See a slideshow from the set and watch a video of the actors discussing filming in Louisiana.Trash lined the streets, panties hung from the statues and graffiti stained the walls of downtown Clinton on Friday afternoon.Mardi Gras didn’t come early — the cast and crew of HBO’s hit show “True Blood” were in town, filming scenes for the 10th episode of the show’s second season. At sunrise, crew members transformed Clinton’s quaint town center into Bon Temps, the fictional Louisiana town where the series is set. Its littered, disruptive look was for a yet-to-be-revealed plot twist. “True Blood” follows feisty, mind-reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her relationship with the dashing Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) — a 173-year-old vampire. In Sookie’s world, vampires have “come out of the coffin” thanks to a newly developed synthetic blood drink that allows them to survive without human blood. But not all vampires choose to give up humans cold turkey — making Bon Temps a dangerous place to live. This isn’t “Twilight” — the violence is brutal, and the sex is explicit. A creepy gumbo of mystery, dark humor, romance and Louisiana culture, the season premiere of “True Blood” on June 14 attracted more viewers than any other HBO show since the series finale of “The Sopranos” two years ago. “True Blood” was created by Alan Ball, the man behind HBO’s popular, Emmy Award-winning series “Six Feet Under” and the Academy Award-winning film “American Beauty,” and is based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. While the show is shot mainly on a sound stage in Los Angeles, the cast and crew spent some time filming in Shreveport for its first season. “It’s really important for [the actors] to get a chance to come and be in Louisiana, feel the heat, see the town,” said executive producer Gregg Fienberg. Fienberg said he would like to return to filming in Clinton if the show is picked up for a third season. “We were looking for a town that had a nice, small town feel like our town of Bon Temps is supposed to have,” Fienberg said. Cast and crew members were in Louisiana through Monday, filming the final scenes of season two in and around the Baton Rouge area.  ”It’s beautiful down here,” Paquin said. “Nothing really looks like the South except the South … It’s really important to come down here and capture it.” Paquin, a New Zealand native, and the other actors worked with a dialect coach to nail their Louisiana twang for the show. Last year, Paquin won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series – Drama for playing Sookie in “True Blood” — a role she loves.”She gets to do everything,” Paquin said. “She’s in on the action, she’s in the romance, she has … every kind of plot line you can imagine. I get to do everything — it’s so much fun.”Ryan Kwanten, who plays Sookie’s wild, often misguided brother Jason, and Nelsan Ellis, who plays the eccentric short-order cook and drug dealer Lafayette Reynolds in the show, were also in Clinton on Friday. “The whole atmosphere is suited for what we do, and the sound stage isn’t,” Ellis said. Ellis said he likes talking to locals — listening to their accents and trying to absorb their “Louisiana swagger.”Wes Brown, a Baton Rouge native and University alumnus, is in six episodes of the show this season, playing Jason’s church camp roommate.  Clinton business owner Caston Harrell had plenty of “True Blood” crew members in his shop — Feliciana Delights — on Friday. “It’s pretty crazy,” Harrell said. “There’s been a lot of people here — a lot of good people. It’s great for business.”Harrell said most of the crew he spoke with hated the heat, but loved the crawfish pasta and meat pies he served them. “I think they chose a great town,” Harrell said. “I think it’ll be great for the town. The town needs it.” Harrell said part of what makes Clinton so attractive is its rich history and quintessential Southern charm. Most of its buildings date back to the Civil War era, including his shop, which was built in 1838. “True Blood” isn’t Clinton’s first brush with Hollywood either. Parts of “The Dukes of Hazzard” movie were filmed there in 2005 as well as in Baton Rouge — which has what looks to be a booming film industry itself because of tax incentives it offers film and television projects. “Hosting this very popular TV series has an extremely positive impact both economically and in positioning our region as a major film location,” said Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden. “On behalf of the people of Baton Rouge, I think I can safely say we look forward to having ‘True Blood’ and its cast of vampires in our city for as long as they would like to live among us.” “True Blood” airs Sundays on HBO at 8 p.m.
—–Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]