WHY WE JOE MANGANIELLO |  |
Alcide Herveaux is a Mississippi werewolf sent by vampire sheriff Eric Northman to be Sookie’s bodyguard. Alcide was Sookie's escort into the underworld society of werewolves to help her look for her vampire boyfriend, Bill Compton, who has gone missing. Alcide's family owes money to Eric so Alcide is obligated to help Sookie. Suffering from a bad breakup with his fiance, Debbie, he soon finds that there is more to Sookie than meets the eye. [source] |
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| SIMILARITIES TO ALCIDE HERVEAUX
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"Towering 6'5" into the skies, he has the body of a Greek god, his torso is a symmetrically perfect series of heavenly-blessed abs and pecs. He has the smooth, olive tan of a Portuguese soccer player and the square cut jaw line of an all-American hero. And then there are those eyes--a bewitching shade of brown that can flicker with hints of wonderment and magic or, in an instant, can turn steely, dark and brooding." [source] |
| QUOTES ON LEARNING HE LANDED THE ROLE
| QUOTES ON BEING ALCIDE HERVEAUX | "I had three meetings with Alan Ball. [After the last one], I got a call from my agent and manager. And whenever you get a call from your agent and manager, you have a pretty good idea that something good is about to happen." [source]
Q. What was your reaction when they told you? "I’m not afraid to admit that I started crying. I was just so excited. It’s a dream come true. When I was a little kid, the nun at my elementary school said if you pray for something hard enough, it’ll happen. And I would pray every day with all of my heart that God would turn me into a werewolf. And when it didn’t happen, I kind of thought, 'You know what? Maybe this stuff doesn’t work. Maybe I’m getting gypped.' So here it is 25 years later and my prayers got answered and I’m going to be a werewolf." [source]
Q. What was it about being a werewolf that appealed to you? "I just loved Halloween. When I was 4, my mother dressed me up as a vampire and brought me to a haunted house. When I think about it now, bringing a 4-year-old kid to a haunted house is pretty intense. There was a vampire in the haunted house that jumped out of a coffin and I went up and tried to climb into the coffin with him. He wound up picking me up and putting me in the coffin with him and closing the lid. I [just] always liked monsters. There was something interesting about having this thing inside of you that you can’t control that comes out when you get angry. There’s something cathartic about the idea of having a beast inside you." [source]
Q. What was the first day on set like for you? Was it anything at all like you expected it to be? "My first day on set, I remember looking at Anna [Paquin], in the middle of a take, and my brain went, 'Dude, that’s Sookie Stackhouse!,' and I had to tell my brain to shut up because I was in the middle of the scene. It was surreal. I couldn’t believe that I was there and that I was now stepping into the pantheon. It really was like being sucked through the television into my favorite show." [source] | “You get cast as a shifter on ‘True Blood,’ and you know that nudity is on its way. Aside from not wanting to embarrass my family, I wanted the character to be ripped. I didn’t want an extra ounce of fat on me. I wanted to be the animal.” [source]
"Alan Ball and I had a conversation about [whether or not Alcide would be different on the show than the books] at one of my auditions. I think it’s up in the air. I know that, at least initially, fans of the book will be pleased with my character." [source]
"He’s really big. He’s giant. When Sookie first meets him, she opens the door and looks up, and then has to look up some more. So there’s this giant presence standing in the doorway with dark hair and dark features. He’s strong and protective. He comes from a construction background; his father is in the construction business. He’s heroic and romantic. I don’t think it’s a secret that he has a broken heart when he shows up. He had a really rough go of this relationship with Debbie Pelt, so there’s a lot of friction there. Debbie’s doing a lot of things to get back at Alcide." [source]
"He's big, he's strong, he's protective. He's kind of a recluse -- he just wants to live his life and be left alone." [source]
"[Eating a lot of meat] definitely helped get me into character.” [source]
"Every day right now is all about the Werewolf Workout. It consists of Krav Maga, which is an Israeli fighting technique, and Cross Fit, which is kind of a gnarly crazy high-intensity workout. And I’m doing a little bit of weights in between." [source]
"Alcide is this just and moral man, and he sees some things going on that he can't ignore, and so that kind of throws him into the action. He's a big, sensitive bunny rabbit inside of this wolf monster clothing... a sheep in wolf's clothing!" [source] | | ON HOW HE GOT THE ROLE OF ALCIDE | MORE ON BEING ALCIDE HERVEAUX | Q. How did you get involved with “True Blood”? Had you been a fan of the show? "I was a fan of the show. About a year and a half ago, a friend of mine sent me an email with a web link to a blog site where fans of the Charlaine Harris books were blogging, as to who should play certain characters when they show up. There were a bunch of fans who were blogging about who should play Alcide, and some of the fans were posting pictures of me. So, I ordered the books and read up on them, and found out about Alcide, and started bugging my agents and managers to get me in because it had been my dream, since I was a little kid, to play a movie monster and a werewolf. So, based on the fans’ recommendations, I wound up getting the part." [source]
Q. That’s a very unusual way to go about getting a role. "It’s a testament to this day and age of computers and blogging and fan sites. The fans were really responsible for me getting this, and even just finding out about it. I had been a fan of the show, at that point, so I had been watching all of the episodes, and I made sure that I continued to watch all those episodes. Obviously, I’ve kept up the speed, ever since." [source]
Q. How did you end up actually getting considered for the role? What was the auditioning process like for you? "Once I started reading these blogs, I started posting them on my website. This guy read one of the posts on my website and he happened to be best friends with one of the casting directors. And so, I guess he was out at breakfast with one of the casting directors and the waiter came up to their table and the casting director said, 'Oh, wow, that waiter would make a great werewolf, if only he was an actor.' And, this guy said, 'No, you know who’d make a great werewolf? This guy,' and he pulled up my picture and showed it to him. A few weeks later, I wound up getting the initial audition, but it wasn’t for Alcide, it was for another werewolf that was a smaller part. So, I went in and auditioned for that other werewolf part, and it was the best audition of my life. I wound up being brought in a second time for that other werewolf character, and then they wound up bringing me back in for Alcide." [source]
Q. Did you do anything to stand out at the audition? I’m assuming you didn’t wear a wolf costume or something like that. "Nah, I wore blue jeans and a black T-shirt and black construction boots. Nothing out of the ordinary. But the first audition did involve me coming out of the transformation, so there was a lot of growling about 12 inches away from the casting director’s face. That was fun. But no, I didn’t wear a Chewbacca suit." [source] | “It’s a lot richer, more character-driven. What’s interesting about this character to me is it really gets into the backstory. It gets into what it must have been like to grow up with this. He was a kid who was born with this thing that manifests itself around puberty, and you get an idea that he had to live as a recluse and hide and not let people know what he really is.” [source]
"[Alcide] was born with this amazing ability but has to live in a society forcing him to not show that or be something else and try to fit in." [source]
"I got a really good idea of who Alcide was from the books, but of course, this show strays from the books. I read the books to get a general idea and to get the vibe of Alcide, and then, from there, you have to let the books go and play what they put in the scripts. Alan Ball is notoriously amazing for writing very deep and well thought out characters, so it really was very easy and apparent for me to get the depth of who Alcide was." [source]
"I love doing physical stuff. I used to box, and I used to train as a boxer, and I’ve done countless action fight sequences, so I really do enjoy getting into the mix there, and they were really cool about letting me do that. Werewolves are a really rough bunch, so wherever there is a group of werewolves, there is always going to be a fight." [source]
“I wanted [Alcide] to be built like an animal would… I wanted the audience to look and see a physically strong creature.” [source]
"You do everything you can to prepare yourself [for the role]. I’m a big guy on preparation, so as soon as I knew I was cast, I was in the gym, twice a day, six days a week, with a trainer. I was on a diet, and did the whole deal. When you get to those scenes, obviously you want to make sure that you fit the character and that you are not only comfortable, but confident in those situations. You also don’t want to embarrass your family name, so you get in there and work a little extra hard." [source]
"He’s pretty close to what it is in the books. The books are really from Sookie’s perspective, so the really cool thing about the TV show is that it’s told from so many different character’s perspective. If you read the books, you get the basic gist of who Alcide is, and the TV show is just a more fleshed out, deeper version. You get into Alcide’s relationship with Debbie (Brit Morgan). That isn’t necessarily shown, in depth, in the books. You really get into his past and the werewolf society a lot more. It’s just a much fuller, much richer description." [source] | ON WORKING WITH REAL WOLVES ON SET
| EVEN MORE ON BEING ALCIDE HERVEAUX | Q. Are those real wolves just cruising around the set?
"T hat’s a real wolf, yes. My wolf that I turn into, his name is Thunder. I’m standing there in the middle of the woods and there’s a wild animal, they take the chain off, and I’m standing about 10 feet away from him." [source]
"We use live wolves on set this year. I actually turn into a live wolf. His name’s Thunder, and he’s a giant North American timber wolf. He has yellow eyes and is a beautiful animal. We both play the same character. I turn into him, and he turns into me." [source]
Q. How has it been to work with your wolf counterpart? Could you ever have imagined that your career as an actor would lead you to working with an actual wolf? "No, I never imagined that, in a million years. But, with that said, being able to hang out with full-blooded wolves is one of the coolest things I have ever done, in my life and in my career. It was intimidating, at first. They’re not dogs. They’re gigantic. They’re huge. They’re as big as lions. They have these yellow eyes, and they don’t behave like dogs, so there is an uneasiness at first, but a lot of it is really just awe. You’re just in awe of these really powerful and beautiful creatures. It was a real thrill to get to spend time with them and work with them." [source]
Q. How involved are you actually allowed to get with them, since they are wild animals? "It just depends. There are rules. You can’t eat around them. You don’t want to touch them first; you want to let them adjust to you. I was fortunate enough to get to know the trainers a little bit and, on some of my free time, I got to go up to the ranch where they train the wolves and hang out with my wolf. They wound up actually letting me take him for a walk, for about 45 minutes, up in the mountains." [source]
| "Alcide wants to be left alone. He’s nursing a broken heart and, when you’re in that kind of position, you just want to lay on your couch, for weeks on end. But, there’s obviously something about Sookie that pulls him out of his shell. In the bigger scheme of things, I think that’s really good for him to be around. But, for the most part, he really wants to be left alone. He’s thrust into this situation that he didn’t ask for and that he has nothing to do with, but winds up pulling a string on the sweater and the entire thing unravels, and he’s caught in a situation that he can’t turn away from." [source]
"Werewolves look like animals, whereas vampires don’t necessarily have to be the most physically intimidating people because you believe that they’re super-strong and can rip your throat out. With a werewolf, I knew that it was going to be different. I didn’t want the audience to have to suspend their disbelief so much. I wanted to be as muscular as possible because I thought that, if I was a super-strong, half-animal character, I would probably be in unbelievable shape. At least the physical strength would be apparent, rather than something internal or hidden." [source]
"I’m a big guy to begin with; I work out a lot anyway. In my mind, I see the character as having a big chest, big arms — ripped the way an animal would be. Vampires have a supernatural strength to them, so you can have a vampire that is a little slighter. But a werewolf is this big, powerful, half man, half animal. I want to get as close to that as I possibly can." [source]
"What can you tell us about the future of Alcide that may differ from what fans of the book are expecting? "There’s some unusual alliances formed, I’ll say that. Alcide has some unusual alliances. Alcide has also made some enemies by the end of the season. And you start to see Alcide’s arc. He goes from this unlikely hero construction worker into becoming more of a leader. So you’ll see him come out of his shell a little bit more. He does get involved. And by getting involved, he makes some enemies and some unlikely alliances." [source]
Q. There have been two scenes this season where Alcide shows up--once with Sookie, one with Tara--and they're scared of him, at first. All Alcide has to say is, "I'm a good guy," and he's immediately believed. Why is that?
"It’s interesting because there are also other scenes where Alcide talks about his instincts—or at least hints at his instincts. He says to Sookie, “I trust you.” In this past episode, Debbie threatens Alcide and he looks at her and says, 'I believe you.' I think there’s a lot of instinct; werewolves come from their heart—they act first and think later. Saying, 'I’m a good guy, trust me,' I think there’s a vibe that he radiates." [source] | | ON ALCIDE & SOOKIE | ON MEETING CHARLAINE HARRIS | "[Alcide and Sookie] have been under a lot of stress right now. There have been a couple of opportunities for him to go there with Sookie, but if he had taken those opportunities, he would have gone against his moral code. He would be less of a man for taking advantage of her." [source]
"You’re going to see Alcide very much in the middle of a courtship with Sookie; you’re going to him positioning himself among her potential suitors." [source]
In response to what can Alcide offer Sookie that Bill and Eric can’t: "Warm flesh and blood. That’s the neat thing about my character, although he’s not entirely human, he is flesh and blood. He has a lifespan. In the books, he hugs Sookie and she feels his skin and it’s just radiating heat. So I think the fact that he has some kind of sun burnt heat-radiating skin is just completely different. It’s [similar to when] she met Bill and what a relief it was for her to not to be able to hear his thoughts." [source]
Q. Sookie’s got so many love interests, it’s hard to keep track. Does Alcide make it a love square?
"Anytime you’re gonna see Sookie, you’re gonna see Alcide. As her bodyguard, he’s not far from her side. Both of them are definitely going through relationship issues – Alcide’s fiancée has recently left him, so he’s in this dark, heart-broken kind of place, and Sookie’s gone through her trials and tribulations with Bill. You put the two of them together, and I guess we’ll see what happens." [source]
"There's a fondness and a bond that grows between Alcide and Sookie. Sookie's spunk brings him out of his shell, and I think he recognizes that he really likes that." [source]
"If anyone were to mistreat Sookie in any way, the beast inside of Alcide would be unleashed." [source] | "I met her at the premiere, for the first time. She was the sweetest, nicest lady that I think I may ever have met. We actually talked about the 10th book that just came out, and she gave me some really great insight into Alcide and where his arc goes, throughout the series of books. That was a really, really cool conversation. And then, I actually just watched this interview that she’d done where somebody asked her, “Who would you rather marry, a faerie, a vampire or a werewolf?,” and she said she’d rather marry a werewolf. So, I figure that, if Alcide is good enough for Charlaine, maybe he’s good enough for Sookie too." [source]
"I got to hang out with Charlaine Harris at ComicCon and I said, 'Charlaine, so he’s got biceps the size of boulders, huh. Do you know how many hours I spent in the gym trying to match your description of this guy?' But, at the end of the day, I come from a classical theater background and it’s no different from the type of pressure playing Stanley Kowalski. I played Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire a couple of years ago and that was made famous by Brando. You want to talk about pressure." [source] |
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