BUFFY veteran and filmmaker Juliet Landau talks to SHOCK about her new doc, A PLACE AMONG THE UNDEAD.
Juliet Landau is known for playing iconic vampire Drusilla on TVs BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL, but she is an accomplished filmmaker in her own right. Her first feature-length documentary is A PLACE AMONG THE UNDEAD, currently raising funds here through most of November HERE.. This documentary is all about images of vampires in TV and film, pop culture, and literature and features interviews with those who have played, written about, or directed films about vampires like Gary Oldman, Anne Rice, Tom Holland, and many more. Landau is a smart and talented woman with so much to give to the exploration of the vampire sub genre of horror; were lucky to be able to follow her project from start to finish. SHOCK posed a few questions to Landau so we can better prepare her horror fans for this exciting new film.
SHOCK: You describe A PLACE AMONG THE UNDEAD as the “definitive” and comprehensive documentary about the phenomenon of vampires. How can one documentary cover the entire folklore of vampires from roots, through the legend of Dracula, the fiction of the 19th Century, and into the Hollywood of the 21st Century? How will you decide what is important about this phenomenon? How much of the documentary will focus on film and TV from recent years?
JULIET LANDAU: Well, the subject matter is so vast that my husband Deverill Weekes and I are making two feature length documentaries. A PLACE AMONG THE DEAD covers crime, reality, and when people take the fantasy of vampirism too far. A PLACE AMONG THE UNDEAD covers every aspect of vampires in myth and pop culture: movies, TV, art, literature, comics, music, video games and young adult literature. We have interviewed so many amazing creators, writers, directors and actors from the genre for UNDEAD. In fact, we have so many more who want to be involved, UNDEAD may have to develop into a 6- part TV series The more money we raise, the more in-depth we can go. We will be covering the spectrum including current film and TV programs.
SHOCK: How does having played Drusilla affect the way you perceive vampires in fiction?
JULIET LANDAU: Drusilla was such a unique character. Joss created this special and distinct being. The metaphor of vampirism can be used in such a wide myriad of ways. The tales are told in so many different styles and tones. In terms of my perception, I take the journey of each story and enjoy the ride I do think BUFFY and ANGEL were brilliantly conceived and written and stand the test of time.
SHOCK: The list of people you have interviewed so far is astounding! Who would you like to interview that you have not yet?
JULIET LANDAU: We just announced Nathan Fillion has joined the UNDEAD! We will film his interview when we fund. We ambushed him on the set of CASTLE and filmed a Hang W/ where I was biting his neck. It was a lot of fun! We will be announcing more UNDEAD-ees throughout the campaign. People have been coming to us to participate, which is very exciting!
SHOCK: What have you learned so far as you are making this documentary that you did not anticipate? Is there one piece of information or insight, or a story or quote, from someone you have interviewed that has changed your perspective on the subject matter?
JULIET LANDAU: Everyone shares stories on film that have never been told before! The interviews have been such a blast! I think the thing that revealed itself early on, was something that I referred to a bit earlier, and which informed the structure of the piece. Each creator has used the metaphor of vampirism to explore the human condition in a wide variety of ways. For Joss Whedon the metaphor for BUFFY was, high school as a nightmare. For Anne Rice, it was about loss and grief. Her daughter died of Leukemia so she wrote, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE with a child vampire who wouldnt die Leukemia is a blood disease. For Kevin Grevioux, the creator of UNDERWORLD, it was interracial dating. He created two species, which dont get along. For Joss, the TV show ANGEL was a metaphor for addiction. For Tim Burton, DARK SHADOWS is about dysfunctional family. It goes on and on The film transcends the idea of a traditional documentary and has interlinking films inspired by the conversations. Each film explores a different metaphor that is discussed.
SHOCK: What questions are you making sure to ask every interviewee? What questions are you looking to answer the most through the making of this documentary?
JULIET LANDAU: We ask, why do they think vampires are attractive to us? We ask about the creative process of playing or creating vampire characters. We ask if they would choose eternal life. We ask about the metaphor explored. We share stories about being on set. There are a lot of laughs. People have been really relaxed and enjoyed themselves.
SHOCK: Your fan base is quite large. Ultimately, is this a film for fans of vampires? You will be relying on this fan base to help you raise the funds for the rest of the documentary. How will your fans benefit when they help you out? What are you offering as perks and rewards?
JULIET LANDAU: Fans that contribute to the campaign will have access to exciting and limited edition perks such as Gary Oldman and Deverill Weekes photographic UNDEAD odyssey. The book features one of a kind, exclusive, tintype photography taken by Gary on his camera from 1853! These special tintypes portraits include UNDEADees: Joss Whedon, Robert Patrick, myself and others. Additional perks include BUFFY comic book artist Georges Jeantys unique 18 X 24 posters and a STAKE/STEAK dinner hosted by me on November 7th. We have UNDEAD t-shirts, which I have been living in, by the way! They are really cute! We have 9-minutes of excerpts from the film available for streaming during the campaign. Soon we will be posting some cool stuff signed by Nathan Fillion too!
SHOCK: What has been the response so far to the documentary from fans who have seen the teaser?
The fans have been amazing! People are so excited about UNDEAD. When we premiered the teaser at Comic-Con, you could hear gasps as each interviewee came on. The other day, one of our team was showing the video that is up on Indiegogo.com to someone, and when the interviewees came on, he did the same thing. I hope people enjoy the video and that they join the UNDEAD by contributing and becoming producing partners with us!
