Exclusive: Buffy’s Juliet Landau Talks Her Documentary A Place Among the Undead – Part 2
Sean Decker
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We’re back with Part 2 of our exclusive interview with actress turned filmmaker Juliet Landau regarding her upcoming feature-length documentary A Place Among the Undead. (If you missed it, be sure to check out Part 1 here.)
Joined by Landau’s co-director and producer (and husband) Deverill Weekes, we delved into the duo’s filmic in-production exploration of vampires in cinema, literature, and television, discussing everything from classic Hammer films to (tangentially) Landau’s audition for Wes Craven’s original Scream, working with “Buffy’s” James Marsters, and beyond. Sink your teeth in.
Landau, who is probably best known to genre fans for her turn as the deranged yet enigmatic vampire “Drusilla” in Joss Whedon’s iconic “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” series (as well as for her memorable portrayal of “Loretta King” in Tim Burton’s celebrated 1994 feature Ed Wood, in which she shared screen time with her father, Martin), and Weekes, a celebrated photographer and cinematographer, dished enthusiastically regarding their exhaustive documentary, whose interview subjects thus far include (take a breath) Whedon, Burton, actor Gary Oldman (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), author Anne Rice, Underworld creator Kevin Grevioux, Hammer veterans Caroline Munro and Madeline Smith, Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire), and many, many more.
Growing from a feature-length format into a potential series (given fandom’s support of the pair’s Indiegogo campaign, which for reasons of creative control Landau and Weekes chose over partnering with several different production entities who felt certain iconic films weren’t necessary, an approach with which the duo disagreed), we queried her regarding her hopes for the remaining days of the campaign (and also what upcoming perks she felt would be of particular interest to fans).
“The material is so vast,” Landau stated. “We have many brilliant people coming our way who would like to participate. It feels natural for the project to develop into a six-part TV series, should we raise enough funds to do so.”
“We are offering a lot of special, limited edition perks on the campaign page. There is The Acolyte photography book, which includes photographs taken of some Undead interviewees by Gary Oldman on his camera from 1853. There are also film posters, the film itself, some special Undead dinner perks (Writer’s Note: Read “Dinner with Juliet”), and lots of exciting autographed specials. The campaign closes on the 29th of November, so we are going to have some additional, one-of-a-kind things up on Black Friday the 27th! I am arguing with myself about whether to mention them, but I guess I will opt for no spoilers!”
Two hours into our dinner, our interview became less interviewy (excuse the Buffyism) and more conversational. Myriad topics were touched upon, and Landau’s and Weekes’ knowledge and love of their doc’s subject matter became that much more evident. Obscure titles were broached, from director Michael Almereyda little known 1994 art house vampire film Nadja to a debate pertaining to the original versus remake merits of the Let the Right One In films, and it was clear the duo, if given their druthers, would be fond of documenting via interview the entire genre. One of the subjects who unfortunately won’t make an appearance in the project, however, is the inarguably second greatest cinematic incarnation of Dracula, the late, great Sir Christopher Lee (although the pair had been in talks to interview him just prior to his death).
They did, however, conduct interviews with related Hammer films alumnae Caroline Munro, who co-starred with Lee in Dracula A.D. 1972, and Madeline Smith, who appeared in some rather compromising and Sapphic positions opposite the late actress Ingrid Pitt in the 1970 Hammer feature The Vampire Lovers.
Of that interview with Smith, Landau said, “It was amazing talking to Madeline. As a youth, she attended a convent school. She told us that when filming The Vampire Lovers, she didn’t even know what a lesbian was. So I asked, ‘What did you think was going on in those scenes?’ She said, ‘Well… I thought we were just being friendly!’ She said that she was so green about sexuality that the director [Roy Ward Baker] would tell her, ‘Just think about eating something really delicious.’ Now she’s completely embarrassed when she sees the film because of her naïvety at the time. It was a really funny, engaging story.”
Conversation then turned to our inevitable shared mortality and the recent passing of filmmaker Wes Craven. Landau offered that she’d met him while auditioning for the role of “Casey Becker” in 1996’s classic Scream (a role that would go on to be made famous by Drew Barrymore) and that she’d first read the role with a Southern accent (per her recollections, at that time the film was intended to be set down South), remarking on just how inherently kind Craven was to her during the process.
Interestingly enough, another first read in a Southern accent was actor James Marsters’ audition for “Spike” in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” (James had thought the character was Southern, but quickly changed into an English accent when asked to do so.) We asked Landau if she’d as of yet interviewed her “Buffy” co-star and love interest for A Place Among the Undead.
“No, not yet,” she replied, “but I think Dru interviewing Spike would be quite interesting! He and I had such an immediate, electric acting chemistry. We were always surprising each other, and it was like a tennis match in every scene. Joss said that he had Spike and Drusilla running around in his head for ten years before he brought them out into the light… or rather, into the dark.”
Pertaining to “Buffy,” we queried Landau if prior to the series she’d watched the 1992 film on which it was based, to which she offered, “It’s funny because when I got hired, I said to Joss, ‘I haven’t seen the original movie, and I need to watch it.’ He said, ‘Don’t.’ He wrote the movie, but with the series, he got to do what he really wanted to do with the material. He executed it the way he had envisioned it. In the series everything was rooted. The fantastical elements were rooted and metaphoric, and everything sprang from that.”
As for A Place Among the Undead, we were curious as to whom of the myriad subjects she’s thus far interviewed she’d found the most fascinating.
“It’s too difficult to pick,” she mused. “One of the things that is so special about the film is that all of the interviewees have shared stories that I have never seen caught on film before. The interviews have been relaxed, conversational, and intimate’ and I believe we have captured each interviewee’s true essence, creative self, and sense of humor, joy, and intelligence in a unique way. When cutting the promos for Indiegogo, I watched the footage repeatedly, but I found myself smiling anew and finding fresh things revealed in the material every time. That rarely happens.”
Come back to Dread Central next week for Part 3 of our interview, in which Landau regales us with some never before told recollections from “Buffy”; and in the interim check out A Place Among the Undead on Indiegogo for more information and some TRULY one of a kind perks. This is one campaign vampire fans will want to get involved with.
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