Great interview over on Access Atlanta. Here are a few snippets:
He had great fun with “Piranha 3D.” As a surfer, he’s used to being in water. His only concession: he quit smoking so he could have better lung capacity under water. And the movie hasn’t made him any less fascinated with creatures of the water: he was recently glued to Discovery Channel’s annual “Shark Week.”
His character Jeremy has lost his parents and his girlfriend. He was so down last year, he begged to become a vampire but it didn’t happen. “Jeremy kind of wants to get in touch with his humanity,” McQueen explained. “He lost everyone he loved. He has a chip on his shoulder. He doesn’t trust anybody. He’s still looking for a purpose and cause.”
Over the season, his character got more airtime, which was a compliment to him. “Every day, I’m grateful,” he said.
While in Atlanta, he has chosen a spot in Little Five Points to live and spends plenty of time there, where he seldom gets recognized. I joked that he better have tattoos and he showed me initials shaped like a dragonfly in honor of his mom on his upper right arm. He also has a bit of the daredevil in him like his dad, who has raced cars until he got into a serious accident a few years ago and landed in a coma. He loves FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” and wants to get a bike.
The big three actors: Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley and Ian Solmerhalder, get all the attention. He doesn’t mind being one of the secondary characters. “I’m free to do other things without being as tied down,” he said.
A new photoshoot of the whole Vampire Diaries came out yesterday, courtesy of the CW. We got a solo pic of Steven looking pretty good. Vampire Diaries’ second season premieres September 9th!
Click for HQ
Every show has its unsung heroes. You know the ones: tertiary characters or recurring stars who steal every scene they’re in but get decidedly less attention than those higher up on the call sheet.
This fall, actors like Melissa McCarthy, Julie Benz, and Will Arnett are getting the mainstream recognition they deserve. The Zap2it staff rounded up our favorite supporting cast members who deserve to have their faces on those bus stop posters and billboards next year.
Let’s face it — even if he sucked, Steven R. McQueen could probably get by on his famous name. Fortunately for us, he’s got the goods to back up the moniker. I love McQueen as Jeremy on “The Vampire Diaries,” but as a relatively normal (if extraordinarily angsty) high school kid, he’s constantly in the shadow of those vampires and werewolves.
If Jeremy doesn’t survive Season 2 — and let’s be honest, no one is safe in Mystic Falls – I’d love to see him as the lead in his own action-packed CW show. His star turn in this summer’s unexpectedly awesome “Piranha 3-D” has made quite a splash, and I’ve got no doubt that McQueen is bound for big things. It doesn’t hurt that he’s one of the nicest guys in TV. It’s always refreshing when good things happen to good people.
Aw!
Source: Zap2it
“Hi, my name is Steven.” With an outstretched hand and a friendly, direct gaze, the handsome young man with the disarming smile greets his seatmate as he slides into his first class plane seat. Given his youth, demeanor, and first class status out of LAX, he can be one of only two things: a college student traveling on his parents’ airline miles or a successful actor. The second guess proves correct: he turns out to be the charming Steven R. McQueen, heartthrob of the CW’s hit show, The Vampire Diaries, and lead character in the campy new film Piranha 3D. “This,” he confides to his seatmate, “has been the best week of my life.” Read more at gather.com
Mildly spoilery interview with Steven about Jeremy Gilbert and Piranha 3d. Enjoy
In the latest Vampire Diaries trailer, Elena tries to shake her brother awake, following his first season finale overdose.
Well, spoiler alert, fans: Jeremy Gilbert lives! We know this because Steven R. McQueen spoke with TV Fanatic this week and previewed his character’s upcoming arc on the series. Excerpts from the interview are below…
What can you tell us about Jeremy this season?
Obviously I can’t give away everything, when it comes to if he turns into a vampire or not. I can say this: Jeremy has been pushed around quite a bit. He’s lost his parents, lost his first love, and all of the sudden there’s this new girl that he relates to because she’s an outsider as well, so they connect on that level. When he loses her, she’s the last person, and he lets himself go emotionally. He’s a little cold to the world now. Instead of being pushed around and wearing his heart on his sleeve; he’s about to push back a little bit.
Do you think Jeremy initiated the change for all of the wrong reasons?
He doesn’t have any humanity anymore. He doesn’t trust his sister because she betrayed him, he doesn’t really trust anybody and everyone views him as a kind of monster, so I think his mindset is “everyone already sees me as a monster, why not become one?”
Obviously, Jeremy wakes up, changed or not changed. Can you tell me how life goes when he does wake up?
Jeremy is a little more calculated. He always had his heart on his sleeve, and he doesn’t [use] emotion anymore. He thinks logically of how he can control the situation.
Will Jeremy and Elena be able to repair their relationship?
They actually get into a fist fight in the first episode [laughs].
Will Jeremy and Katherine have a run-in?
Yes.
I think the whole Vampire Diaries fan base was in uproar when Anna died.
[Malese Jow is] a very talented actress, and she’s a great girl. It was a bummer to lose her. The writers want people go through an emotional roller coaster. We had an intense connection, and things were finally feeling alright for Jeremy.
Are there any new girls in Jeremy’s future?
I don’t think, emotionally, he’s going to let himself open up to any situation like that. Physically, I’m sure he’ll indulge a little bit.
Last season, Jeremy went from brooding to care-free (when Damon erased his memory) and then back again. What was it like to play these opposing emotions?
Jeremy is just an interesting character because he’s never in the same mental state. He’s always changing. The only thing about when he made that switch is he went from being aware. He was totally out of loop when he was all happy.
If you had the chance, would you choose to be immortal?
Oh yeah. I think, anytime we can break away from society, and break the rules, I would definitely try to indulge in that.
Are you drawn to darker characters?
Being an actor is being make believe. Any time there’s more to play with, the more fun it is for me. I like characters with emotional issues, and I enjoy playing the outsider. Everyone wants me to play the boy next door, but I try to break away from that.
We spoke to Jessica Szohr about Piranha 3D, and you star in that movie, as well. What is your character like?
I’m a complete nerd. I’m not getting into any trouble, I’m very straight edge. I’m in love with Jessica Szohr’s character and she’s older than me and has a boyfriend. I have no chance in the world. We get into this Girls Gone Wild situation where I try to protect her, and then the fish start attacking. Honestly, it’s such a fun movie. I saw a little bit of it, and it’s hilarious and scary at the same time. It’s like Snakes on a Plane, but with fish. It’s much darker and gruesome than The Vampire Diaries.
Source: TVFanatic
Vampire Diaries returns Sept 9th, till then, check out this awesome trailer with new clips from the premiere. Watch out for Jeremy at 0:30 mark!
Steven’s movie, Piraha 3D premiered last night to mostly good reviews, i’ve added 20 pics of him on the red carpet.
Also, here’s a couple more interviews
Check out the second interview here, as there’s no embed link: http://www.joblo.com/arrow/index.php?id=23642
Richard Dreyfuss in a boat. Nubile partygoers stalked by a toothy, swimming predator. What sounds like the Steven Spielberg masterpiece Jaws is actually Piranha 3D, a tongue-in-cheek horror film from director Alexandre Aja (High Tension). Helping Aja contain the centuries-old threat onscreen is Elisabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, Ving Rhames, Jerry O’Connell, and up-and-coming actor Steven R. McQueen. The young star of the CW’s Vampire Diaries spoke to FilmCritic.com about Comic-Con, his fear of the toilet, and the oil tanker that pumped gallons of fake blood onto the Piranha set.
Q: So I read that nearly 1,000 characters die in Piranha 3D.
A: It’s something like that. I think we used more blood than any movie ever has. We actually had an oil tanker standing by, so fake blood could just be pumping out all day. [Laughs] It’s so funny, man. I went from Disney, which caters to a youthful audience, to The Vampire Diaries and now Piranha. It’s fun to see the different ways I can entertain different audiences.
Q: And Jerry O’Connell’s private parts actually float off the screen in 3-D.
A: [Laughs] Yes, that actually happens. You know, this is one of those movies where it’s just so much fun. It’s a mix between Jaws and Snakes on a Plane. You have a sincere family story happening with talented actors like Elisabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, and Ving Rhames. But it’s such a surreal situation. Our director, Alexandre Aja, is great about bringing a seriousness to situations. But he’s also made a little change in his normal pattern by adding a level of humor that we didn’t see in High Tension or The Hills Have Eyes.
Q: Do you think modern horror audiences have a stronger stomach for gore and violence?
A: Well, our violence is definitely over the top. Some of the attacks are scary, but with most of them you can’t help but just crack up. You feel bad for laughing, but, when a cord cuts someone in half, the way that it happens is comically done. It feels like it references early Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Q: Did you ever have actual fish to look at, or was it always CGI?
A: It’s all CGI. We had a model, so we could see what the piranhas were going to look like. And they are based on a prehistoric type of fish. Obviously, though, they are a little bit more amped up.
Q: What are your thoughts on the current 3-D movement?
A: I think that, with any sort of change, we’re always initially scared of it. But I feel like it will catch on, because it adds a whole new element to storytelling. People go to the movies to escape their problems and live in blissful ignorance for two hours. I think that extra dimension helps pull you into stories, helps you get a little more lost.
Q: Jaws actually kept people out of the water. Will Piranha 3D do that as well?
A: Oh, probably not. Great whites are really out there. Piranhas are in the Amazon, but not really there for people to see. I have a big fear of sharks. I wasn’t even able to sit on the toilet after seeing Jaws for the first time. But with Piranha, it’s such a surreal situation that I don’t think it will keep people out of the sea.
Source: FilmCritic.com
Steven went on Atlanta & Company, an Atlanta based talk show, to promote his movie, “Piranha 3d”. Here he talks about the success of VD, growing up in an acting family and Piranha 3d, amongst other things. The movie premieres August 20th.
source: Atl&Co