Joe Manganiello : Vanity Faire

Joe Manganiello, who plays nice-guy werewolf Alcide Hervieux on True Blood, faced the daunting prospect of bringing to the screen a character already beloved by fans of Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mysteries novels. Viewers haven’t yet seen much of the romance between Anna Paquin’s Sookie Stackhouse and Manganiello’s Alcide, which takes up much of the third book, Club Dead. But, as Manganiello tells us, more is on the way.

 

Mike Ryan: In the third book, Alcide and Sookie’s romantic relationship seems more advanced than it does in the series.

Joe Manganiello: Well, the way that it’s been depicted so far in the series is almost exactly in line with the way that the book is. Alcide is in all of the books from the third one on, so the relationship builds from there. But we’re still in the infancy stage—them getting to know each other.

On Sunday night, Alcide spared the life of Debbie Pelt (Brit Morgan). Does Alcide still harbor feelings for Debbie?

Is Alcide going to get back with Debbie? No way in hell. I think she’s psychotic. He didn’t want to get back together with her; he didn’t even want to go back in there. It was really and truly Sookie dragging Alcide back in there. Sookie’s been the catalyst for the emerging leader that comes out of Alcide, which winds up being his arc. In the book, he’s a construction worker who wants to have nothing to do with politics or anything—and really doesn’t want to have much to do with being a werewolf. It’s the unlikely story of how that unlikely hero becomes King of the Wolves, basically.

 

The third book in the series is called Club Dead. Is there a reason that the Club Dead in the book wasn’t used for the television series?

Well, Club Dead, in the book, was a bar called Josephine’s, I believe. And it was a bar for all types of supernatural creatures to hang out at. In the book, there’s a ghost that valet parks your car; Debbie is a were-lynx and leaves Alcide for a were-owl—there are all these different animals. So there are all these supernatural creatures that hang out at this bar that’s referred to as Club Dead. In our series, that became Lou Pine’s—the werewolf bar that you saw in episodes three and four.

 

I’m guessing you’ve read the books?

In preparation for auditioning to play Alcide, I read book three to get a general idea of who Alcide was. But I own all of the books and I definitely peruse them as needed.

 

How does it feel to step into a role that’s new but, also, already so popular?

It’s like playing a historical figure, to a certain extent. For me to step into this very beloved character on my favorite show, and enter into that mythology—you want to do right by the fans. 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.

 

I may be wrong, but I get the feeling True Blood fans may be a little more passionate than A Streetcar Named Desirefans, these days.

Yes, I was down at Comic Con and it was the closest that I will ever get to being a rock star. There’s just a level of excitement about the show, and I love it. I’m a fan boy at heart: I grew up reading comic books; I love Star Wars. I’m a genre fan.

 

There have been two scenes this season where Alcide shows up—one 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? When I asked my girlfriend this question, her response was, “Um, just look at him. Why wouldn’t you believe him?”

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.

 

So we’re going with instincts? It’s not that he’s “a hunk”?

[Laughs] That’s going to be my answer, someone else might have a different answer. I’m completely open to it, but that’s my answer.

 

Are those real wolves just cruising around the set?

That’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.

 

About ten years from now, it would make a fun Peoplemagazine–type profile if it turns out that you adopted Thunder. “The two Alcides, Joe and Thunder, still together.”

Yeah, they require a lot of attention. They’re pack animals, so if I adopted one I’d have to adopt at least one more.

 

When you auditioned for Alcide, after you read your lines once, did they then say, “That was great, how about one more time ... only this time without your shirt.” There seems to be a lot of bare-chested men on True Blood.

[Laughs] I’ve been at auditions where they have, but not this one. There was no shirtlessness involved with my audition. Now, other cast members, they may have.

 

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.

 

Or Teen Wolf.

A commonly asked question is about how many hours I spend in the makeup chair, but I don’t spend time in the makeup chair because the transformations are more of the shape-shifter nature rather than me as a wolf-man running around.

 

Fans of the book series assumed that Lafayette was dead at the end of the first season because that’s what happened in the book—but it wasn’t the case. 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. And 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.

 

So we are going to see that as the season progresses.

They’ve 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.