HBO/ Steve LippmanSure, Twilight and True Blood are vampire stories that include romance, violence and the constant struggle between good and evil.
Even so, they're very different.
"They're completely different age groups that they're trying to appeal to," says Oscar winner Anna Paquin, who stars in HBO's True Blood as mind-reading Sookie Stackhouse. "It wouldn't be appropriate for teenagers to be watching our show. I wouldn't have been allowed to."
All ya gotta do is check out the sex scenes Paquin, 26, has with Stephen Moyer, 39, her real-life boyfriend who plays Sookie's vampire beau, Bill Compton...
Paquin, who won a Golden Globe for her work as Sookie, promises we'll be seeing even more this time around.
"I get more naked this season than I did last season," she says, adding later, "We have a really great crew and everyone's really respectful. It's not an issue for me."
But it does mean a lot more time at the gym.
"I work my ass off," Paquin says. "I'm very careful about what I eat, and I work out a lot. My costume entails bathing suits, short-shorts and nude scenes, come on! I don't want to be perpetuating the myth that women actually do look exactly like the way they look in magazines and on television through absolutely no effort!"
There's a lot more to True Blood than sex and scary demons. "The stories are exciting and sexy and scary and engaging. The characters are all very, very, clearly drawn and real, even though we take place in a very sort of surreal world, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat," Paquin says. "And every time you think things are going to go smoothly, something really effed up happens."
(Make sure to come back here tomorrow for my one-on-one with Ryan Kwanten, the Australian hottie who plays Sookie's brother, Jason.)
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