EyeCon: Q & A with Nelsan Ellis and Allan Hyde

True-Blood.net forum member, Raki, gives her account of the Q & A with Allan and Nelsan.

Nelsan has read 7 of the Books. He started reading to prepare for the show, and he didn’t know he would survive past season one until the day the started filming the last episode. When asked of his favorite episodes from each of the seasons he said that episode 5 from season 1 was great because there is a lot of him in it. He couldn’t pick just one episode from season 2, but he did love the episodes that featured Jason with the Fellowship and when Jason decided to go all Rambo to save the town. His favorite or most memorable scene featuring himself was the aids burger scene. Since he has read a lot of the books, someone asked what he would like to see in future seasons. He thought that seeing more of the Were’s will be great, like things that happened in book 5, the possibility of Jason turning into a were is another thing he thought would be cool. He also would like to know who would play Quinn if the character is used on the show, some one mentioned Vin Diesel but he didn’t seem to agree. He did say that we would get a chance to see Lafayette “meet a new friend” hinting at the possibility of a romantic scene, and he’s kinda nervous about kissing another guy.   

Some of his favorite movies: Shawshank Redemption and Interview with a Vampire. He tends to go for more dramatic movies. He also likes to watch Dexter, Medium, Supernatural, Smallville and just recently got into Grey’s (Anatomy). Although he admitted to only getting into watching tv on a regular basis so that he wouldn’t feel stupid when other actors complimented him on True Blood and he couldn’t even think of what show they are on.  When asked of his dream co-star he told us “I would piss myself if I got to work with Denzel”. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is one of his all time favorite books.  His next movie is Secretariat which should be released summer 2010.

Nelsan was really great and even hung out in the audience for Allan’s interview which was immediately after his. I was on the opposite side of the room, so I’m not sure if he stayed for the whole thing. I never noticed him leave but my attention was focused on Allan at that point. I don’t think words can describe how adorable Allan is, he was great. You could tell he was a bit nervous but I think he handled it well.

Growing up he was and still is a huge Eddie Murphy fan. He loved Beverly Hills Cop 1, 2, and 3.Flying to LA for his True Blood casting was his first trip to the US. Flying to this convention was only his 3rd trip, and he said he would really like to explore more of this country. Possibly a road trip, which is on hold since he isn’t old enough to rent a care yet.  When he had to stay in LA for filming it was the first time he had moved out of his parents home. He told us that he lived off of coca cola, candy and bagels while filming since he hadn’t really ever cooked for himself. The cast of the show and other crew members helped him out finding things and introducing him to new people. He did however fall into what he called Alex’s Scandinavian gang, they really helped him out and it was nice having them there since they had a lot in common and could relate to each other on that level. He is planing to move to LA in the near future to further pursue acting over here.

Since he and Alex spoke Swedish on the show, Alex took the time to record Allan’s lines so he could have that to help him.  Allan hasn’t read the books, and this was the first time he really had to work on developing the character on his own at first. He told us that Danish directors tend to be much more upfront on how the character should be portrayed and what they want the actors to do. So Allan came up with idea’s on how to portray the roll after reading the scripts and then talking to Allen Ball to make sure he was heading in the right direction. When he first got the part he didn’t know how big of a role it would be in the season and how great the story / plot involving Godric would be. He never thought that the role of Godric would make such an impact on viewers, and he has been really touched when fans have taken the time to let him know that, it really caught him off guard at first. When asked about the tattoos he said they only took about 45 min to put on, but he had a hard time getting them off and it really irritated his skin. He also mentioned his hair in the scenes where Eric is turned was extensions that they glued in and then rubbed a bunch of mud in to get the messy / matted look. He did say that we will see him in the next season, he isn’t sure how but assumes it will be at least one flashback.

I got more info from both of the interviews in my video clips. I hope they turned out because they are some of the better questions asked with some great responses.

I had a great time, and since this was a smaller event we all really got a chance to be near and meet this great people. It was the little things that made this weekend great, like Sam remembering me in the autograph line from the night before and being amazed at the fact I would fly from MN just to meet him or Nelsan taking the time to say hi at the bar after the events ended one evening and Allan talking to fans in the mall while he was trying to get some shopping in. I mean they could have just shown up when required and then gone off and done their own thing but they took the time to really hang out and have fun with us. I know we all thanked them and the staff of Eyecon, but I’d like to say THANK YOU again publicly in case they ever come across this thread (lol) because this was an amazing weekend that I will cherish forever.   

And thank YOU, Raki!