Saoirse getting her fangs into Jordan vampire film
IT was a bloodbath in a picturesque seaside town. However, the shooting in Bray, Co Wicklow, yesterday wasn't a gangland hit but filming on Neil Jordan's new vampire thriller 'Byzantium'.
Starring Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton, the plot follows a mother and daughter vampire duo let loose in a seaside resort.
During yesterday's filming, they claimed their first victim, co-star Caleb Landry Jones.
But the Carlow girl revealed why it was the 'X-Men' star's hands, rather than neck, which was seen dripping blood.
"We're getting away from the tradition of biting vampires in this film.
"Instead the vampires have talons with which they draw blood," Ms Ronan told the Irish Independent.
Co-star Mr Jones plays Frank, a teenager dying of leukaemia.
His personal struggle with mortality causes Ms Ronan's character to struggle with her own immortality.
Yesterday's shoot saw her teenage vampire Eleanor bringing Frank back to his home, dripping blood, and his parents desperate dash to hospital with him.
But with a hoodie and anorak on, the 17-year-old looked like she was more fearful of the December cold than any grizzly plotline.
The 'Lovely Bones' star joked that while the Wicklow town might be Baltic, nothing is as freezing as Finland where she spent part of last year filming action movie 'Hanna' .
"Northern Finland is so cold. You just freeze. One day it was around minus 30C. The crew were complaining that it was freezing apart from the ones that were Finnish," she said.
Praise
She said she was "thrilled" to be working with an Irish crew for the first time, and was full of praise for director Neil Jordan.
"Neil has had his name on some fantastic films over the years so it's an honour to be working with him.
"I love being in Ireland too, because this production is putting some money into the local economy. We have some really talented film people in Ireland working with us on this film," she said.
Shooting on 'Byzantium', an adaptation of 'The Vampire Stories', a play written by Moira Buffini, breaks over Christmas but continues in January.
- Ken Sweeney
Irish Independent
