John Hurt Also In Cast
The idea of the vampire, that of the undead creature that survives by feeding off the blood of living people — is an enormously resilient, resonant one, so it makes sense that there continue to be dozens of stories about them — barely a year has gone by in the history of cinema without at least one example. But the last few years, it’s gotten ridiculous: from blockbusters like “Twilight” and the upcoming “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” to indies like “Let The Right One In” and its American remake, to TV series like “True Blood” and “The Vampire Diaries,” the damn things are everywhere, and we can’t be the only people who are sick of them. At this stage, it would take a really, really interesting line-up of talent to make us interested in a vampire flick again.
Well, it looks like our bluff has been called: off the back of Neil Jordan‘s promising-sounding “Byzantium,” announced over the weekend, we’ve also got news that another top auteur is turning his hand to bloodsuckers, and he’s assembled a frankly mouth-watering cast to do so. Screen Daily reports that Jim Jarmusch, whose last film was 2009’s “The Limits of Control,” is currently preparing a vampire-themed project to shoot at the beginning of 2012, and that, as he revealed last year, it will star Tilda Swinton, as well as two of the most in-demand actors around, Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska.
Jarmusch hinted at the project last year without revealing any details, but he now describes the film as a ‘crypto-vampire love story” set in both Detroit and Tangiers. John Hurt, who worked with both Swinton and Jarmusch on “The Limits of Control,” is also on board, in what’s described as a ‘featured role,’ while Swinton, Fassbender and Wasikowska (the latter pair reunited after this year’s “Jane Eyre“) will all play vampires (perfectly cast, as well, we reckon). It’s clearly been in the works for a while, with Jarmusch telling the trade that “I’ve been imagining this film for years. I can’t wait to now realise it with these remarkable collaborators.”
Remarkable indeed — we’re huge fans of pretty much everyone involved, and can’t wait to see them work with the director. “The Limits of Control” was a little too free-form and lackadaisical for some, including this writer, although it has plenty of defenders on staff, but this sounds like it could be the director’s most accessible work since “Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai,” and if anyone can bring something new to the undead archetype, it’s him. Veteran producer Jeremy Thomas (“The Last Emperor“) is behind the film, along with Germany’s Reinhard Brundig, and filming will get underway in Germany, Morocco and Tangiers at the start of 2012 — a wait we assume is caused by Fassbender’s ludicrously busy schedule.