True Blood's Theo Alexander On His Gay Vampire Sex Scene with Alexander Skarsgard

How do you recover from a graphic vampire-on-vampire sex scene that ended with one nasty staking and screams that literally curdled blood? If you're actor Theo Alexander, you fly to Greece to unwind -- and edit the aforementioned sequence out of the bootlegged episode of True Blood you plan on screening for your mother. This morning, the Greek actor took a break from his two-week vacation to phone Movieline and discuss the sensual way he prepared for True sex, his fear of getting in touch with his "gay" side, and his character's 700-year romance with the King of Mississippi.

Did you prepare your family for the scene in last night's episode?

No. Actually, my mother will get the DVD without that scene. [Laughs]

What kind of feedback have you gotten today?

All of my friends and my fans loved the character and I'm really happy about it. I want to tell them a big "thanks" for all of their support.

What was the energy like on set the day that you shot the sex scene?

Well, I think that whole week, Alexander [Skarsgård] and I were both a little bit anxious, but we were joking and being professional. Alexander is a great actor, though, and he helped me get beyond the physical part of the scene. I had been afraid of the scene from the very beginning -- from the first moment that I held the script in my hand -- but I'm glad I did it because every time you face your fears, you move forward. It was a good experience at the end of the day.

What aspect of the scene scared you?

Well, the part about kissing another man. I don't really do that, so... I didn't want to think of him as a woman. Many people told me, "Oh, just close your eyes and think of him as a woman." But no, because that is a totally different energy and I had to be very present with Alex and his male energy. I had to open myself to be able to actually be attracted to him, like, really attracted to him. At the end of the day, it was fun, though.

How did you prepare for the big scene that day? Was there certain music that put you in the right frame of mind -- or alcohol?

No, no, no. I remember that I went back to my trailer and I concentrated. I did some acting exercises. I was playing the archetype of a lover, so I put on a sexy, slow song and almost did like a belly dance. I tried to get into the mindset of just being sexy and not caring about your sexual preferences and just acting on that attraction.

Kristin Bauer told us that she found Alex to be really uninhibited. Did you find the same thing?

I don't think any really truthful actor feels uninhibited, and I think that Alex falls into that category. It's all about the scene, the character, the art.

What did you learn about yourself from playing Talbot?

I realized that there are no rules and that you should not care what people think. You can have your own sexual preference. You can cook or you can kill, but you should just not care what people will say.

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