Bryan Reesman sat down to talk to the stars of the Vampire diaries. Please visit his site to read the complete interview.

The series is obviously very successful on an international level. What do you think makes it so universally appealing?
Nina Dobrev: It has a lot of different elements that people love. It has drama and love and sex. It’s dark at times, it’s light at times, it’s very scary at times. I read every episode knowing what’s going to happen, then I watch it, and it freaks me out.
Paul Wesley: I also think that if you take away the vampires there is a really amazing story.
Ian Somerhalder: In a way, it’s a story about this town. We don’t want to take the vampires out.

There are a lot of movies about vampires. Which has been your favorite vampire?
Paul Wesley: Ian Somerhalder.
Nina Dobrev: Are we joking, or are we serious?
Ian Somerhalder: I know that I am his favorite vampire.
Nina Dobrev: I really like the girl who turned Bill Compton in True Blood.
Paul Wesley: Are we talking for all time or on TV now?
Of all time.
Paul Wesley: Oh, then not Ian Somerhalder.
Nina Dobrev: I liked Kirsten Dunst in Interview With The Vampire. It was so odd because she was such a little person, but she was so evil and conniving and had this demon inside of her. I thought that was great.
Ian Somerhalder: My favorite vampire was Willem Dafoe in Shadow Of The Vampire. I think that was a really compelling and almost grotesque anomaly of what this vampire genre has given us as opposed to being an aesthetically appealing version. Vampires are technically dead, and to be able to feel what that is like is a pretty powerful notion. I think he did that very, very well.
Paul Wesley: There are a lot of Christopher Lee and older films that I gravitate towards. [True Blood's] Bill Compton is an aesthetically pleasing creature. But when the vampire character was first originated –
Ian Somerhalder: He didn’t look like Paul Wesley.
Paul Wesley: Exactly.