The Vampire Diaries - Joseph Morgan Interview

I heard you are fascinated with vampires. I am as well. What fascinates you most about them?
I suppose it’s the idea of being different or being kind of special. The idea that they have this secret that nobody knows. They live amongst us, but they’re so much more than humans in a way. So that’s very attractive to me — the idea that they are secretly very powerful, but they can’t reveal that power, because they would be hunted down or regarded as outcasts.

And what originally drew you to the role of Klaus?
Well, I’m always excited to get an audition for a vampire, really, because of my fascination with them. I’m a big fan of the post apocalyptic zombie genre. If they sent me a script, and it was good, and it was for a survivor in a post-apocalyptic drama, I’d absolutely be excited about that as well. So it’s always kind of the content of the thing that excites me. And the idea of playing Klaus — I didn’t even know he was a hybrid when I read for the role. I didn’t even know it until I got to Atlanta. Just the idea of playing someone at the top of the food chain, who is at the head of this hierarchy. That was fascinating to me — to play someone so powerful. Especially as the role I did previous to this in “Immortals,” is someone kind of at the bottom of the food chain. (laughs) So it’s really interesting to play with that.

To go from low to high in just one jump.
Exactly. In one huge jump up the ladder.

Mystic Falls is full of so much mythology. When you got the part, did you study up on all of it?
Yeah, of course. I watched the entire second season as soon as I got there — what had already aired. And just kind of tried to immerse myself in it and read a lot of stuff online which the fans have written about the show and about my character as well, and just tried to really be as involved in that world as possible, and as knowledgeable as possible. Because I’m a firm believer if you can soak up as much as possible beforehand, then it just lives there in your subconscious when you’re working — so I don’t have to actively refer to things when I’m playing Klaus, when I’m on set. It’s all there. I just felt like to do any justice to the show and the part, I needed to be as big of a fan of it as possible, and know as much as possible.

You came into a show with a very large and very passionate fan base. Were you worried about expectations when you took the role?
Of course. I can say it now because I don’t feel this way anymore but it was a tremendous amount of pressure, just in terms of the expectations. From the book, and the way the show built up the character Klaus. It was a lot, definitely. I just tried to do everything in baby steps. It’s almost better not to focus on the bigger picture of “What am I doing and how is this going to affect some people who are going to see this in a few months from now and how are they going to think about the character as a whole?” And you just sort of have to think “Okay, tomorrow I am doing this scene with this person and this is what I want to get out of it, and this is the way I think it should go,” and just kind of allow everyone else join the dots when the whole thing comes together. It was very daunting.

Well, I think everyone is very pleased. And you’ve definitely embraced the fans through Twitter. Have you been enjoying connecting with people that way?
Yeah, that’s probably one of my shameful secrets. I am kind of addicted to Twitter.

(laughs) I am too, it’s okay.
I’ve all but given Facebook up now, because I can’t stop Tweeting. Like you said, I’m just kind of invested in the genre anyway and I’m a fan myself. I’m a fan of that, and many other things. And I like throwing things out there and seeing if people have had similar experiences to me reading a book or seeing a film, or whatever. [We're] geeks, all of us together.

Definitely. And so far, what would you say has been your biggest challenge playing Klaus?
I think the most difficult thing — hmm, that’s interesting. I think in the beginning, when I got there, the biggest challenge for me was not to try and play a vampire. There’s the temptation when you’re wearing a costume, and you’re there doing the scene, to play it very vampiric. I had to make sure that my enjoyment of it wasn’t taking precedence — that I stay true to what my ideas were for the character and how that person affected the other people in the room as opposed to me — Joseph Morgan — just reveling in the fact that I’m playing this vampire. That would be a very kind of self-interested performance.

Well Klaus is all about self interest, so…
Yeah, absolutely. (laughs) Maybe I should have tried that! I think you want to do the part justice and do the fans justice. I’m just obviously having such a fantastic time doing it, that it’s tempting to just disappear inside that bubble.

I obviously really loved seeing his relationship with his brother, Elijah. Are we going to see more of that in the coming episodes?
Well, I can tell you we’re not going to flash back again this season. [But] there will be a meeting again.

Are we ever going to learn how Klaus and his family became vampires? I’m very interested in the history of the originals.
I think that’s something we’re not going to touch on too greatly this season. But as Julie already said, next season we’re going to learn a lot more about the originals. And there are — how many — five other siblings? And their parents. I think it sort of has to be touched on. We’re not going to watch the entire third season and go “Okay, well we just accept that somehow they were made vampires.” They are going to touch on it. They have to. They’ve done such a thorough job with the mythology so far, I think they’d be crazy not to do go there.

Why do you think Klaus wants to become a werewolf so badly and unleash that side of him?
Because he wants to [start] his own race. Because of his werewolf bloodline, he can procreate, and first of all — if he unleashes his werewolf side, he’ll have the powers of both, so he’ll be the most dangerous, powerful individual in Mystic Falls, if not the world. And secondly, he’ll be the only vampire capable of having children. And it depends which way you look at it: creating his own race or building an army. Either way, he’s going to ascend, in his mind, to the power of the Gods. The fact that someone is driven by ego, the way Klaus is, that’s pretty much the greatest thing you can have.

Do you have a favorite moment that you’ve filmed so far?
Yeah, I loved (laughs) I like so much. I loved all of the stuff that was my first few weeks there — all the flashback stuff. I had wicked fun on that scene with Ian Somerhalder and Alaric last week when he comes to life and I intimidate him. That was a tremendous, lot of fun. And pretty much all of episode 21 was some of the most enjoyable stuff I’ve done in my life. Thursday is when it’s on and I’m so excited to see it.

(laughs) Absolutely. And I know you can’t spoil too much but can you give a little teaser of what’s coming up for Klaus with the big sacrifice and the aftermath?
Well, we have the big sacrifice, obviously. We know that his plan is disrupted. We know Klaus has taken someone that we least expect. So I guess what I can tell you that Klaus’ has had this plan for 500 years. He’s been working on this thing. So he tried to prepare for every eventuality and he doesn’t want anything to disrupt his plan. I think it’s safe to say that there will be a few bumps in the road and Klaus will deal with them in ways you might not expect.

Source: The TV Chick