Director David Slade: "We shot in backlot stages that we built using some fake snow and such. But with the use of, you know, drama, really, and great character acting, creates a good sense of isolation which goes, yes metaphorically, yes, they’re in the middle of nowhere. Yes, we have these wide matte paintings which show that this town is in the middle of absolutely nowhere. But really the location is kind of an adjunct to the performances, which is as Josh was saying earlier, just kinds of rats in a cage mentality. It becomes a survival film after a while. Not only is it minus 10 outside, not only if you go out you’re going to freeze to death, not only are you running out of food, but there’s also creatures that are going to kill you and eat you. You haven’t got much chance, so you’re stuck.
So in terms of the question about tension, yes, this is where tension came to play. The tension between characters, the tension between actors and this, I hope, brings a sense of reality to the film. A sense of an old, classic horror movie where performance and acting is hugely influential, not just gore and effects. Very few effects actually in this film.”
Can each of you talk about your characters?
Ben Foster: “I have a great vampire fetish, so when I was going through a comic store and saw 30 Days of Night - I guess two years ago - I bought it immediately. I ended up buying several copies for friends, and it was just something that just really turned me on. I’ve known David for a few years now and he gave me a shout and said, ‘You know, I think I’m making a vampire film.’ I said, ‘Great, fantastic! What is it?’ He says, ‘30 Days of Night.’ I was like, ‘Wonderful! What can I do for you?’
We met in a coffee shop in Hollywood and he just he said, ‘I’m not going to sale you anything, I’m just going to show you…,’ as he does. He sends pictures, etc. This man never stops making things. He’s making photographs or stickers or T-shirts, and designs and short films. [He’s] constantly creating. I think he would explode if he didn’t have this outlet. We’re in this coffee shop and he opens up his laptop. He shows me some brief footage he did of camera tests that he did on the vampires, and being somebody who’s spent a great amount of time watching films and reading books and comics and dressing up as vampires for Halloween for years, it was startling how different these vampires looked. We didn’t even talk about a character at first, I was just, ‘I’m in, I’m in.’”
David Slade: “And I wouldn’t let you be a vampire.”
Ben Foster: “And he wouldn’t let me be a f**king vampire! Such a guy! I could only want to be a vampire in this film, so that worked out and probably benefited some to some degree.”
Josh Hartnett: “I mean, virtually the same reasons. I’ve always liked horror films. I’ve always liked vampire films, but I never, I guess I never really found, I hadn’t found the right combination of people that were involved in a film like this since I worked with Rob Rodriguez on Faculty. For me it was all about David and Sam and the book and just the right elements. I thought it would make a really interesting film. I just thought it would be a lot of fun to be a part of. But I had no vampire fetish, I guess.”
Ben Foster: “You’re missing out, man!”
Josh Hartnett: “So I guess I’m not as committed.”
Ben Foster: “No lack of commitment, Josh. Absolutely no lack of commitment. A hell of a performance and it’s a tricky genre to be able to hand in a leading man role. Surrounded by vampires, this is not an easy task and he hands in a fantastic, very haunted character. This is not your usual kick-ass leading man. This is a tortured soul, surviving a very difficult and terrifying scenario.”
Josh Hartnett: “Don’t play it up too much!”
Ben Foster: “You’ll get into the vampire thing after it comes out.”
David Slade: “People say, ‘Well, vampires…’ So but yes, it is technically a vampire film but it’s technically a survival film too. I think you’ll invest as much in the performances of the actors as you will with the monsters. That said, the monsters are truly fantastic. Danny Huston, who is absent at the moment."
Sam Raimi: “Danny is amazing.”
David Slade: “Danny is astonishing. I want to quote Sam because after the screening you said you thought it was your favorite vampire performance you’d seen in quite some time.”
Sam Raimi: “Yeah. I’ve never seen a better one.”
David Slade: “His favorite vampire performance there is.”
Sam Raimi: “I mean, I loved Willem Dafoe, as a completely different direction, as Nosferatu, but it’s on par with that. Those are my two favorites.”
Danny Huston: “Danny really, and I’ll talk about him in his absence, just in a positive way… I’ll just finish up on Danny because Danny really, we created a language for him. He took that language, he made it his own. He had to wear contact lenses and teeth and nails. He endured that. He rehearsed in that stuff. He took that stuff to his hotel with him and would wear it and scare the s**t out of the people in the hotel rooms. We were shooting a month of nights or something.”
Josh Hartnett: “Yeah, at least.”
David Slade: “At least a month of nights. It was more than 30 days. It was about 50 days of shite for 30 Days of Night. And yes, as you were saying, it’s a very difficult thing to pull off the leading man thing but also to play a convincing monster with depth and integrity equally as daunting. And to me I’m just thankful I got Josh and I got Danny because they both brought those things to the table that are difficult, and there’s no denying that.”
Is it tough to find good horror material?
Sam Raimi: “Well I love reading books and comic books so I wouldn’t say it’s difficult for me. It’s rare that you come across a great, great graphic novel in the field of horror. I never have before. So I guess it was incredibly rare, but I wouldn’t use the word difficult because I so enjoyed reading it. It was wonderfully refreshing and thrilling to come across Steve Niles and Ben’s 30 Days of Night.”
What’s next, Sam?
Sam Raimi: “I don’t have any plans right now.”
