To celebrateThe Vampire Diaries(Thursdays, 8 p.m. Love, the gays.
IAN SOMERHALDER:Immediately.
[See: the promo for tonights episode.]
I think Damon will probably have his clothes off often.
[Laughs] Hes a troublemaker, whats a good troublemaker without some…
There are a lot of things for Damon to do with his clothes off.
Leo wanted to know if theres any chance of a love scene WITHOUT death being the end result?
Ohmygoodness, I hope so.
No, of course.
I can essentially do whatever I want to you, and then make you completely forget about it.
Which… it comes in handy, you know what I mean?
[Laughs] Im glad I dont have that power.
That would be daaaangerous.
Is Damon purely evil?
A lot of readers are trying to figure out how they should feel about him.
He does things that would definitely be deemed as evil, and at best, mean, at times.
But he does them because he believes in what hes doing.
It would not be on the heels of someone like Kevin Williamson to write a one-dimensional character.
Damons clearly not that.
Damon is the most fun character Ive ever played.
Hes such a blast.
I guarantee you hes not gonna be a one-trick pony.
Some people would say the shows success depends on the chemistry between Elena and Stefan.
I think a show like this is only as good as its villain.
How do you see it?
I just see it as another component in the story.
Every love story needs a catalyst of some sort.
Love is tested in so many ways.
How do I articulate this?
Two people are together.
But theres always a catalyst.
And Damon, I think, is just that catalyst.
Debi asked if theres anything special you do to climb into Damons mind?
Ooh, I dont think I want to go there.
That might offend a lot of people.
[Laughs]
Then its something we need to hear.
I was always so envious of Josh Holloway onLostbecause he always gets to say the cool stuff.
They truly mean what theyre saying, even if its demented and wrong.
Becca wanted to know who or what influenced or inspired you to craft Damon the way that you have.
Whether they were being an antagonist or a protagonist, theres always something in their eyes.
[Laughs]
You definitely have that.
Well, well see.
[Laughs] Until Damon gets a stake in his heart.
We had more than 4,400 people vote:80 percent said theyd slap you, then kiss you.
[He laughs, heartily]
Do those results surprise you at all?
You want to knowwhat the hell are they thinking?Why are they doing this?
Its kinda funny, its kinda sick.
[Laughs]
Weve talked about what you like about playing Damon.
Is there something that scares you about the role?
That I just dont screw it up.
How did you know it was right for you?
Ive sorta learned that Im so tired of taking myself so seriously.
Its so great to show up at work and truly enjoy every word you say.
Blair wanted to know if its nice to not have to protect your scripts under lock and key?
Or are your scripts still under lock and key?
You mean physically or metaphorically?
The distribution on these scripts is really tight.
I keep my script very close to me at all times.
I would never want to have to deal with the wrath of Kevin or the studio or anyone.
So theres responsibility, and there should be responsibility for that.
Scripts leaking kills it, its not fun.
I hadnt read the books before, and actually just started reading them.
This show is an interpretation of the books, but its not a translation.
I think its gonna be fun to see where they take it.
I dont think Kevins slept in like a month and a half.
Our writers work their asses off.
