Steve Niles – Exclusive Interview
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Staci Layne Wilson: Fortunately your book isn't horrible, so I don't have to pretend while I'm doing this interview...
Steve Niles: Thank you! [laughter]
Staci Layne Wilson: It's actually been on my "to be read" for a long time and I had to cram. So, just yesterday I literally dived into it. Got a few papercuts, but I'm OK.
Steve: You just read it? Oh, cool!
Staci Layne Wilson: I thought it was interesting, because with such an economy of words, you still make a real impact. Is that difficult? Is that more difficult than say, writing a novel or a short story?
Steve: Actually, you know, it's slightly better than a screenplay. A few more cheats, you know. But nothing touches the freedom you have writing a novel. It is nice. That's kinda why I like it. A comic strip is sort of a nice in-between mix of words and pictures. I enjoy it. Thank you, I'm glad you think I picked the right words.
Staci Layne Wilson: Yeah, I do. I even reread a couple of passages. I was impressed. And the story really does lend itself to a film. Were you thinking about that when you came up with the idea?
Steve: It was a movie pitch. I pitched it for years, like at least four years before I did it as a comic. That's when IDW came up to me and they were like "We don't have any money, we can't pay you but you can do any comics you want" and I was like "I've got all these old movie pitches nobody bought". I showed it to them and Ted Adams picked 30 Days of Night. It was just a paragraph I had. It just lent itself really well. It was just like well, all of these pitches are sort of in three acts, let's do them as three issues, just do an act per issue and we'll see what happens. And it worked.
Staci Layne Wilson: How involved did you get to be with the film?
Steve: I wrote the first draft of the screenplay. I was really lucky because [Sam] Raimi, I think one of the reasons why he's so successful with doing Spiderman especially, is because he's so faithful to the source material. I think he's really learned that, you know, he knows. So he's kept me... he doesn't have to, I was only a writer. I'm not a producer on this project and they have kept me in the loop every single step of the way.
Staci Layne Wilson: Wow, that's amazing.
Steve: It's really nice. Sam or Rob Tapert were calling me, then David Slade was called me or I was talking to Stu Beattie who did a draft or Brian Nelson who did a draft... it's been unbelievable.
Staci Layne Wilson: It's interesting that David Slade is directing this because his last movie was so dialogue-heavy and of course comic books don't have a lot of dialogue… so what did he tell you about why he was drawn to the story?
Steve: He bought the comics off the stand as a fan. So he was already a fan, he said he just really wanted to do something he could bring that visual style and the story to the screen and really wanted that challenge. The thing I loved about Hard Candy was God, if he could get that kind of claustrophobia and paranoia and everything going with just those two characters in one house and keep you interested for that long, I'm like "God, what's he going to be able to do...you know, with a whole cast". I was just so impressed with that movie, I was really happy.
Staci Layne Wilson: I called it 'My Dinner with Andre for the MySpace set' in my review.
Steve: Exactly. I loved it.
Staci Layne Wilson: What do you think he's going to bring to your story? I mean, you hope, but have you seen any footage yet?
Steve: I've seen a lot. He has... it is so gritty and so scary I think we actually have a chance of having an actual scary vampire movie.
Staci Layne Wilson: Finally!
Steve: Finally, yeah. I think that's really what he brought to it. He brought this really gritty reality to it. It just looks amazing.
Staci Layne Wilson: Josh Hartnett, I must confess, is not one of my favorite actors. But then you know, I met him in person and he's so nice and I felt terrible that I don't really like his movies too much… so naturally I'm curious to know what he'll bring to the role, because actually as I was reading it, knowing of course that he was cast, I was thinking, he does kinda have that stoic way about him.
Steve: That's exactly it. I was like, you know Eben isn't supposed to say a lot. He's really kind of a quiet guy, holds in his feelings, he doesn't... I think he fits the role. I think he fits the role perfectly. I did the same thing as you; when he was cast, I was like I certainly know who he was, but it's just not the movies I watch.
Staci Layne Wilson: Right.
Steve: You know, 40 Days and 40 Nights wasn't on my "to rent" list. [laughter] But I did, I went out and got it and I watched Black Hawk Down and what was it that finally caught my attention, Lucky Number Slevin.
Staci Layne Wilson: I haven't seen that one yet.
Steve: I really enjoyed it. He really did a great character in that. And then everything I've seen in 30 Days is perfect, spot on. He took on the role, took it very seriously, you know a lot of non-genre actors you know when they get into horror movies they're like, "Well I'll just...I'm going to ride this one out." He really took it head on and threw himself into it. I'm really excited
Staci Layne Wilson: Now Danny Huston, on the other hand, I'm always like really impressed with and he's even got the mouth that's almost like the character in your book. It's uncanny.
Steve: He was scary before they got him to make-up. I know! I saw a picture of him smiling at like the Oscars and I was like "He's kind of creepy". To see him covered with blood and the fangs and all that stuff [is great].
Staci Layne Wilson: So who else is in the movie? Who plays the female lead?
Steve: Melissa George who is in Turistas and um... Amityville.
Staci Layne Wilson: She's great.
Steve: Yeah. I'm just hearing great things. Of course I'm bumbling now. Ummm. Who played the angel in X-Men 3?
Staci Layne Wilson: You've got me. But I do have IMDb here!
Steve: There you go. Oh, Ben Foster. We've got Ben Foster and he's the only one I haven't seen anything of.
Staci Layne Wilson: But as the Stranger? Is that not a character that was in the...
Steve: Yeah, he's the Renfield character, he's in the jail cell.
Staci Layne Wilson: Oh ...right. I read the book so long ago, you know! [laughter]
Steve: Ben Foster is playing that. The human scout. And I hear he did... I haven't seen any footage. I've seen mostly stills with him, and he just looks crazy.
Staci Layne Wilson: So when is this movie coming out, exactly?
Steve: October 19th.
Staci Layne Wilson: So right around Halloween.
Steve: Now they're just starting to ramp up for the promotion so we're literally within maybe a month of trailer and all that stuff will start. I'll get some idea what the promotion is going to be like but I imagine we're going to have a pretty big presence at San Diego [ComicCon] this year.
Staci Layne Wilson: So Sam Raimi is going to be there like every step of the way, hopefully?
Steve: I guess. I'm not sure. I'm still, you know...I know I will be. And David will be.
Staci Layne Wilson: You're currently working with Bernie Wrightson. How cool is that?
Steve: Bernie Wrightson [laughter] …I'm thrilled. We're doing this comic series called City of Others. Honestly, I've said it so many times now and I have to say...I'm just happy to know him. And like to let alone now to be working with him is just really amazing. He's one of...this is how huge this is...this is one of the first creators I've ever worked with that my mom knows who I'm talking about because I've been saying the name since I was about 6. She knows exactly. She's like, "Oh, he does the Stephen King..." She knows exactly. She's in her 70s so the fact that she remembers is pretty amazing.
Staci Layne Wilson: How do you contain your enthusiasm when you're signing books shoulder-to-shoulder?
Steve: It's really surreal, it really is. It's just so fun because the other side of it is he's the easiest guy I've ever worked with. Because we both have the same love for the same type of horror, you know just sit around...it's almost effortless. It's one of the best collaborations I've ever done. Really fun.
Staci Layne Wilson: So what can fans expect from your newest book?
Steve: You know what? Somebody actually said this is the closest thing to the horror comics of the 70s that they read, where the monsters weren't just the villains, they were lead characters of comics. And in that, that's very much what they can expect of what Bernie and I do. Humans will definitely be the background dressing. [laughter]
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