M. Papajohn : About.com

About.com : Being a huge True Blood fan, I have to ask you about getting a part in that HBO series. Are you playing a vampire?

Michael Papajohn: "I do not die."

 

Okay...
Michael Papajohn: "What I can say is my wife treats me totally different now, she loves the show so much. A real quick story, my wife, she locks the door - 'Watch the baby, True Blood's on.' You know, I love the show, I watch it [on Tivo] but my wife watches it when it comes on that night. So when I got the audition, she was giving me notes while I was running lines with her. She's not an actress, which is really refreshing for me, but I run lines with her all the time. But this time she's like, 'No, no, no, Michael. You're playing it all wrong. You're playing it way too fast. You've got to watch the show; they play things slower.' I said, 'Paula, I'm just running lines with you,' and she goes, 'But your accent's not even there.'"

"It was hilarious. And then right before I went out to go on my audition, she goes, 'You have to get this. Now how can I go to the set with you?' Now she's figuring out how she could go to the set."

"But no, it was cool. We went in the audition room to read for Alan Ball and you know the projects that he's been involved with. Working on it, in my experience you walk on a set - even if it's television - you kind of get a vibe of how the crew is and the actors with the crew. You can see why that show is so successful, because the collaboration with everyone and the energy on the set was amazing."

 

Alexander Skarsgard and Carrie Preston couldn't say enough good things about the production in our interviews.
Michael Papajohn: "Well I actually got to work with him. Everyone was awesome. And I can tell you I don't die."

 

How many episodes will you be in?
Michael Papajohn: "I don't know. Who knows? They may have me back. That show can turn any moment. I can see watching it how anything can happen and anything can become anything."

 

And characters you don't know are going to become big can become big all of a sudden. It's an interesting show. 
Michael Papajohn: "My wife has been telling me for a year, 'Michael, you have to get on that show,' for a whole year. But I didn't know it was about her wanting to meet all those good-looking vampires. [Laughing] She loves those vampires. I thought it was more about me and my career... She has an ulterior motive. I found that out later."

 

Was the set as interesting to be on as it looks? It looks like they're actually filming in Louisiana.
Michael Papajohn: "Well they do go to Louisiana to film but the majority of True Blood is filmed in LA and the set that they picked was, when I was working, was a cemetery. It was a really cool church that they picked, a great location for the scenes we did. [It was] a really cool cemetery outside of LA. I mean I drove up and the sun was going down and I was like, 'Well the vampires are coming out tonight.' What a set. I'm parking my car in the middle of the cemetery and it kind of felt too real. I was like, 'No acting required,' you know? I'm looking over my shoulder with my bag, waiting, just hoping for the van to come pick me up."