John C. Reilly on Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
Posted 09.30.09 by BrentJS
Actor John C. Reilly has played many roles in the more than 50 movies he has appeared in, but he's never really had the opportunity to "sink his teeth" into a role like the one he has in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. In director Paul Weitz's adaptation of the popular Cirque du Freak young adult novels by Darren Shan, Reilly plays Larten Crepsley, a vampire working in a traveling freak show. In a recent interview, Reilly said that it was Crepsley's humanity that attracted him to the role, rather than the character's supernatural abilities.
What drew me to the role was the fact that it was a real person, that he wasn't some supernatural mystical being that can turn into a vampire bat. The powers weren't so extreme that it was just another thing altogether, that this guy was a person who was alive in the 1800's who was essentially about my age.
So, I am like a 40-year-old who has been alive for 250 years or whatever ... that was interesting. You must have had really thrilling runs there. And then other times when it was just very dark. You almost wish you were dead.
Reilly said that he is "contracturally bound" to return in a sequel, if one is made, and that he would be interested in further exploring the world that Shan created in his books.
I really hope it does happen because there are some really exciting parts of these books yet to come. They go on these wild adventures. And once the War of the Scars is reignited between the two vampire clans, it really gets intense in the books, and Darren has to go off and be trained properly to be a real vampire warrior. There is a lot of cool stuff. There are some other really interesting characters that come in. And then Darren has to deal with what it is to be a vampire and go through some of the same heartbreak that Crepsley has been through. And you realize, "Um, if I don't make this person a vampire too and curse them with this, then I am going to lose them pretty quick."
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant also stars Salma Hayek, Willem DaFoe, Ken Watanabe, Orlando Jones, and Ray Stevenson
Next Showing: Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant opens October 23