QQ. What are some of the recent projects that you've been working on?
A. "The Vampire Diaries" has been the bread and butter, there hasn't been much time to really do anything else. It's been really great and we're just about to start on episode five. We've only been filming for a month and a half I think and it's eight days shooting per episode. We've been getting everything done on time and it's all still beginning.
Q. There has been a lot of press and chatter about the show, and it hasn't even begun to air yet. Do you think that attention helps or hurts the show?
A. It definitely can't hurt, I think it definitely helps, and the fact that it hasn't even come out yet and everyone's already been talking about it. What's funny though is that in Georgia they're not really promoting it, and that's where we've been shooting. So for us, we hope people are talking about it! We're working all the time so we never see the stuff on TV and we haven't seen any billboards or flyers. I think it definitely helps that people are excited about it and it's being buzzed about. The vampire craze is such a pop culture phenomenon right this minute and I think it all definitely helps.
Q. What can you tell us about the premise for "The Vampire Diaries" and about your character?
A. The premise for "The Vampire Diaries" is basically two vampire brothers come back to the small town of Mystic Falls, one is good and one is maybe a little bit more evil. They are fighting over the affection of a girl named Elena played by the wonderful Nina Dobrev. From there all madness ensues, things start to happen and nobody knows that vampires exist, and that's something the viewers will find out as the characters find out as well. I play Caroline Forbes and she grew up with Elena in this town but we're kind of frenemies. It's one of those things where we grew up together and were kind of like sisters and friends and we have this history together but now that we're older and in high school I kind of see her as a threat to attention and my competition in our high school.
Q. Where do you draw from for your portrayal of Caroline?
A. Caroline's mother is the sheriff of the town so that explains her rebelliousness a little bit. Little things like that and the banter with her friends and with Bonnie and Elena and just how there is so much history there. You know when you grow up and you're in high school and you've grown up with someone and everything changes when a cute new boy comes into town, and the boy doesn't want you, he wants someone else. That's going to create a conflict with your friends when your entire world revolves around getting attention from cute boys in high school.
Q. Is there anything about the role that you find challenging?
A. No, it's just too fun! Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec and all of the other writers who are working like mad men and women just make it so much fun. The dialogue, I am fortunate to get the sassy one liners every once in a while, which are just so delicious to be able to spew out. The writing has just been so great and so there is nothing that has been really challenging. I am stuck looking at cute boys like Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley all day and the girls are wonderful. It's just been fun, even the stuff that if we do ever have to be mad at each other or if any of the boys have to be vamped out, we all get along so well that there is nothing really challenging.
Q. What is it about the show that made you want to be a part of it?
A. I think the work that Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec have done, just the stuff that they've put out, explains already that they are so talented. I grew up watching "Dawson's Creek," the Scream movies, and I Know What You Did Last Summer, I got in trouble for watching those at slumber parties! I was just so grateful to have the opportunity to even audition with Kevin Williamson. Then Julie Plec, what she did with "Kyle XY," everyone knew about the kid who didn't have a belly button. Their body of work alone and just the fact that Marcos Siega, I'm a huge "Dexter" fan, was directing the pilot episode and he signed on to be the main director of the first season and helped cast other directors and he's signed on as almost like a producer. I love Pretty Persuasion and he's directed so many epic music videos from our generation. I think just the people whose names were attached before the cast was even hired just speaks for itself. The pilot was fun and vampires are so delicious right now and it really is a phenomenon. Luckily the people who are attached to the project are just so well respected in the industry that I think that also speaks for itself on a whole different level. I was just grateful to have the audition after that.
Q. Did the chemistry with the cast come naturally or did it take some time to develop?
A. In Vancouver we all just really got along. After we shot the pilot Nina moved from Toronto in with me and then even with Kayla (Ewell) and Katerina (Graham) and the boys with Zach (Roerig) and Michael Trevino, basically everyone, we would all have a barbecue probably once a week in LA. We'd all hang out or go and get dinner and we all became really good friends so it worked out when the show got picked up. We all came to Georgia and none of us really knew anyone else here so we all have each other. I think it's been the best blessing in disguise for us to even get closer than we did before. There is such a great comfort level going to work. Whether scenes are really sexy or scenes are scary or we have to scream or have to make someone feel silly, we've built a comfort level with each other that it's the best opportunity to feel silly, no one is going to judge anyone.
Q. Besides the vampire craze, what do you think it is about the show that will draw viewers in?
A. A lot happens in every episode and even on our end, they literally had to put the scripts on lockdown because they have different drafts come in and we keep trying to sneak as much information as we can. Not because we want to know what happens to our character, we want to know what's going to happen with each other's characters because it's so exciting. A lot happens in every episode, there is a lot of action going on, you think one thing and by the end of the episode it's a completely different thing. Even on our end we're gasping as we're reading the episodes around each other because the writing is just that good. I think that yes, vampires are very exciting and sexy right now, but I think once people start watching the show it's not just going to be about the vampires. It's the relationships, and even the experience of finding out along with the characters that there are vampires, we're all going to be finding out about it together. I think the action is just going to be drawing viewers in week after week.
Q. Is there a place online where those interested can keep up with you, the show, and all of your upcoming projects?
A. There's not, I don't really have a site, but I know that all of us have been very keen on looking at vampire-diaries.net. That's where we basically find all of our information on what's going on. Even before when we were waiting to see if the pilot was picked up, that's what we would check everyday. They were all being so secretive about things and we would all go on vampire-diaries.net and be like, "We read this write up in Variety," and they'd be like, "You did? How did you even know?" I guess that would be the website to go to and to cwtv.com, they've got a lot of fun stuff going on.
