Marti Noxon, known to genre fans for commandeering Buffy during its later seasons and contributing key episodes since its second year, knew it would be tough to beat writing vampires after working on the show. “There’s a lot of vampires out there right now,” she explains. “I hadn’t really done anything [with vampires] since Buffy, and once you’ve done Buffy it’s really hard to top. But I was drawn to Fright Night because of the relationships and how they could evolve from the original to this version. I really wanted to write a vampire that DIDN’T play the piano. I missed vampires with viciousness and sexuality, which Colin Farrell absolutely has.”
The new Fright Night, starring Farrell, David Tennant, Anton Yelchin and other big names, is looking very fun. Star Farrell was cautious about taking a role in the remake, though – he explains why he changed his mind. “I loved the original. I had seen it first when I was ten or eleven. When I heard they were making it, I was dubious. I thought, ‘Oh, here we go; Hollywood and its originality.’ But I really liked the script. I had done some films that were more serious in their subject matter and I just wanted to have some fun. There was [also] enough homage paid to the original and enough new material to take the characters in a new direction.”
Fright Night will be released on 2 September in the UK.
