Ian Somerhalder Interview
Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries
by Abbie Bernstein
Some day, actor Ian Somerhalder may grow weary of questions about Damon Salvatore, the young-looking but actually 162-year-old vampire he plays with such gusto on the CW’s THE VAMPIRE DIARIES. That day seems very far off, however, as Somerhalder takes time to individually greet every reporter who approaches him at the Television Critics Association press event for the series, then thanks each journalist for his or her interest in his work as queries are lobbed at him.
VAMPIRE DIARIES, developed for television by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec from the series of books by L.J. Smith, centers around the romantic triangle of Mystic Falls, VA high school student Elena Gilbert, played by Nina Dobrev, and the Salvatore brothers, Paul Wesley’s Stefan and Somerhalder’s Damon, who are returning to their home turf after a long time away. Stefan is the good, conscientious brother who doesn’t believe in killing humans and Damon, who does whatever he feels like to whomever he wants. But does Damon really enjoy his outrageous, homicidal actions, or is he just doing it to get a rise out of Stefan? “He’s having a blast,” Somerhalder affirms.
VAMPIRE DIARIES is actually Somerhalder’s second gig on a TV series that rapidly developed a cult following. Somerhalder was also in the original cast of ABC’s LOST as the unfortunate Boone, who died early on but has appeared in flashbacks and, this year, returns for the final season in an alternate timeline. “Throughout the season, I think there are going to be a couple of episodes,” the actor says. He is of course sworn to silence on exactly what he’ll be doing on LOST, but one thing he knows for sure - alternating between that show’s Hawaiian locations and the Covington, Georgia set of VAMPIRE DIARIES has been, as Somerhalder puts it, “A tight squeeze. I left the set, flew to the other set, worked, got back on a plane, flew back to the other set, landed and went back to work.”
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I don’t watch too much TV, but being a professional vampirologist there are some shows that I must watch as part of my basic job requirement. When the CW announced that they were putting out a show called “Vampire Diaries” I knew that I was going to have to watch it, and I did. I was visiting my dad on the night it premiered and with a very little bit of prodding he let himself be tricked into watching it with me. In truth I think he was planning on watching it anyway.
