Although I watch them bring the drama, heart and impossibly chiseled cheekbones to Mystic Falls every week, I have never watched Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley interact with one another in real life before -- therefore I never knew that the "Vampire Diaries" stars really bring the playful sides out in one another.
It was a sensational sight to see Paul crash Nina's MTV chat, Nina try to make Ian crack up during an on-camera interview and Ian refuse to untie the invisible string that kept the smallscreen siblings attached at the hip ... although that might have had something to do with the innate humor of their unintentionally matching outfits.
So read on to find out what I learned at this morning's CW Upfronts as Nina talked Elena's dueling loves and the dynamic dude duo demanded a two drink minimum for their green carpet comedy act!
PopWrap: With Stefan's turn towards the dark side, it seems like you'll pretty much be playing one another's characters next year, huh?
Paul Wesley: Literally! I’m going to be playing Damon, and he’ll be playing Stefan and we’re hoping no one notices.
Ian Somerhalder: It’s going to be a musical season.
PW: Like "Freaky Friday?"
Paul: Yes!
Ian: I actually tested for that movie – I didn’t get it, obviously.
PW: I think it all worked out ok for you in the end though, right?
Ian: Oh, yea [laughs]
PW: What excites you about this switch?
Ian: It excites Paul because he gets to be a bad ass again!
Paul: Yep! I’m so excited to have fun and be bad.
Ian: I’m less excited, I hope I don’t have to be sappy like Stefan.
Paul: Oh, you will. And I get to have a little bit of fun and not brood all the time. Monogamy is nice, but come on Stefan – let loose.
Ian: I: For a little while. I just hope Stefan, Damon and Klaus get to go on one major bender
Paul: We will, I promise.
Ian: Just something where we go to the next town and wreak havoc.
Paul: We’ll go to Vegas and have a boys night out – we’ll ever bring Elijah!
Ian: Brothers weekend!
Paul: Alaric can be the designated driver [laughs]
PW: But with Stefan and Damon split up, that also means Paul and Ian will be split up for the first time since the pilot.
Ian: Hopefully, we’ll still have scenes in the library, where Damon can tell Stefan what a good kisser his girlfriend is [laughs]
PopWrap: Your dress is beautiful and sort of matches the green carpet!
Nina Dobrev: Thank you, it's Jay Godfrey. I called ahead to find out what color the carpet was so I could match [giggles].
PW: Congrats on an amazing finale.
Nina: I still haven’t seen it by the way.
PW: Oh, well you were certainly right about Jeremy having a world life changing moment -- I mean, ghosts?
Nina: Wasn't it?!? I can’t tell you what they are yet though …
PW: Having your best friend Kayla Ewell back on set must have been so great.
Nina: It is exciting – we didn’t have any scenes together, but when we got there, we all just lit up – the family was back again. Although it was bittersweet since one family member had to leave for another to come in since Sarah [Canning, who played Aunt Jenna] had to go. But it’s going to be really awesome.
PW: The finale set up some very interesting stuff for Elena in season three. What do you think about Katherine's comment "it's ok to love them both" -- you think that's true?
Nina: God, I don’t know. The thing is, you can’t help who you love and who you’re attracted to. It’s not something you can just shut off, so Katherine – for once – did have some words of wisdom! She told the truth, which is rare because she never speaks the truth. Or saves the day, which she also did!
PW: And she also walked in on quite a tender moment for Elena & Damon.
Nina: Of course she did [laughs].
PW: What did you think of the kiss?
Nina: I think it was a sad, beautiful, bittersweet moment for Damon & Elena that was interrupted and short-lived.
PW: To be continued?
Nina: We'll see...
PW: What excites you about the possibilities this raises for season three?
Nina: The entire third season is like a blank slate – I think it’s going to feel like a completely new show now that Stefan has gone to the dark side. He will be with Klaus and I think that’ll set up a dark shift because when we started Damon was the mysterious one with all the fog following him [laughs]. Now I think we’ll see that come back with Stefan and Elena is turned around because she doesn’t know what to do.
PW: Yea, Elena does have a lot of choices ahead of her.
Nina: Totally. Will she be by herself? Will she be with Damon? Will she try to find Stefan? Everything is kind of shifting, so it’ll be refreshing and different, which is nice – you never want to fall into a familiar pattern on a show. And I think Kevin [Williamson] and Julie [Plec] found a way to keep it fresh.
