Vampire Paradise

FROM BLOODSUCKER TO LIFE SAVER: ALEX O'LOUGHLIN'S "THREE RIVERS"

Admittedly Alex O'Loughlin is playing a surgeon in Three Rivers and not a vampire, but since he was a member of the undead last season on the sorely-missed Moonlight, it seems appropriate that we preview his new series, coming this fall to CBS.

NEW MOON EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: SCREENWRITER MELISSA ROSENBERG, PART 1

While Stephenie Meyer is the creator of The Twilight Saga, the task of adapting it tothe big screen has fallen to screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, who, if all goes according to plan, will be the sole writer of all four adaptations. In the first part of this exclusive interview with editor Edward Gross, Melissa discusses the challenge of writing New Moon with the project under such public scrutiny, as well as what she feels director Chris Weitz will be bringing to the saga that will differ from Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke. Look for part two of this interview on Wednesday.

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BBC AMERICA ANNOUNCES "BEING HUMAN"

A vampire, a werewolf and a ghost share a house....
   Sounds like the start of a bad joke, but in reality it's the premise of Being Human, one of the most innovative and effective genre shows coming from England that will make its American debut on BBC America on July 25th at 9:00 PM ET/PT.
   Mixing the mythic with the commonplace, the farcical with the horrific and the domestic with the epic, Being Human is a witty and extraordinary look into the lives of three twenty-somethings and their secret double-lives -- as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. Russell Tovey (Doctor Who, the History of Boys), Lenora Crichlow (Sugar Rush, Doctor Who) and Aidan Turner (The Clinic) star as housemates trying to live normal live,s despite their strange and dark secrets.
   George (Tovey) and Mitchell (Turner) work in anonymous drudgery as hospital porters. They lead lives of quiet desperation under the burden of a terrible secret -- Mitchell's a vampire and George is a werewolf. Deciding to start life afresh and leave  behind the dark side, they move into a house, only to find that Annie, the ghost of a woman killed in mysterious circumstnaces, haunts it. As the monster threesome deals with the challenges of their new life together, they're united in their desire to blend in with their human neighbors.
   By all appearances, George is a mild-mannered geeky guy, except for one night a month when he's a flesh-hungry, predatory werewolf. Mitchell is good-looking, laid-back and, unlike George, has an easy confidence with the ladies. But he's also suffering withdrawal from the blood he craves. Annie (Crichlow) is chatty, insecure and desperate for company and now that death has separated them, she longs for her fiance, who owns the house she haunts.
   But with unwelcome intruders into their world, a threatened revolution from the vampire underworld and constant threats of exposure -- on top of the day-to-day issues faced by young people -- the only thing they may be able to rely on in their heightened world is each other.
   "We had to re-imagine how these supernatural creatures would be if they really did exist," offers producer Matthew Bouch. "We have very real and human characters with adult dilemmas, placed in a fantasy context. Being Human has elements of comedy, horror, soap and supernatural. But what makes it a rich mix also makes it potentially quite tricky as you don't want to allow any one of those elements to dominate too much. I think with a combination of Toby's script and the brilliant cast, we've pulled it off."
   Adds series creator Toby Whithouse of his storyline, "I like the idea of suggesting that there is some kind of underworld, another life, another story that is going on in the world that we're unaware of; that's hidden. I wrote an episode of Doctor Who a couple of years ago that was set in a school. The Monday after it transmitted I heard reports that teachers were walking out to the front of their class and saying, 'Physics, physics, physics,' which is what the Doctor said. It made the kids wonder if their teachers were really aliens."

Look for much more on Being Human coming soon.

TWILIGHT "PEEK"

It's probably old news at this point, but popsugar.com uploaded a video to youtube that features a number of photos from the shooting of New Moon, including a "sequence" in which Robert Pattinson removes his shirt.

VAMPIRE NEWS BITES: MAY 29, 2009

Reviewing Robert Pattinson's Little Ashes, The Washington Times noted, "Teenage girls -- or their mothers -- drawn to Little Ashes by the prospect of devouring with their eyes brooding Twilight star Robert Pattinson have a few surprises in store -- tortured sexuality, life-and-death politics and slice eyeball, for starters... The film's emphasis on the personal relationships comes at the expensive of the professional. Dali was a visionary, but we never discover how he actually created himself. We get little sense of Bunuel's vision, either. Here, the director of L'Age d'or comes off as a rather obtuse reactionary. Still, these men are enaging enough to carry the film on their own. Matthew McNulty is commanding as Bunuel, but the sensitive Javier Beltran consistently steals the show as the tormented Lorca. Mr. Pattinson has taken on a much bigger challenge than playing a vampire -- bringing a legend to life. He does an admirable job playing one of the strangest and most imaginative men to walk the earth. He's shy and trembling when he arrives at the dorm, bombastic and determined when he leaves it. The transformation is striking."

Entertainment Weekly offers up a piece on New Moon, discussing, among other things, the break-up of Edward and Bella and teh challenges it represents. Offers director Chris Weitz, "When you get broken up with, it really is the worst thing in the world. Meyer gives a kind of supernatural context to people's real feelings, which sums up what we all go through." In terms of Edward's minimized role in the film, Weitz added, "Rob was the first guy to say to me, 'You know, you don't really need to have too much of me in this film.' I don't want him too present, so his apparition will be a subtle, flitting effect, clearly a reflection of Bella's will and desire to see him."

Library Journal Reviews raves about David Wellington's 23 Hours: A Vengeful Vampire Tale (coming in June from Crown), "Strange as it may seem, the key to good supernatural fiction is realism. Readers have to believe in the world that has been created in order to suspend their disbelief of the creatures set loose in it, and Wellington (Monster Planet) excels here. Most of the action takes place inside a women's prison, where vampire hunter Laura Craxton has been incarcerated and is being stalked by Earth's last vampire, Justina Malvern. This could easily have dissolved into B-movie stereotype but instead seems intensely researched and utterly believable. The characters are likewise fully formed and consistent. VERDICT: Since this is the third book in a series (after 13 Bullets, full-text available on the author's web site, and 99 Coffins), series readers may expect the principals to escape, but the cleverly managed ending avoids predictability. Wellington's voice continues to grow. Highly recommended for horror and vampire fiction fans."

NEW "BUFFY" FEATURE FILM?

Ever read something that instantly gave you a headache? That's kind of the response to a story in today's Hollywood Reporter that Vertigo Entertainment is working with Fran Rubel Kuzui, director of the feature film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, on a new feature that will relaunch the franchise but not include elements from the television series. And among those elements not included is creator Joss Whedon (hence the aforementioned headache). 

   "Vertigo and Kuzui are looking to restart the story line without trampling on the beloved exciting universe created by Whedon," says the story, "putting the parties in a similar situation faced by Paramount, J.J. Abrams and his crew when relaunching Star Trek. One of the underlying ideas of Buffy allows Veritgo and Kuzui to do just that: that each generation has its own vampire slayer to protect it. The goal would be to make a darker, event-sized movie that would, of course, have franchise potential...Kuzui, who is prepping to direct a movie in Japan in the fall, added, 'Everything has its moment. Every movie takes on a life at some point, and this seems like the moment to do this.'"

   One might be able to work up a little more excitement if it wasn't for the fact that Kuzui has already taken a crack at Buffy. The evidence speaks for itself. 

ROBERT PATTINSON CONFIRMS "BREAKING DAWN"

Robert Pattinson has confirmed that he has committed to starring in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, though he's not sure when it will go into production as he's tied up in a number of projects (not the least of which is, of course, New Moon and Eclipse). In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he noted that when filming wraps on New Moon he'll jump into Summit Entertainment's Remember Me, before assuming the role of Edward Cullen again for Eclipse.
   In the same article, he discussed New Moon, pointing out that for much of the story Edward is a "voice in Bella's head." The actor expressed with a laugh, "You're playing a figment in Bella's imagination, so I was trying to do it in a 2-D way. I hope it doesn't translate onscreen as being boring."