And that still wasn’t all!
“Jemaine had the idea of the vampire tribunal.
He said, ‘And then we’ll have all these famous vampires from movies and TV.’
Credit: Russ Martin/FX
And I was like, ‘Yeah, we’re not going to get those.
It would be impossible.'”
She said, “Do something where our vampire characters are together.”
Russ Martin/FX
I just locked that away in my brain.
Even the fact thatourvampires used to talk about them all the time.
I asked Tilda to do it and she was like, “Okay, sure.”
[Laughs] That was pretty much it.
Did you draw up a big list of people who had played vampires?
CLEMENT:Yeah, so we started with Tilda, and it was kind of her idea.
We had high hopes she would turn up, even though people were skeptical.
People would go, “Are you sure?”
We were pretty sure of that one.
Yeah, we had a massive list, and then our casting people went out to lots of people.
We had to wait a while to get Wesley to agree to it.
So we pushed hard to get him to come.
Danny Trejo and I were actually in a movie together.
CLEMENT:It wasMuppets Most Wanted.
Evan Rachel Wood just said yes, so we were lucky there.
It’s actually surprising how many people have played quite classic vampires [and] are still quite young.
We had everyone on this list.
We made a huge list.
There were more people who didn’t make it.
Did you actually reach out to Brad and Tom?
CLEMENT:I believe someone did.
I didn’t personally.
PAUL SIMMS:I remember Kiefer Sutherland passed.
Which is kind of rude of us, and maybe a mistake.
But that’s saved something for season 2.
And Tom, I don’t even think we tried.
I can’t remember if [Pattinson] was one of them.
We almost sent someone to Australia to attempt to shoot him, but the schedule didn’t work out.
But we’re open for anyone for season 2!
WAITITI:For some reason, Cate Blanchett was on the list.
I think maybe people got confused.
I don’t know why she was on their lists.
I was like, “Cate, have you ever played a vampire?”
She was like, “No, but I’d love to.”
I was like, “But you haven’t?”
“Well then you could’t be in the show.”
[Laughs] She was like, “What?
I want to be in it!”
I said, “But you might’t, because you haven’t been a vampire.
Those are the rules!”
How did Dave Bautista get involved?
CLEMENT: I wanted Kristen Schaal to do the part of the messenger from the vampiric council.
I couldn’t really imagine anyone else doing it.
We had this part that we were looking for someone anyway.
So we got him in there and I think we were all surprised by how funny he was.
How did shooting all these people work from a logistical point of view?
Tilda was just super-funny and got it immediately.
Evan, I believe, was very excited to meet Tilda.
I mean, he’s the scariest-looking of them all, but really a sweet, funny guy.
We were so excited.
Just to have them on set was amazing.
SIMMS:Wesley Snipes on Skype was the very last thing we shot.
I mean, the season had been over for a long time.
Wesley, it was hard to get him.
We shot him in a hotel room in Tenafly, New Jersey.
I assumed you just got him to call on Skype and shot the screen.
We were just worried about the picture quality being as good as it needed to be.
So we rented a hotel room somewhere near where he lives in New Jersey.
He doesn’t want to wear the dark sunglasses.
He doesn’t want it to look likeBlade, or whatever."
We were all warned not to do that.
So there was nothing to worry about.
But I was like, am I going to ask him to do that?
You know, he seems so intimidating.
And then when we finished shooting his part, he pulled outhisphone.
He was like, “Can I take a picture with everyone?
I want to get pictures with all you guys.
Let’s get a group picture together, and I want a picture with you.”
So it was great.
He was really fun and incredibly funny.
But Wesley did so many really funny variations.
WAITITI:It’s a weird thing telling people what it is.
It’s just a weird thing to try and explain, because they’re like, “What?
You want me to do what?
That character I’ve already played?”
It seems weird, like it’sa Red Nose Day kind of thing.
[Laughs] When we got him, it was a really huge coup for us.
Jemaine, what was it like for you and Taika and Jonny to reprise your roles from the film?
I’m assuming it was fun.
CLEMENT:Yeah, we went pretty naturally into it.
WAITITI:I’d kind of vowed never to do it again.
The choreography for the vampire dance looks quite complicated, given it doesn’t get that much screen time.
SIMMS:Oh, don’t worry, there’splentyof more footage, there’shoursof footage of that.
CLEMENT:Yeah, it was really fun joining in.
All the dancers had learned the dance, but we hadn’t learned it.
We didn’t even know where they were going to turn or anything like that.
On the episode, the guest stars playing vampires are referred to by their real-life names.
CLEMENT:[Laughs] Well, that’s the thing that was tricky.
We couldn’t really call people with character’s names, because we’re not allowed those characters.
Paul, you said other actors who have played vampires would be welcome to appear on season 2.
Do you think this kind of episode is something you will do every year?
