starpulse.com has a new interview with Candice Accola who plays Caroline Truitt from Vampire Diaries:

SP: On the show you play the character Caroline. We’ve heard she isn’t the nicest girl. Any mean girl high school personal experience to draw from?

CA: Kevin Williamson and Julie Fleck, the writers of the show, did a really great job of giving everyone a character that has many layers. No, Caroline is not the nicest girl, but I think she is misunderstood. I had that experience in my school where there were always girls that weren’t nice but there is a reason behind everything. I understood they weren’t just being mean to be mean but they had other deeper issues that effected how they dealt with other people.

SP: “Vampire Diaries” has been portrayed very dark and romantic, but with a writer like Kevin Williamson there must be some great comedic moments. Does that affect your character?

CA: There are a lot of one liner-little nothings that happen that just fall out of Caroline’s mouth. She doesn’t think before she speaks so that brings a natural comedic quality to her character.

SP: Did you read the books in preparation for the series?

CA: At first I wanted to read the books, but after talking to the producers and the writers they are not sticking to it so much. We were kind of advised not to. I also didn’t want to have a pre-conceived notion of who Caroline was when they were going to possibly write her in a different light. I opted not to read the books so I could find out who Caroline was on my own.

More here

I am really disturbed that it was suggested the cast not read the books. Even if they’re not sticking closely to the books, I still think the cast should read it for character development.

What do you think?