The Vampire Diaries at Comic Con 2011: Interview With Nina Dobrev

(Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers)

There wasn’t a lot of time left in the press session, but luckily we got a few minutes with Nina Dobrev (Elena).  She was so pleasant and looked wonderful, especially the peach top and the matching peach color high heels.  When I complimented her on the shoes at the end of the session, she replied “I love them and I hate them.”  Yes, we girl folk are very familiar with that pain. 
 

 
Do you enjoy playing both Elena and Katherine and are we going to see more Katherine this season? 
 
I definitely enjoy playing both because there’s never a dull day.  The great thing about television is that it’s not two hours where you have a beginning, middle, and end.  You see one character and one thing they go through.  Fortunately the characters get to grow.  Elena the way she was when she first started, when I first signed onto the show to play Elena, she was one person.  She was a younger, naive, sad young girl and she’s become a strong woman.  When I later found out that I would have to play Katherine as well it was interesting to create another character.  I wanted to make her completely different.  Make her so that you can distinguish between the two of them.  That’s been the biggest challenge but it’s been great.  
 
Is there any specifics technique you have to do to get out from one mindframe to another? 
 
It definitely is more difficult because it’s a process.  You always hear of an actor’s processes and they’re sort of weird.  We definitely have them.  You have to go through your ticks.  A lot of the physical changes are what help me.  When I look in the mirror I just feel different when I’m Katherine or Elena.  My voice changes a little bit.  Even just mentally I feel like I can get away with a lot more.  I think differently and I get more sassy on the set when I’m Katherine and a little more reserved and Elena-esque otherwise. 
 
I think you do an excellent job.  I can tell just looking at you which character you are.  My question is, would you pick Stefan or Damon?
 
I’m pretty sure there’s another brother somewhere.  A hybrid of the two of them.  I don’t know.  I think Elena’s got it good.  She’s got both of them after her.  She gets both.  She’s a smart woman.
 
(Alice) But now she’s getting pulled in Damon’s direction.  How do you see that progressing?  
 
You’ll see in the first episode she may not necessarily be skewing toward Damon.  Just because he’s there and Stefan’s not doesn’t mean that she’s going to fall into his arms.   I think she realized that she was in big trouble once she found out that Damon was going to survive after she kissed him.   She’s like, “He’s going to follow me and keep telling me about this forever.  It’s going to be frustrating.”  We’ll see what happens.  It’s either, “Out of sight, out of mind” or “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”   
 
Elena almost became a vampire at the end of the season.  
 
Psych!
 
Were you intrigued by that? 
 
I was happy she didn’t become a vampire.  I think it would have been too soon.  I feel like we would have burned out of story lines and what would we have done in season six?  From a character and story point of view that’s what I think.  Also, I don’t think she’s ready for it.  I don’t think it’s something she wants.  It’s not something I want.  Like I said I get the best of both worlds, I get to be a vampire and I get to not be a vampire so I kind like that.  That will be water we’ll tread further down the line hopefully.