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SUBJECT: 30 Days of Night
Sam Raimi

In 2002, Sam Raimi and his partner Rob Tapert formed Ghost House Pictures, dedicated to producing high-concept genre films. One of the first properties they optioned was the graphic novel 30 Days of Night, in which a group of bloodthirsty, voracious vampires attack Barrow, Alaska, which each winter plunges into a state of darkness which lasts a month. Several movies later, including The Grudge, Boogeyman and The Messengers, 30 Days of Night has finally reached the big screen in all its gory magnificence.

Q: When Ghost House Pictures was formed, this was one of the first things you optioned. It’s been a long journey. Was it worth the wait and going through the various scripts and a couple directors and finding the right people?
A: Absolutely. This was a long journey. I think it was worth it because what I really wanted to do is make sure that Ben Templesmith and Steve Niles felt that their work was being properly adapted to the screen, and because I’ve read that they feel that, I think it was worth it in retrospect. I hope that the fans feel that it’s a faithful adaptation.

Q: Did you ever consider directing this yourself?
A: I never thought about directing it. I was so busy with Spider-Man 2 at the time. Ghost House Pictures is really for other directors to direct their horror film, and me to help protect them or help get them the finances and the resources they need and link them up with good material.

Q: Can you talk about the love story between Eben and Stella and why that part of the film interested you?
A: At Ghost House Pictures we’re always trying to find the next great script or the next great story and when I read Ben Templesmith and Steve Niles’ 30 Days of Night graphic book, I thought it was really gripping and powerful. It seemed like it should have been thought of before because it’s so obviously great that you’d go up to a place like Barrow, Alaska where night falls for 30 days and you’ve got to survive that time period with vampires at your throat. So I was struck by the originality of it, the great visuals, but as you suggest, the thing that really connected me to it were the two characters at the center, Eben and Stella, and their love story.

Q: Are you familiar with Dark Days, the sequel to 30 Days of Night?
A: Yeah. I only read it once and it was a few years ago, but I thought it was great at the time and it is very different. I don’t know if there’s going to be a sequel to 30 Days of Night. Nor do I know if there was if it would be based upon that. We’d have to see if it’s successful at the box office and if people seem to really want to see a sequel and then if they do, I’d probably huddle with Ben and Steve and my partner, Rob Tapert, and figure out what they thought it should be. If there was a sequel, mostly I’d want to be true to the books. I think that’s what got us here in the first place.

Written by Judy Sloane. Back to top

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Feature © 2007 Visual Imagination Limited.
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