Why Anna Paquin's True Blood Nude Scenes Were Especially Awkward

Anna Paquin starred in plenty of risqué scenes during her time on "True Blood," but it was awkward to film some of the later ones... largely because her husband and co-star Stephen Moyer was behind the camera.

The couple, who met on the set of "True Blood" while playing telepath Sookie Stackhouse and Civil War-era vampire Bill Compton, recently spoke to The New York Post about Moyer's directing career, which took off during the HBO drama's last season. According to Paquin, Moyer directed the Season 7 premiere, where she had a love scene with Joe Manganiello's handsome werewolf Alcide Herveaux. 

"Stephen cut his teeth directing [on 'True Blood'] and by Season 3 or 4, it would be like, 'Hi honey, who are you f***ing on camera today?'" Paquin joked, at which point Moyer said that their co-stars — like Alexander Skarsgård, who played vampire Eric Northman — even started ribbing the couple about it. "There was actually a day where we were walking from our trailers, Alex [Skarsgård] and Anna and another actor, and we were all working in dressing gowns going toward our stages," Moyer revealed. "It got to a point where I was about to go to one stage and Anna and Alex to another and I was just like, 'Go for it, guys, good luck, have a good time, make it look good.'"

So what about that scene with Manganiello and Paquin? Moyer says that he had to reassure his colleague in the moment: "In that Season 7 sequence with Big Joe, there was just a funny moment where I'm going, 'Joe, you can do it, mate. It's OK, grab it, you can do it.'"

Since "True Blood," Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer have worked together many, many times. Moyer directed Paquin in the 2018 film "The Parting Glass," which also stars Cynthia Nixon, Melissa Leo, Rhys Ifans, and Ed Asner, and he also stepped in to direct two episodes of her series "Flack." Their most recent collaboration, "A Bit of Light," just released in April of 2024, and the couple only had incredible things to say about working together.

"One of the great joys of working with Anna is that I think she's a brilliant, genius actor," Moyer told the Post. "But we also have a shorthand. We don't talk about [a scene] the night before like, 'Right, tomorrow, this is what we're going to do.' We sort of skirt around that because we have a deep understanding of each other as performers and we trust each other." Moyer also said that sometimes the two step away from the set entirely to discuss a particular take or scene.

Paquin clearly agreed, saying, "As an actress [and] producer, I always act with one eye on the clock. To a certain extent, there are conversations that happen at home, but those are to do with the logistics of how we can get XYZ accomplished, like what does the scene need that the movie doesn't exist without? We find that in discussing mechanical things sometimes little bits of creative stuff get worked out in the process."

As for whether Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer would co-star in another TV show together after "True Blood," that's still a possibility, according to the talented couple. "It hasn't come up yet, but that would be the fantasy scenario for our still-school-age children," Paquin said. "If sort of a 'True Blood'-type thing happened now, our kids would be ecstatic and it would be a huge priority for us to shoot in one place."

Moyer seconded her sentiment, saying that they haven't found the exact right project, but that they came up with an animated series together to which they'd happily lend their voices. "When we came up with this idea during the pandemic, all the massive animated companies had a crazy backlog of brilliant ideas ... but we still sort of hold out a little dream for that one."

Paquin also walked the red carpet for "A Bit of Light" with a cane and briefly spoke to press about an illness, though she didn't specify what the illness was. Fans of the actress certainly look forward to her full recovery for many reasons, but the idea of Moyer and Paquin collaborating on anything as co-stars is certainly just one of them.

"True Blood" is streaming in its entirety on Max now.