OMG, this is so adorable!! Makes me love Katerina Graham even more than I already do….how could that be possible?? And Jasmine Guy is too funny! Kat needs to get her on Twitter ASAP!! I want to talk to her! This is the interview that Kat tweeted about the other day that she and Jasmine Guy “Grams” did with Movieline. (Also in the article they say 4 month hiatus, it was a typo, so don’t freak, it’s still only 2 months).
Vampires may hog the zeitgeist at the moment thanks to the fanaticism for Twilight and True Blood, but two cast members of the immensely popular CW hit drama The Vampire Diaries bring allure to the age-old TV favorite of witchcraft. Jasmine Guy, who thrilled us for six seasons as fussy southerner Whitley Gilbert-Wayne on A Different World and two seasons on Showtime’s underrated Dead Like Me, and newcomer Katerina Graham play a grandmother and granddaughter connected by their eerie abilities. Movieline caught up with the duo to discuss Vampire Diaries’s Atlanta HQ, how viewers can survive during the show’s four-month hiatus, and the parts in the upcoming Soul Train movie that they’re willing to take.
The fans for this show are zealous! How does relating to the fans this time feel different than on your previous work? Let’s begin with Jasmine.
JG: I would think Vampire Diaries had a slightly younger demographic than the last thing I did, which was Dead Like Me, and that was more a sci-fi audience of mixed ages. And this is a little bit more an age of romance, the early 20s — when you still believe in [lowers voice] love and blood.
KG: The demographic is different than Dead Like Me, but I think it translates to an older audience as well. I’ve gotten fan letters from 50-year-old women with 9-year-old girls, to older women and older men.
JG: That’s ‘cuz y’all are so hot.
KG: [Laughs.]
JG: If anything, this is the most beautiful cast I’ve ever worked with.
KG: Aww!
JG: I saw y’all had a picture in the office. I said, “What’s that for? A photo shoot?” And they said, “No, that’s the cast.”
KG: [Laughs] That is funny.
Is there a different viewer response to the witches than the vampires? Is there pro-vampire, anti-witch backlash?
KG: I haven’t had any backlash, and I think that’s because the character didn’t come off as a witch right away, we got to know and love Bonnie Bennett for who she was. And we’re with her when she discovers her abilities. I know Harry Potter had a backlash from certain groups for glorifying the witch story line, but I haven’t had any at all.
JG: To me, people are just curious as to how the witches interact with the vampires. I know some of the folklore, but not a lot of it. It’s interesting to watch the world we’re living in being created. It’s kind of like logging the forest as we step into it, and that’s kind of cool that I don’t what’s going to happen, and neither does my character. So there’s a suspense. I don’t have to think I know what’s going on.
Jasmine, I listened to a radio interview where you were begging for your character to get a name. I think you cried, “Someone name me.”
JG: They didn’t name me until the last episode that I did — so I do have the name now. And it wasn’t the name the audience was picking. But it’s a cool name, I like the name. I’m not going to give it away. It’s one of those names that go to women on the cool side, wouldn’t you say?
You’ve got to go read the rest of the interview!! Do that HERE!
