This section is dedicated to recording the transcripts of international articles
concerning the film. For more articles, take a look through my News
Archives. For local news, please visit my News Articles
section.
Manex out of 'Matrix' loop
Firm pursuing legal means for piece of project
'Variety' online
By Marc Graser
Article was updated on 15th March, 2001.
Despite winning an Oscar for its visuals in "The Matrix," Manex Entertainment
needs a kung-fu fighting superhero to win any chance of working on Warner Bros.' upcoming
sequels for the film.
Recent financial woes at Manex have prompted "Matrix" producers EON Enterprises
and Village Roadshow not to award a $30 million contract to Manex's visual f/x arm, opting
instead for ESC Entertainment, a new facility founded by members of the Manex team that
created the shots and technology for the first pic. Warner Bros. is distribbing the
sequels beginning next year.
Manex, which had already done extensive pre-production work on the two sequels, is
pursuing legal options to guarantee itself some part of the project.
Losing "Matrix" last week to ESC Entertainment, which only officially formed on
Friday, is a definite blow to Manex. The company has been struggling to climb out of debt
by bidding for more f/x contracts, and by launching other profit-margin-building arms,
including an Internet and feature production division under the Manex Entertainment
moniker.
The privately held Manex had been trying to raise additional funding to finance its new
divisions, using the "Matrix" sequels and a new senior management team to help
attract investors.
Talent departure
However, its Manex Interactive division shuttered after Christmas, and Manex has watched
the departure of high-level execs, including its chief technology officer and engineers
George Borshukov, Kim Libreri and Dan Piponi. That group recently received an Academy of
Arts and Sciences certificate for technical achievement for developing a popular virtual
cinematography software system that creates computer-generated virtual sets for pics,
musicvideos and commercials. They are said to have ankled to join ESC Entertainment.
Layoffs are now likely to hit Manex's core f/x arm, and some of its execs have already
begun calling other facilities to place Manex's artists.
Although details regarding ESC (pronounced "escape") Entertainment are scant, it
is known that Tom Davila has been tapped prexy of the company, based only minutes from
Manex's soundstage facility, and is hiring away many of Manex's digital artists.
The company hopes to branch out and bid on films from other studios once the
"Matrix" sequels are completed. While Warner Bros. is distribbing the pics, EON
and Village Roadshow are producing and awarded the sequels contract to ESC Entertainment
based largely on the fact that ESC is made up of the team that worked on the first
"Matrix" film.
Despite rumors to the contrary, Warner Bros. said it is not climbing back into the f/x
game and is not an owner in the new studio.
Warner Bros. shut down its own inhouse f/x facility, Warner Digital Studios, in 1997,
after roughly a year in operation. It was deemed too expensive, and the studio, like
others, began awarding its films to other major and well-established f/x houses.
Joint efforts continue
The split between Warner Bros. and Manex is somewhat surprising, considering that the two
companies are still working together on several pics, including "13 Ghosts" and
"Queen of the Damned," and Warners is shooting part of both "Matrix"
sequels at Manex-operated Alameda Naval Station near San Francisco. WB is, however,
renting the soundstages from the city instead of directly from Manex.
Despite the switch, there's still a chance that Manex ultimately may handle some of the
f/x work on the $100 million sequels.
Manex had already been paid an undisclosed amount for pre-production work on the films.
That effort included the development of proprietary facial-scanning software that is owned
by Manex. Legal issues could arise, should ESC Entertainment try to use that software.
Said Manex Entertainment CEO Gary Kutcher: "Through Thomas V. Girardi and the law
firm of Girardi and Keefe, Manex is in direct communications with John Schulman, executive
veep and general counsel for Warner Bros. Manex is working diligently to resolve our
differences and expects a positive outcome for all parties."
Manex most recently created visuals for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." It
also worked on "Almost Famous," "American Beauty" and "Mission:
Impossible 2." It won its first Oscar for "What Dreams May Come."
[Special thanks to Alex Lum for this article]
Townsend clocks in for '24
Hours'
Fanning on board to star as abductee
'Variety' online
By Dana Harris
7th March, 2001
Irish actor Stuart Townsend ("Queen of the Damned") will star opposite Charlize
Theron in the Columbia Pictures/Senator Entertainment thriller "24 Hours." Also
on board for the pic is Dakota Fanning, who will segue from New Line Cinema's "I Am
Sam."
"24 Hours" is helmed by Luis Mandoki and produced by the Mark Canton Co.,
Mandolin Entertainment and Propaganda Films. Production begins March 19 in Vancouver.
Written by Greg Iles, "24 Hours" is about a doctor (Townsend) and his wife
(Theron) who are forced to take matters into their own hands when their daughter (Fanning)
is abducted by two experienced kidnappers (Kevin Bacon, Courtney Love) who have a
seemingly foolproof plan.
Townsend also stars opposite Kate Hudson in Miramax Films' "About Adam," which
is slated for release March 23.
Mandoki is producing "24 Hours" with Mimi Polk-Gitlin. Canton exec produces with
Senator's Hanno Huth, Carsten Lorenz, Glen Ballard and Propaganda's Rick Hess. Canton
Co.'s Nathan Kahane is overseeing the project for his company with Mandolin's Tanna
Thompson, while Columbia senior VP production, Andrea Giannetti oversees the project for
the studio.
Pic will be released domestically and in certain foreign territories by Col, with Senator
Entertainment's international sales arm handling other foreign sales.
[Special thanks to Alex Lum for this article]
H'w'd-style agency buffs
stars
AIN helps Malkovich, Dafoe flourish
'Variety' online
By Adam Dawtrey
FROM WEEKLY:
LONDON -- It's a year since Charles Finch led his merry band out of the William Morris
Agency's swanky Mayfair offices and toward an uncertain future. Finch and colleagues Luc
Roeg, Vanessa Pereira and Sophie Simpson were intent on creating a management and
production company in the Hollywood style, but based in Europe.
Now Artists Independent Network has at least five movies and two TV series set to shoot
this year, and it's finalizing plans to launch its own sales and distribution arm.
Meanwhile, the careers of clients such as John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci,
Jamie Bell and Gillian Anderson certainly don't seem to have suffered from the decision to
put their faith in Finch's team.
In return, AIN recently made 10% of its stock available to its clients. "It's a
reflection of their loyalty to us at a time when some people didn't believe we would get
off the ground," Finch says.
Those who took up the offer include Malkovich and Dafoe, as well as Kristen Scott-Thomas,
Julia Ormond, Harvey Keitel and Gerard Depardieu, who all sit on the artists' board.
The enthusiasm of Finch and his partners is clearly infectious. This is a company that
believes in having fun as well as working hard, which has earned Finch the nickname
"Champagne Charlie" from Keitel. But behind that enthusiasm lies a real drive
for success.
Management fees were enough to ensure AIN a marginally profitable first year.
"Not enough for a Ferrari, but enough for a Vespa," jokes Finch, whose office is
littered with luxury car brochures. With production starting to roll this year, he may
soon be able to trade up.
On the production side, the company has first-look deals with USA Studios and StudioCanal,
which help cover the cost of its funky digs, spread over several floors of a narrow Covent
Garden townhouse.
Finch and Roeg spearhead the production efforts, but all of the dozen staff work
simultaneously across production and management. Amanda Bross joined the team of managers
last year, bringing supermodels Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer with her, and former
casting agent Abi Harris is the latest addition to the team.
Most of AIN's clients were inherited from William Morris when it closed its London talent
division a year ago. A few, such as Depardieu and Scott-Thomas, are fresh signings. But
the emphasis is on quality, not quantity. The roster includes 41 actors and 24 directors.
"Our approach is only to manage people who really want our sort of management,"
Finch says. "There's a lot of interaction, and it's only right for some people."
AIN's philosophy is designed for Euro actors who want to be international stars, and for
established American stars who want to stretch themselves beyond the studio system.
In their WMA days, Finch and Perreira steered Dafoe toward "Shadow of a
Vampire," a Euro pic which got him an Oscar nomination, and they encouraged Anderson
into Brit pic "House of Mirth," for which she, too, has been widely lauded.
Perreira has spent years championing Italian siren Bellucci, who is now poised for her
Hollywood breakthrough with a starring role in the two "Matrix" sequels.
There's a symbiotic relationship with the Hollywood agencies.
"Michael Gruber at CAA got Stuart Townsend the lead in 'Queen of the Damned' at
Warner, which we could never have done, but CAA would never have had Stuart as client
without us," Finch explains.
The company's plan is to take on two or three unknowns every year to groom for
international stardom -- Brit model-turned-actress Liberty Ross is the latest.
AIN's inhouse development slate is largely, but not exclusively, focused around its own
clients. Its first two pics, however, will be projects brought in from outside:
"Mike Bassett: England Manager," which starts shooting March 12, is a $5 million
mockumentary about the coach of the England soccer team, to be directed by AIN client
Steve Barron. Pic is financed by Hallmark, Entertainment Film Distributors and the U.K.
Film Council's Premiere Fund. Popular Brit character actor Ricky Tomlinson will star.
"Spider," directed by David Cronenberg and starring Ralph Fiennes, is a $20
million psycho-thriller backed by Media Capital Partners. AIN helped broker the financing
for producer Catherine Bailey, although no clients are involved. Shooting starts in July,
with Miranda Richardson also in talks to co-star.
Three inhouse projects are in the final stages of negotiation to shoot later this year:
"The Last Face," to be directed by Erin Dignam ("Loved"), is a love
story set among AIDS workers in Somalia, to shoot in October. Oscar nominee Javier Bardem
is in talks to star. Producer is Paige Simpson ("Leaving Las Vegas"), and
Spain's Lolafilms will co-finance.
"The Letters," to be directed by client Mike Radford, is a $7 million family
drama set in Ireland before WWII. It is casting for a July start, with equity from Irish
funds and British private investors.
"Who Goes There?" will be the next film for Bell ("Billy Elliot").
Directed by client Ben Ross ("The Young Poisoners Handbook"), it's set in WWII
Britain and based on the true story of a German U-boat that landed its crew in a Welsh
village.
Toward the end of the year, AIN also expects to shoot two low-budget horror movies, with
USA Films taking domestic rights. Bernard Rose is attached to write and direct "Don't
Go Down to the Woods," a remake of a French pic.
Further down the road, AIN is reviving "Nostromo," one of the legendary lost
projects of the Euro film industry. This Christopher Hampton adaptation of Joseph Conrad's
novel was being developed by David Lean when he died in 1991. AIN has hooked up with its
French producer Serge Silberman, and brought Hugh Hudson on board to direct.
On the TV front, the company has two greenlit projects. James Dearden will direct "To
Have and to Hold," a four-hour miniseries for USA Networks . And in the U.K., Channel
4 has ordered a 10-part doc about the world of modeling.
Next on the corporate agenda is the acquisition of its own TV and film sales shingle, for
which AIN is currently raising the equity financing.
[Special thanks to Alex Lum for this article]
Drama spotlight: Perfume
'Variety' online
By Thomas J. McLean
It's hard to figure out what's more harrowing: making it in the cut-throat fashion
industry or making a low-budget improvised film about the fashion industry. But if
anyone's qualified to answer that head-scratcher, it's Michael Rymer, director-and
co-writer of "Perfume," a new drama from Lions Gate screening at the American
Film Market.
Working from a detailed outline by Rymer and L.M. Kit Carson, 80 actors played out five
storylines in a 20-day shoot in New York. Rymer, who just wrapped shooting on Anne Rice's
"Queen of the Damned" for Warner Bros., focused this guerrilla-style indie on
people who work in the trenches of the fashion world, all of whom are finding success
elusive.
The project required the actors to improvise their own dialogue, an opportunity that
attracted top-rate talent to the project. Among them are exec producer and star Jeff
Goldblum, Carmen Electra, Rita Wilson and Harry Hamlin. Also featured in the large cast
are Sonia Braga, Omar Epps, Michelle Forbes, Jared Harris, Mariel Hemingway, Kyle
MacLachlan, Chris Sarandon, Paul Sorvino and Michelle Williams.
[Special thanks to Alex Lum for this article]
Interview With a Vampire
TV Hits
March 2001 edition
Issue number 151
Aussie visitor Aaliyah reveals exclusively to TV
Hits that she's sinking her teeth into a horrifying new role.
"Aaliyah is an unusual name. What does it mean and how is it pronounced?"
"It's Ah-lee-ah. It's Arabic and means the highest, most exalted one."
"What do you think of Australia?"
"Oh, it's wonderful! I've been filming "Queen of the Damned" in
Melbourne."
"You're a vampire in "Queen of the Damned"- why did you pick this
blood-sucking role?"
"I've been a lover of Vampires since I was a little girl. Any vampire film, I was
there to see it! I also love Egypt- my place in New York is decorated with Egyptian stuff-
and my character, Queen Akasha, is Egyptian. So when I read the script, I totally fell in
love with it and had to have it!
"Do you play a goodie or a baddie?"
"Definitely a baddie! My character has an insatiable taste for blood- she loves all
kinds of blood. She's pretty crazy, definitely!"
"What sort of preparation do you undertake to play a vampire?
"Of course, we don't know if vampires really exist, so it's not like I can call a
vampire and hand out with him, even though I like to believe they exist! I'm such a lover
of vampires, but as I've always been a night person it was easy for me."
"You don't like mornings?"
"I've never been a morning person, I've always been a night owl. I think I'm a bit of
a vampire in real life!"
"What's your favourite vampire movie?"
"I have to say, one of my all time favourites is "The Lost Boys". That's
definitely number one! I was in love with Keifer Sutherland (from the film) when I was a
little girl."
"Will you sing a song on the "Queen of the Damned" soundtrack?"
"There's been talk, but nothing's confirmed. Plus I have to release my third album
next!"
[Special thanks to Amy for typing out the transcript for me]
Queen of the Damned gets Kodak Cinematography Attachment
Filmnet Daily (Edition 4.001)
15th January, 2001
For the third successive year, the Entertainment
Imaging group at Kodak has offered the Kodak Cinematography Attachment through Film
Victoria.
The latest successful applicant, John Radel earned the opportunity to work alongside world
famous cinematographer, Ian Baker, on the high budget international production, Queen of
the Damned. Radel describes the experience as, "a once in a lifetime opportunity that
allowed me to learn far more than I ever expected. It was interesting to see how Ian Baker
worked tirelessly with the producers, actors and an extremely large crew to bring
everything together and ensure that the call sheet was shot on schedule each day. I
couldn't have asked for a better production or cinematographer to work with - it was a
dream come true"
Forming part of Film Victoria's Industry Development Initiatives Scheme, the Kodak
Cinematography Attachment provides the successful applicant with an invaluable opportunity
to learn from industry professionals and, in the case of Queen of the Damned, experience a
production environment that is world class. Radel recalls, "It was fantastic. We shot
everything from green screen effects to explosions and night shots all in widescreen
anamorphic format.".
(For more information about the Kodak Cinematography Attachment, visit the Kodak Website)
All About Stuart
MovieMate
19th January, 2001
By Rick O'Shea
I hate Stuart Townsend. There, I've said it. Before I went up to the Penthouse Suite of Dublin's Clarence Hotel (talk about Mr. Bloody Movie Star, if ya don't mind) to meet him and talk about his role in About Adam, I was all psyched up. First off, in case you didn't catch his (bloody good, naturally) performances in Shooting Fish, Resurrection Man and Wonderland the general consensus goes a little like this: he's not just handsome. As Rosaleen Linehan, one of his co-stars in About Adam said to me, 'The girls just fall like flies as he walks past them in a room...' Rrrrrrrrrright...
The man is also playing the Anne Rice's Lestat character in the Interview
With The Vampire sequel, due later this year. Swine! And as if that didn't add insult to
injury, his character in About Adam gets to live in a penthouse apartment in Temple Bar,
drive a classic Jag, survive with no visible means of support and spend most of his time
shagging Kate Hudson, Frances O'Connor and Charlotte Bradley (amongst others) BEHIND EACH
OTHER'S BACKS! The cad! Worse than all these crimes in my mind was that he turned out to
be a nice, down to Earth, level-headed, normal guy. Humph!
His rather primal Adam in Gerry Stembridge's deliciously clever new rom-com is the breath
of fresh air that wafts through the lives of three sisters from a plush modern-day Dublin
suburb. He got hooked on the project when the script was handed to him by an agent he once
shared with Stembridge: 'It was sort of an Irish film I hadn't seen... wasn't about the
Troubles, wasn't about the Famine. It was just Dublin as it is or Dublin as the backdrop
to a story about a family, and it was just a fun film!' He's also quick to suggest the way
forward: 'The Americans make so many movies about America, about every state they have,
they make a drama about wherever and use America as the backdrop. I think English and
Irish films have got caught in making gritty realism, making coal mining films, period
films, Irish films about the Troubles... I hope that there'll just be more films like I
Went Down, another good Irish movie that wasn't necessarily Irish. It was just a good
movie that just happened to be in Ireland...'
Our Stuart was pretty upfront about his initial reservations with the casting of non-Irish
actresses opposite him in About Adam: 'I was worried in the beginning - I was like
"Oh no - Australian, American???" - but I've played English, I've played
American so to me it doesn't matter what nationality you are if you can do the job - and I
think they were brilliant. They were really well cast - Kate (Hudson) being all bubbly and
a real parody of a romantic comedy character and Frances (O'Connor) is just hilarious. I
think they're very believable.'
Being the gossip hound that I am, I also couldn't resist asking him about his next job.
Later this year Mr. T is going to put his neck firmly on the chopping block, stepping into
the shoes of the biggest movie star on the planet, Tom Cruise, when he has a crack at
Lestat in the Interview With The Vampire sequel Queen Of The Damned. The boy doesn't seem
at all intimidated: 'It is the same writer, but it's a different film. Interview was
really Merchant Ivory; this film is completely different. I don't have the blond wig,
thank God! (laughs)
Despite admitting to having had some ropey moments during the early part of the shoot,
Queen... is proving to be a rather memorable experience: 'Ah, it's great! I'm still
actually doing it! It was mad, I had to make three rock videos and do a concert in front
of 3000 people - and then I realised that actually what I really wanted to be was a rock
star! I didn't want to be an actor at all! (laughs) I had a few problems with the film in
the beginning, and sometimes I'd go "What am I doing in this movie?" - but then
there were other moments that were the best. When I did that rock concert, that was easily
the best night's filming I've ever had. Rock and roll!' (smiles)
Much to my continuing dismay, he kept being disarmingly honest, particularly about his
chances in following Lestat's previous incarnation - you know, yer man with the teeth - to
world domination: 'You never know if the film will make any money. In a big movie like
this, if it doesn't make any money it's a complete reflection on me - cause that's the way
it works. It has nothing to do with the script or the director. The way it works in
Hollywood is "are you a bankable star, did the last movie you made make loads of
money?" And if it didn't? 'Seeya later! I'll go back and do theatre.' (laughs)
And as if I didn't have enough reason to hate Stuart Townsend already, I finally asked him
if he had any previously unmined diamond of gossip (especially for moviemate.ie) and he
pulled out a real Star of Africa... 'Yeah, Warner Brothers - I don't know how I wangled
this - have given me a record deal to make an album of this movie. They've given me the
money to make three demos and if they like them, we're in, and if they don't we're out!
(laughs) I'm gonna do that straight after the movie, I'm working with a friend of mine
from Dublin who's an amazing musician... So we'll see how it goes.' Hey, if Jennifer Lopez
can do it...
About Adam. Stuart Townsend. Great movie. Nice guy - dammit!
[Special thanks to Alex Lum and Jay for the link]
{Please note: The last paragraph of this interview is rather confusing, as it is well known that Richard Gibbs and Jon Davis are responsible for the music in this film. Stuart's demos may or may not eventuate. Either way, be assured that it will have no bearing on the other soundtrack(s).}
Stuart Townsend Rocks!
Empire Online - UK
23rd January, 2001
Stuart Townsend seems to have missed his calling by becoming an actor. Recent work on
Michael Rymer’s vampire sequel Queen of The Damned has seen fast-rising Irish star
take to the musical stage as his character, the vampire Lestat, leaves his coffin to
become a rock icon.
“It’s great! I had to make three rock videos and do a concert in front of 3000
people – and then I realised that actually what I really wanted to be was a rock
star. I didn’t want to be an actor at all,” Townsend told Moviemate.ie.
“That was easily the best night’s filming I’ve ever had. Rock and
roll!”
Not only is Townsend showing off his crooning on camera but he’s also landed a deal
to keep the music playing once filming on Queen of The Damned has wrapped. “Warner
Brothers – I don’t know how I wangled this – have given me a record deal to
make an album of this movie. They’ve given me the money to make three demos and if
they like them, we’re in, and if they don’t we’re out. I’m gonna do
that straight after the movie, I’m working with a friend of mine from Dublin
who’s an amazing musician… so we’ll see how it foes.” Ever-confident,
Townsend seems confident that he can make the jump into music without too much difficulty.
Hey, if Jennifer Lopez can do it…
Queen of The Damned, incorporates the second and third books in Anne Rice’s cult
vampire chronicles. Following on from Neil Jordan’s 1994 film Interview With The
Vampire the sequel sees Lestat take centre stage, getting tangled up with millennia-old
mother of the vampires Akasha who seeks to rule the world with him at her side. “It
is the same writer [as Interview With The Vampire], but it’s a different film.
Interview was really Merchant Ivory; this film is completely different. I don’t have
the blond wig, thank God!”
Queen of The Damned is scheduled for US release in the autumn.
[Special thanks to Corinna de Regt for sending me the link]
Stuart Townsend plays The Vampire Lestat in Queen of the Damned
Showbiz Ireland
17th January, 2001
The Irish actor Stuart Townsend (Resurrection Man and The Venice Project)
is set to miss this Thursday's premire of his first major Hollywood film About Adam after
being called to Hollywood to take on the lead role in the follow up to Interview with a
Vampire. Sources close to the Irish actor have confirmed that Townsend will miss the
premier due to the fact he has to fly to LA to do voice-overs for his new film The Queen
of the Damned.
He will step into the shoes of Lestat the Vampire made famous by Tom Cruise in the Irish
Director Neil Jordan's Hollywood blockbuster Interview with a Vampire.
Pop singer Aaliya (Romeo Must Die) is to star opposite Townsend as Queen Akaska.
The storyline of the film is about the return of Lestat as a rock star whose music wakes
the Queen of the Vampires.
The premier of About Adam will still go ahead this Thursday in Dublin with Director Gerry
Stembridge and stars such as Frances O'Connor, Charlotte Bradley and Kate Hudson.
[Special thanks to Alex Lum for the transcript and link]
Cover Story; The Resurrection of the Undead
With their eerie ability to change according to the times, vampire filmsreturn. In a sense, they never really went away.
The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles, Calif.
21st December, 2000
By Hugh Hart
Dracula is back. So is Count Orlock. And Lestat. Plus Nick the slacker and Queen Akasha
and Jeri Ryan as a bloodsucking concubine. Call them what you will, dress them in jeans or
tuxedos or gowns with plunging necklines, vampires are once again in the air, swarming
their way to darkened cinemas this Christmas season and well into next year.
Not that they've ever really gone away. Francis Ford Coppola's sumptuous "Bram
Stoker's Dracula" set the bar for technical artistry, winning three Oscars back in
1992; horror meisters John Carpenter and Stephen King have paid homage to the genre;
actors including Gary Oldman, Nicolas Cage, Tom Cruise and Susan Sarandon have all felt
the urge to sink their teeth into vampire roles; and even cute-as-a-baby- bat Jonathan
Lipnicki donned a black cape to play a vampire's best friend this fall in "The Little
Vampire."
The vampire legend has been reworked so many times--nearly 200 movies and counting--you'd
think filmmakers would want to drive a stake through any story pitch that included
"fangs," "garlic" and "porcelain-skinned neck" in the same
sentence.
Instead, at the box office, vampires manage to remain forever young.
Coming soon:
* "Dracula 2000" (Dimension Films, opens Friday). When high-tech thieves in
London break into Dracula's gleaming chrome coffin, they set loose the long-slumbering
count, who makes up for lost time by zipping over to New Orleans during Mardi Gras in
search of fresh prey. Produced by Wes Craven.
* "Shadow of the Vampire" (Lions Gate, Dec. 29). What if Max Schreck, the
obscure German actor who played Count Orlock in F.W. Murnau's 1922
silent-film classic "Nosferatu," really was a vampire? Willem Dafoe plays
Schreck as a Method actor-gone-mad in this wryly creepy, fictionalized account, with John
Malkovich as the autocratic director.
* "The Forsaken" (Screen Gems, April 2001). Inspired in part by a real-life gang
of Florida teenagers who believed they were vampires, this contemporary story tracks the
journey of Nick, an "infected" hitchhiker (Brendan Fehr from the WB TV series
"Roswell") who wanders Arizona's back roads in search of a 400-year-old
predator.
* "Queen of the Damned" (Warner Bros., October 2001) In the long- awaited sequel
to 1994's "Interview With the Vampire," Lestat reinvents himself as a rock star.
Singer-actress Aaliyah plays Queen Akasha, a petrified Egyptian demon awakened by the
elegant vampire's wicked Goth music. She teams with Lestat to seek vengeance on her
enemies.
* "Vampires: Los Muertos" (Screen Gems, date to be determined) Jon Bon Jovi
stars in this sequel to "John Carpenter's Vampires." Filming begins in January.
Tommy Lee Wallace directs his own script. Carpenter serves as executive producer with
Sandy King.
Why hasn't the world-weary vampire worn out its welcome? For one thing, Americans love
loners, especially when they're dangerously sexy and immortal and more powerful than
everyone around them.
"He's the James Bond of evil," says Craven. "Dracula is articulate, he's
sophisticated and he's a more contemporary sort of villain in the sense that he's not on
the plains with sagebrush; he's amongst us. And when you get beyond the biting idea, the
idea that somebody can transfix the victim, almost like a cult figure if you will, gives
him a much more subtle appeal."
'Vampires Go Where the Power Is'
As "Dracula 2000" makes clear, vampire stories are the ultimate shape-shifters,
able to transform themselves to suit the times. Nina Auerbach, author of "Our
Vampires, Ourselves," (University of Chicago Press) asserts simply, "Vampires go
where the power is." Auerbach points out that "The Vampyre," published in
1819 and inspired by Romantic poet Lord Byron, celebrated intimate friendships among
elegant men, defining the popular notion of vampires for decades to come. She says it's no
coincidence that two years after Oscar Wilde was "pilloried" for his
homosexuality in 1895, Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" was published, stripped of
all homoerotic overtones.
Migrating from literature to movies--following the power--the 20th century vampire mutated
again and again, subtly altering its identity to feed on the popular imagination. Notes
Auerbach: "You can watch the total transformation of Dracula. In Bram Stoker's novel
he's repulsive, a foul old man, a foul wolf, a bat, an embodied disease."
In the 1931 film, Bela Lugosi embodies Dracula as an aristocratic tyrant with a sexuality
modeled in some ways, Auerbach says, on Rudolph Valentino's screen persona. In the staid
'50s, Christopher Lee's Dracula emerges from England's Hammer Studios as a flamboyant
seducer and, by 1972, after the politically traumatic '60s, Frank Langella is still sexy
after all those years, but his Dracula is tinged with melancholia. Says Auerbach:
"They all take Bram Stoker's plot but change it radically."
"Shadow of the Vampire" writer Steven Katz savors the genre's creative
possibilities. "You can take that relationship between vampire and victim and turn it
into any number of metaphors. They were originally a metaphor for contagious disease and
then xenophobia, where you have this whole idea of a vampire coming from a foreign country
into England infecting the women and killing everybody. [August] Strindberg's 'Dance of
Death' used it as a metaphor for marriage."
Then there's Anne Rice. Katz believes her books featuring the vampire Lestat became a
popular phenomenon because they resonated with an American public made acutely aware of
AIDS: "She wrote 'Interview With the Vampire' in 1976 and it became a cult novel. She
wrote her follow-up 'The Vampire Lestat' around 1982, which was right at the beginning of
the AIDS epidemic. [When it was published in 1985] suddenly her books jumped right to the
top of the bestseller list. I really think the vampire is all about the dangers, guilt and
illicitness of sex more than anything else--the idea that you can have sex with someone
and you are changed the next day. You're ill, or you're not the person you were
before."
Or, as Auerbach puts it, in Lestat's sensuous, sealed-off world, "Vampires can be gay
again."
"Shadow of the Vampire" adds yet another new subtext, as much a meditation on
the demonic demands of high art as it is a monster movie. In "Shadow," says
Katz, "One of my real targets is how we raise artists up on a pedestal, when most of
them, outside of their craft, are real sons of bitches. F.W. Murnau was ruthless in his
need to forge a new standard of filmmaking. "You can look at a dictatorial director
like Erich von Stroheim, [or writers and artists like] Ezra Pound, [T.S.] Eliot, [Edgar]
Degas--these are extraordinary artists who are desperately awful human beings. How much is
it worth to make a good movie? It's something I ask myself every time I sit down to start
a new script," Katz says with a laugh.
Dafoe, who plays Schreck-Count Orlock with stunning theatricality, says he welcomed the
chance to go over the top. "To some degree, naturalism has ruined theater and movies;
everything gets based on comfort and recognition. Because an established genre like this
is not based on naturalistic behavior, it's like a filter. You get the audience in a
darkened theater and you can think about things in a new way. When you strip away the
social graces, we all are, really, animals."
Dafoe's pallid, pointy-eared Orlock is a gawky outcast from the moment he emerges from his
cave. Actor Brendan Fehr's reluctant vampire in "The Forsaken" is, by contrast,
a twentysomething Everyman who just happened to be bitten in the right place at the wrong
time.
Fehr says: "We take the route that this could be a vampire eating next to you in a
restaurant. We went with no fangs, just typical people who have been bitten and, you know,
turned. I'm just some slacker kid and I'm trying to get my life back."
Auerbach dismisses the vampires-who-wish-they-weren't sub-genre as too
low-voltage for her tastes. "It's very deadening, like a rabid animal--all you can do
is get some blood before you wither."
Preying on the Goth Generation
She might like "Dracula 2000," which finds a thirsty count unapologetically
preying on the Goth generation. Director Patrick Lussier, Craven's longtime editor, says
his gimmick is right there in the title. "When you're making like the 75th Dracula,
of course you need a twist--ours was how do we bring Dracula into the present day?"
The answer: Take a cue from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Like the TV series,
which blends deadpan humor, freaky special effects and attractive young actors into a
cheeky weekly melodrama, Lussier's story plays up the Count's sex appeal. "Dracula's
got a cool factor of 300," exclaims Lussier. "He can adapt and blend and then
take over. The direction we gave the actresses was, 'You all want to have sex with him but
don't quite know why.' "
As for Dracula's concubines, they seduce first, scare later. Says Lussier, "It's all
set up as in the myth, except in our version, these aren't just three women who live in
the basement of Drac's castle. These are three very aggressive women who are becoming more
than what they were."
"Queen of the Damned" also seems poised to lure the girl-power generation that
has made "Buffy" and its spinoff, "Angel," cult hits for the
youth-skewed WB network. Surround Lestat and Queen Akasha with dense, dark music provided
by industrial rockers Korn, and Anne Rice's characters are once again ready to infuse
fresh blood into the vampire tradition.
At the end of the night, there's a vampire for every demographic, a Dracula for each
generation.
Auerbach grew up watching Christopher Lee and still pines for the glamour of the Hammer
Films heyday. "You had these confined women with boring husbands and autocratic
fathers, wearing high-collared Victorian dresses, and Christopher Lee sort of throws open
the window, and suddenly these girls are in low-cut nightgowns, and they laugh and they're
sexy, and they have fangs. I like the romantic ones where you kind of fly out the window
of patriarchy."
Fehr's favorite vampire flick is "The Lost Boys," about a suburban crew of
alienated teenagers, but he can appreciate classic vampire magnetism: "You're always
kind of drawn to him because here's some suave, classy guy who looks like a playboy
sucking on some chick's neck and waiting for more."
Vampires Through the Ages
1477--Sadistic Romanian Prince Vlad Dracula is beheaded after a tumultuous reign fighting
off Turkish hordes and impaling his own citizens, earning the nickname Vlad the Impaler.
1819--"The Vampyre." Written by John Poldori, Lord Byron's personal physician,
the story idea germinates at the legendary scary- story challenge held at Villa Diodati in
1816, which also spawns Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein."
1897--"Dracula." Bram Stoker's famous novel is published. The story is inspired
in part by Stoker's boss, an imperious theatrical producer named Henry Irving.
1922--"Nosferatu." (Photo No. 4) Over objections of Stoker's widow, F.W. Murnau
adapts "Dracula" for film, changing the character's names and adding the
dramatic device of sunlight as a lethal weapon. Max Schreck plays the hideous vampire.
1931--"Dracula." (No. 1) After scoring a hit in the Broadway production, Bela
Lugosi moves to the big screen, his "Transylvanian" accent defining Dracula's
persona for decades to follow.
1958--"The Horror of Dracula." Christopher Lee makes his dashing debut in the
title role. Six sequels follow, all produced by England's Hammer Studios, including 1966's
"Dracula--Prince of Darkness" (No. 2) and 1968's "Dracula Has Risen From
the Grave" (No. 3, with Veronica Carlson).
1966-71--"Dark Shadows." Barnabas (Jonathan Frid), resident vampire in the
"Dark Shadows" TV soap opera, addicts a new generation of horror aficionados.
1979--"Dracula." Frank Langella brings his dark-and-handsome persona from his
Broadway production of "Dracula" to the big screen.
1979--"Nosferatu the Vampyre." Werner Herzog directs Klaus Kinski in this remake
of the Murnau classic.
1983--"The Hunger." A rare female vampire movie featuring Catherine Deneuve and
Susan Sarandon includes David Bowie's classic aging scene.
1987--"Lost Boys." Teenagers in the 'burbs. Disaffected youth. Kiefer
Sutherland.
1992--"Bram Stoker's Dracula." Francis Ford Coppola's visually entrancing
production starred Gary Oldman (No. 6, with Winona Ryder).
1992--"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (No. 7, with Kristy Swanson). The small town of
Sunnydale just happens to share turf with a portal for vampires. High school student Buffy
is destined to fight them off. Way more popular small-screen successor debuts in March
'97.
1994--"Interview With the Vampire." Tom Cruise (No. 5) and Brad Pitt
portray glamorous bloodsuckers in the film based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel.
2000--"Dracula 2000," "Shadow of the Vampire."
[Special thanks to Jennifer for searching the archives and sending me this article!]
