Open House
Even with True Blood on vacation from our TVs, the show’s star couple can’t stay out of the limelight. With the release of Open House on DVD this week, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer are once again causing a stir in this nail biting tale of terror!
To celebrate the release, we’ve compiled a history of the couple’s rise to stardom, following their very different careers on their paths to a starry union.
1993 - The Piano, Conjugal Rites
At the tender age of 11, Anna starred in her first feature film, The Piano, directed by Jane Campion. A poignant tale of a mute woman who moves to New Zealand to marry a landowner, the film saw Anna play the protagonist’s young daughter.
Winning three Oscars and nominated for a host of other awards, The Piano set Paquin on the path to stardom.
Around the same time, an older Stephen Moyer was making his mark on British television, playing Philip Mansfield in the comedy series Conjugal Rites. The show ran for two series and received a nomination in the British Comedy Awards in 1995.
1997 - Amistad, Prince Valiant
After playing a young Jane Eyre in Franco Zeferelli’s biography of the author and one of the lead roles in Carroll Ballard’s Fly Away Home, Paquin landed a role in the Oscar winning Amistad.
Though not a lead role, Paquin’s performance in such this acclaimed film helped get her noticed and cement her place on the acting ladder.
While Paquin’s career was swiftly taking off, Moyer was keeping busy in TV, featuring turns in British series The Castel, The Grand and A Touch of Frost.
In 1997 however he got the starring role in an English-German fantasy production entitled Prince Valiant. Acting alongside future star Katherine Heigl and comedienne Joanna Lumley, Moyer proved he was more than ready for the big screen.
2000 - X-Men, Quills
In the years following Amistad, Paquin played a number of different roles, featuring in films such as Hurlyburly, A Walk on the Moon and She’s All That.
But in 2000 she took centre stage in the film adaptation of the historic X-Men comics, playing Rogue, a mutant with acutely dangerous powers.
Her faithful portrayal of the character saw her reprise the role in the sequels, reaching a new audience and securing her place in mainstream cinema.
Continuing to star in television series and the occasional TV movie, Moyer eventually landed a role in Philip Kaufman’s Quills. Although he wasn’t given a large part, Moyer starred alongside Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet and Michael Caine, and if proved to be his first performance in an Oscar winning film.
2005 - The Squid and the Whale, Undiscovered
While the X-Men films kept Paquin mainstream, it didn’t stop her branching out into more diverse territory. Taking parts in Almost Famous, Finding Forrester and Buffalo Soldiers, these varied films prepared her for the role of Lili in the 2005 indie film The Squid and the Whale.
Yet another Acadamy Award nominated film, Paquin starred alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels, ensuring that she learnt from the best and kept her acting skills top notch.
Post Quills, Moyer fell back into TV, starring in a number of TV movies and bagging the lead role in the TV series NY-Lon. 2005 saw his return to film however in Undiscovered, a film about a group of young entertainers looking to make careers for themselves in LA.
Although denied the lead role, this brief return to theatrical film showed Moyer’s determination to break out of British TV and into mainstream film.
2008 - True Blood
With the TV adaptation of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series came the duo’s real breakthrough. Paquin’s gradual rise to fame climaxed when she was cast as a telepathic waitress Sookie, and Moyer’s undulating career finally found some stability as he took up the role of the attractive and mysterious vampire Bill Compton.
An immediate success, True Blood was adult, edgy and tested the boundaries of TV conventions. Bringing the stars together in a gory display of vampire love, Paquin and Moyer embodied their characters to perfection, falling in love for real and satisfying fans of the book while enticing new viewers around the world.
2010 - Open House
In between seasons of True Blood, the now real life couple teamed up onscreen again for Open House, a dark horror about a couple on the verge of a nasty divorce.
After hosting a successful open house day they are horrified to discover, days later, that a potential buyer didn't leave their home.
While the intruder keeps Alice (Rachel Blanchard) captive in the basement, the unannounced house guest moves in upstairs. She senses her capture is being kept a rebellious secret.
Open House is out on DVD today.
Tagged in Anna Paquin Stephen Moyer