It?s a fine day for fang-bangers and vampires everywhere! The day when Sundays on HBO were filled exclusively with four-shoe-obsessed, over-the-hill skanks, extreme-frat-boy entourages, and pasta-packing, prosciutto-piling mobsters, have come to an end?as a new dawn rises, bringing with it sex-obsessed vampires and their aspiring lovers!

This Sunday, expect a much different (much bloodier) HBO series with the premiere of True Blood, a vampire TV series produced, co-written and co-directed by Six Feet Under creator, Alan Ball. And while Ball is taking quite a leap, stepping from the grave of SFU?s looming mortality and into True Blood?s eternal blood-feasting immortality, he?s calling on source material that packs some pretty vampirific clout. The show, inspired by the book series Southern Vampire Mystery by Charlaine Harris, focuses on Sookie Stackhouse (played by Academy Award winner Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress living in a fictional Louisiana town who begins to take notice of, and quite a liking to Bill Compton (played by Stephen Moyer), a mysterious stranger who just happens to be vampire.

Last week, we got a chance to chat with Ball and get his thoughts on the vampire resurgence, domesticated immortals and what to expect in the upcoming season of True Blood. And after reading what Ball had to say, be sure to check out the series premiere on Sunday September 7, 9PM on HBO!

Vampires seem to be en vogue at the moment. Is it a coincidence? Why do you think the vampires in recent representations have become so domesticated?

I would say Freud said there are no coincidences. That being said, I don?t know what the meaning is. [Laughs.] I have not read Twilight so I don?t really know about it other than it?s about vampires and it?s for young adults. As far as for the domestication of vampires, if I try to answer this I?m just going to make something up--which I?m happy to do--but maybe it means that as our society becomes more and more multicultural, the new terrain of multiculturalism is no longer just cities but also the suburban towns. Maybe it?s about that. I don?t know. I wish I was more educated in this regard, but I?m not.

How are you going to go about taking these books and turning them into a series? What will be the focus episode to episode?

The great thing about Charlaine?s [Harris] books and the world that she?s created is that it?s so rich. There are so many different characters and she opens so many different doors. I don?t really know what the series will be. I don?t map the series out that far in advance and rely on four other writers to help instigate the alchemical?whatever-it-is that you hope to make happen when you?re making a series. The great thing about Charlaine?s books too, is that the stories work. However, the books really center on Sookie?s story, so unless the other characters are in the room with her they don?t really appear that much in the books. I feel like we have the best of both worlds since we have a pretty elaborate story that works and we have a lot of other characters we can devise stories for that remain true to Charlaine?s world. So there will be something in there for the fans of the books that will be surprising as well. In terms of what it?s going to be week to week, these characters will hopefully?we grow to love and care about [them].

How much of Eric, one of the more popular characters from the books, will we see?

For those that don?t know, Eric is a one-thousand-year-old vampire from Scandinavia. He was a Viking who came to America about 1000 years ago and was made a vampire on the voyage over or when he landed in America. He?s a huge character in the series and is the character for whom Charlaine?s fans were most obsessed about how he would be cast. He is definitely a big part of the show. He?s a series regular. I think we stuck really close to the first book and the first book sort of is the basis for the first season. By episode 11 and 12 we start to get into book two to set things up for the next season?if there is one, because it?s not official. We?re going to stick to the Sookie and Bill story very closely and experiment with the other characters but it will remain very true to the spirit of Charlaine?s world.

How did you approach casting Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse?

Anna pursued the role. I basically need to see somebody read. I get a lot of calls from agents but I need to see somebody read because I need to see the character live. Everybody?including Anna--came in and read. At the beginning I thought, ?Why would Anna want to do TV?? She?s got a movie career, and I?m used to American movie actresses thinking television work is just beneath them. Then I thought about it and I thought, of course she?d like to do this. It?s a fantastic role. It?s a great role, and no one would cast her in a role like this in a movie?yet.

What is the essential thing you have to have in a series dealing with vampires?

I don?t know. I?m going to find that out as the series goes on I think. Certainly the one thing I feel like you have to have is a character, a person you?re invested in and feel for. If it?s just a story device with fangs, I?m just not that interested. We?re really trying to focus on who Bill is, what his history is. What is the curse of being immortal? What?s it like to be immortal and still yearn to be human? I?m not really concerned about putting my own spin on things. I feel like Charlaine really created this world and I just responded to it.

What?s appealing to you about making a ?sex and violence? heavy show?

It?s fun. I don?t know if it?s because of the fantastic nature of the premise allows me enough of a remove so it?s not so upsetting. It is popcorn TV. It?s like an amusement park for me. Sexuality I think it?s a real window into somebody?s psyche. I?m not as freaked out by the characters being depicted in sexual situations as maybe some other people are. There?s a lot of sex and violence in Charlaine?s books, which is what I responded to. Again, I wanted to do something different. Six Feet Under was about repression and this seems to be something about abandoned. I find the show really entertaining to produce and be part of making because it?s totally escapist, and for me that?s one of the joys of it.

What do you think makes vampires so damn sexy?

Obviously the act of feeding is a very blatant sexual metaphor. There is penetration, there?s bodily fluids being exchanged. It?s a cathartic frenzy of a physical moment. Also, in a way vampires are sort of the ?bad boy? or the femme fatale, the hot sexy dangerous person that you know is just not good for you. [Laughs.]

How much of the humor of the books will run through the series?

A lot. Part of what I enjoyed about the books so much, in addition to the romance and the intrigue, danger and violence was that they were funny. These characters were funny without trying to be funny. That?s definitely a big part of it. It?s something we definitely want to keep. I think we?ve assembled a cast that?s good at playing the humor straight. For example Ryan [Kwanten] who plays Jason, is a really tough role because usually when an actor is playing a character that?s not the sharpest knife in the drawer, the actor will a lot of times act as if, they?re not really that dumb. They act in a way to let you know that they?re not really that dumb. And then it?s not funny. Ryan is a really smart guy and he?s secure in that so he loves that his character?s kind of a dimwit.

While in the backwoods of Louisiana did you meet any actual vampires or voodoo experts?

I have not gotten into that community at all. Basically the only people I met when we went to Louisiana were the local crew members and people who owned the locations we were using. I haven?t gotten into meeting the people who for them this is more than fiction. I have however watched the HBO vampire legends documentary and found it very eye opening. When Nancy Oliver, one of the producers of the show, first moved to LA she went to look at this apartment and they said, ?Oh, by the way, you should know, we?re vampires. Everyone who lives here is a vampire.?

Were shows like Dark Shadows ever an inspiration for you in creating the series?

When Dark Shadows came on I was in elementary school and my next-door neighbors and I would come home?I think it came on at about 3:30 or 4?and we would rush into one of our houses and we would sit there when the theme music would come on and hold our throats like we couldn?t breathe. I have no idea where this came from, but we would sit there and pretend like we were choking until the title credits would come up and then we would go outside and play. We didn?t really watch it because, to an eight-year-old, I think Dark Shadows was really slow. Certainly that it was a show about vampires was something exciting to us, to make us do that weird little psycho drama everyday just while that organ music played and the waves crashed against the rocks. I have no idea where that came from but I remember it vividly.

Will kids have a psychodrama reaction to True Blood?

I hope kids don?t watch this show. [Laughs.]