Meiling: “So what was your first reaction when you first received this acting role, and you are also directing on it?”

金美翎：“你刚拿到这剧本时都有什么反应？你既导又演，是吧。”

Ian: “We thought about it a great deal, because of, being on ‘Vampire Dairies’ for 172, or 171 episodes. Being a lead of that show, leader on that set, for so many years, then become a producer, really understanding and learning, how to create, and keep a show going, was a very phenomenal skill set to learn. The thing about it is, now bring this into, for me, the 2.0 version. The Vampire genre is an amazing genre. While Vampire Dairies was very ‘YA’, – ‘Young Adult,’ even though it transcended the demographics, went into, obviously the late adulthood. It was sci-fi, fantasy, the characters were sexy, and funny, and cool. This is very grounded. And these creatures are scary. It is the disease that’s spreading, because of the climate change. This pathogen, this prion, is exposed from the melting ice. This isn’t me, trying to bludgeon people over the head with my own point of view of science, it’s not that. This is happening in the world around us, right now. Every day, the new articles are coming out, about the fact of the scientific community is incredibly concerned with what was being exposed from melting ice, because the ice, kept a lot of the stuff safely tucked away, from millennia, now it’s coming up. What does it mean for society? What does it mean for people? What does it mean for life stock, and wild life? Well, it means some crazy stuff. That’s quite scary. So, in our show, me and my best friend in the world, Michael Fayne, played by Adrian Holmes, it gets exposed to this, and we unfortunately take it back and spread it everywhere. The world starts to rapidly deteriorating us result to that. And it’s a hell of a journey of these characters, and the social relevance of this, is also what drew me to this. It’s dealing with things we are dealing with now: Borders, racism, disease, fear, politics. The politics of fear. It’s all happening around us. And it’s not just in our own echo chambers, it’s happening globally, all around us, you can’t deny it. I think it’s a beautiful and amazing setting, but it’s about the characters, these people, you have to want to go on this journey with. So, when we follow Dr. Swann, I was excited just to play a normal good man.”

伊恩：“我当时是精心考虑过的。毕竟我已经拍过差不多170多集的《吸血鬼日记》了，之前我只是主演，后来又担任了监制总监的职位。我职位的分量这么大，不得不逼迫自己学会如何将节目秀拍得更加丰富，不断去创作新颖的好剧，这些本领学到手后对自己将来是很有帮助的。就这样，我把我这部新剧创作推向高峰。吸血鬼种类的剧本都很火。《吸血鬼日记》本身是面向青年人的，但后来因为剧情改善，又慢慢吸引到了更多的中年人。《吸血鬼日记》是神奇科幻片，主演都很酷，很性感，还很幽默，非常吸引观众。不过这部新剧《吸血鬼战争》，里面的怪物都很丑很野蛮。因为气候变化，病菌也非常容易扩散。朊病毒病原由于冰川融化慢慢扩散。我呢，并不是想给大家灌输什么复杂的科学理论。不是那样的。现在我们周边的世界就有很多这样的事情发生。每天的新闻都不一样，很多科学家对于冰川融化的话题非常关注。因为冰川，很多东西都被安全的掩盖住了。千禧年后，又浮上来了。这样对整个地球、人类，对于所有的家禽和野生动物都造成了什么样的影响呢？对，影响非常大！在剧里，我和我最好的朋友- 迈克尔（由艾德里安饰演），他就是因为被不幸沾染了病菌，带入了我们人间，并四处扩散。这个社会因此迅速恶化，几位主演的历程都很艰难。这样的剧本非常吸引我。我们现实社会也面对着很多相似的问题，比如说边境问题，种族问题，疾病，政治问题! 尤其是政治问题给人们带来了恐惧感。这些在我们身边频频出现，而且范围不小，这些都是全球性的。此剧情很突出，如果你追本剧的话，你会很入迷的！我在此剧演斯万医生，这是一个伟大又平凡的角色。”

Meiling: “So I see you are heavily involved in the society, in the organizations. And you recently, I just saw your Instagram, you just posted, ‘hey, please text me, if you have any questions.’ So, what were the thoughts behind, “oh, please text me if you have any questions?’ Oh, and by the way, I texted you.”

金美翎：“我看您经常涉及参与一些社会公益活动。近期，您又在自己的Instagram上推广了您的手机号码。那这样大力推广自己的手机号码跟粉丝近距离接触，背后都有什么原因吗？对，还有，我前几天给您发短信了呢！”

Ian: “Oh, you did? Ok, so, I am very behind. I have about 100, 000 text messages…Being able to share your phone number on Instagram, is pretty awesome. It’s a unique way to connect with people. You are in my phone, people have me stored as Ian in their phones. And I get to text people and have real conversations, I am a little behind, I have about 100,000 right now.”

伊恩：“哦？你有发？我好多未读信息还没来得及回复呢！将近10万条吧！我把自己的个人号码放上去效果还很好。因为这是一个非常独特的渠道来跟粉丝互动。粉丝把我的号码存到手机里，我可以和他们真诚地去对话，这让我很欣慰。但真的是实在太多了，还没来得及回复。”

Meiling: “Yeah, I was thinking, you are a huge star, and you have so much pressure from the filming projects, you have to respond to your fans, that’s why, I wonder, wow, that’s a very huge responsible for that.”

金美翎：“对啊，我也在想，你这么火，又加上各种拍摄压力。您怎么会可以承受得住呢？”

Ian: “It’s pretty amazing though to talk to everyone. It’s a different format, it’s amazing, it’s way different than on social media, or through direct message, it’s texting people. Also, I get to share things with people, I can just not just talk about the show, I can ask people questions. For me, that connectivity is amazing. Bridging the gap between a character on a show, or the narrative, the story of a show, bridging the gap between – That being on the air, getting into people’s homes, on their devices, and actually sharing ideas about it. That’s what’s exciting to me. Once the show airs, launches, then I can actually open up the conversation, and actually talk to people about it. And that’s exciting. Listen, it’s a very different character. Again, Damon was fun and sexy, and snarky, he was kind of an asshole, but people love him because he was vulnerable, and he was fun. I wanted so desperately after playing Damon for so many years who I loved. For me, Damon was one of the best written characters in Television ever. But I want to play a guy, who is a superhero, but the reason he is a superhero, just because he is a good dad. The reason he is a superhero, because he is an amazing scientist, or a good husband. To me, scientist, and a parent, and a good husband… those are superheroes. But we learned one very important thing – which is that – people don’t want an ordinary hero. They want an extraordinary hero. So, these characters are going to be sent down this path, with extraordinary circumstances, forced to be extraordinary people, in a rapidly deteriorating world. And it’s exciting, it’s fun. The fact that I get to sit here and talk to you about this, means we are very far down the line. We deliver the show, there is still some work that has to be done on it. But one of my producing partners is actually here with me. And we now go everywhere together, and do everything together. Because there’s so much inter-connectedness. We have 8,000 questions that we have to answer a day, from a massive amazing team. It’s not me just showing up on set, and saying some words. The show has been my life, it is taking me away from my family, which I am okay with, but I put so much into it. Taking away from family time, taking away from our own health. So, to get this balance back, and now to be able to sit here and talk to you about it, is amazing. Because now we are at this place we are about to launch. And now we get to hear what people say, what they think, now we gonna figure out the orchard tree, season two, what’s the next step of amazing journey is going to be.”

伊恩：“这样跟粉丝互动的感觉很好！不一样的方式，跟在社交网络上的感觉不一样。我可以和粉丝分享很多东西，不仅可以谈节目秀的话题，还可以和粉丝嘘寒问暖。这种交流方式把我们的关系拉得很近，从电视走出来，和他们交流那样很接地气。从把我的想法拍入电视，到观众审评，之后再跟粉丝们交流他们的想法。我很享受这种过程。《吸血鬼日记》里的达蒙，是一个滑稽、性感的角色，对， 有时也会很狡猾，然而深受观众喜爱因为他是个内心脆弱却有爱的角色。在演过那么多年的达蒙后… 我确实喜欢这个角色，我感觉是史上塑造的最完美的一个角色了。但在那后，我很想要一个充满英雄本色感情色彩的角色。这个斯万医生既是个好爸爸，又是个好科学家，又是个好丈夫。对于我来说，作为一位英雄，这些就足够了。然而，我们都知道观众对这些都不理睬，观众想要看到的是非凡的英雄角色。因此本剧里面的英雄都特地设立了一些复杂的生活背景，不得不在这艰难的历程中以英雄的身姿去奋斗。整个过程很精彩。你看，现在你和我坐在这里谈这部剧，这就证明我们这部剧已经迈出推广这一大步了。我们刚刚把秀推入Netflix，还有很多准备工作要做。我和我的合作伙伴这段时间一直在做宣传工作，准备工作很复杂。我们这段时间基本上是每天要回答将近8千个问题。我的职责并不只是在剧组讲几句台词那么简单。这个剧花了我很多心血。平时日夜工作，跟家人在一起的时间就少了。然而，我把时间花在事业上感觉很值得。现在付出有回报，我们希望推广工作做得比较好。如果这个秀观众反应好，我们会考虑拍第二季的。”

Meiling: “All the Chinese fans are so in love with the whole idea of the show.”

金美翎：“对啊，所有的中国粉丝很期待这部剧呢！”

Ian: “I am ecstatic too. We can’t wait to have an amazing Chinese character. That’s gonna be fun. You don’t know this, but I have been working in China since 2006. So, I know the country, really well, I love the country, the people. I have two companies there, but when I was there in ’06, I was playing Marco Polo. The film was not great but the experience changed my entire life. I had a translator, and I had an assistant, someone who taught me, the history of the country. Because we were shooting there, I had an access to the places that no one else did.”

伊恩：“我也是欣喜若狂啊！我们期待会写进一个中国人物角色呢！你可能不知道，我从2006年起就一直在中国和影片公司合作了。我很了解中国，我也很爱这个国家。我在中国开了两个公司。在2006年时，就开始在中国接拍《马可波罗》了。影片没有畅销，但经验却改变了我的一生。我当时有贴身翻译，有助理，所以当时也学到了很多中国历史。当时拍戏的时候有去过很多平常人不易接触的地方。”

Meiling: “Like where?”

金美翎：“比如说那里呢？”

Ian: “I saw, North, South, East, and West, I saw the whole country. Being in the Mongolia, to the desert regions, of the Gobi, to get into the historical site that no one else is allowed into, because we were shooting. Really changed my life. It was very special. I know the culture, and I have seen the country grow and change so much, so I am ecstatic, to be able to bring that culture into the show. What I know now so well.”

Meiling: “I am hoping there is a way for us to deliver the show to China.”

Ian: “There is, there is, believe me. There very very much is.”

伊恩：“东南西北都走遍过。去过内蒙古，去过戈壁滩，因为拍摄，去过很多普通老百姓接触不到的地方。那段回忆很珍贵，真得是改变了我很多人生观念。我也差不多是看着中国的改变长大的。我真的很想把一位中国人物加进剧情里，想到这些我很兴奋！”

金美翎：“我也希望以后我们中国观众可以在中国看到此剧。”

伊恩：“我知道肯定会的。”