Ryan Kwanten : About.com

American viewers may know Ryan Kwanten as all-American Southern boy Jason Stackhouse on HBO's True Blood. He’s actually Australian and you’ll hear that in his new movie. The animated filmLegend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole features an international cast of voice actors playing the owls. Kwanten plays the traitorous, evil Kludd with his own Aussie accent.

Was it nice that they wanted you to use your own Australian voice?

Ryan Kwanten: "Yeah, it was one of the few times I’ve decided to use the Australian accent in my jobs. I sort of got out here, the very first job I actually got as an American out here and it was only after the table reading where they realized that I was Australia. They said, 'Oh, that’s kind of interesting. Can you use that now?' I said sure, and after that moment I said to my people I kind of just want to do American accents until I get myself established out here. Then I’ll choose to go back to the Australian when the time is right. This was just something that reared its head and I thought yeah, the time is right to go back and do it."

On True Blood they really trade on your body. What was it like to only use your voice?

Ryan Kwanten: "Personally, I don’t see it as just using my body. I think there’s a huge array of things at my [disposal.]"

I don’t mean to minimize it - just that they enjoy showing your body. In this it’s just your voice.

Ryan Kwanten: "No, no, no, that’s fine. Well, Jason’s very liberal with his body. I always think there’s method to his madness. There’s a reason why he does what he does. But, yeah, you have to believe in the reality of the situation whether you’re playing Jason or whether you’re playing the character of Kludd. If you only have your voice to do it, you still have to believe in it."

You have to be mean to the cute little baby owlet. How do you imagine performing that scene?

Ryan Kwanten: "That you have to believe that he’s doing it for the greater good, for what he thinks is the greater good."

Did this come to you after True Blood had started?

Ryan Kwanten: "Yes, I think we were somewhere between the hiatus period between one and two."

Has the show opened a lot of doors for you?

Ryan Kwanten: "Oh yeah, I think just the level of A) the people that watch it and B) just the classiness of HBO can’t help it."

Did you have to record a lot of battle sounds?

Ryan Kwanten: "Oh, there were battle sounds, there were exertion bumps, efforts of flying, all sorts of things."

Was it days and days of that?

Ryan Kwanten: "I wouldn’t say days and days."

Did you read any of the books?

Ryan Kwanten: "No, I did not. We were told, well I was told from the beginning that it would be a very film savvy version of that. So I respect Kathryn [Lasky's] work 100% but I didn’t want to be persuaded one way or the other if my character had a different arc, perhaps, in the film to that in the books."

Are you interested in reading her version now?

Ryan Kwanten: "Absolutely, because now obviously with the potential of doing a sequel, you want to see if there’s an arc there and also see what did transpire in the books that was different to the film."

Would Kludd be even more mean next time?

Ryan Kwanten: "I don't know how much we can give away, but I don’t think he’s a happy camper. It’s going to be harder to bring him back from the brink of evilness."

Will Jason be there for Sookie after her betrayal by Bill next season on True Blood?

Ryan Kwanten: "Oh, that’s yet to be decided."

Will there be more panther action?

Ryan Kwanten: "I’m guessing so, but your guess is as good as mine. I don't know."

You were used for less comic relief this past season. How did you like the more mature Jason?

Ryan Kwanten: "It’s really one of those things where whatever comes my way, whatever those writers are willing to conjure up and throw my way, I’m willing to play. I feel like I’m leaving myself in their capable hands and they have yet to let me down. They never cease to challenge me."

Do you think being a fairy is genetic? Could Jason be part fairy?

Ryan Kwanten: "That’s funny, you’re the second person that’s said that now and I hadn’t even thought of it before. That would be interesting, Jason Stackhouse as a fairy. I hadn’t thought of it."

I’m only the second person who wondered about that?

Ryan Kwanten: "Yeah. You’re the second interviewer."

How has being on True Blood changed your life?

Ryan Kwanten: "Obviously, there’s a certain amount of privacy stuff that changes but I’ve always been relatively reserved with my social encounters anyway. Outside of that, there’s just been a nice amount of work that’s come my way and the ability now to say no to projects if they don’t inspire me creatively. That’s a rare position for an actor to be in."

How about the regularity of having 13 episodes to do every year?

Ryan Kwanten: "Yeah, and the great thing is that it’s HBO and Alan Ball so they only shoot for six months of the year and I’ve got the other six months to do the film projects that I want to do, like Guardians."

What can you say about Knights of Badassdom?

Ryan Kwanten: "Yeah, I just finished shooting that with Steve Zahn, Peter Dinklage. It’s sort of like Role Models meets Shaun of the Dead. It treads that fine line of comedy meets thriller/horror. That was really fun. We shot that, just finished in Spokane, Washington State. I’ve got Red Hill coming out in November and another one of my films just got into the Toronto Film Festival I just came back from called Griff the Invisible."

Do you get to be badass?

Ryan Kwanten: "Eventually. He has to learn to be badass. This is interesting, I sort of play the straight man in this and let Peter and Steve dance around me. I think there’s still comedy to be had in playing that straight game."

Is that an American character too?

Ryan Kwanten: "It is, yeah."

What about the other films?

Ryan Kwanten: "One’s American, the other one’s Australian."

What are those films about?

Ryan Kwanten: "Red Hill is sort of like a revenge Western. Griff the Invisible is like a spin on the atypical kind of superhero film. This is a guy who’s a sociophobe by day and at night he’s of the opinion that he’s a superhero protecting this town from the evil that exists."

The genres couldn’t be any more different. Are you drawn to lots of different genres?

Ryan Kwanten: "I’m drawn to a good story, really, as I hope most people are. For me, it’s the story that’s going to stay with you eventually, not necessarily the genre. I go to watch a film because of the story, not because it was a Western or a comedy."