'Legion' director Scott Stewart talks vampires, Paul Bettany

The sky opened up and let loose a hail storm in between sheets of rain on Hollywood on Thursday night, somewhat fitting for the Cinerama Dome premiere of "Legion." The Screen Gems movie, produced and financed by Bold Films to the tune of about $32 million, is a tale of a rebellious angel played by Paul Bettany who tries to save mankind against an angry God. (And it's doing alright at the boxoffice, opening up in second place, after "Avatar," with around $18 million.)

The afterparty a few blocks away at nightclub Boulevard 3 was much more in the Garden of Eden vein, if your vision of paradise is filled with pretty girls with angel wings tempting you with Sprinkles cupcakes.

Scott Stewart was in the thick of accepting congratulations on his directorial debut and eager to talk about "Legion," but when I asked him first if he had finished with "Priest," his post-apocalyptic vampire thriller also starring Bettany, he said yes, then proceeded to excitedly talk about that movie...

Scott Stewart: I didn't feel like I had a lot to add to the vampire lore when I first read "Priest." I really liked the script, but one thing I didn't want to do was a sexy vampire movie. "True Blood" is doing that. And my vampires aren't going to sparkle in the daylight. What I ended up making instead is a movie about war and the aftermath of war and the sacrifices we go through.

It takes place a generation after the war, a hundreds-year war between man and vampire, and the characters of the priests are like Jedi Knights that helped turn the tide. My focus is how now the vampire is vanquished, and society has moved on from you. You're not the hero anymore, and people look at you like a freak. They won't talk to you. And so we look at what happens after that if you're called into service again. You end up questioning why you made those sacrifices to begin with.

Heat Vision: So what are your vampires like?

Stewart: The vampires are very feral and very violent. They are not human. They don't talk English. They are not people at all, they're digital characters. We've created a whole lore about them.

Heat Vision: You've now worked with Paul Bettany on two movies. What is it about him that makes him an action star in your eyes?

Stewart: He is just so soulful. He has an amazing face. He and I both love Clint Eastwood movies, we love Steve McQueen. ... You meet him and he is so articulate and literate, and yet we love the silent heroes that have the thousand-yard stare. For both movies, we ended up doing what McQueen did, which was remove dialogue for his character, so that he talked less.

He can do the physical stuff, but he is such a good actor. We've seen that kind of casting process in recent years, with Christian Bale in Batman and Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man." (Bettany) just elevates the material.

He really (got) the story from a writing point of view. And it makes my job easier, to have someone I know I don't have to worry about. Every (filming) day is usually a siege of trying to get what you want and everything going against you, but he makes everything easier.

Heat Vision: So with this movie coming after "The Book of Eli," and angel books being snapped up, is there something religious or Biblical in the air?

Stewart: The movie happened for me when it happened, it wasn't that calculated for me. But why this time that it came together? It's in the zeitgeist. I don't think there's any other way to explain it. We're at the beginning of a new millennium, and if you look at the end and beginnings of millenniums past, you see in literature and culture a lot of people who are afraid when the calendar turns over and others who are very excited and think it's the beginning of something.

There's also a lot of crazy things going on in the world. And I know we're egotistical to think we're living in unprecedented times, but ... we're living in unprecedented times. I'm going to say it. Look at the craziness that is happening around the world and you think, "Are we heading over a precipice?" As a filmmaker it's fun to ponder that.

Heat Vision: You think we're searching for God or something like that?

Stewart: I think we're always looking for meaning.

This is an unusual movie in certain respects. It's not a straight-ahead horror movie and it's not just a supernatural action film. It takes an inordinate amount of time with its characters. All of them are suffering from similar dilemmas: angry fathers, disappearing children, family troubles. They find themselves lost in a kind of purgatory and they all become heroes. Or at least, they have their moment.

To me, it's not about putting your hand on the Bible, or going to church. It's about people who against all odds don't stop trying to do the right thing and try to help each other.

I don't know. I like movies like "Dawn of the Dead" a lot and wanted to try to add some dimensional drama to it, but still have it be a roller-coaster. What did you think?

Comments

[buy R4i 软件]

Great review.Sewart indicates that this is a Revelations version of God. In that chapter of the Bible God uses all kinds of scary special effects to scare John and show him what is going down at the Apocalypse. All the writers and Stewart are doing is using the same special effects used in Revelations in a modern art form, the feature film -- with a twist that we will see when the film premieres.

[gbu]

Great AVATAR leads again, its a masterpiece! unlike this classless and disturbing movie LEGION, or this boring violent movie ELI. Filmmakers please note that gory violence or a black cast will never make a huge box office

[hatchling]

Spare me all the films with this false religious gobbledly gook stuff like Eli, Legion and now Priest.

I hate seeing a fine, intelligent actor like Bettany being type cast.

[noobtube]

Avatar...a masterpiece. Yeah, if you like a recycled version of Pocahontas in a shiny, new 400m box. And I guess gore porn like the Saw series never did well in the box office, huh? I thought Legion showed much promise and I think this guy will make some great films. If you recall Del Toro's Mimic, many panned that film. I'm glad he rose above the noise and was able to make films like Pan's Labyrinth, which i thought was a real masterpiece.

[tiffany co]

Filmmakers please note that gory violence or a black cast will never make a huge box office

[jana]

Legion was gnarly http://bit.ly/bEgvjN

[The Book of Eli Movie]

It is a very good family movie. I have seen this movie last night and really enjoyed it. I wish I will watch this movie once again. You must also go for it.

[polo ralph lauren]

Great AVATAR leads again, its a masterpiece!