The Vampire Diaries Audition Videos

the very first thing the network said to us was don't worry about stars you don't need stars you don't need name casting you don't need stunt casting you find who you want to bring these characters to life because you've got books and you've got a genre that people are already into and so we've got our hook the show is the hook this is one of the best casts I've ever had I mean I've been and I have been super lucky in my career to have you know such good ensemble cast you know I struck gold with the Dawson's Creek cast and I feel like this one is another example of striking gold there's nothing really glamorous about the audition life if you're an actor watching this you know so grams tells me homicide a because we're defenders of the Celtic roots I know it's crazier I wasn't buying it either until I remember the whole audition process was pretty it was long and difficult and they really made us work for it oh man it was definitely a big process it's one of the most exciting / nerve-racking thanks ever that's the crazy thing about this job and the business it could just like I think just changes so quickly the stakes are really high as you realize if I screw this up I'm not gonna get this show the whole casting process of Vampire Diaries has been interesting when in you know you hope for the best you you do the work outside the room it's not something like oh I got discovered at a supermarket I envy I envy the actors that have it like that now I just auditioned like the hundreds of other people you have found you here holding court when I first heard that they were casting for Vampire Diaries I knew was based off a boat and I when I bought it I read the first four novels I really wanted to get that source material you know I really wanted to make sure that I had as much sort of knowledge as I could possibly attain I actually didn't know about the vampires I was serious I I don't know how everyone else seemed to seem to know about it I'm sorry Jenna sister casting the rest of our supporting characters believe it or not the ensemble was very very very easy they had all the girls auditioned for Elena regardless just to kind of categorize where they wanted to put each actress later on when they're breaking everything down I think they did something similar with the boys as well okay we're you following me no I I mean yes or I saw before I actually original one in for Damon and I got them reading and Kent was like that was great but why are you here for Damon Zack came in and wasn't really right for Stefan definitely wasn't right for Damon and then we said he should be Tyler cuz Tyler's a jerk you know he's a real badass you were to see Zach do that would be awesome after some talks with Kevin I told that I really liked Matt and cuz I've got to play that many nice guys looked at those pretty blue eyes and the way he smiles and he said okay that can be mad absolutely like what attack Dana woods my cousins told me that Matt and the books was a nice guy but like very soft and so I didn't really want to read the books and kind of have like a predetermined way of Matt I wanted it maybe you know I'm at still be a really nice guy that's endearing and honest but also at the same time have a strong backbone do new you and me well who knew you could be fun Candice Accola came in and read for Caroline and we went oh god of course like how could you make any other choice you got all that in one day oh I got all that between bells after third period Candice is social wonderful find and she's such a talented actress and she just keeps showing us that she's capable of comedy she's capable of drama she's has that ability to sort of make you laugh and cry in the same line of dialogue and when an actress can do that she's special that's - I'm shallow hey I'm worse than shallow I'm in kiddie pool I know what's wrong with me but what's with you see your your mom your dad your golden retriever of a brother I think Steven McQueen came in and read for the role of Jeremy on the second day of casting and had the part pretty much once he walked out of the room stuff yeah yeah chill out okay I loved the character Jamie yet all these pent-up issues he had addiction problems he was fighting against the world at all times that was one of the simpler roles to cast walk away Gilbert your final warning yeah this is your final morning deck I'm sick of watching you play Vicki you heard her one more time I swear to God I will kill you the black crow breeds death no wait Katerina Graham who's just this like bubbly light a wonderful beautiful energy came in and she had that part right away you should go don't sit home you doing good keep it up I sort of got right onto the tail end of the auditions for the Vampire Diaries we thought that all the roles had been cast Sara canning who plays aunt Jenna read on tape in Vancouver and we cast her off the tape because she was so good four months ago I didn't even know how to take care of a plant he so I'm not pretending to be some expert on parenting because let's face it I'm better at being the cool aunt who looks the other way but the jig is up school started and I know how it can go one way or the other for someone like you so we're gonna go textbook on this one Julie kind of really pushed for me I I owe it all to Joe and Kevin really I'm not gonna invite you in forget it come on Jenna it's me he's it's Tyler okay sorry I went in a few times in the audition room met with Kevin and Julian discussed certain roles and where they thought that I felt in better Michael Trevino is a terrific actor he's very skilled he's very talented he's very well trained and he's capable of almost anything Michael Trevino when he came in and read for Tyler he's just perfect he embodies that arrogant privileged bully really well it wasn't you know given to me I'm definitely a fight for Tyler don't look so down can everyone I'm done so we had this wonderful easy time casting the rest of the show and then there was Elena Stefan and Damon we didn't want to necessarily cast the boys until we knew for sure we had the girl and we couldn't completely cast the girl until we sort of knew we had the boys and so it was one of those which comes first it was definitely a long process yeah try to be an understatement nina dobrev was the first person who had her part of the threesome once we sort zeroed in on her was done was done she was Elena and I first got the partner it was announced that I was playing Elena so many people were outraged that I wasn't blonde and they were saying she would dye her hair like this can't be possible LJ Smith the novel's - the Vampire Diaries spends a lot of time talking about Elena's beautiful blonde hair and everybody who knew the books first always saw Elena with blonde hair oh not exactly the case right here and truthfully when we set out to cast Elena we were hoping we would find a beautiful blonde actress to become our Elena I absolutely 100% understand why fans were upset that Elena wasn't blonde um that being said we have to build a television series that can run for many years and it hinges around the actress who brings Elena to life it was a sacrifice that had to be made and we're not sorry we need to chill yourself show myself oh I get it it's starter talk dude you're so cool when Nina came in and sort of showed us what she could do then were just like she's the girl to beat and no blond-haired actress walked in and beat her we knew how special Nina was and and there was no looking back and then Damon and Stefan had to be cast we couldn't find the chemistry we couldn't find the right the right actors to embody either of those roles we had sort of seen a lot of actors and no one we could not find a Damon somewhere in the midst of all that we got a call saying that Ian Somerhalder would be interested in talking about the role of Damon his whole journey of being cast was you know come another whole story it was about seven days or 10 days of just really intense meetings and nail chewing and because when you want something you want it why are you here that's a very same question but I'm fairly certain that your answer could be single one lower you know he came in and he met with us and we talked to him and we were convinced this was our guy total home run and then he went in front of the studio and the network to get the job officially Kevin and Julie in the studio they were all fighting for who for us who they who they wanted but the minute we cast him everybody came out of the woodwork press bloggers Internet like oh my god perfect choice and I think that said everybody's mind at ease you must be Elena I'm Damon Stefan's brother he didn't tell me he had a brother well stuff it's not one to brag please come I'm sure stuff it'll be along in a second he is so good in this part that seeing thinking of anybody else in that role you just can't even can't even consider it hello brother Damon the very last role to be cast of our series was Stefan for the pilot and the TV series to work the relationship between Elena and Stefan had to be magic it's such an ordeal we had Nina read opposite probably 30 40 50 I don't even know too many different guys I'm sorry were you going somewhere yeah I was just heading to see some friends but did you wanna come sure it was quite the process we saw Paul Wesley probably uh you know I think he came in nine times I just remember he had this sort of old soul historic feeling about him he's very brooding and very you just know that he's lived originally they asked me to read for Damon and I you know and I gladly you know went to read for Damon but I always had this like in my mind Stefan was a character that I wanted to play oh hi sorry so then he came in and read for Stefan halfway through casting for Peter Roth at Warner Brothers and Peter said that's your guy okay like is that a guy and cousin who's our guy I'm like he's our guy I got a shoot I was about a weekend that Paul Wesley did his first scene it's the scene where Elena was running in the cemetery and he's there out of nowhere were you fooling me and the sun's just hitting him so perfectly and his eyes are beautifully green and he's just staring at her and she's staring up at him I'm Elena I'm Stefan I know we have history together was phenomenal was phenomenal Kevin and I both what he's our God he is our guy oh my god he is our guy the look on her face the way they connected in those moments that's what worked for me I said to myself this is this is phenomenal there is real chemistry between Paul Wesley and Nina Dobrev frankly I can only apologize to the world for taking us that long to even realize how spectacular he was okay he should go really it's nothing it really worked out in a way that it was kind of like the universe and the stars lining out it's just been a wonderful experience you know from day one so it couldn't have been a better a better outcome we've really sort of come into our own in a sense everything just sort of came together I mean the rest is history you

Channel: 90210Bronte

Views: 3,315,079

Rating: 4.9769492 out of 5

Keywords: The, Vampire, Diaries, Audition, Videos

Id: qddhaTAFrMw

Length: 12min 13sec (733 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 28 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Fantastic! I don't think there is a single character OR actor/actress from TVD that I don't simply love in their own phenomenal way. They definitely nailed every, single character.

[u/aidylbroccoli]

I think it's hilarious that Julie Plec is gushing over the Nina/Paul chemistry, but fails to mention the Nina/Ian chemistry...