Over his career, Neil Jordan has had more than his fair share of experience with fantastical tales thanks for efforts like “The Company Of Wolves,” “Interview With A Vampire” and “Ondine.” And later this summer, he returns to the world of bloodsuckers with “Byzantium.” It’s taken a while, but Hollywood has finally caught up with the fact that audiences love a good fairy tale, and it’s definitely one of the hottest trends right now (just look at Disney‘s upcoming slate of “Cinderella,” “Maleficent” and “Alice In Wonderland 2“), but frankly, Jordan thinks those big money productions aren’t meeting expectations.
“Over the last few years they’ve been doing these versions of fairy tales, like ‘Snow White And The Huntsman,’ and I don’t think they did them very well. I think I would have done them better,” he told Empire. And oh you know what? We think he would’ve done them better too.
But unfortunately, it doesn’t seem likely Jordan will every get the kind of money required for those kind of big budget movies and retain the creative freedom he desires. A few years ago he was attached to direct an adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s “The Graveyard Book” (which Ron Howard was most recently circling), but it fell apart once costs got too high and once it became clear that the non-family friendly nature of the movie would make it difficult to get made at a studio. “[It] is always a problem. Neil Gaiman and Framestore brought me the book – I was the chosen director – and I thought it was wonderful, but I knew that once you get above $50m, the studio would want to know who their audience was,” he said.
So, what is next for Jordan? Well, he hasn’t given up on the supernatural just yet. “I’ve written a ghost story with a contemporary setting,” he teased. “I’m going to terrify people with beautiful music.” Sounds pretty good.
Until we wait for that, you can catch “Byzantium” when it opens on June 28th.
