There’s also this Deliverance vibe. Was that intentional?

Ryan: Oh, absolutely! I’m glad that you said that! I think the rawness of that film … there was such a visceral response you got from it. [This season is] supposed to look brutal and dirty. Jason’s life is very much on the line.

Will he ever acquire powers?

I feel personally that he wants a superpower or some sort of supernatural ability more than anybody else on the show. The comical element, then, is to not give a superhero power to that guy who wants it the most. [But] we’ve been sworn to secrecy for a lot of this stuff.

Have you noticed that there’s a certain Golden Girls–eating-cheesecake quality to the way Jason interacts with his sister?

Jason is really in a world of his own for certainly the first half of this season. Anna [Paquin] and I only have maybe two to four scenes together at most each season. Inevitably, we come together at some point — “Well, I almost died another time!” It’s always about an emotional high point. There’s a couple of really sweet scenes that I have this year with Anna. It’s some of my favorite stuff to do.

How much do you work out for this role?

I don’t work out for the role.

What?!

I just work out for my own sanity, to be honest. I grew up in a competitive, sporting environment. It's just sort of part and parcel of who I am. I'm one of three boys, and the easiest way for my mom to deal with all of us was to kick us outside.

Were you a badass as a kid? I heard that you survived a shark attack.

I've lived a very adventurous life. The vision you have is far more outrageous than what really happened. I was 12 years old. I was surfing. I fell off the top of the board trying to do a fancy move and put my hand down into what I thought was the top of a sand bank. I yanked it out, and blood spurted out. I could see the lifeguard rushing down from his tower. They did an analysis at the hospital that said it was a wobbegong shark, which is, like, a shark with no teeth. It just has gums. So I theoretically didn't get bitten by a shark — [laughs] I got gummed by a shark.

It's like blood is a recurring theme in your life: Earlier this year, you saved a guy who was bleeding on the street.

[Sounding embarrassed.] I don't know what it is about me. I very much like to put drama on the screen. And outside, I like to live as drama-free as possible. But I'm a coordinated guy, and somehow trouble likes to find me. I was heading home on a quiet Saturday, and there was a young guy lying in the middle of a busy intersection in Hollywood, just bleeding. So I jumped out of the car and [another man] came over, and together we lifted him off the road and checked his vitals. Then a couple minutes later, the ambulance took him away. Never saw him again.

Before you starred in True Blood, you starred as a surfer on the WB's Summerland, opposite a very young Zac Efron. What do you remember about him?

I always remember that he already had, at that age, a really good work ethic. With young actors coming up you also look at how in tune with the world are they — i.e., could it get to their head? I felt like he had this really old-soul quality to him.

He's pretty buff now, too. What would happen if the two of you arm-wrestled?

Oh, I'm a pretty dirty fighter, so I dare say I'd have him.

 

Källa