On Location: Spooning, Being Bad And Nudity With The Men of "The Vampire Diaries"

The Vampire Diaries actors Zach Roerig, Ian Somerhalder and Joseph Morgan

Meeting actors is always a bit surreal.  Even when your job has you meeting these men and women every day, there are times you have to remind yourself that actors play characters, and more often than not their real-life persona is quite different from the role they play.

Case in point, actor Joseph Morgan, who plays evil Klaus with superb deliciousness on the hit series The Vampire Diaries. Ever since he turned up with his wicked sneer and thirst for blood last season, Klaus has personified everything bad. In playing the villain with such panache, he's become a fan favorite. But during AfterElton.com’s recent press visit to Atlanta where the show is filmed, Morgan did something more jarring than anything the hybrid vamp/werewolf has ever done on the show.

He smiled.

Not an I’m-going-to-rip-your-neck-open-and-drink-your-blood smile, but a cheery and personable smile, which not only made it clear what a good actor he is-- but also proved that the sexiness we see every Thursday night on the CW translates tenfold in person.

And then, to up the heat quotient during this breakfast gathering, Morgan was cozily sandwiched between his equally sexy co-stars Ian Somerhalder (Damon Salvatore) and Zach Roerig (Matt Donovan) to chat about the complex TVD storylines, the current shape of their respective characters, and, of course, who should take off their clothes next on the show.

Klaus may have some unique powers but Joseph Morgan's smile is lethally seductive.

In tonight’s episode, appropriately entitled "Dangerous Liaisons", Klaus and his newly resurrected family of Original Vampires host a ball for the town of Mystic Falls. The actors explained that shooting the ball scenes in a Georgia mansion – owned by boxing great Evander Holyfield – was quite an experience. Somerhalder still seemed amazed that the house is “fifty-four thousand square feet!”

He remembered, “Zach and I were shooting a scene up on a balcony. We’re standing on this balcony and we’re looking over. It’s just way down. Our stunt guys are jumping off of it and what have you.” And forget the luxuries of shooting in a heated (or air conditioned in the summer months) soundstage. “It was cold,” the former model and star of Lost added. “I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to cool a 54,000 square foot house with 250 people in it dancing. It’s not easy.”

Impressive sets are great, but diehard fans know that the key to the success of the Kevin Williamson/Julie Plec series has always been the multitude of layered relationships, like the increasingly contentious one between Klaus, Damon and the other hot Salvatore brother, Stefan (Paul Wesley). “We’ve seen them a lot of times at each other’s throats trying to kill each other,” Somerhalder, dressed casually in a v-neck t-shirt and jeans, said of last week’s "Bringing Out The Dead" episode.

Foes Klaus (Joseph Morgan) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) bring the sexy on The Vampire Diaries.

“All these moments and then we had that loving moment where they have a drink together. But they’re still sort of figuring each other out like two animals circling…there is all of that feeling, all of that tension from all of the fights and sort of manipulation and all of the history that’s gone on. But here’s these four guys [the fourth being Klaus’s brother, Elijah, played by Daniel Gillies] sitting around the dinner table. So, that was a really interesting challenge as well to see how to take all of that stuff and put it under the surface.”