Posted by Vee | July 28, 2009, 0:04 (EST) | 11 Comments
Category: TV Series

First off, let’s get something straight right now: this talk of The Vampire Diaries cast looking like they didn’t want to be there during the panel? Come on. After you film ’til 6 a.m., hop on a cross-country flight, endure a day of non-stop appearances and press (answering the same questions over and over), and there’s no sleep slotted in there anywhere, see how you feel. I’m impressed they were able to form coherent sentences, let alone smile and make a marathon run of it like they did.

And it was a marathon. My (nowhere-near-as-hectic) day started off at the Lost panel – I’m going to miss that show so hard, guys, I can’t even tell you – and while there was no appearance from Mr. Somerhalder (see above), he was there in spirit during a hilarious and poignant “In Memoriam” tribute video that highlighted the various character deaths on the show. But, as I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Boone fans will have something to look forward to in Lost‘s final season – with the full cooperation of Vampire Diaries executive producers Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. As they commented during the panel, they’re Lost fans too, and friends with showrunner Damon Lindelof.

My cell reception in Hall H was crap, but somehow I managed to catch KW’s tweet that the Vampire Diaries signing at the Warner Bros. booth was happening at 1:30 p.m., not 3 p.m. as had originally been listed. I don’t know if it was bumped up due to a scheduling conflict with press or the vocal concern from a lot of fans that it was too close to the actual panel (yes, three hours is too close, trust me), but it was welcome news.

By the way, Vampire Diaries bags were everywhere all weekend, and they’re starting to pop up on eBay. I never managed to snag one, alas. I’m also told there were buttons at the WB booth but never saw them myself. I did, however, see the giant “Trio in the Grass” (as we’ve dubbed it) banner hanging from the ceiling for all to see, and that same image adorned the posters used during the signing.

If you’ve never been to Comic Con, it’s difficult to describe the size and scope of the WB booth, but it’s one of the cornerstones of the Exhibit Hall floor, and the crowd that gathers around it – especially with the constant stream of signings going on – is often ten people deep around the perimeter. After attempting to find the line for the signing and giving up, I just tried to snap as many (crappy) cell phone pics as possible to get up on Twitter immediately. Paul, Ian, Nina, Julie, Kevin, and Bob arrived about 10 minutes before the signing, hanging out on the second story and snapping photos with their phones.

Ian Somerhalder and Kevin Williamson at the Warner Bros. booth.

A huge thanks to fellow fan (and one of my weekend Twitter companions) Sherry for triggering a happy chain of events that gave me the opportunity to meet everyone. I wasn’t expecting it or asking for it, so it made the experience that much more special. And I want to especially thank Kevin Williamson because he was nothing short of a (totally laid-back, funny, super-chatty) class act and Julie Plec for making sure I could get a poster for that British fellow who co-runs the site with me. Everyone could not have been nicer (and charming, and genuine) and it was very humbling. You can see a video of Ian working the booth crowd on YouTube.

Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder and Kevin Williamson at the Warner Bros. booth signing.

And then there was the pilot preview and panel. There’s no getting around it: it was awkward. The Vampire Diaries was wedged between the Ray Bradbury (amazing, by the way), Human Target and Mythbusters panels, more or less ensuring that the audience was packed with people who have no intention of watching The Vampire Diaries when it airs and, worse, were hopped up on the Twilight-hate that permeated the Con throughout the weekend. I guess I lucked out – I was near the front amidst a group of people who were definitely there for TVD, so wasn’t privy to the running commentary near the back. Unfortunately some unhappy fans tweeted that they could barely hear the audio during the screening for the snark, which is really a damn shame. It was just not the ideal situation all the way around.

Ian Somerhalder’s view of the audience

That said, kudos to the cast and producers for forging forward with grace. The panel revealed quite a few interesting tidbits (some of which you can view in the videos we’ve been posting throughout the day):

• Apparently The Vampire Diaries had been in the queue for feature film development for a year or two and Kevin Williamson kept turning it down, mostly because of “not wanting to step on Twilight.” It was Julie Plec that convinced him to read the entire book series, stressing how the stories were very different.
• Moderator Lynette Rice (of Entertainment Weekly) came right out of the gate with the question fans have been asking non-stop: How closely will the show adhere to the books? Kevin said they want to honor the essence of the books but that they do have to serialize for television and that changes were necessary. (My note: Nina mentions in the Access Hollywood interview that she was asked not to continue reading the books after she was cast: “Kevin actually asked us not to read any more because we’ve made some changes and he wants us to [have] our own interpetation and make it our own.” In relation to what we already know and what was revealed at the panel, I find this very interesting – but more on that in a sec.)
• Kevin stressed the importance of this particular spin on vampire mythology and the history of Mystic Falls itself, and name-checked Dark Shadows as an influence.
• Julie repeated what’s already becoming the unofficial tag line amongst fans: “Nobody sparkles!”
• Kevin said they will not waste any time in having Elena discover Stefan’s secret – three to four episodes, max. “We’re not going to play that game… Once she finds out, that’s when it kicks in, that’s when it kicks off, that’s when all sorts of stuff starts to happen.” (Hurrah! This tidbit of info, along with KW’s recent tweet about working on Founders’ Day, points to the show pumping out plot points from the books at a rapid pace. I’ll talk more about that in my pilot review.)
• Rice asked Paul Wesley if Stefan will bite Elena during sex, which definitely piqued the crowd’s interest. Once he realized it was a serious question (poor guy), he addressed it as tastefully as he could, which led to the whole “biting her = sex” metaphor. (Truthfully, I think a lot of fans were just grateful there will be sex, period, but that’s another tangent for another time.)
• Ian addressed the Lost rumors, which has become one of the premiere soundbites of the entire Con, but I had to admire the way he expertly flipped the question back to The Vampire Diaries.

Ian Somerhalder and Kevin Williamson

• Ian called the casting process for the show “horrible” for everyone. There’s video of his explanation but just in case you can’t view it, here’s part of it: “[Getting] these roles, I think for each and every one of us, was extraordinarily horrible. Julie and Kevin diligently cast us, they fought tooth and nail for us – they didn’t even want me. Not them [pointing to Julie and Kevin], I think the network – nobody wanted me except for Julie and Kevin. [Kevin interjecting: "That's not true."] But the process of getting a television show is you have meeting after meeting…if you pass the studio, you go to the network. Well I got to the network and bombed it, and almost didn’t go back. They [Julie and Kevin] really got me back in the room. But the process was really intense.”
• Nina auditioned and won the role of Elena by video from Canada.
• Kevin revealed that he would have loved to shoot the show in Wilmington, North Carolina (where Dawson’s Creek was shot – we used to go down there and scope for filming when I was in high school, heh – and where CW’s One Tree Hill films) but that there’s no longer a tax incentive. So the choice was between Vancouver and Atlanta and Atlanta’s tax credit was a big motivation. (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m thrilled they’re filming in the South. The heritage of the area is going to add that much more to the show’s authenticity.)
• When asked about the glut of vampires in the movies and on TV and what will ultimately set Vampire Diaries apart, Julie Plec (and there’s video of this answer, too) replied, “Praying. And hopefully by doing our jobs really well and that people will like what we do as opposed to laughing at it.” (Ouch. Pointed comment there.) Kevin followed up with, “Hopefully we’ll do our own spin. I think Twilight is completely different from True Blood, and I thought Buffy was really kind of different from Angel. I feel like I have more room on my DV-R.”
• Julie pointed out that one of the things they were most excited about was the mythology of the vampires in The Vampire Diaries – specifically how to take them out. “Everybody’s got a different set of rules… Our vampires, it’s not about the crucifixes, it’s not about the silver, it’s not about the garlic – there’s not a whole hell of a lot that can actually hurt them. So it’s going to be an interesting journey in the series figuring out, for Stefan especially, how do you stop someone like his brother, Damon, who is so much stronger than him? How do you bring that guy down?”
• Nina talked about Elena’s character and why she is ultimately drawn to Stefan, and fielded an amusing question from a fan about how her role as a single teen mother on Degrassi informed her role as Elena. (Answer: Um, not a lot, really.)

Paul Wesley

Nina Dobrev

• I talked about this on Twitter that night and there’s video of this, too – a fan asked Kevin how the show was going to prevent TVD’s characters from becoming “vapid” and “CW characters” (she also specified female characters) after complimenting him on his subversion of social stereotypes on Dawson’s Creek. After the initial “wow,” he acknowledged that the CW is a focused demographic and that the TVD book series is “earnest” and he’s not an earnest guy, but that there is a balance to be had between he and Julie in this particular collaboration. He also stressed that the characters of The Vampire Diaries are all dealing with loss and how the only way to highlight hope is to emphasize hopelessness.
• Another fan got up to the mic specifically to compliment Paul, though he was very self-deprecating about it. She asked what he thought of the comparisons to Edward Cullen and mused that 9 out of 10 women in the room would toss him under a bus to get to Edward from Twilight. Quite a few of us emphatically disagreed. Having been at this whole fansite thing for over five months now, I know that Paul has been on the receiving end of some intense fan skepticism. Guess what? I think he’s going to end up being the show’s secret weapon. Yes, Ian’s got the flashier role, but Paul has the most difficult one. I’ll go in-depth in my pilot review, but there is no doubt in my mind that he’s got the goods and I’m really excited to see where he goes with it.

And as for my thoughts on the pilot, I’ll get started on that now and hopefully it will be up tomorrow.

Thanks to KW and IS (and MediaBlvd) for letting us use personal pics from Saturday. (Please don’t take and repost, guys. You’re more than welcome to link to here, KW’s Twitter, or MediaBlvd.) And thanks to igowerf for letting us snag his panel snapshots from Flickr – again, please don’t take unless you ask his permission. He has a ton of Comic Con photos – check ‘em out!) Also, thanks to the wonderful Ms. Jen Blushi (of Nina Dobrev Fan fame) for scoring me an awesome seat during the panel.

UPDATE: If I’m interpreting a tweet from Julie Plec correctly, the video interview with Michael Ausiello might not have happened? Not sure about that. We’ll keep an eye out.

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