You were on Live with Kelly and Michael this morning, talking about how you've recently realized TVD is basically a soap opera. Can you expand upon that?My grandmother was this unbelievably smart, phenomenally cool woman and soap operas were just always on in her house. My foundation is
building this animal sanctuary and youth education facility where she
lived so I was there two weeks ago and those feelings are just so deeply
embedded in me that I instantly had those memories being there. So this
morning, that all came to me after watching the clip of Damon and
Klaus talking they showed. I just realized that I live in a soap opera,
and it's awesome.
How do you think the show is able to have soap opera elements
without veering into the negative attributes often associated with
soaps?Honestly, I think it's because the writing and the
performances are grounded in truth. We ultimately have to find truth in
the material, and I think that transfers onto the screen. Obviously
there's varying degrees of it, and we don't get it right all the time
[laughs], but I think when it feels grounded, it's because we recognize
the truth in the material.
I think the show has really gotten it right this season with
Damon and Elena's romantic journey. What's been your take on it all?It's been kind of tragic. I mean, Damon finally got the
girl he loves and it's totally tragic that he has this moment of
happiness and clarity only to learn that it's fake. I did a show
recently where they were talking about
Catfish. It's something I never realized is going on, but there's this entire world out there about people falling in
love
with one another digitally only to find out it's not real. I could have
sympathized with that before, but through this storyline, I can also
empathize with that. When you go through that emotion on screen you take
a piece of it with you. I have such great respect for the people coming
out to tell their story because it's an awful feeling.
It's also got to be exciting as an actor that TVD allows
you to play your character at various points in their life. We've seen
Damon throughout the decades, and next week shows him circa 1970.Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. Our artisans and
production design team went in and not only re-built CBGB's but
recreated the feeling of the '70s in
Because the Night, airing
March 21. It's so cool because you get to experience so many times in Damon's life. Now mind you, because there were so many decades, I
think he evolved slower than most. I also
love
that because we get to go back and romanticize the social happenings of
that time, we're really reminded of The United States' deep history and
what Damon lived through is just a drop in the bucket compared to the
other characters, who can go back thousands of years.
That episode also features the return of Lexi, a character
Damon shares a very tumultuous history with. What's it like this time
around?What's cool about it is that you see how long and turbulent
their history is. There are just so many different agendas and egos at
play, but at the end of the day, both Lexi and Damon love Stefan, so to
see them interacting throughout an episode where they're not trying to
kill each other or making derogatory jokes to one another the entire
time is amazing. There was a real relationship there, so it was fun to
explore.
I'd also imagine that this new layer to their relationship makes the fact he killed her more significant.Totally. I think if you go back to that episode after
seeing next week's, the look of betrayal on her face, the shock of it
all, is recontextualized. Which I think is a great way to elaborate or,
at times, strengthen or fix a storyline that maybe didn't work as well.
It's an added bonus to the structure of how our show works.
Looking at what's to come with Damon and Stefan's struggle
over Elena's humanity, what are you excited for fans to see?I'm excited for fans to see Elena have some fun, which
means we don't have to worry about her getting killed every waking
moment. She's a lot stronger now, Elena is kicking our asses so it's
like the tables have turned a bit. But it's interesting because there's
this amazing push/pull between Stefan and Damon as they try to figure
everything out. Damon has no desire for Elena to take the cure because
it means he'll lose her while Stefan definitely wants her to. Ultimately
Damon realizes Elena is a lunatic bitch when she has no humanity, and I
don't know if the world can handle her. The problem is, he cares so
deeply for Elena yet knows she can't keep going down this path. So it's
this tragedy of, "Oh man, if I could just get her humanity back, but
keep her a vampire, we could have a great life ... or we could at least
run around and eat some people all over the world." But I don't know if
that's a real option for Damon any more because he's going to have to
give her the cure and Stefan only stands to gain from that.
Switching gears for a second, you just came back from SXSW,
where you spoke at several panels dealing with the environment and met
Grumpy Cat. Meeting Grumpy Cat was definitely a highlight [laughs]! I'm
so grateful to Warner Brothers and The CW for hooking up that whole
SXSW event -- they saw value in giving people a space for people to
interact. I have to give them kudos for having that foresight and making
that investment.
What new Ian Somerhalder Foundation initiatives are you excited about?We're buying this piece of land that will serve as an
animal sanctuary, but will also be a green child education camp. It's a
completely sustainable agriculture farm, which is exciting because our
natural resources are going out the window as we use them at an
exponential rate. If you want change, it has to be generational. The
bureaucracy that's already in place is not going to change, but if you
can empower and educate the next generation, you've built an entire
generation of compassionate, activated people who want sustainability in
their world. We're also in the LED business with Go Green Mobile Power.
The company that builds our lights, CREE,
just invented an LED lightbulb that looks like the incandescent we're
so used to seeing but uses 84 percent less energy. You get a 10 year
warranty on a lightbulb that costs $10. I'm partnering with them to
launch it because I believe in them so much. It's honestly the coolest
invention since the lightbulb. These innovations are literally going to
change the world.
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