There’s not usually a huge overlap between vamp fans and those of Doctor Who, however that could be set to change. The new series of Who includes an episode called Vampires of Venice (or possibly “Vampires in Venice”). A clip was recently shown on UK TV and you can watch it below (if the Beeb haven’t pulled it from YouTube).
Vampires in Venice is episode six of series five and is written by Toby Whithouse. Whithouse is responsible for the highly acclaimed show Being Human so he has experience in writing vampires – and his type don’t usually sparkle.
According to the reports Burton is interested in producing a movie version of the new novel. Also in the frame are director Timur Bekmambetov and producer Jim Lemley. Smith is expected to adapt his own novel for the script. Some reports say that movie rights have already been acquired.
It’s a fun idea which could work well in Burton’s hands. However it’s still very early days and the whole project could end up trapped in development hell.
It’s been announced that Anne Rice’s 1984 vampire story The Master of Rampling Gate is to be turned into a vook.
What’s a vook? It’s a “video book” – a multimedia extension of the normal reading experience. According to Vook:
You can read your book, watch videos that enhance the story and connect with authors and your friends through social media all on one screen, without switching between platforms.
Vook says that their version of Rice’s vamp story will:
offer readers, vampire fans, lovers of Gothic fiction and everyone interested in new ways to experience stories an innovative take on Anne Rice’s classic blend of the romantic, the uncanny, and the truly frightening.
The vook version of The Master of Rampling Gate is expected to include an interview with Rice and is scheduled for release on March 1st.
US telecom company Verizon has been getting its fangs into rival AT&T via a Twilight style advert. The ad – which you can watch below – shows a scene familiar to fans of the vampire romance genre; a sexy human female is asking a sexy male vampire to “Make me yours Sebastion, forever”. The vamp is about to oblige when he realises that the woman is an AT&T customer. At this point he decides that “Forever is a really long time” and zips off to find some Verizon customers instead.
Score one for Verizon/Team Edward. How will AT&T/Team Jacob respond?
The current vampire craze looks like being picked up on by the US theatre industry. There are reports that a revival of the 1927 adaption of Dracula is being planned – in fact, there are two rival productions in the works.
One Dracula revival is planned for Broadway itself and rumours suggest that the producers might approach Javier Bardem to play the Count (a role originally played by the great Bela Lugosi). The other production would be staged off Broadway at the Little Shubert.
Fingers crossed that any show which does go ahead has better luck than the 2007 production of Dracula, The Musical.
There’s both good and bad news for anyone who likes the idea of fighting vampires alongside their friends. The Grinder – a cooperative vamp hunting game from High Voltage Software – was originally going to be a Wii exclusive but will now be multi-platform. So you’ll be able to buy it for the PC, the PS3 and the Xbox360 as well as the Wii.
So what’s the bad news? Well, going multi-platform means HVS reworking a number of the game’s assets such high res textures and artwork. This has pushed back the release date all the way to Halloween 2011.
More news about The Grinder is expected to be released at the GDC Games Developers’ Conference in San Fransisco next month. Until then, here’s a brief teaser to watch:
The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting interview with Scott Stewart, whose new movie Legion is just out. Of particular interest to vampire fans is the discussion of Priest.
Priest is a post-apocalyptic supernatural thriller starring Paul Bettany. The film, due for release in August 2010, is inspired by the Min-Woo Hyung graphic novels with the screenplay written by Cory Goodman. According to Stewart:
It takes place a generation after the war, a hundreds-year war between man and vampire, and the characters of the priests are like Jedi Knights that helped turn the tide. My focus is how now the vampire is vanquished, and society has moved on from you. You’re not the hero anymore, and people look at you like a freak.
Until the vampires return…
In Priest the vamps won’t be sexy and definitely won’t sparkle. Instead they’ll be “very feral and very violent”.
With the current popularity of all things vampire there’s a huge demand for vampire movies and TV shows. One production to benefit from this is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead (RaGaU), written and directed by Jordan Galland. Indie film specialist Indican Pictures has obtained the rights to RaGaU and plan to release it in US cinemas on April 16th 2010.
RaGaU, which has the tagline “Don’t let your ex-girlfriend suck the life out of you!” is described as an “irreverent Vampire comedy that mixes Shakespeare, The Holy Grail, God [and] a bunch of sexy vamps”. The cast includes Jeremy Sisto (Law & Order), Jake Hoffman (Click), Devon Aoki (Sin City), Ralph Macchio (Karate Kid I-III) and John Ventigmiglia (The Sopranos).
We expect the modern teenage vampire to have a great sense of style, and Edward from Twilight is no exception. Now it seems that his actor, Robert Pattinson, is also a winner in the sartorial stakes.
GQ Magazine has named Pattinson number one in their 2010 Best Dressed list. That’s a big jump from his previous listing at number 39 last year. Pattinson is described as “Extremely elegant and inspiring, the true essence of a contemporary man.”
Also in the top ten best dressed are Take That, Alex Turner, Fantastic Mister Fox (!), Tom Ford, Daniel Craig, David Furnish, David Cameron, David Beckham and Dizzee Rascal.
At the other end of the scale the winner of the Worst Dressed award is British PM Gordon Brown.
Actress Mia Kirshner, probably best known for her TV roles in 24 and The L Word, is set to join The Vampire Diaries. She will play Isobel, wife of Matt Davis’ character Alariac Saltzman.
Rumours suggest that Isobel will be a recurring character. Which is good going since the same rumours suggest she’s already dead. Or undead. Either way it’s expected that Isobel will appear in the past tense in flashback scenes.
We’ll soon know how accurate the rumours are. Isobel’s first appearance is set for Season One, Episode Eleven due to be broadcast in the US on 21st January 2010.
An interesting piece of trivia: Kirshman plays vampire Lilith in the upcoming 30 Days of Night sequel Dark Days.
It’s been announced that Anne Rice’s 1984 vampire story The Master of Rampling Gate is to be turned into a 
We expect the modern teenage vampire to have a great sense of style, and Edward from Twilight is no exception. Now it seems that his actor, Robert Pattinson, is also a winner in the sartorial stakes.
Actress Mia Kirshner, probably best known for her TV roles in 24 and The L Word, is set to join The Vampire Diaries. She will play Isobel, wife of Matt Davis’ character Alariac Saltzman.