True Blood and Vampire Books..

By jen

Ok, I have been asked by several folks about the HBO series True Blood based on the Stackhouse books by Charlene Harris.   I have watched a only single episode because I do not have HBO.  It was good and to me better than the book.  That is no indictment of the book. It is a huge selling series and I am envious Ms. Harris’ success.  It just was hard for me to get through the book.  Not all books are for all readers and this is one of those for me.

Depending on who you want to believe on the issue of who the “mother” of this new Paranormal genre is the answers will range from Anne Rice to Charlene Harris to Jennifer Armentrout.  But the truth is, Laurell K Hamilton gets this honor in my book.  She is the writer who basically created a subgenre of sci/fi fantasy and created a loyal following of readers.  She gave us Anita Blake and her world of vampires, zombies, and shapeshifters.

Laurell k Hamilton’s Anita Blake series is soon to be a movie and tv series. I was a huge fan of this series.  Like a crack addled fan of the series until Obsidian Butterfly which is like book 8 or something.  After that it was just my need for a fix that kept me reading and I am proud to say I have not purchased Blood Noir and have no plans to, no disrespect to Ms Hamilton, they just have soured for me.  I will however, watch any movie or TV series that is based on these books because it will start at the begining when this was a perfect series with perfect characters.

I think she has a steeper hill to climb for success than the Harris books.  The Stackhouse books are as you see them on HBO.  Very gritty, no over the top imagery, no amazingly handsome people etc.  That is a good part of why the books are so popular as well.  Their main character is very likable and seems like just a girl in a crazy situation.  LKH’s characters are classic Vampire and Shapeshifter in the fact she has painted an amazing picture of a culture and a lifestyle that is certainly doable on film, but entirely rests on the actors chosen to do the roles and runs the fine line of being TOO much flash and not enough substance.  If the budget is spent on what it looks like to the detriment of the cost of actors who can actually pull of the characters many of which are TOTALLY over the top then the project will not succeed.  It has the potential to be a huge film/series but will be judged in the same way Anne Rice’s Vampire books were judged.

Interview with A Vampire was not a bad film and while I was screaming louder than anyone about Sir Wackjob cast as Lestat, he came closest to making the character real.  Brad Pitt was WAY off and the pre-pubescent Kirsten Dunst was good as Claudia.  The screenplay was horrible though and the movie didn’t work.

There is much speculation on her boards about who will be cast as Jean Claude and Anita as well as various other characters in the first few books.  I think an unknown as Anita will fly as long as they cast a really strong supporting group around her.  The secondary characters like Edward, Olaf, and Dolph are going to be huge.  But still, in the end, the wrong Jean Claude and it fails utterly.  You can make a nobody actress a great Anita.  Give her lots of guns, decent lines, and a bit of quirk.  The gal who places Det. Reese in Life, pretty, petite, sarcastic.  That is the Anita Type.   Jean Claude is androgynous and pretty, she likes pretty men, LKH.  It is not a rugged male.  It is not a handsome male. It is a pretty male.  Good luck.

I look forward to the project, that is for sure.