Rob Kazinsky is Sookie’s new love interest on the sixth season of “True Blood.”
Credit: John P. Johnson
This season on “True Blood,” there’s a new faerie in town with Rob Kazinsky’s Ben Flynn, a new supernatural love interest for Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin). The British actor is aware his introduction will likely rile some of the show’s relationship-obsessed fans, but he’s just happy to have a job that comes with free snacks.
So, any trepidation about coming on as a new love interest for Sookie?
I am 100 percent certain that I am going to be absolutely hated by everyone. Team Eric’s going to hate me, Team Bill’s going to hate me, Team Alcide — they’re all going to absolutely loathe this guy just because he’s not them. And I am prepared for that backlash, however I think in time people will come to realize that Ben, for the first time, offers a chance at happiness that none of those guys could ever give her. He is essentially a much more honest and a much more accessible guy than everybody else. But that certainly doesn’t mean he’s boring.
How does this compare to your time on the British soap opera “Eastenders”?
Different worlds, vastly different worlds. I did 254 episodes of “Eastenders” and averaged about 85 episodes a year, shooting anywhere between 30 and 50 pages of dialogue a day. And then this, we’re doing 10 episodes a year, so it’s a slightly different machine. [laughs] The whole way everything goes on here in America is very, very different to how it’s run in England. The biggest difference to me is always craft services. Having free food on set is just the best thing that’s ever happened to anybody ever.
Is craft service really not a thing in England?
For the BBC there’s no such thing as crafty or free food. At “Eastenders” there wasn’t, anyway. So having doughnuts on set? Wonderful. Fresh fruit all the time? Having a coffee machine instead of having to pay three pounds for your coffee every time you want one? Oh my God, it’s great.
This is news to me. I feel like my only exposure to British TV production was “Extras,” which looked more in line with American setup.
I think that was the idea so that it would be universally sellable. I mean, my experience in England is fairly limited to the soap that I did and the one other TV show I did. The way they do it [in the U.S.], when I did “Brothers and Sisters,” “Law & Order,” everything, it’s a much easier place to be off-set, you know what I mean? There’s much more to do when you’re not working.
