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Why Vampire Diaries' new girl isn't at all what you think
Let's see if we understand this correctly. The CW was casting its upcoming supernatural drama The Vampire Diaires, based on the books L.J. Smith, and for the role of Elena Gilbert—a blond and blue-eyed beauty caught between vampire brothers (Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley)—they chose Nina Dobrev, a brown-haired, brown-eyed beauty.
"I know!" Dobrev—a Canadian actress best known for her long run on Degrassi: The Next Generation—said during an exclusive telephone interview last month. "I look nothing at all like the character. Nothing. And that's the thing; we're loosely following the books. We're trying to be as close as possible to the books because of the fans and how much they love the books. The premise is awesome, but there's only so much you can really translate into a television show. We have to tell an ongoing story."
Dobrev added, "And the thing about my character specifically is that she was depicted in the books as kind of an insensitive bitch, when you think about it. She was the queen bee of the high school. In order for the audience to even want to root for her, they have to like her. So they made specific changes to address that. They wanted Elena to be nicer and more sympathetic. And the physical aspect, I'm not blond or blue-eyed by any means. I guess that just wasn't that important to them. There was no discussion about me dyeing my hair or wearing contact lenses."
More than a few people will give The Vampire Diaries the benefit of the doubt in large part because of its executive producer, a guy with a knack for smart casting choices: Kevin Williamson. He, of course, wrote the Scream trilogy and wrote/created/produced the hit television series Dawson's Creek, which launched the careers of Joshua Jackson (Fringe), Michelle Williams (Halloween H20), Katie Holmes (Batman Begins) and James Van Der Beek (The Storm).
"What's funny is that I missed Dawson's Creek," Dobrev said. "That wasn't really my generation. [Vampire Diaries co-star] Kayla Ewell is my roommate, and we decided to Netflix all the seasons of Dawson's Creek, and we're watching it right now. What's cool is there was this one thing that happened in an episode that I thought was really interesting. I was curious about it, so I texted Kevin to ask him about it. I was like, 'Hey, Kevin, you know that story in episode duh-du-duh-duh? How did you think of that?' And he'd text back, 'Oh, my mom told me a tale when I was young ...' It's been so weird to watch Dawson's Creek and be able to text the guy who created it and ask him questions directly."
Dobrev continued, "Kevin is great. And he's such a good writer. Everything he touches seems to turn to gold, basically. I hope the same happens with our show."
Dawson's Creek ran for six seasons. That's a feat—and a fate— Dobrev would welcome for The Vampire Diaries.
"I am so ready," she said. "I'm so excited. And I can't talk about it too much yet—it'll come up throughout the season—I might be playing a second character. That'll be fun. That's why I'm excited and ready for this to go for a while, because there will be a lot for me to play."
The Vampire Diaries will premiere on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
By BlessedBlogger at 4:29 AM ON 09/09/09
I have zero interest in this show. It's a thinly veiled soap opera just like 90% of modern day scifi/fantasy and it's been done a million times before and probably better to boot. Where did all the real scifi/fantasy go? I know, boo, hiss, why am I hating on this? If you enjoy teen mello-drama that's fabulous, I'm happy that you get a new show and I'm not being judgmental of your enjoyment of such a show. My beef is with labeling shows like this science fiction or fantasy when they aren't. To be fair, most commercial media sucks these days, not just scifi/fantasy based material.
Won't someone please give me a halfway decent show to watch? A Firefly? A Farscape? A BSG? A Star Trek The Next Generation? I'm not asking for Shakespeare here, just something watchable.
By REDante at 5:42 AM ON 09/09/09
I agree with you BlessedBlogger, however we have to aknowledge the fact the CW.....(WB really) is trying to cash in on Twilight fans, they know that a huge number of people of under 18 nd probably have no jobs, so they just want to give them an ongoing series about a couple of very old guys who look young, cant get a highschool education, cant a get a girl thats legally age, and since this is "loosely" based, lets see if theyre the kind of vampires that are "sparkling" emos or "buffyized" pretty faces.
By GQ at 6:19 AM ON 09/09/09
"And that's the thing; we're loosely following the books. We're trying to be as close as possible to the books "
Quoted for destroying-your-own-point-ness.
By Eris14 at 8:24 AM ON 09/09/09
This makes me sad that they changed the character of Elena. The whole point in the books is that you really aren't supposed to like her. Her character is one who is not afraid to go after what she wants and the hell with everyone else. She is not supposed to be an all American girl who is nice and kind.
During the course of the books she grows and changes into a character that you can like. This is the whole point for the series.
By a different tim at 9:10 AM ON 09/09/09
Even though I'm not going to watch the show.... I will take Nina anyday over the blonded haired blue eye bee-otch from the books.
By lalala at 11:45 AM ON 09/09/09
I admit, I'm both looking forward to this, but I'm still wary. The books that they were based off (written when I was three years old in '91 by the way), were a favorite of mine when I was 12 and still are. But all the Twilight craze and the changes they make can be disheartening.
I think what appealed to me more in the books was that Elena wasn't your typical female protagonist. Yes, she wasn't likable, selfish, and everything that encompassed a "Queen Bee". But it was different because normally you see that type of character as the rival or antagonist to the usual norm.
I think what was most appealing was the growth Elena went through after the four books (Disliked the fifth book), but still remained strong throughout. She's certainly no damsel-in-distress. But I do understand them making her more likable--its more marketable.
Pilots usually aren't that great. Best to give it a chance after maybe 5 episodes? Besides the basic premise, the story is substantially different than Twilight to be honest with interesting sub-plots and much better villains in the latter part of the books (and I'm not talking about Damon, or any of the characters presented thus far in the pictures or pilot). That is if they are going by the book in that way.
By LLC at 11:51 AM ON 09/09/09
These types of changes are nothing new. In the books that inspired the TV show Roswell, the lead character Max was tall, blond, and blue-eyed, but played on the show by Jason Behr, and the bad boy Michael was originally essentially a punk/goth with black spikey hair (Brendan Fehr in the show).
The thing that bugs me most about this new VD is the casting of the guys. Paul Wesley (using his pre-stage name Wasilewski) played the high-school age werewolf in "Wolf Lake"... back in 2001. He and Somerhalder are *great*, but they are too freaking old for these roles. It would be so much cooler if shows like this (and, say, Smallville when it started) had actors that actually looked like the vast majority of people who are at the age they are supposed to be portraying. (Unless, of course, they've moved the characters and setting to later college years... but since in CW land there is little life after school, I'm not hopeful.)
By Gill Avila at 8:39 PM ON 09/09/09
Could be absurdly worse. On TCM I saw an old film called "Saturday's Heroes", about college football stars. The youngest "star" was like 35!
By izzie at 7:02 AM ON 09/29/09
ok i havent read the books so i really have no idea what except from them but i am currently watching the show in australia where the season just started i am going to watch the show and read the books to compare them to find out which one is better i know there are heaps of changes from the books and the show so im going to get the pros and cons about each
By pickles at 10:27 AM ON 10/15/09
The book and the tv seriers are nothing close at all with each other. It has some of th same things but not really. In the book her aunt is married and the show she's not. Show she has a brother and hes a pot head!!! Confused on what they are trying to do. there no where close to being the same
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pickles:
The book and the tv seriers are nothing close at all with each other. It has some of th same things but not really....More »