British actor Hugh Dancy (Aiden) came up with a better description of Blood and Chocolate instead of the simple 'werewolf movie' tag. "It’s a horror/comedy/romance/werewolf love story," explained Dancy who adopted an American accent to play Aiden and spent a healthy amount of time working with wolves on Blood and Chocolate.
Blood and Chocolate is a lot different than the other films on your resume. What was the appeal of starring in a movie about werewolves?
“I suppose you just summed it up, really. It seemed different. It seemed like a lot of different things. I mean, yes, it is a werewolf movie but at times it seemed like it was quite light-hearted. It was a romance; it was contemporary. It was kind of different than other movies of that genre that I’d seen, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.”
You said it’s “kind of a werewolf movie” yet all the trailers, posters and photos from the film stress the ‘werewolf’ aspect. It’s interesting that you see it as much more than that.
“I mean it is a werewolf movie, but when you’re acting with a wolf there’s not a lot to really get out of that so you concentrate on what the rest of the story is about and how the rest of it works on its own. What I mean by that is that what when you say werewolf movie, I always see images of great big lumbering prosthetic monsters or, I don’t know, digital larger-than-life wolves with red eyes. It’s not that. These are real wolves that we played around with. That’s different.”
How did you feel about the decision to go with real wolves rather than CGI creatures?
“I thought it was a very good one because we do always see that in Hollywood movies, and the idea was it’s not a monster movie. I mean it’s a werewolf movie and they may be evil, but they’re not these kinds of crazed beasts.”
That’s an interesting way to describe it. It’s not a monster movie but there are werewolves in it.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that’s the way that Katja von Garnier, the director, saw it. I’ve subsequently discovered a lot of people really think of wolves as very beautiful, as she certainly did. We had these animals and I’ve got to say they were amazing. They’re incredible creatures. They’re wild and they’re ferocious I guess at times, but not monsters in the traditional sense.”
Were you into werewolves as a kid?
“I think I was probably more about the vampires, to be honest with you. Although I do seem to remember when I was a kid – a small kid – and my sister was even smaller, she couldn’t get to sleep one night because she was convinced there were werewolves under her bed. I had to go and stamp on them and kill them so she could sleep. I just remembered that. But by and large, I was more in the vampire line.”
You had to stamp on them to kill them?
(Laughing) "I had to stamp on the imaginary werewolves.”
Why do you think in general people are still so fascinated by werewolves and vampires in 2007?
“Because I think that they all – particularly those two myths – are about the dark side of human nature. You know, I don’t personally believe that there are actual people out there who can turn into bats or transform into wolves every month, but I can see where the myth would come from. The idea that we’ve all got something that’s a bit wild or a bit evil inside us.”
Did you do a lot of research into the werewolf mythology?
“Not particularly. I think the thing about the myths or whatever you want to call them, why they endure or just the genre endures as movies, is because you can reinvent it every time. You don’t have to be too slavishly adherent to whatever anybody’s done before. People know the basics. We know that they die if they get hit with silver. We know they tend to need a moon and that kind of thing. And then beyond that you’re free to imagine what you want, I think. That’s how those stories stay alive, by reinvention.”
Were there any special challenges filming in Romania?
“There were freezing, subzero temperatures, but nothing particularly specific to Romania. A good thing is a lot of people film nowadays in that part of the world and one of the reasons is that it’s cheaper. You can do a lot more for your money. The disadvantage is that often people are filming there trying to pretend that you’re in Manhattan and it’s pretty obvious that you’re not. But our movie is set in Romania as well. It’s meant to be in these slightly modern but mythological places, so we had the best of both worlds in that respect.
It was challenging at times. You know, the country is transforming still after the revolution and you can see it, you know? You can feel it. It’s a strange place at times.”
Did actually filming in Romania help you get into the mood of the film and into character?
“I guess so because it really is an incredible city – the city of Bucharest, which is the capitol. And actually I went outside the city. We went, a few of us, hopped on the train and went out to Transylvania which is part of Romania and is obviously the home of pretty much every ghoulish thing under the sun…I should say under the stars.
It’s really evocative, the city itself where the movie is set is - and I think you see it in the film – it’s partially this very beautiful, old city and it’s also quite run down in parts. There’s a modern, urban quality to it as well. It’s quite strange, and that is reflected in the film.”
Page 2: On Working with Wolves and Horror Movies
