“It’s my first time seeing it all cut together like that,” said Niles. “I saw a test screening but everything was placeholders. There was no music, the ending. There was a lot of stuff. I’m thrilled. I am so happy, I can’t tell you. I’ve been saying this in every interview I’m doing but I’m literally having the anti-Hollywood experience with this whole thing. They’ve treated mine and Ben’s baby so well. I just can’t believe it.”
David Slade, the director of “30 Days of Night,” speaks with the Sci Fi Wire on the challenges he and his production team faced when it came to translating Ben Templesmith’s artwork into real live (dead?) vampires for the movie screen.
Using the graphic novel as a template presented a challenge for Slade, who strove to find a balance between the fantastic illustrations and the realistic horror of the story.
“Now there’s a schism here, because Ben’s work is incredibly stylized,” Slade said. “The more stylized you are, the less chance you have of scaring people. So there was this really fine line we had to walk between absolute realism wherever possible and Ben’s fantastic template, which we were going to use as faithfully as we possibly could. I mean, we went as far as Lily, the little girl, … I got [the costume designer] to reproduce the cloth, the pattern on the dress from the graphic novel, a tattoo on a head. Many, many little details that you will see.”
Fangoria has an interview online featuring Mark Boone Junior, Mark Rendall, Melissa George, Megan Franich and Danny Huston. There’s not much discussion about the movie’s plot, but they do share some stories from the set as well as some personal anecdotes.
…(Huston) adds that despite the bleak setting of 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, and it’s gritty, violent tone, the movie doesn’t take itself seriously enough to become pretentious; expect some wicked laughs along the way as well. Overall, he believes that the film stands in the great tradition of the genre: “One of the great attributes of horror is that in a way it’s pure filmmaking, in the sense that early cinema was experimental—intercutting a girl tied to the tracks with an approaching train—it’s that thrill in its purest sense. And also, horror movies are great date movies because, hopefully, the girl you’re taking to the cinema will bury her head in your chest, and you can hold her hand and have a successful date!”
The LA Times has a piece online that focuses a bit more on the marketing aspect of this weekend’s big vampire flick than most other articles.
The film has been intensely advertised — maybe you’ve seen the commercials, online ads and posters. They have lots of red. Those traditional methods to catch an eye are fine for casual fans, but the makers of “30 Days” also want to win over the more intense devotees of the genre whose Internet chatter can push an opening-weekend surge, which catches the eye of other moviegoers.
And they seem to be expecting good things from the movie itself!
The word from the horror fan base on the Slade film is largely glowing, and there’s no doubt the audience will show up if it is energized. And, Niles said, “30 Days” might just bring new lifeblood to the vampire movie, a tradition that traces to the 1922 masterpiece “Nosferatu” but hasn’t always lived up to its undead potential: “Oddly, there haven’t been that many truly scary vampire movies. We all want to see one. And I think this is it.”
The New York Post highlighted “30 Days” in a recent column, talking about the new look and attitude Steve and director David Slade gave the movie’s vamps.
“The classic image of the vampire is the Goth, romantic ponce.” He had a different type of bloodsucker in mind when he wrote the graphic novel “30 Days of Night”: “I wanted eating machines,” Niles says. And director David Slade hewed closely to that vision when he adapted the comic for his film of the same name, out Friday. To wit:
No more purple prose. These vamps don’t even speak English, let alone smooth-talk their victims. They communicate in guttural howls and grunts (translated in subtitles).
Dental devolution. Rather than the traditional set of pointy fangs, Slade’s vampires have a wholly animal set of choppers: “They’re almost like shark’s teeth,” says prosthetics supervisor Gino Acevedo. “They’re pretty nasty-lookin’.”
SIMON DARK #4
Written by Steve Niles
Art and cover by Scott Hampton
“He looks scary and acts even scarier, but I’m not afraid of Simon at all…” writes Rachel, who’s new to Gotham City. She’s befriended the freakish gargoyle who protects her neighborhood and whom the locals call “Simon Dark”…but will she pay for getting too close to him?
On sale January 9 o 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
The mocvie’s release day is getting closer, and Steve’s interview schedule is still packed. Captain Comics caught up with Steve recently for a little one on one piece that can be found online here.
Captain Comics: Did “30 Days” begin as a screenplay?
Niles: It began as a pitch, just a one-page pitch, that I unsuccessfully pitched in Hollywood … for about 12-15 years. I tried to pitch it to movies; I tried to pitch it as a comic, to Vertigo and a few other companies, and you know: rejected.
CC: Then IDW picked it up, and it ran as a mini-series.
Niles: It didn’t even sell that well, and then boom! Despite bad sales, it caught the attention of Hollywood folks, and wound up turning into a giant bidding war. A big war, between three studios. … But it was when I heard Sam Raimi’s name brought into it, I said “I don’t care what they’re offering, I don’t care what studio it is, go with whoever Sam Raimi’s with. I know he’ll watch over the project the best.”
In case you missed it on the forum, Steve made the teaser announcement that he and Kelley Jones will be teming up for a 12 issue Batman story, “Gotham After Midnight,” in the near future. Steve also included this Batman sketch by Jones just to whet your appetite. CBR News has more information on the project here.
