Ian Somerhalder: I don’t wanna be immortal
4 years ago Ian Somerholder died on a mysterious island – as a Boone character, one of the heroes of the fantastic TV series «Lost» . But Ian’s fans were not crying for too long – he revived in the TV series «The Vampire Diaries». More to it, his character - a «bad guy» Damon - is immortal.
Elle Girl: Hello, Ian! By the way, you are late!
Ian: I’m sorry, I had to shave.
Elle Girl: Oh, now I will be telling my friends that Ian Somerholder shaved especially for the meeting with me!
Ian: Yes, I shaved especially for you. What’s going on here?
Elle Girl: The Vampire Diaries are going on here, that’s the case. I’ve read recently that fans ask you to bite them sometimes and your girlfriend says: «No way!». Is she OK with all this?
Ian: Of cause, because she is the best! But this thing with the bites is funny, but kind of …illegal. And I had a bad experience. When I was filming Lost I singed an autograph on a very beautiful part of a young women’s body (I was single at the moment). It was in the UK and the girl happened to be too young, so her dad wanted to kill me. But I can’t blame myself, she looked like full 25!
Elle Girl: And how old was she?
Ian: I think 16 or so.
Elle Girl: You should be more careful!
Ian: I am experienced now. Once was enough for me. I’m not a pervert, that’s just how it happened.
Elle Girl: Tell me, when you were younger were you macho like Damon or more a grind?
Ian: No, no, no, definitely not a grind. There is nothing good about it. Though I was obsessed with philosophy till I was 18, I think. One of my acquaintances, photograph William Hogan- I was about 16 and was making a photo shoot for Ralf Lauren – said: «Hey, you should read this» and gave me the book called «Portable Nietzsche». And I got hooked immediately!
Elle Girl: That’s surprising for a guy at 16!
Ian: Well, yes, at some point it is. So by the age of 18 I’ve read probably everything that Nietzsche has ever written and I also read Freude, William Blake, Bertran Russell and others. So, yes, considering this I was a bit strange, but I have never been unsociable. My elder brother Bob is 7 years senior, so I learned a lot from him what other kids of my age couldn’t know.
Elle Girl: He taught you how to communicate with girls?
Ian: Yes, he told me the things a 12 year old was not supposed to know. So, even as a kid I felt myself very comfortable making it out with the girls.
Elle Girl: Did you start working as a model prior to becoming an actor?
Ian: No, I started filming much earlier then I got into model industry. I became a model when I was 10 and I started working as an actor when I was about 7 or 8.
Elle Girl: Why did you come to this business?
Ian: I’ve always enjoyed doing it. Besides my mom was always on my side: she took me to the auditions, actors courses and the stuff. At first I was taking lessons at our local theatre, then studied actor skills and then became a model. I had a break only when I was about 14-15 and I got to enjoy life as a normal kid: riding horses, bicycles, fishing
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Model for a change
From 10 to 17 Ian was working as a model, shooting in New York , London, Paris and Milan. He was a face for Guess, Vercace, Esprit, Persol, Calvin Klein, Dolche&Gabanna and Gucci, but he doesn’t like to reminisce those times (because he doesn’t want to be considered only as a «pretty face»)
Elle Girl: There is a true love story in «The Vampire Diaries», that had this huge effect on Damon’s fate. Are you a romantic? Do you believe in lifelong love?
Ian: Lifelong love? That’s a hard question, because life is that long and people come and go and influence different angles of your existence. You can meet a person and say: «Wow, she is the one I’ve been looking for all my life», but nevertheless you can brake up later…
Elle Girl: Were you ever in such a bad relations with anyone like Damon? Have you ever wanted to have revenge like him? Damon spent 100 years looking for revenge, planning it…
Ian: The fact is that I’m not e vengeful person. I don’t get it. I was lucky to read a lot of literature on philosophy issues and I talked a lot about it, there were always older people in my life to talk to. And I learned that revenge and envy is a waste of time and energy. But Damon always does it with such a smile on his face that you almost start to sympathize with him.
Elle Girl: That means you are satisfied with yourself in this show?
Ian: To be honest – yes. Because Damon is fun. Although cruelty and violence will never be acceptable for me. I’m not at all violent and vicious man. I can say I’m rather passive. But people tend to like «bad boys» in movies, books, TV shows. I guess, I’m not an exception.
Elle Girl: Right you are, that’s what I catch myself while watching the show – Damon kills people, but we still love him.
Ian: That’s weird. Someone said that Damon «has bad intentions, but they are justified by the circumstances». That’s an extremely dangerous situation. Look at the world we are living in: bad deeds are constantly justified by some extreme circumstances, special reasons. Damons deeds are justified by his love. Imagine, you are 147 years old and you had one true love in your life, and for the last 140 you were thinking only how to get her back and there she is, you should only stretch your hand, but you looses her again. That’s why Damon is prepared to fight for everything he cases about.
Elle Girl: Has any one ever broke your heart like that?
Ian: Well, I think my heart was broken, but for different reasons. Sometimes it was a lie from a friend or a family member, that’s such a sad thing…But speaking of women that kind of thing never happened.
Elle Girl: Did you like vampire stories when you were a teenager?
Ian: Yes, I grew up on Anne Rice novels. Besides, this mysterious image of New Orleans… You know, I grew up in Louisiana, not far from that town. It absolutely has something mysterious, vampirish, tempting, dangerous and sexy.
Show me your diary
«The Vampire Diaries» is TV show based on the book novels by American writer L.J.Smith. The main protagonists are: a high school student 17 years old Elena Gilbert (who has broken many heart in her life) and two vampire brothers «good» Stefan and «bad» Damon. More than 100 age they were not able to win the girl the both loved and now they are fighting for Elena’s body and soul. CW network broadcasts «The Vampire Diaries» in the States, but we have to watch it through the Internet.
Elle Girl: Why do you think vampires are so popular nowadays?
Ian: They are interesting. You can feel their power. They are sexy, dangerous and beautiful. And the are not humans, so it gives them the power to do what we are not capable of doing.
Elle Girl: Have you seen «Twilight»?
Ian: I will be honest with you, I haven’t watched that movie. I just don’t wont it to have influence on my acting on the show, because Twilight and The Vampire Diaries have much in common. I don’t want to compare myself with the characters on Twilight even on subconscious level, though all those comparisons are quite normal. Their success paved the path to «The Vampire Diaries», so there's no reason [it would be unfair] to complain.
Elle Girl: Many people argue, which movie have the coolest vampires?
Ian: I think Robert Pattinson is a handsome bastard. Every woman’s dream. He is lucky.
Elle Girl: Did you make any stunts on the show by yourself?
Ian: Yes, I flied on the ropes and the stuff. That’s great. We were shooting on a roof of a high building, I had a safety equipment and had to lean over the edge. I couldn’t fall but the feeling that your body is leaning over that height is weird. We had to shoot a scene for special effects where I was supposed to jump from that sort of a building, while in fact I only had to jump some meters behind me. I was sitting there for 20 minutes telling my body that I have to jump back to a pile of mats. And that wasn’t an easy task because my body kept telling me «no»…
Elle Girl: What were your hobbies when you were a kid?
Ian: I was very fond of theater, read books and watched a lot of movies. Also I practically grew up on the horse back in the middle of the woods, so I was very interested in working on the ground, watching animals, fishing and building [making things].
Elle Girl: Can you still ride a horse?
Ian: Yes, but I do it not so often I wished to. I would like to spend approximately 6 years on this project, make some other movies and then retire and spend the rest of my life on a horse back. That would be awesome!
Elle Girl: Do you get more recognized thanks to «The Vampire Diaries» or «Lost»?
Ian: They watch «Lost» all over the world. I’ve been speaking with Mathew Fox recently while he was in the most northern part of Scotland and he was surprised that he gets recognized. If you appeared on «Lost» you can hide in Egypt desert and yet someone will definitely ask: «Hey, do you happen to be that guy?»
Elle Girl: And my last question: would you like to be immortal like a vampire?
Ian: Definitely no! Life consists of relationships we have. It’s not only about us, it’s about our family, our friends, our children. We have limited time to do something. If we were immortal that could never have an end.
traduzione (c) Irina S. from the vampire-diaries.net discussion forumssource:
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