: Bill had to let Sookie go. And in doing so, he’s become a better man and a better king. It’s been great as an actor having that sort of guiding light for him.
JOE: Alcide is wrestling with that beast inside him. I like moments where that thing inside him that he’s so afraid of is also this place of great strength.
ALEX: I love Eric’s vulnerability. But it’s tricky because even though he doesn’t know who he is, you can’t play it too flat. You can’t chop off his balls. Then there’s his inner struggle. If they break the spell, then Eric finds out about all the things he’s done in the past and who he really is, and that scares him. He’s like, “Hey, I’m kind of happy in this little house with Sookie.”
STEPHEN: Eric and Sookie are the tipping point of this season. The best stuff that’s in the show is their stuff.

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE: Has it been awkward for you, Stephen, since Anna’s your wife?
STEPHEN: It could have been really difficult, but it’s about being professional. And we all really like each other. It’s tougher for Anna because she’s having to show emotion with somebody else, and it’s been the same people on our crew since she and I got together when the show first started.
ALEX: If it was awkward for us, that would spread to the crew. They see us being so relaxed with each other and it’s so obvious when the camera is rolling and when it’s not, you know? And Anna’s great. She’s a very generous actress, very professional. In fact, we shot a scene the other night and it was one of those where…
STEPHEN: It will get people talking!

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE: What is Anna like when the cameras aren’t rolling?
STEPHEN: She’s merciless in her ridicule of everybody, and she expects the same back.
JOE: I spent half of last season dressed in what she refers to as “Giant Joe’s Giant Jumpsuit.” So Anna and Rutina [Wesley, who plays Tara] came up with a dance routine and a song that they would perform every time I wore the Giant Jumpsuit.
ALEX: [Singing] Joe and his giant jumpsuit…

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE: Joe, when you came in on the third season, was there an initiation?
JOE: The new guy on a show can feel like an outsider. There can be egos and things like that. But Anna was completely friendly, welcoming. Still, the guys won’t let me make eye contact.
STEPHEN: I make him get on his knees so we’re eye-to-eye.
JOE: But I guess the initiation would be wearing the “sock” [a wardrobe item that protects an actor's modesty in a nude scene].
ALEX: I put it on him. [Laughs] Someone had to show him, you know?

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE: You guys have to be [nude] a lot. Who works out the most?
STEPHEN: Joe’s insane.
JOE: Yeah. I work out twice a day, six days a week. I eat constantly.
STEPHEN: I do three days a week. I just don’t want to watch this show 20 years from now and look at myself and say, “Who is that white blob?”
ALEX: I do three days a week, too. But with Joe, it’s all about the pecs. He can make them dance.
JOE: Alex hasn’t looked me in the eye once. I’m like, “Up here, Alex. Up here.”

[From TV Guide]

Spoilers for past episodes and potentially future ones
I’ve been keeping up with True Blood and while there are some storylines that I enjoy and want to follow, there are also plenty that I would like to skip over, and that rub me the wrong way. I hate the Hotshot storyline, with Jason being tied up, tortured and raped by Crystal. Those people in Hotshot are outrageous Deliverance stereotypes and that situation could have been portrayed without being so offensive.

Sookie and Eric’s new dynamic is cute, and I love Eric as dependent on Sookie and vulnerable. I also like the twist where Eric killed Sookie’s fairy godmother. (If that’s what indeed happened and she didn’t just get sucked back to fairy or whatever.) In the books, Claudine is killed in some battle with two evil fairies. I disliked that part of the books and hope that this means that we won’t be subjected to that storyline on the show.

Bill’s romance with calculating Portia is nice to witness. I enjoy that he’s become ruthless and somewhat evil. He always seemed to have that in him and I never really cared for him and Sookie together.

Jessica and Hoyt’s relationship problems seem genuine and relatable. They remain my favorite couple on the show.

Overall, though, the show is kind of losing me this season and while I’ll watch all the episodes I won’t rush to see them the minute they come out. Maybe it’s inevitable that shows lose their focus after a few years. It must be hard to put out 12 hours of programming every year and keep it fresh.

TV Guide Cover and scans via TrueBlood-News.com

This is an amusing story in this week’s Star that I hope is overblown. I’d like to think of the True Blood men as a kind of brotherhood of hotties, joking around and slapping towels at each other’s asses in homoerotic scenes in the locker room. Star claims that they’re backbiting bitches to each other, though, and are competing for screen time and trying to see who can hook up with the most extras. Even if this story is complete bunk, and I hope it is, it’s nice to hear it about men for once. Stephen Moyer is supposedly above all this since he’s married, but they claim he still acts like an entitled diva. Now that I can believe.

“The cast is full of hot guys with huge egos, and they are all battling to be the breakout star of the show,” an insider tells Star. “They each want the best dialogue, the best story lines and the most camera time.” And for some of the leading men, the feuding goes beyond the screen. “Ryan Kwanten and Alex Skarsgard are constantly competing,” the source reveals. “even about who can lift more weight or do more crunches. They always have their shirts off, flexing their abs.”

And they’re competing over hot girls too. “Some of the guys are making their way through the female extras to see who can hook up with the most,” the insider says. While Stephen Moyer stays true to his wife, Anna Paquin, he is getting a bad rap for his above it all attitude. “Stephen walks around like he’s the big man on campus,” the insider dishes. “He feels like he and Anna deserve the most perks, which doesn’t sit well with the other actors.” The one-set rivalry has also “gotten to be a problem for the producers and a real headache for the rest of the cast and crew,” adds the insider.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, July 18, 2011]

They don’t mention Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette), Sam Trammell (Sam) or Joe Manganiello (Alcide), all of whom are in long term relationships. Ellis has been with his girlfriend since 1993 and they have a son together, Trammell’s girlfriend is expecting twin boys, and Manganiello is sadly engaged. So it’s hard to tell who Star is referring to when they say they’re competing to bang the women on set. That’s probably the point, though and this whole story is hopefully crap. (Apart from the detail that Ryan and Alex have sweaty workout sessions together in which they love showing each other their abs.)

As for the last episode of True Blood, without revealing any spoilers I have to say the show really picked up steam. Where the first episode this season was too slow and was focused on bringing us up to speed with the various characters a year later, this episode had a tighter plot and some promising twists. I can’t wait to see what happens with Eric! I love him like this, and that’s all I’ll say about it. What happened to the werewolves though? We need some brooding Alcide coming to the rescue. If the books are any indication, and that’s not always the case, he’ll come back soon. (From what I remember, right? A lot of it is a blur to me.)

Photos via True Blood Online

Entertainment Weekly has a series of three covers for their upcoming issue, out this Friday. They feature True Blood star Anna Paquin (Sookie) in American Gothic style poses with Alex Skarsgard (Eric), her real life husband Stephen Moyer (Bill) and potential werewolf love interest Joe Manganiello (Alcide). They’re very clever and amusing, with Paquin making slightly different expressions in each. There’s a lot of anticipation for this Sunday’s season four True Blood premiere, and I have to admit I’m getting anxious for it too. I just don’t want to get my hopes up too much, given the highly disappointing first eight minutes that HBO has put out. The (mild spoiler I guess) fairy fantasy fight sequence that was released was so reminiscent of campy Star Trek that I’m not expecting too much this year. Still, there will be plenty of hot guys, sex scenes, and bloody lusty moments and that’s usually more than enough for me. I love a good sex scene with some head twisting thrown in, and what other shows are doing that really?

The advance details on Entertainment Weekly’s website have Alex being incredibly gracious and grateful to his fans, as usual. I just hear his voice in my head when I read these delicious quotes and I melt a little.

Spoilers for this quoted text I guess, especially if you haven’t read the books yet:

Playing the smoking hot vampire Eric Northman is humbling, to say the least, for Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard. So to say that he’s used to the adoration from female fans of True Blood, the subject of this week’s Entertainment Weekly cover story, would be a bit of an understatement. (For proof, consider this little detail that EW dug up from Charlaine Harris, the author of the extremely popular Sookie Stackhouse novels that serve as the inspiration for True Blood: She says that fans often ask her to autograph the tomes to “Mrs. Alexander Skarsgard.”)

“I’ll never get used to that,” Skarsgard said of his googly-eyed fanbase. “It’s just very, very humbling and flattering. The character Eric means so much to me and I’m having so much fun playing him. Of course it means a lot when you meet fans and you can actually tell there are people out there who really do care about the character. It means something to you, then. That’s kind of why you do this whole thing.”

Eric fans could have plenty to salivate over this season, which begins June 26 on HBO. This year, True Blood is inspired by book four of the Stackhouse series, Dead to the World, which features a steamy shower scene between Sookie and the tall, light and handsome vamp. Unfortunately, Skargard isn’t in the mood to kiss and tell. He will say, however, that sex this year is, um, a little more down to earth. “I did some crazy stuff last year. I almost had sex with a Greek man and I was covered in his goo. Everything from here on is pretty childish. Everything’s quite innocent.”

For lots more about Eric and the other hot men in Sookie’s complicated life, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands Friday, June 24. And what’s that you say? You’re not a Skarsgard fan? No worries: We published two other collectible covers to satiate those who prefer Stephen Moyer and Joe Manganiello. No thank you necessary. It was our absolute pleasure.

[From EW.com]

So the “sex with a Greek man” quote threw me a little, but then I realized that he was talking about when his character seduced Talbot so he could kill him and get back at Russell. I loved that plot twist and while I’ve read all the books I couldn’t tell you if it was in there or not. This show is incredible and so many of us are waiting for it to come back on Sunday. As long as Eric will be there, so will we. I hope he’s misleading us about the “quite innocent” part for this season, though. That would be highly disappointing.

It’s sad but until I saw these drool worthy photos of Alex Skarsgard and Stephen Moyer kissing (sort of) and wearing doofy shirts for charity, I’d almost forgotten about True Blood! I’ve read all the books (the last one sucked!) seen all the shows and the new season isn’t coming out for over a half a year. They need to do something to keep the fans interested, and this photoshoot might be just the trick. The thinking women’s vamps wore shirts designed by a True Blood fanclub site after a friendly competition to raise money for charity. The battle was fierce and close, with Stephen narrowly beating out Alex to earn $35,043 for Gulf Aid. Alex raised $34,223 for his charity, SOS Children’s Villages. Moyers may have had the edge by offering random prize giveaways for donations including signed DVDs and a signed script. In the end “Team Bill” won and Moyers got to pick the shirts the two wore for this photo.

Bill Compton narrowly beat out the Viking Eric Northman by only $829. Together, both teams competing in the Battle Of The Fang raised almost $70,000 for charity! As Bill Compton is the reining king, Stephen Moyer got to choose the t-shirts himself. As you can see, his chosen shirt reads, “I Like My Bitches Blonde” while Alex’s says simply, “Bill’s Bitch!” Both these dudes got a sense of humor, is all we’re sayin’.

Stephen Moyer and Alexander Skarsgård are amazed at the amount of contributions that their fans have donated. Alex, Stephen, Gulf Aid and SOS Children’s Villages all want to thank everyone who participated in The Battle Of The Fang. The Battle has surpassed all our expectations!

The success of The Battle Of The Fang has once again proven that True Blood fans, no matter which team they’re on, are the best! We’d also like to thank all of the fans who donated, Stephen Moyer and Alex Skarsgård for playing along and alexskarsgard.net, our partner in the competition, for all their hard work.

[From TrueBlood-News.com]

That’s so nice that they helped out a fan site and charity! Next time they need to auction off video of the two of them making out. You know that would earn over a million in donations. Also, how hungover do they look here?

Here’s Moyer talking about the charity competition:

Photos thanks to TrueBlood-News.com. Thanks to DListed for the heads up!

According to Us Weekly’s sources, Sookie and Bill got hitched this weekend! Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer were married in a quiet, private ceremony in Malibu, surrounded by friends and family. They had been engaged for more than a year, but I honestly hadn’t heard that much about their wedding plans – looks like they pulled it off without it becoming some paparazzi haven, or without oversharing every last little detail. Good for them. Here’s more Us Weekly:

True bliss! True Blood stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer wed Saturday evening at a private residence in Malibu, Calif., UsMagazine.com has confirmed. Guests — many of them bearing gifts in purple boxes and with purple bows — included Elijah Wood and True Blood costar Carrie Preston with husband Michael Emerson (Lost). Paquin, 28, and Moyer, 40, exchanged their vows beneath a tent across the street from the beach.

The couple announced their engagement last August. Connecting over daily breakfasts at a West Hollywood cafe, they began dating a few months after filming first began in 2008 for HBO’s smash vampire series, now in its third season. On the show, Paquin (a 1994 Oscar-winner at age 11 for her role in The Piano) plays Sookie Stackhouse, the psychic, mortal lover to vampire Bill Compton (Moyer); their first kiss occurred onscreen.

But the duo waited until February 2009 to debut their real-life romance — a delay that was “very intentional on both our parts,” British actor Moyer explained at the time. “It was very important to me that the cast and crew we were working with didn’t feel it was fickle….We didn’t want to take anything away from the show.”

Moyer proposed to Canadian-born, New Zealand-raised Paquin on a Hawaiian beach, presenting her with a ring — a rustic diamond set in an antiqued platinum inset — he helped design with jeweler Kathy Waterman. Why Hawaii? “There was a song in the first season, ‘White Sandy Beach in Hawaii,’ which was kind of funny and ironic,” he told Access Hollywood last year. “[It] all started out as a joke and then we decided to go to Hawaii with my kids,” says the actor, who has a son, Billy, and daughter, Lilac, from two previous relationships.

These days, Moyer splits his time between his native London and the Venice, Calif. home he shares with Paquin.

“With Anna it’s just about pure trust, on camera and off,” Moyer gushed in the July issue of Playboy. “I have never trusted anybody like I trust Anna.”

“I feel so lucky right now,” Paquin says in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. “Life is pretty great.”

[From Us Weekly]

Aw, I do think they’re happy. Congrats to them! Last year there was some tabloid muttering about Anna maybe homewrecking Steven’s previous relationship with a live-in love, but I actually don’t think there was much there – he seems to have a good relationship with his two long-term exes (who also happen to be baby mamas), although his M.O. seems to be dumping a baby-mama a few years after she gives birth… but hopefully Anna is the exception. And I buy that they really are in love. I can’t believe he’s 40 years old, either.

Anna and Stephen on July 23, 2010 at Comic Con. Also, on June 8, 2010 and January 17, 2010. Credit: WENN.

Here is the best image we’ve got so far of the True Blood cover for the next issue of Rolling Stone. Um… Stephen Moyer, Anna Paquin and Alexander Skarsgard are all naked and covered in blood… and dirt, maybe? Or is it all blood? Couple things: Moyer’s got a cute little bubble butt, doesn’t he? And Sookie’s got no ass to speak of and she’s sucking it in, big time. Oh, and Alex. Um… yeah, why didn’t they just put him on the cover again? I think it would have been a bestseller for the magazine. Did they not think of that?

Since the cover is all we’ve got, how about some more quotes from Alex’s interview with The Telegraph? There’s some good stuff in here. The full piece is here, and here are some highlights:

On the appeal of True Blood: ‘You can sit back and enjoy it, but it’s also really intelligent. It says a lot about society today and about how we relate to each other.’

On his father, actor Stellan, and his family: At 33, he is the oldest of Stellan’s six children from his first marriage: three of his brothers – Gustav, 29, Bill, 20, and Valter, 14, have established acting careers. Sam, 28, has also dabbled in the family business. His sister, Eija, 18, is a model; his mother, My, a doctor. He grew up in Stockholm, on the island of Södermalm. Family life, he says, was ‘pretty chaotic’, the atmosphere ‘very liberal’. His father strolled around naked a lot. Aunts, uncles and grandparents all lived close by. ‘The doors were always open. On any given night, there would be 10 to 15 people around the dinner table. It was very loud, very crazy, there was a lot of food, a lot of alcohol, but it was also very loving. I was very much part of the chaos but I also had my room, and in there, when I was four or five, I would organise my cars and my action figures. I needed some kind of structure, I think, because it was so chaotic in the rest of the apartment.’

On growing up around theatre folk: His father was performing in repertory theatre at the time, and would often be rehearsing one play during the day and performing in another in the evening. ‘He worked a lot,’ Skarsgård says, ‘so I would hang out backstage at the theatre and just play there because it was pretty much the only chance I got to spend time with my dad. A lot of the plays were Ingmar Bergman-directed, but I didn’t care about him. It was more fun to play around in the costume department.’

On his dreams of a career in architecture: He briefly considered becoming an architect – ‘I spent a lot of time drawing buildings, even entire towns’ – but changed his mind. He spent his teenage years ‘not hanging out with his family’, listening to punk with his friends, getting drunk at the weekends and following his local football team, Hammarby, home and away.

His military career: ‘I come from a family of pacifists, so it’s not like I was going to join the war. Sweden is not like the States or England where you might get sent to Afghanistan next month. For me it was just a personal challenge. I’m very happy that I did it. It was tough. I hated it at times; the unit I was in dealt with anti-sabotage, anti-terrorism in the archipelago, so some of the people who applied were total warheads. There were a lot of really cool guys, but the mentality sometimes got a little too testosterone-fuelled for my tastes.’

On leaving New York to go back to Sweden for love: ‘I had met this girl in Sweden three weeks before I went to New York. We had this long-distance relationship. We would speak on the phone once or twice a week. She broke up with me because it wasn’t working out, and I was heart-broken. I thought, I can’t do this, I miss her so much, I’ve got to go home. So I did. I got back and we hung out for a little while, but we were just too young and too different. She was 18 and I was 21. She’s a lovely woman but I didn’t even know her. I spent six months creating her in my mind.’

On playing cold characters: ‘I can definitely relate to them,’ he says. ‘But I’m different in real life. They’re subdued and calm, I’m more playful. I’m pretty intense when it comes to relationships, platonic ones as well. If I feel a connection with someone, I’m willing to go there.’

On being beautiful: ‘I see myself as most people see themselves, you have good days and bad days. I don’t think I’m better looking now than I did three years ago. I’m always looking for something that’s real and that’s got meat on it. I think it’s artistic suicide if you’re too vain, or if you’re afraid to play ugly. I would never fall for that.’

[From The Telegraph]

Sigh… Alex. So… f-cking hot. That’s all I’ve got to say about it. He’s so hot I almost forgot he was boning (operative word: bones) WhatsHerSmugFace.

UPDATE: Okay, Rolling Stone just put out the cover, but the header photo is still a better copy of it. Here’s the link to the RS teaser piece, amd here’s the slideshow, photographs by Matthew Rolston.

Rolling Stone cover courtesy of HuffPo.

True Blood’s Stephen Moyer is the subject of Playboy’s 20 Questions next month, and the entire piece is pretty good. CB and I were just debating Moyer’s qualities – since I don’t watch True Blood, I don’t really have an opinion on his talent as an actor. But just from reading and seeing interviews with him, I like him. He has a healthy dose of British irreverence, he’s a sh-t-talker, and he seems like he’s having fun with his somewhat sudden Hollywood breakthrough at the age of 40. Of course, I also think he’s probably pretty immature, but whatever. CB thinks he’s “preening” and “up his own ass.” It’s not like we fight about it.

Anyway, Moyer does some sh-t-talking in Playboy, especially when he fields some questions about Twilight. It’s not quite as bad as the time that he referred to Robert Pattinson as “the Diet Coke of vampires” but it’s still funny. The complete Playboy piece is here, and here are some of the better highlights:

On Anna Paquin‘s bisexuality: “I’ve never been in a relationship before in which, literally within the first three days, all the cards were laid out…It wasn’t something that was kept from me. I condone what she has done 100 percent, and it’s her business to talk about it, not mine. It doesn’t change anything. I’m proud of who she is.”

On his engagement to co-star Anna Paquin and the start of their romance: “She doesn’t pull punches. I’ll take 74,000 words to express an emotion because I fear hurting someone’s feelings. Anna will do it in three words. But we trust each other so implicitly that there’s never anything hurtful; it always comes from a loving place. It’s not as though people I’ve been with before haven’t been loving, but with Anna it’s just about pure trust, on camera and off. I have never trusted anybody like I trust Anna…During the show’s first season I had to go back to London and she went back to New York. I wish I had bought shares in Skype, because we Skyped every night for three or four hours. It felt as though part of me had been removed when Anna and I were apart.”

On securing his role on True Blood and the American attention he’s now receiving: “I’ve never had the Hollywood dream. I just wanted to be an actor. I worked at bars while I was in drama school, but luckily I’ve been acting for nearly 20 years and have never been unemployed for more than five or six months. When True Blood came along, I had returned to London to take a chill after four back-to-back gigs that had taken me away from home for four and a half months. I told my manager, ‘Don’t send me any more scripts. I’m not interested.’ She said, ‘Read just this one for me,’ and three days later I was sitting in [series creator] Alan Ball’s office with Anna, talking about True Blood.”

On human-on-undead vampire sex: “Unlike werewolves, who are very hot, vampires are steely cold, so sex with the undead isn’t going to get hot and crispy. There’s no heartbeat, no adrenaline rush as you get close to the moment. But in terms of speed and timing, you may be able to have sex that lasts for days. Vampire sex is muscular and physical, so it could be tiring for a human guy to have sex with a female vampire. I often think a lot of women’s attraction to vampires is based on the fact that vampires come from centuries ago, from eras of chivalry and courtly virtues. So it’s about being treated like a lady but being physically overtaken in the sack.”

On the diverse sexual couplings and overall sensuality of the show: “Sex on our show is like a big muffin that’s heating up, overflowing and expanding in an oven. This time last year I was thinking, What the f#*@ are we going to do next year to top this? Well, I can tell you it’s weird and exciting this year. As I said, the show is more character-centered—and I’m not saying it’s better or worse for it—but there’s certainly just as much, if not more, interesting sex because of it.”

On his thoughts about True Blood vs. Twilight: “That’s like comparing Monterey Jack and Roquefort. If my eight-year-old daughter comes to me when she’s 13 and says, ‘Dad, what would you rather I got into, Twilight or Black Sabbath?’ I’d be stuck between the two but would probably pull for Twilight. I love Black Sabbath, but that can wait until my daughter turns 16. The Twilight movies fill a niche. In her Twilight novels Stephenie Meyer has chosen a similar vampire framework to tell a story about burgeoning sexuality. What’s interesting about our show is that sexuality has already burgeoned. I wish Twilight the best of luck, but I’m very happy to be doing True Blood.”

On the fascination the press and fans have with his prosthetic fangs: “[Laughs] I have a set at home and about three more sets at work. They’re insured, and they get locked up every night but not before a lovely assistant readies a cup of Listermint they go into. They get a little scrub, and then they get put back into a wallet.”

On getting a DUI as a teenager: “When I was 13 and my mum and dad would be out for the evening, I’d take out their car, pick up my best friend and go racing around. For my 15th birthday I was given the opportunity to drive at a racetrack, and before I could drive legally, I bought a Mini and put racing stuff all over it. Then three weeks after passing my driving test I got a DUI and lost my license for a year.”

On losing his virginity: “I was quite young when I started doing all right, below legal age and with somebody I knew very well. It happened outdoors and was very naughty and unexpected. In my little village some girls reached maturity at a young age, and there was a lot of ‘you show me yours and I’ll show you mine’ stuff happening, lots of looking and a little bit of touching too, from a very young age.”

[From Playboy]

See, he’s not a bitch, but he still makes it clear that everything about Twilight is “Vampire Lite”. Will the Twihard revolt against Moyer? Probably. And Moyer will probably tell them to stuff it, yet again. He’s not some starlet who will be scared off by the insane wrath of the Twihards. I also love the way he talks about his relationship with Anna – they seem very authentic. I hope he doesn’t break her heart, but I suspect he will.

True Blood was back last night with a vengeance. It took me a while to get into it because there was just so much going on. I’d forgotten most of the plot from last season, but they did a full recap that was more than adequate. There were also plenty of hot guys to keep me from being too concerned about the frenetic pace of the first half. They didn’t have to follow every plot line and character, but it seemed like they tried at first. The show didn’t feel familiar or reach a steady pace until the about halfway through. Here are what I thought were some of the highlights:

Spoilers for last night’s True Blood premiere below
- A hot scene featuring Alex Skarsgaard having sex with a tied up dancer from his club. Sookie went to confront Eric at Fangtasia over Bill’s kidnapping and ended up with an eyeful. We were also treated to several second’s of Skarsgard’s gorgeous ass and lots of shirtles scenes.

- A homoerotic dream sequence between Sam and Bill. Sam was having the dream, which could potentially be explained by all of Bill’s blood he ingested when trying to recover from the wounds he suffered from Maryanne. Whatever the excuse, it was hot and I’m just disappointed the two didn’t kiss.

- Pam telling Lafayette not to sass her: “I don’t know what it is about me that makes people think I want to hear their problems. Maybe I smile too much, maybe I wear too much pink. But please remember, I can rip your throat out if I want to, and also know, that I am not a hooker. That was a long, long time ago.”

- Jason turning down a threesome because he kept seeing bullet holes in the women’s heads.

- The introduction of the werewolves.

True Blood is about to get a hell of a lot more interesting, and I can’t wait. Which were your favorite scenes, and did it take you a while to get into the first episode too? I also have to say that I love Jessica’s character and hope we see more of her this season.

Update: I forgot to add these pictures of Alex’s butt!