Questions about "30 days of Night"
questions by Christian Sellers, writer for Gorezone magazine
Q1: How did you first become involved with 30 Days of Night? Were you already familiar with the graphic novel?
A: When I heard that I had an audition I bought the graphic novel. What caught my attention was the visual style of Ben Templesmith’s illustrations. I guessed that the film would probably try to keep that same style, so I based my character work on the visceral nature of the art, and tried to interpolate that into my audition. I did my best to use Ben’s head angles and the way the fingers looked on the vampires. I guess it worked, because I got hired.
At one point during shooting, Ben was on set, watching the monitors after a take, and he asked me if I realised that I was angling my head in just the same way as he had painted it! He was pleased to discover that I was trying to do it on purpose, and I was flattered that the artist noticed. Ben is a very nice guy, I must add. Lovely chap.
Q2: What part does your character play in the story? Was ‘Vampire #1’
created just for the movie or was it featured at all in the original comic?
A: David Slade, in rehearsals, coached us on vampyric speech and at one time had
us all create names for our vampire characters. He cares about every detail, no
matter how small, so even though you’ll hardly see us vamps with numbers because
we didn’t feature in the comic either, our ensemble of characters were
definitely created for the film. Speaking for myself, I did my best to adhere to
how I felt the vampires appeared in the comics, in spite of how limited my
screen time was. I felt that I had to, or I would have been utterly bored for 11
weeks. One has to find something to work for, or one’s job seems pointless. So,
don’t worry, the background actors (we were not extras, but we certainly felt
like it at times) worked their arses off to bring you some vampires with depth,
regardless of whether or not we were even in frame. David’s shooting style was
often hand held or shooting with two or sometimes even three cameras at once, so
we all had to be acting with the dial wound up to 4 constantly, in case the
frame found us by accident as we went about our vampire activities. In other
words, when you see the film and you know that in the scene there are vampires
visible; when the camera cuts to a close up or another angle, us vampires are
STILL THERE, out of frame. That’s how David wanted to shoot it. He wanted it to
be as real as possible while still being faithful to the comic. He used as few
visual effects as possible, and he didn’t even like having visual effects
markers on set, I think because it belied the world that his cast needed to act
in.
Q3: How much of your makeup was
prosthetic and how much was CGI? Is the look of the vampires faithful to Ben
Templesmith’s artwork or did the effects artists make any significant changes?
A: Each vampire had individually hand made teeth, full scleral contact lenses and false fingers and nails, plus a very detailed makeup design consisting of about four different colours, airbrushed on to any exposed skin. That sounds simple, but believe me when I tell you it was not. We would each be in makeup every ‘day’ for about 80 minutes. It would only take about half an hour to take it all off, thank goodness. The amazingly skilled makeup effects crew from Weta became our best friends, especially after we had all been inhaling in a room full of alcohol vapour from the airbrush machines spraying inks for over an hour. As for how we look, just tune in to the official website and watch the trailer for vampires. Don’t forget that we also had wonderful hair and makeup artists to visit, after we had been in the prosthetics truck, and sensational costumiers as well. Most of us were kitted in designer clothes for this shoot, so we all looked like derelict fashion models with fangs.
Q4: How hands-on was Sam Raimi as a producer? Did he have much creative involvement or did he give David Slade space to work?
A: I don’t know the answer to that one. I believe that Sam did visit the set during filming, but Rob Tapert was there constantly. I was able to speak to him on numerous occasions, and he always seemed relaxed and affable. David had plenty of space, as far as I could tell. Having said that, 30 Days is a studio picture, so there must have been some compromises along the way. But that is only my assumption.
Q5: Do you think the film’s ending leaves it open for a possible sequel, as
the comic was followed by other stories?
A: I can’t comment on that one, because I haven’t seen the ending, but even if I had, I wouldn’t let on because I’m contractually obliged not to disclose such things. You will have to wait and see…