James Marsters Auditioned for Eric Northman

Faith

Faith

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I was quite surprised by this one and cannot express how happy I am that he didn't get the role. Never mind being too short for the role there is just no way in hell he could have pulled off Eric.

James Marsters has revealed that he auditioned to play Eric Northman on True Blood.

The actor, who portrayed blonde vampire Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, confessed that he was rejected for the role on the HBO series because he was too short.
"I wanted to go to the director and say, 'Uh, Mr. [Alan] Ball, I kind of make my bread and butter by fighting tall guys'," Marsters said while speaking at the Spooky Empire horror weekend.

"Ask Tom Welling [Smallville], ask David Boreanaz [Angel], ask John Barrowman [Torchwood], you know?" he added. "That's kind of what I do."

The role of Eric ultimately went to Alexander Skarsgård.

Skarsgård recently expressed an interest in playing Fifty Shades of Grey protagonist Christian Grey.
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Digital Spy
 
You don't think so? I haven't seen much of True Blood, so I can't really tell. But the parts I saw, when Eric lost his memory and then regained it, didn't seem like something Marsters couldn't do.
 
Thank god he wasn't cast!

He clearly doesn't watch True Blood, there isn't that much fighting between Bill and Eric it's more of a a stare off, and it wouldn't have looked as good if James was the other guy!
 
Wow, I'm surprised he even auditioned. He really wanted to be playing the evil vampire with a heart again? Yawn! I'm glad he didn't get the role.

Alexander Skarsgard has done a really good job with the role. I can see him playing Christian Grey in Fifty Shades. 😉
 
Skytteflickan88 said:
You don't think so? I haven't seen much of True Blood, so I can't really tell. But the parts I saw, when Eric lost his memory and then regained it, didn't seem like something Marsters couldn't do.
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Off the top of my head no. Eric (in the books and the show) is seductive, dangerous and charming. All those things are elements that he has never possessed on screen for me.

I sent the article to a few friends who are both fans of Buffy (and Spike) and True Blood. I believe the general response is 'Ew no'.

I've not read the 50 Shades of Grey so I don't know if he would be suited for that.

Oddly enough, if you go to the video on the article where James talks about it (I didn't watch it at the time, as I was watching something on TV) and he gives the impression that he auditioned for the role of another villain who was going to be fighting one of the leads who was 6'5/6'6. Well that has to be Alexander Skarsgard, so perhaps the article hasn't been picked up correctly.
 
Faith said:
Off the top of my head no. Eric (in the books and the show) is seductive, dangerous and charming. All those things are elements that he has never possessed on screen for me.
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Really? I haven't seen how Skarsgård plays seductive, dangerous and charming, but I've seen Marsters play it on Buffy, and it worked for me. Not to say Skardgård couldn't do it better, like I said, I don't know.
 
I can see how it would have been obvious casting if the people making True Blood had felt like making that kind of lazy choice, but to my mind the thing with Spike is that he's an original character in his own right as well as being a vampire. From the books I've read (first 6 or 8 in the series) Eric strikes me as being the kind of character whos best under rather than overplayed, and I don't think that's one of JM's strengths as an actor.
 
Skytteflickan88 said:
Really? I haven't seen how Skarsgård plays seductive, dangerous and charming, but I've seen Marsters play it on Buffy, and it worked for me. Not to say Skardgård couldn't do it better, like I said, I don't know.
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You said above that you had only really seen a bit of the memory loss season. Did you ever see any of the previous seasons? The Eric you saw, is not 'the real Eric'. Well he is part of him if you know what I mean but it wasn't the Eric that has been in existence for the majority of the show and books.

Its an each to their own thing. For me, while I liked Spike I never got any of that from any of the roles James has played but watching Alex as Eric it is evident by a simple raise of the eyebrow.
 
Faith said:
You said above that you had only really seen a bit of the memory loss season. Did you ever see any of the previous seasons? The Eric you saw, is not 'the real Eric'. Well he is part of him if you know what I mean but it wasn't the Eric that has been in existence for the majority of the show and books.

Its an each to their own thing. For me, while I liked Spike I never got any of that from any of the roles James has played but watching Alex as Eric it is evident by a simple raise of the eyebrow.
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I never watched him being bad, so I will have to take your word for it. It's not like I'm objective, I'm very loyal to Spike/Marsters and have this dislike for Swedish movies, which sometimes make me prejudice towards swedish actor, in any role.

I actually vaugely recall, that before I started to like Spike, I found his flirting and attempts at being seductive ridicoulous. Of course, then I hated the character, so I wasn't objective then either, 😀
 
Faith
Faith
lol, at least you are honest.
You know how it's hard to imagine anyone else other than Marsters playing Spike because the casting was spot on? That's pretty much what they have managed to do with Skarsgard as Eric Northman. Probably more than anyone else on any show I watch, he IS his character. So whilst JM could play the part just fine it wouldn't be as good as it is now.
 
ItMustBeBunnies
ItMustBeBunnies
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I couldn't see anyone play Eric else than Alexander. Just like [MENTION=11853]Jodast[/MENTION] said, he IS Eric.
 
Jodast said:
So whilst JM could play the part just fine it wouldn't be as good as it is now.
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I agree with both your other points on how the casting of Spike and Eric are spot on and that it is hard to imagine anyone else playing them, but I have to disagree on the fact of him just being able to play Eric just fine. He just doesn't possess the suaveness that is Eric and would just end up being another version of Spike I feel.

Abbeycat - if you see my earlier post, there seems to be some confusion about whether he auditioned to play Eric or whether he auditioned to play another character on the show. On the link at the bottom there is a video of James himself talking and it seems that the author of the article may have been mistaken.

I left the thread as I thought it would still make for good discussion 🙂
 
Faith said:
Abbeycat - if you see my earlier post, there seems to be some confusion about whether he auditioned to play Eric or whether he auditioned to play another character on the show. On the link at the bottom there is a video of James himself talking and it seems that the author of the article may have been mistaken.

I left the thread as I thought it would still make for good discussion 🙂
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Ahh okay. It's interesting though. Auditioning for another vampire show. It's kind of a shame that he didn't get the role, whatever role that might have been in True Blood.
 
So he didn't audition for Eric but a different part on the show?

That might have been kinda cool, as a fan it would have made me smile to see him on TB.

Now I'm trying to imagine James as Eric and I just can't do it. Like you guys have said, Alex IS Eric, he totally owns the character.

Faith said:
I agree with both your other points on how the casting of Spike and Eric are spot on and that it is hard to imagine anyone else playing them, but I have to disagree on the fact of him just being able to play Eric just fine. He just doesn't possess the suaveness that is Eric and would just end up being another version of Spike I feel.
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I totally agree. It would feel like just another version of Spike to me also.
 
I don't watch "True Blood" but I'm glad James didn't get it. Not that I don't want him to get work, but I want him to prove what an amazing actor he is; he shouldn't pigeonhole himself and typecast himself by continuing to play vampires and other supernatural-type roles.
 
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