This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," August 14, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS GUEST HOST: It is not every day when a famous actor goes "On the Record." It's even more rare when he's a shape shifter. If you don't know what I mean, Greta, just sat down with Sam Trammell from HBO's hit show "True Blood." Here he is in action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a rumor that you're having a relationship with the deceased.
SAM TRAMMELL (AS "SAM MERLOTTE"): Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't seem to broke up about it? Are you angry?
TRAMMELL: There are bound to be some hard feelings. This is bigger and crazier than you can imagine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREAM: Greta talked vampires, shape shifters, and more when Tony-nominated actor Sam Trammell went "On the Record."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAN SUSTEREN: Sam, nice to see you.
SAM TRAMMELL, ACTOR, "TRUE BLOOD": Greta, nice to see you.
VAN SUSTEREN: Things must be going pretty well. You have a great part. You've been picked up for a third season. Does it get any better than that?
TRAMMELL: No, it is doesn't get any better than that. We kind of started out slow our first season, and it has just been building continually throughout the two years. So we are all kind of blown away.
VAN SUSTEREN: I don't think your competitors would say it started out slow from the beginning. Your competitors are probably green with envy at the success of the show.
Did you know it would be a good show from the beginning when you first saw the script?
TRAMMELL: Yes, I knew it would be good even before I saw the script. I looked at the title page, it said Alan Ball, it was HBO, and I was onboard at that point.
You always hope for something like this but you cannot imagine it. You do the show. You hope the pilot gets picked up. And once that does, you hope to get a second season.
But the books that the show is based off of that Charlene Harris wrote are really interesting and fun. And I just had a feeling when you put Alan Ball with that, who is such a great writer and he put together such a great team of writers, I thought that maybe we could do pretty well.
VAN SUSTEREN: For the two people out there who have not seen the show, what is a shape shifter?
TRAMMELL: That is a good question, actually. We are still kind of working out the mythology of what a shape shifter actually is, but as far as we know so far, I am a shape shifter, and I can turn into other animals.
I choose to turn into a dog because people are friendly to dogs and they seem to not get killed at night and are fairly safe and they get fed. But I can't turn into a person or an inanimate object, so basically, animals.
And I'll give you a tease. I actually turn into something very big this year and something very small as the season goes.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is the season fully shot now?
TRAMMELL: Yes, it sure it. We finished about a month ago. And it takes us about seven or so months to shoot it. And it's really amazing. HBO gives us a lot of time to shoot. We have 13 or 14 days sometime to shoot an episode, and most shows have about eight. So they really give us time.
And that allows us to light the show really well. The set designers do really great jobs with that. And it really makes a difference. I feel like the show is a real cinematic experience.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is it completely written by the time you start shooting, or do you just -- is it constantly written as you go?
TRAMMELL: Well, Alan Ball likes to have everything -- not everything written, but he likes to finish shooting the show way before it comes out. So they like to be pretty far ahead. And it's really just so that in case there are any problems and their needs to be re-shoots, we can do that before the show airs.
But those guys are already back in the writer's room right now breaking stories for the third season. And they like to be ahead, which is not always the case with TV shows.
VAN SUSTEREN: So you got picked up about a month ago for the third season. When do you actually start shooting the third season?
TRAMMELL: I think we will start shooting in December. We will try to get one in before the New Year starts.
We had some things happen this year, and we were sort of -- we almost didn't finish some of the episodes right before they were aired. So I think he wants to get more of a head start this year. So I think we'll start in December.
VAN SUSTEREN: As a child were you interested in vampires when you were a child?
TRAMMELL: No, not really.
VAN SUSTEREN: You are a convert to vampires then?
TRAMMELL: I am. I'm sort of a convert to sort of vampires and horror movies.
I started reading Stephen King when I was a kid and I sort of got into trying to scare myself with books. And then I started watching some scary movies.
I have to tell you, it is so much fun on being on a show like this that's kind of fantastical but sci-fi but scary but funny. I really love running away from people that are try to kill me. It's a lot of fun.
VAN SUSTEREN: And the particularly good news for us here at "On the Record" is that it on Sunday night at 9:00 p.m., never on at 10:00 p.m. So it never competes with us. So we are so lucky that we don't have to worry about your show. It is a big hit.
And I wish you continued success and I hope you come back.
TRAMMELL: I would love to come back. It's been my pleasure. Great to talk to you.
VAN SUSTEREN: And my guess is your career is just beginning, so I will hold you to that that you said you would come back, because I expect there will be a lot of big shows and movies in the future. So thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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