"Crashing down, crashing down, my friends"
It’s 3pm on Friday, December 1st, the Night of the Goths, and I, Angel Sorion, with two of my non-goth, Backstreet Boy-wannabe buddies David and Kelsey, are in our hotel room getting ready for the big night. We had just recovered from a long night in the Melbourne club scene, which we had to experience, being from Sydney.
(To start with, let me just say that I was totally lucky to have even heard about the Goth Night Out and being able to register as an extra in the Queen of the Damned movie, for it was pure chance that I’d heard the announcement on Triple J, just when I turned the radio on!)
So we were occasio-goths who impulsively flew in from Sydney, for I believed it was divine providence that gave me this once-only opportunity to become part of something I so love. I had to do this thing. It was my destiny and fate, and it would be totally cool. I’ve been a fan of the Chronicles for some 3 years, and my mates tagged along in curiosity, to enjoy and become part of the freakshow.
So tonight, we are goths. It was fun playing dress-up for this and putting on the black make-up. We felt like whores going to a funeral. I was going for the Billy Corgan/Nosferatu/Everlasting Gaze look, but not leather and not bald. It was a long nylon coat I was wearing and it looked like a dress, cos’ I happen to think dresses are cool. My friends opted for normal trenchcoats and sunglasses: the Matrix look, for they were but simpletons. Nevertheless, such simplicity would prove to be a popular look among the goths tonight. Kelsey looked like Neo and David looked like Morpheus.
"Hey, how the hell do you put this make-up on?" asked Kelsey, puzzled and wielding the onyx Maybelleine eye-shadow, alien to him.
"You have to paint the edges of your eyelids and smudge it so it looks natural", I advised, as I took a skull of a bottle of Jack Daniels. I looked at David’s eyes, coated in blue mascara, looking very queer indeed.
"Hurry up, motherfuckers, I wanna be on the first bus there!"
We actually ended up on the 3rd bus. On the way to Docklands by taxi, we spotted many goths making their pilgrimage to the designated ‘bus-stop’. When we didn’t know which warehouse it was, we merely followed their trail.
When we got there we saw the early goths, and I must say that I expected a whole lot more in terms of quality and quantity. What I mean is, there weren’t very many of them, and they didn’t appear freaky, and they didn’t impress me like I thought they would. It looked like a Halloween costume party and a funeral all at once: people in black clothes with ridiculously painted faces and hair-do’s. There was a girl in her black lace underwear, and a guy who thought he would look gothic if he carried around a big fake sword. Some tried too hard, and some didn’t try hard enough. (Little did I know, that what I beheld then would not even compare to what I would see later that night).
Once we signed our agreement forms, and after Kelsey was photographed by a local newspaper, we hopped on the bus and headed for Werribee, where filming would take place.
On the way there, we contemplated schoolies, our next holiday destination, and how many girls we would romance, and for that matter, how many we were going to romance here. David wanted to pick up some girls and bring them back to the hotel room for some fun. "The girls here are ugly though, man," observed Kelsey, "and they hide their ugliness behind a tonne of make-up and it just makes them look like raccoons." Cold, blunt and half-witted, he was quite right, there wasn’t much on this bus. But I’ve always been partial to goth-chicks: the pale-face, the dark make-up, black lipstick, the leather and lace…it was all very vampiric, and too cute to resist. I started to ogle the girl in her underwear…
When we finally got to Werribee an hour later, I noticed dust, Mary Jane-like crops, lots of sheep…and a helicopter. This was a totally secluded area, literally in the middle of nowhere, with guarded gates making it impossible for trespassers, scoop-snoopers and paparazzi to divulge and spoil. There was also a circus tent, which was to be the ‘chill-out’ area for the long, sleepless night, if one got too cold or too tired. A stage area further away with cranes, wires and giant glass shards was obviously the filming area, and I knew that the centrepiece was the stage set for Satan’s Night Out and the brat prince. We entered the tent and it was filled with the first 2 busloads of goths, just lounging around, talking, eating, drinking coffee, and just generally admiring each other’s appearance. It was a nice, friendly atmosphere, which contrasted with its appearance: it looked like a congregation of monsters and Satanists. "Dude, it looks like they’re gunna start dancing around a fire and make animal sacrifices," joked Kelsey, and the equally cretinous David laughed, "There goes them sheep. Bring on the lamb chops, man."
"The freaks of society, fellers," I added. "The beautiful people."
"It looks like the Craft."
"That movie sucked."
"No, it was pretty good."
And as my foolish friends continued their menial blather, I took the time to appreciate everyone’s appearance, and I’m glad that I did, it was a fab showcase of dark and evil creativity and beauty:
Dominatrix in intricate leather/pvc outfits that looked like they’d just stepped out of Salon Satan; vampire wannabe’s dressed in Edwardian/Victorian era costumes; pretty pixie goths; freaky hardcore goths that went all-out with demon faces, painted up, eyes faked into red or white; vampire overlords in intimidating Gaultier-esque leather suits; some dude that looked perfect for the part of Marius, and even goths dressed as bishops and nuns. It was fascinating, beautiful and disturbing. If you placed a normal person in this tent, they would weep and probably have nightmares. It just wasn’t something you saw everyday.
My friends hungered, so we went for some food, which was all free. It was standard junk: deep-fried, coated in sugar, heart-burn-inducing, colon-burning trash. Hot dogs, chicken rolls, hot chips.
I opted for some water, which was a bad idea because now my lipstick was fading, and I’d left mine in the hotel room. "Dude, ask that babe for some lipstick", suggested David, referring to a glam vamp in a well-filled dress who was touching up her own lips, and I did, and she kindly let me. "I love your eyes," she commented, and "thank you, I love your dress" was my reply, because she looked smashing in it. It was a little black dress, and she wore fuck-me boots, and it was enough to drive me wild, but I had to use the toilet. "Oh, man, she was nice!" cried Kelsey, drooling, and they traded smiles before we exited the tent to answer nature’s call.
After we had done our business, we saw that everyone was moving toward the filming area, and let me just say that what I saw was panoramically photogenic: There were so many goths! A thousand or so, and it looked like they were making a pilgrimage to Hell for the devil’s funeral. It was quite a breath-taking, if not forebodingly morbid, sight. So many of them, all dressed in black, walking slowly into the sunset, kicking up dust with every step they took. It was so cool I wished I had my camera, impossible of course, though that was a spectacle that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
The last bus had arrived, and now we were going to do this.
So we were behind everyone, thanks to the toilet break I took, and it looked like we were gunna be dead last in line to get to the concert, but without looking where we were going, I stopped in mid-conversation and noticed that we were now in front of the line, "what the hell, we’re in front?" and nobody told us off or gave a Damn, and all of a sudden, some guy says "alright, start walking up", and so we did. By sheer luck we’d gotten to the front of the line and now we were walking towards the stage set.
I noticed cranes, cameras, sound-equipment and their engineers etc, and someone taking photos of us, and other freaks that were already there known as the ‘glamour goths’, those who were rehearsed and payed for their involvement as extras, obviously experienced with movies, prettier than the average goth, positioned up front, and with definite screen-time. And then I saw 6 totem poles that surrounded us, which wasn’t super-awesome, but enough to give me chills. It looked really cheap, and sorta tacky, especially with those lame-ass glass shards, but it was the busts of the Egyptian deities on the stage that made it really special. Osiris and Anubis on either side of the stage, towering over everything, looking as menacing as gods of night and death are supposed to, and this gave the stage the Egyptian theme that the novel has. Only fans of the Chronicles would truly appreciate them for what they were, (for as the night progressed, I would discover that quite a few people here didn’t even know who Anne Rice was. They were just goths, and this was just an event, a filming of a sequel to a vampire movie, plus a goth concert to boot).
I laughed to myself at the sight of it all, just living in the moment. As a fan of the Chronicles, you can imagine how much this would have meant to me. This was it, The Queen of the Damned movie, sequel to my favourite film and third in the series of books I’ve been reading since high school, being filmed, right here in my backyard, and I was going to watch them do it. I was gunna be watching the vampire Lestat’s rock-concert and I just thought that it was wicked, and lucky me to be in this position, close to the stage with a great view. Well, almost great.
Two horrid goths in front of me were so tall, that all I could see were their dreadlocks, and I would’ve moved elsewhere but it seemed impossible at the moment, or asked them to shove over just a tad except it looked like they would bite my head off, literally. They looked like White Zombie. I felt sorry for the tiny girl directly in front of me because it looked like she would see nothing but backs all night. "I wish these tall fucks would move", I sulked to Kelsey, and with that, "Dude, let’s move over a bit, there’s people behind us that can’t see". And they did. "Gee, thanks, mate!" I said in content. I couldn’t believe how truly nice these freaks were!
They had managed to pack hundreds of us into the limited space of moshpit there was, surrounded by equipment and wires which were not to be crossed or touched. It was very cosy in my position, and David had already made friends with some cute little freaks.
Introductions were then made by the MC/compere/crowd-controller/co-ordinator, in words to this effect:
"Hello, my name is xxxx, a DJ in the local goth club scene and I will be the ringmaster for tonight. As you know, we are making a movie called ‘Queen of the Damned’ which is the sequel to IWTV and it’s based upon the novel by Anne Rice.
The scene we will be filming tonight is for the rock concert of the Vampire Lestat, and if you’ve read the book, you’ll know it is the setting for the movie’s action-packed climax. You will see some stunts performed tonight and you will see Hollywood movie stars.
We’re going to get shots of you people dancing to Lestat’s music and later on, with Lestat himself "performing" with his band Satan’s Night Out.
There will also be movie-crew filming some scenes around you, so if your lucky, there may be a camera on your face, and if you know that you are being filmed, please remember not to look at the camera. (He referred to the ‘Jessie team’, and I knew who Jessie was, and I wanted to see her, Dammit, but I never did.)
Also, please be advised that this is an artificial/controlled rock-concert and not a real one. You will be required to mosh with your feet planted to the ground, and professional stunt people have already been chosen to be the designated crowd-surfers.
So dance to the music, have a great time and smile for the cameras because this is your chance to be immortalised on celluloid!"
From this, I got the idea that we would be seeing Lestat being attacked on stage by vagabond vampires; Lestat killing his attackers; and Akasha burning vampires, and there would be fake blood and fake severed-limbs flying around and pyrotechnics: people being set on fire. I got really excited and my friends just didn’t know why. "Hey, Angel, what the fuck is a ‘Lestat’?" And that is how truly clueless they were. They hadn’t even seen Interview With The Vampire, a movie that’s still good after four years. "David, don’t you know who Lestat is? Tom Cruise played him in the first movie." How do you explain fantasy to realists? "He’s the vampire that became a rock-star and woke the queen of the vampires." (But we all know there’s more to him than that.) "So that’s the story? He becomes a rock-star and wakes the queen of the vampires? That’s a pretty stupid story, man." Kelsey could never leave reality. David could, but he lacked imagination. I pity them for this, for I’ve always believed reality to be a lame, boring joke. The ringmaster continued:
"We’re waiting for the helicopter that will come as soon as the sun sets, because that’s when the concert starts, since vampires can’t come out in daylight. The helicopter will get some shots of you, the crowd, rocking to Lestat’s music."
Then they played the music to be used by Lestat, to make them familiar to us. I was hoping that they would’ve used either A Perfect Circle, for Maynard’s angelic voice; Smashing Pumpkins, since they were vampiric goths anyway during their final era, Machina, and because I think Billy is a vampire, and because of Billy’s angelic (and demonic) voice, and also because they’re my favourite band in the whole wide world (so that’s just dreaming). I even thought Marilyn Manson could’ve made Lestat’s music, but now I’m just pushing it.
The first song was played loud, and it had this fat, brooding beat that reminded me of a deep, slow, trip-hopped heart-beat, and it sounded totally wicked, very evil, and definitely vampiric. It was ‘Slept So Long’. Can you imagine my surprise when I heard whose voice it was? "Dude, it’s Korn" I said casually. Now, everybody knows that I was a big-time Korn-head back in high school, so I thought that this was the coolest surprise ever! Never in a million years would I dream of the Vampire Chronicles being linked to my one-time fave rock-band, let alone Jon Davis providing music and vocals for the brat prince. A lot of people think that Korn’s music for Lestat was senseless and wrong but for me, it was just another reason to get excited. I thought the songs were perfect, and I’d only heard the two. Vampire rock definitely kicks.
Soon, the sky darkened, and the wind blew colder, and the sounds of rotor blades heralded the coming of the helicopter and the beginning of filming. The ringmaster then gave his instructions, which came from the director himself via walkie-talkie.
His orders were simple:
"Okay, everyone, rock to the music, pump your fists in the air, and generally go ape-shit!"
So we did, and when the director said the magic word "action", the music was played loud and everyone pumped their fists in the air to the evil beat of ‘Slept So Long’, in a steady, controlled frenzy, full of energy in these early hours of filming. (It must’ve been only 8 pm at this stage.) Everyone jumped when the totem poles exploded with fire, it was a wicked effect, and warming as well. The helicopter shone blinding lights as it circled us, filming the horrifically fascinating view of hundreds of Satanists congregating for a black mass, punching the air in reverence to their dark god. (Well, that’s what it would look like to any parent.)
At one stage, we were told to take off our warm clothing and pretend it was hot, because apparently, Death Valley, California is warm, and we had to pretend that we were there, but this wasn’t strictly enforced due to the temperature reaching 10 degrees below zero. It was too Damn cold here, so everyone took advantage of one another’s body heat.
There was nobody on the stage at this point, and everybody kept the air-punching up till the end of the song. Everybody was enthusiastic and totally into it. Sadly, this would not last the entire night, and the excitement would wear off, as people grew weary, but I’m jumping ahead.
When the chopper left, they filmed some more crowd-reaction shots for ‘Slept So Long’ with more fist-pumping and head-banging than before. The song was growing on us, and we would know the words before the night ended. Everyone went totally sick, but they were also extremely well behaved. There were no hell-raising, attention seeking, fire-starting yobs here at all. It was organised chaos.
The crowd-surfing stunt people were the only factors of unpredictability. You had to watch for them coming your way, and be careful not to get booted in the head and taste blood, like David did. The stuntwoman was hoisted and moved around by 3 other crew members underneath her, moving her around where the director needed her for shots. It was funny when they came your way, because they just barged and ploughed through the crowd and were like "gangway!!" in haste and holding a living weapon above them, for she was quite a stocky stuntwoman, but it was all under control and over when Michael Rymer, the director, was satisfied of what he saw on his screen.
Many times were we told to move back as we were crushing the poor glamour goths up front.
We were then introduced to Michael, the stand-in for Stuart/Lestat, rather likeable and quirky, sporting a Tool shirt. He would be on stage pretending to be Lestat and our sights would be on him as cameras captured our focused raging. He seemed to be popular among the glamour-goths, and it was obvious they’d worked before. They would chant his name and he would do something funny, and everyone would be entertained moderately.
Several more takes later, Satan’s Night Out came up from behind the stage and now we were to film more takes with the band in action. Two of the band members were from local glam band the Mavis’: the totally cute pixie-chick on keyboards and their guitarist.
"Action" was called again, and film they did, manoeuvering cameras on cranes over our heads to capture the commotion of the pseudo-mosh, which regained some of its intensity after a spate of some boredom.
The organisers saw that we were getting listless, and this is what I heard: "I think it’s time to get the Red Bull out" and a minute after that, there was a guy holding 2x12 packs of the energy drink standing next to me. "Oh, wow, that’s a good idea, we need some of that" I said to him, and he said, "Better take one while ya can, I’m just gonna keep walking", and with that, all I saw were just hands in a frenzy shoot toward him, all around us like vultures picking at a corpse, grab for a can of Red Bull and ripping the packs to shreds. Two steps into the crowd and he had nothing left. The same happened all around, and everyone got a can to drink, or two in Kelsey’s case.
And then all of a sudden we saw some guy casually walk in the middle of the stage in front of everyone, hold the mic on the stand and give a charming smile at the crowd. It was such a boy-next-door smile that I couldn’t believe what my rational mind’s conclusion to the obvious was telling me: "That’s him" I said out loud, and people had known this as well, and the only reason why it was so hard to grasp and to think that this could be the brat prince himself was:
It really was (and still is) too early to judge poor Stuart, but there’s a lot expected of him, mostly by us fans, and he’s got big shoes to fill. He looked good, and a lot of girls liked him, and he looked like he could play a Lestat convincingly, but for me, it was always gunna be Tom.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Stuart Townsend". I can’t really remember if they announced him like that, but we all clapped and cheered, because we finally saw the star of our movie, the actor to play our hero. He just stood there doing the nice-guy smile, not looking the part at all. "I loved you in Shooting Fish!" yelled some smart-ass from the front, and Stuart just laughed. It was obvious that the glamour goths had already met him. Now we had the whole set, making everybody excited again, and it was time to do some filming.
They must’ve played ‘Slept So Long’ three times, and everything was being filmed. Fists and devil-signs were being pumped with passion, faces of the crowd in worship of their idol, and the stage was alive. Cameras were everywhere. It was just a rock concert that happened to have cameras filming everything.
Stuart Townsend played a rock-star so well, that if his Lestat is just as good, then we don’t need to worry, and I don’t think we do. The way he moved just screamed ‘rock-star vamp!’ and he put on a good vampire face as he pretended to sing, but I still couldn’t get Eric Draven out of my head. I heard someone up front say, "yeah, he’s really singing it", which meant that you could hear him if you were close enough, and he wasn’t just miming.
I stopped my fist pumping and took a good look around me, at the whole set, the people going off, and I just thought, "too cool!" It made the trip worth it.
Everything about this set was what made me fall in love with rock and roll: theatrical, mysterious, sensational and intense. Bright, flashing lights; leather pants; make-up; tattoos; a band that looked like a gang wielding their instruments as weapons of cerebral-destruction; trashing stage-sets; glitz and glam…this was rock and roll to me, and this was spiced up even more with vampires and Korn. All fake, but totally cool, and if anybody here was satisfied, it was definitely me.
After a few takes of the faster paced ‘Not Meant For Me’, Stuart made an exit, but he would be back later. There was an intermission now, a break from filming, so it was probably 12 AM or so. Local goth bands would provide the entertainment.
"Let’s get a bite to eat, man, I’m hungrier than a motherfucker," a fair suggestion from Kelsey, who looked like death in the cold, famished and drained from standing on his feet for 4 hours.
"No, man, stay for the bands, we’ll mosh big-time," and I guess David still had some energy left, so I had to decide.
"Hold up Kel, let’s check these bands out"
Immaculata sucked so hard! What kind of screwed-up music was that? It was absolutely fucking awful. He looked like a vampire up for some death-metal, but he had no gang, and was singing Phantom of the Opera style songs with his keyboards.
I tried to appreciate it, but you couldn’t hide the fact that it was just plain trash, and he kept calling us ‘poor, foolish people’ as he did his lame dance.
So we walked off for a bite to eat, and so had pretty much everyone. A few people stayed to watch. "Dude, look at that" Kelsey said, and when I looked back down at the field behind the filming area I saw again an awesome and eerie scene: hundreds of goths scattered about in their little groups littered across the darkened foreground like sinister rats or roaches, and this was just something that you do not see very often. It looked like a vampire picnic day. Another Kodak moment wasted. "They look like crows, man," replied David, and he was right about that.
Back in the tent, where a great deal of goths hung out, we scarfed down some hot-chips, spicy chicken rolls and potato salad, and had some cappuccino.
"Ohh, when are we gunna see the burning vampires??" David sulked, "And Aaliyah’s coming, right? She’s gunna be here, right, Angel?"
I really shouldn’t have put these ideas into their heads, but I was sure Aalyiah would be here.
"She’s in her trailer, getting all made-up, somewhere up the back" I explained.
"D’ya wanna sneak backstage, just to get a peek at what they’re doing?" which was a cool but ultimately hair-brained idea from Kelsey, the shit-starter, but this event was something that I didn’t want to get kicked out of and miss, because we came a long way, so I suggested we behave.
Then after a toilet break, we went back to the filming scene.
It was the Baroness’ turn to amuse the people, and people were laughing at her funny lyrics. I don’t think she was trying to be humorous though. I thought she was the most serious goth of all, and that’s probably what made it so comical. She chanted and screamed, "Evil is a way of life!" and exited with "and remember, stay evil!"
I heard one girl say, "Ugh, she makes me want to throw up." So, yes, her music was quite bad. Good show though, very gothic-art.
When she finished, we resumed our positions up front and filming began shortly after, this time with only a fraction of the people coming back to the stage/filming area. Clearly, it was the fans that would stick it out for the whole night; the rest couldn’t care less about being in the movie. That was something I found hard to believe.
Filmmaking, however, is not as easy or as fun as it initially sounds. There are long moments of waiting and nothingness, and the pursuit for the perfect shot leads to multiple takes, which becomes unbearably monotonous. Such was the case that I witnessed during production on this one night. But not for I, and many of the other true fans of the Vampire Chronicles, who would keep a vigil for this one single night where we could experience and be a part of art and of film. I believe that this is one form of immortality. I thought of how I could show it to my grand-kids one day and tell them that I was there raising hell with the vampires. It was a movie after all, and movies tend to last forever.
This time, the director wanted us to do some acting: they needed us to cheer like mad when Satan’s Night Out walked on stage, and become psychotic when Lestat made his entrance. We did this moderately well, but it would’ve been louder if more people were there. They took several takes of this, the band and Stuart walking on and off the stage, and we would cheer accordingly. It was good fun, and it gave David and Kelsey a chance to be loud. "Yeeaahh, Lestat, bite me!!!"
After that, they did something cool: they strung Stuart up like a piŅata, hoisted him 40 feet into the air using the crane and some cables, and dropped him safely on the stage giving the illusion of flight. This was how Lestat was going to make his entrance for the concert.
Stuart was quite good, and obviously had lots of practice, because he didn’t screw up, and if they did screw up, he would be broken and useless, and there would be no more filming and no more movie, and that’d suck big time. So we watched, fascinated, listening for directions.
At one stage, I looked up and saw Stuart just hanging there, so high up, and he looked bored out of his mind!
Stuart did this stunt 5 or so times, cameras on, crowd cheering, before they got the stunt-man out, and it wasn’t Michael the stand-in like Kelsey thought. David got confused as well, being the analytical academics they were. They did look alike though, well, Michael and Stuart did, the stuntman just wore the same glittery rock outfit that Lestat wore.
The stunt was performed for the director until everyone lost interest again, prompting stand-in Michael to throw Minties at the audience, and generally do amusing things. Before long, it was time for another intermission. "Dude, let’s get something to eat, it’s that weird-ass Baroness again," cried David, and I agreed, and this fucked-up decision would cost me dearly.
We headed back to the food-court, and there were several hungry goths here, more in the tent, and even more outside.
I noticed that a lot of goths were loners, and that they were probably solitary individuals, destined to be alone, too screwed-up to have friends. I feel this way a lot sometimes, but it sucks being alone. These people really didn’t give a fuck though, that’s probably what the essence of being a goth is all about. I could learn a lot from them. I have never fit in anywhere, and I’ve always tried to, and just felt miserable because of it, so maybe it’s just time to stop trying. That’s the appeal of the Ricean Vampires: for me, it’s a metaphor for detachment and isolation from normality, or people in general, whom I both love and hate.
For breakfast, and it must’ve been 4:30am, we ordered pancakes swimming in syrup with a doll-up of vanilla ice-cream, which was just feral. It was so sweet I threw it away. Sugar addicts Kelsey and David had seconds. We maxxed-out in the tent and mingled with some freaks inside. A lot of them just wanted to go home and sleep. It just wasn’t what they hoped it would be.
It was hard getting them out of the tent, but I managed to do it, and we headed back to the filming area with a big surprise.
I knew it was Aalyiah on the stage, I just needed confirmation, so I asked somebody, and they replied "Yeah, I think it’s supposed to be her", which didn’t help. I missed out on her Damn introduction, and what made matters worse, was that later on, I would discover on Vampvan’s website (www.geocities.com/vampvan) that I’d missed out on Marius’ scene…FUCK!
Well, on to Aalyiah, who wore a long robe that covered all but her face and generally kept her warm, for it was colder than ever. When she disrobed and showed the glory of her form, you could hear gasps from the audience, it was just stunning. Well, you would’ve seen it by now; gold breastplate, intricate headpiece etc, and you could see that she worked out, because she had abs of steel. And she was just really beautiful, and this was Aalyiah, my sister listens to her music!
I don’t know who’s idea it was for Aalyiah to play Akasha, personally I would’ve chosen Catherine Zeta Jones or Famke Janssen, but she was going to attract a whole new market to the otherwise goth/horror demographic the movie would draw.
The director would call "action", and Aalyiah would be lifted up with a see-saw contraption. It would look like she was levitating. She made meditative gestures, like she was doing yoga. And when she was at the height of her elevation, she looked westward, coiled and tensed her torso and formed an astonished facial expression. My guess is that Marius and the other vampires will come to attack her on stage, but I won’t know till next year, will I? It looked to be a crucial scene in the movie.
In between takes, they lowered her from the see-saw and covered her with the warm robe, disappointing David, an Aalyiah fan. Everyone would cheer her on.
Every time the director would call "cut", she would smile and do this little dance and she looked real cute, like any teenager. We’re the same age, so she’s 20 this year. But when you heard "action", you could see her change into the Queen of the Damned, with her cold, hard gaze and seemingly invulnerable poise. She looked like a vampire queen, if not a little young, but this was a "teeny flick" now, wasn’t it? And how can it not be, given that vampires are popular among teens these days, thanks to Buffy, Blade and Dracula 2000, which also had a pop-star in Vitamin C.
I don’t see anything wrong with that. I think it’s time that vampires are put in the same superhero status as Crows, Mutants and Matrixes, instead of being the boring "classic horror monster", along with Werewolves and Frankenstein. "I vant to suck your bludd". Vampires are cool, and it’s time everyone realised that. I hope everyone will know who Lestat is after this movie, because he deserves to become a literary hero, and not just cult.
And then it was our turn to act. When Aalyiah did her thing, we were to take two steps back and act awestruck, and several cameras would capture the entire sequence, so we had the "cherry-picker" cameras behind the stage and another one behind the actors to get crowd and facial shots.
It was fun being involved in this scene. We’d tell everyone later that we did a scene with Aalyiah, being enviable, even for just a moment. One would wish that it was a love scene, but they’d be dreaming.
Under 10 takes later, with several bloopers (thanks largely to the cold, I’m thinking), and it was over, and Aalyiah had to leave. It was such a short stay, but it was still pretty exciting, and it made Kelsey and David more contented, seeing a pop-superstar.
Everyone cheered as she left the stage, big smile, freezing cold. She’s such a little trooper!
Soon, they got Stuart out again and the rest of the band and we would do some more concert shots, this time, the cameras would be up close on our faces, so if there ever was a chance to show off, it was now. The three of us competed for the screen time, pushing and shoving each other out of the way of the cameras view, generally being idiots. David tossed me aside and I nearly fell onto the forbidden wires at one stage, and Kelsey just kept hogging the camera, so I got him in a headlock and threw him onto the ground, soiling his coat.
This got boring after a while, so we left, but not before telling Jon Davis that we hated him, or at least his answering machine as I heard later on. His co-songwriter had him on the phone, hopped on stage and told us to send him a message, so we sang a line from his song, ‘Slept So Long’:
Did you think it’s cool to walk right up
And take my life and fuck it up
Well did you?
I hate you!
And they did some more filming, but we headed for the tent to catch up with the bored goths, who were munching, chatting or sleeping at this stage, and some 10 minutes later it was home time. We were extremely hazy and mellow from fatigue, and we stumbled along like drunk zombies trying to get our bearings, finding our way to the buses.
But Kelsey had yet to retrieve his confiscated phone. The line was huge. So too was the showbag line, which also served as the line for the buses: grab bag, hop on bus.
By 10 minutes, we’d stumbled onto a bus with everything intact. The two died on their seats. I waved goodbye to ‘Death Valley’, pleased with the experience. It was both more and less what I expected of it. No vampires were burnt and there were no super-awesome-radical stunt scenes filmed tonight, but we met some cool people and we saw Aalyiah, and I got a really cool ‘Damned’ shirt in the showbag, which serves as a memento of the night I saw the vampire Lestat perform in Death Valley.
I also learned that my friends are absolute fucking idiots and I hate them. But as retarded as they are, they mean well. Their lust for life and fun cannot be mistaken for idiocy, and they must be commended for putting up with my brooding maturity. Not everyone can tolerate my freakish weirdness, but these two seem to be too stupid to care, so I guess one can only be thankful for such normal friends, and the reality that they represent.
To vampires, freaks and friends,
Cheers, motherfuckers!!
Angel Sorion
09.03.01
