True Blood stuff

[shapinglight]

Everyone but me probably knew about Trueblood.net, didn't they?

Could well be spoilers behind cut, especially if you follow the link.



petzipellepingo linked me to one of these fun interviews where established members of the cast interview newbies. They're all worth looking at,even the Sam and Tommy one, because it's bizarre to see the two actors being themselves and yet also being in-character. Also, I had no idea that Ryan Kwanten was Australian.

The Eric/King Russell one is also lots of fun. The Lafayette/Jesus one is a little disturbing, though. It seems that Nelsan Ellis is genuinely worried about getting other work after True Blood, and though he doesn't say it, it's plain why that's the case. Sad. :(

Comments

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Nelson Ellis was in the movie in a fairly substantially sized sidekick role. I think the movie is a year or so old as it was playing on HBO and that's usually after they go to DVD. I vaguely remembered that the movie had good reviews when it was in the theaters. (You can get one quick glimpse of him in this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWWkaH9PRCs&feature=fvw )


And most people have never heard of Davis. I hadn't. My dad, who is a football fanatic had barely heard of him.

He was one of the first guys to integrate college football in a time period where very few intergrated schools existed (I'm talking only a couple at that time.) And they'd have to play non-integrated schools in the other parts of the country, such as the national championship game he played against the University of Texas in Dallas in 1961 where he wasn't allowed to go in the front door of the hotel or stay in the same area of the hotel as the rest (white) part of the team and wouldn't be allowed attend the award ceremony when they won (because it was in an all-white country club), and where a fight (near race riot) broke out in the middle of the game because his team was winning. It was really, really tough on those first guys.

Davis was the first to earn the Heisman Trophy (award for the most outstanding player in college football), but, unfortunately, a few months after he won, he was diagnosed with leukemia and died by the age of 23.

Ellis played Davis's relative/best friend who was in the civil rights movement and an admirer of Martin Luther King who inspired Davis to make some admirable principled stands over the course of his college career. (Ellis also had hair in the movie. He looks different with hair).

It's sort of a sad movie. He died so darn young and with so much unrealized talent, but he also accomplished a great deal at a difficult time.

[shapinglight]

It's an inspiring story. So hard to believe that this all happened in my lifetime. I was very young, of course, but I didn't really take in any of this until Martin Luther King was assassinated. Even then, I just knew something very bad had happened.