Movies
TV: ‘The Walking Dead’ Director Michelle MacLaren Talks Graphic Novel Obsession
A new interview has been posted with “Breaking Bad” director and co-executive producer Michelle MacLaren from the set of The Walking Dead, AMC’s live action zombie adaptation that she’s also getting behind the camera for. Below you can read the interview where she describes becoming a graphic novel addict and facing her fear of rats during a zombie apocalypse. Shooting is underway in Atlanta, GA for premiere this October. The pilot was directed by Frank Darabont. Read our set visit preview for more.
Q: How did the opportunity to direct an episode of The Walking Dead come about?
A: AMC introduced me to Frank Darabont and Gale Anne Hurd, who really like Breaking Bad. Although The Walking Dead is a very different show to Breaking Bad, they mentioned incorporating some of the pace and style from Breaking Bad.
Q: Were you a comic book reader before this?
A: Well, the Archies when I was a kid. [Laughs] I am in love with graphic novels now, though. When AMC called about the project I immediately went out and got all the comics. I couldn’t put them down — I carried them everywhere I went. Graphic novels are such a visually creative world — it’s really interesting what they can do in one sketch. Now I’m hooked. I would love to find something else in this world to do.
Q: Your episode has a lot of elements that are not in The Walking Dead comics. Was it strange to tread new ground?
A: We always had the comic in mind. I love to shoot wide, graphic shots, so we had many moments in shooting this episode where we’d make choices because it was like a graphic novel, or it reminded us of the comic. Even though we got some in, I would have liked to have had time to shoot more long lens shots — I know Frank really likes that look — but it does take longer when you’re in certain situations, and this episode really required a lot of action. So things were a little bit more frenetic and fast-paced. [Laughs] I’m laughing because I’m thinking about some of our days, and I’m thinking, “God, that’s an understatement!”
Q: Any day in particular?
A: We were shooting on the street the other day, where we find Rick and Glenn in a rather dangerously challenging situation with walkers. We had 100 walkers, control of some downtown Atlanta city streets, and Rick and Glenn running for their lives. Both Andy [Lincoln] and Steven [Yuen] got so into it… well I don’t want to give anything away. Lets just say there are moments when you just have to pinch yourself and say, “This is so cool, I can’t believe I get to shoot this, I am in the middle of a graphic novel.”
Q: What’s the most challenging aspect of shooting this series?
A: This show creates its own post-apocalyptic world. I keep saying “OK guys, I know it’s an eighth of a page in the script, but it might as well say, ‘And Atlanta burns,’ because every scene there’s something happening.” You’re not just dealing with two people talking, there’s also 50 zombies banging at the door, and there is zombie goop and intestines and guts and everything around them, which is sticky — it sticks to the actors and sticks to everything. You have to be really cognizant of everything going on in this world, and the rules of this world. It’s very layered which of course makes it challenging and fun!
Q: You once described getting nightmares because of your work on The X-Files. Did you get any nightmares in Atlanta?
A: [Laughs] No, but when I’m directing and we’re rolling I really lose myself in the scene. So if somebody comes up and taps me on the shoulder, they will completely and utterly startle me, “Oh-my-God-there’s-a-zombie!” I have a major rat phobia, and we were shooting with some rats the other night, so I took an apple box and I stood on it, because if my feet weren’t touching the floor, the rat couldn’t touch me. And the still photographer, Scott [Garfield] kept looking at me and then down to my feet. And in his head, he was saying to me, “Why are you standing on the apple box?” But in my head, he was saying, “Hey, there’s a rat at your foot.” So I started going, “Where? Where! Where is it?!” [Laughs] It’s just these little things that can make you jumpy because you have this scary tension around you.
Q: It’s an interesting coincidence for you that both Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead feature an RV–
A: I thought you were going to say,”feature an axe.” I have an axe in this show. [Laughs] I thought it was funny that there was both an RV and an axe, and I thought there might be some Breaking Bad fans who go, “Hmmm?” But the axe doesn’t play a huge part, not like in Breaking Bad.
Q: Did you film it skimming along the ground at a close angle?
A: You may be on to me [Laughs]. I did a little, tiny homage to Breaking Bad. I didn’t do the exact same thing, but it was close. It was funny because Andy was carrying it, and he started to scrape it along the ground and I said, “Andy don’t do that.” [Laughs] “That is just waaaay too similar.”
The problem with filming sequels back-to-back is that, unless you can afford expensive reshoots, there’s no easy way to adjust course in between movies if fans react badly to where the story is headed. That’s why it’s important to have a complete narrative thought out well in advance lest you accidentally kill a budding franchise.
However, this isn’t always the case. Every once in a while, it seems like the cinema gods smile upon certain chaotic productions and gift moviegoers with complete franchises that feel like more than the sum of their hastily produced parts. Ted Nicolaou’s Bloodlust: Subspecies III is precisely one of these miraculous pictures, with the raw talents of the artists involved (as well as the continued support from Romania) turning the feature into an effective conclusion for a series that kind of made things up as the filmmakers went along.
That’s why I’d like to invite my fellow readers to join me on this third part of our journey through the Subspecies franchise as we look into Bloodlust and talk about how it remains a surprisingly satisfying finale to the original trilogy.
A Trilogy Planned on the Fly
Released only a year after Bloodstone found plenty of success in rental stores and mail-in VHS catalogues worldwide, 1994’s Bloodlust was produced at the same time as its predecessor in (mostly) the same locations and with the same team. This means that the movie benefited from all the same upgrades as Bloodstone, with the crew now being more experienced with the ins and outs of surviving a low-budget Romanian production and the cast really settling into their characters.
At this point, everything from location scouting to the makeup process had been streamlined, with Wayne Toth and Norman Cabrera, the main duo behind special effects, even switching out time-consuming prosthetics for latex gloves in order to speed up Anders Hove’s monstrous transformation. The titular “subspecies” demons were also once again relegated to a mere cameo appearance due to the laborious puppetry required to bring them to life.
The only real hiccup came from the fact that actress Denice Duff had replaced the first film’s Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and was immediately expected to portray the character as both an innocent victim in part II and as a secondary villain in part III. According to behind-the-scenes interviews, the hectic production schedule that blended two different movies meant that Duff would often find herself having to alternate between two incredibly different versions of Michelle during the same shooting day – though it’s obvious that she’s having more fun with Bloodlust’s more traditionally vampiric version of her character.
In the finished film, we pick things up immediately where the previous entry left off as Rebecca (Melanie Shatner) is forced to leave her vampire sister Michelle (Duff) behind in the dungeons of Castle Vladislav due to the rising sun. This allows Mummy (Pamela Gordon) to use Michelle’s blood to revive the vicious Radu (Hove) so that he may continue his quest for the coveted Bloodstone – a magical artifact that perpetually drips the Blood of Saints.
Meanwhile, the dreamy US embassy agent Mel (Kevin Blair) agrees to help Rebecca plan a rescue mission, though they’re unaware that Radu has become infatuated with Michelle during his attempts to guide her growing bloodlust. This all culminates in a climactic confrontation meant to tie up all of the series’ loose ends in one of Full Moon Pictures’ most ambitious productions.
The Evolution of Radu
Like its predecessor, Bloodlust: Subspecies III was also warmly received by fans who argued that the series was an even bigger success than Full Moon’s other major horror franchise, Puppet Master. This praise wasn’t unanimous, however, as 1994 had seen the rise of a more modern breed of sexy vampire popularized by Anne Rice, with old-school Nosferatu like Radu being viewed as obsolete when compared to the likes of Lestat and Gary Oldman’s take on Dracula.
In a way, one might argue that Nicolaou’s film is something of a swan song for the classic vampire story, as Bloodlust combines all of the traditional elements we tend to associate with these tales into a single tragic yarn that ties a neat little bow on Radu’s story as well as the old-fashioned monster movies that he represents. The finale remains shocking despite the fact that this is the third time we see Radu get brutally killed onscreen, with the brief tease that he may one day return feeling more like a nod towards the nature of evil rather than sequel bait.
The film dabbles a bit in gothic romance and even explores the inherent power fantasy behind transforming into an immortal creature of the night, but the filmmakers never lose sight of Radu as a demonic force even when he’s willing to betray his beloved Mummy for Michelle’s sake. In fact, his twisted “love” for his fledgling makes him even creepier as we get the feeling that his passion comes from a dark and disturbing place.
Anders Hove is at his absolute best in this film, with the effects department boosting his moments of what the younger generation would call “aura farming” whenever Radu emerges from shadows like a 90s version of Count Orlok. There are even a couple of surprisingly effective jump-scares here, which is why I’d argue that Bloodlust cements Radu as one of the most memorable cinematic vampires of all time despite his humble origins.
Subspecies Saves Its Best For Last
Nicolaou and Vlad Panescu also saved the best for “last” (more on that in a bit) regarding the film’s visuals, with the cinematography and overall atmosphere of Bloodlust absolutely surpassing what we saw in the previous films. Everything feels appropriately climactic this time around (including the wonderful soundtrack that was co-composed alongside an authentic Romanian orchestra), and I appreciate how this is the fastest-paced entry in the trilogy since the film doesn’t need to waste time setting anything up.
Bloodlust still suffers from some of the same low-budget blemishes as its predecessors, but there’s so much creative passion here that no amount of wonky effects work or stilted dialogue can get in the way of appreciating the flick’s gothic grandeur. That’s why it’s not surprising that the movie’s definitive(-ish) ending would later be retconned as fans begged for more Radu.
Of course, the next entry in this series would be a different kind of vampiric endeavor altogether, with the filmmakers attempting to engage with the same trends that ultimately killed Radu and his antiquated kin. That, however, is a story for another time. For now, I’ll merely insist that Bloodlust: Subspecies III remains a highlight of Full Moon’s expansive catalogue and is definitely worth seeking out today.
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