The Playlist

Watch: Gemma Arterton Bathes In Blood In New Trailer For 'Byzantium'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 16, 2013 12:25 PM
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0 Comments

News

If you're going to make a movie about vampires, there's going to be blood. And Neil Jordan certainly brings the red stuff "Byzantium" (though maybe not as much as you might expect) his new take on the genre which takes a look the familiar vampire world, but from a female perspective.

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Gemma Arterton Draws Blood, Saoirse Ronan Finds Love In New Pics From Neil Jordan's Vampire Tale 'Byzantium'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 21, 2013 11:32 AM
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0 Comments

News

While vampires, werewolves and sorts of supernatura subject matter aren't going away anytime soon, it seems that international auteurs are getting in on the action. Christoph Gans is currently in the midst of "Beauty & The Beast" with Vincent Cassel and Lea Seydoux, and this summer, Neil Jordan takes on vampires in "Byzantium," and yes, there will be blood.

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Neil Jordan On The Influences Of 'Byzantium,' And Why He Cast Gemma Arterton & Saoirse Ronan

By Oliver Lyttelton
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September 12, 2012 3:30 PM
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1 Comment

Interviews

For a director who made his name with the excellent adaptation of Angela Carter's gothic deconstructed fairy tales with "The Company of Wolves" and his big studio breakthrough with "Interview with the Vampire," it's been a while since Neil Jordan traveled into more horrific territory. There were genre elements to his last film, "Ondine," but that was more of a warm, romantic fable (and a very underrated film). It's really been thirteen years since 1999's "In Dreams," when Jordan tackled the darker side of the supernatural world.

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TIFF Review: Bloodless 'Byzantium' A Vampire Tale Without Fangs

By Kevin Jagernauth
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September 10, 2012 12:29 PM
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5 Comments

Reviews

Between "Twilight" on the big screen, and "True Blood" and "Vampire Diaries" on the cable dial, among countless other books, graphic novels and more, if you're a fan of bloodsuckers, there's likely a flavor out there for you. And with countless other projects in the pipeline from Will Smith's directorial debut "The Redemption Of Cain" to Jim Jarmusch's "Only Lovers Left Alive," there are still more versions of this undead character on the way. But let's just hope they are more involving and creative than Neil Jordan's "Byzantium." The director's second bite into the genre following "Interview With The Vampire" is disappointingly bloodless (figuratively) and fangless (literally).

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Watch: First Clip From Neil Jordan's Vampire Tale 'Byzantium,' With Saoirse Ronan

By Drew Taylor
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September 7, 2012 11:05 AM
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3 Comments

News

It's been a while since Neil Jordan dipped back into the horror well. In the past decade he's tackled a glossy studio revenge movie ("The Brave One"), a mermaid tale ("Ondine"), a high-profile remake ("The Good Thief") and whatever the hell "Breakfast on Pluto" was. (He was also busy supervising the television series "The Borgias.") Well, Jordan is about to return to his roots with the vampire tale "Byzantium," set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. How about watching the first (squishy) clip?

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5 Fractured Fairy Tale Movies Worth Watching After 'Snow White And The Huntsman'

By Benjamin Wright
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May 31, 2012 11:57 AM
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10 Comments

Features

Once upon a time there existed a cinematic landscape where not every feature-length fairy tale movie was drawn from a classic story, and the descriptor “fractured fairy tale” didn’t just mean gross-out humor and a Scottish-accented Mike Myers playing a big green ogre. While some of those films have certainly succeeded (this writer has a soft spot for the first “Shrek”), the kind of tale that the likes of the Brothers Grimm would collect in their oeuvre of beloved folklore was often of the darker-hued variety – pitting characters in bleak struggles that would see them rise from the ashes as better individuals for it in the end. Yes, the stories were simple, but they also served as a basis for many of the storytelling tropes that are used today – and may have influenced a few of our own moral compasses, with the fables acting as parables for life's lessons.

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Jonny Lee Miller & Tom Hollander Join Gemma Arterton & Saoirse Ronan In Neil Jordan's Vampire Epic 'Byzantium'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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January 13, 2012 10:40 AM
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3 Comments

News

In this day and age, where you can't throw a rock in a movie theater without hitting a bloodsucker-themed movie, it takes a lot to get us to register even a flicker of interest in a vampire film. But it helps a lot if you have Neil Jordan at the helm, a man who way back to "The Company Of Wolves" has proven to be a master of the macabre, and a director capable of bringing plenty of thematic richness to genre fare.

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Gemma's Artertons On Display In Set Pics From Neil Jordan's Vampire Tale 'Byzantium'

By Drew Taylor
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December 7, 2011 2:20 PM
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3 Comments

News

Well, this is certainly an eye-opening first look (courtesy of the Daily Mail). Photos have leaked of the lovely Gemma Arterton from the set of Neil Jordan's cool-sounding vampire movie "Byzantium." The movie stars Arterton as a woman who, after she's transformed into a vampire, does the same to her daughter (Saoirse Ronan) and the two hit the road, posing as sisters, and presumably getting into a series of bloody misadventures. The cast also includes Sam Riley, Caleb Landry Jones, Bradley Jones, and Daniel Mays. But why are we even typing anything when you're just looking at those photos? Hello? Anyone?

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Sam Riley Joins Neil Jordan's 'Byzantium' Starring Gemma Arterton & Saoirse Ronan

By Simon Dang
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November 29, 2011 9:39 AM
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12 Comments

News

Seventeen years after tackling the vampire flick "Interview With A Vampire," Irish writer-director Neil Jordan is now returning to the genre that has a newfound popularity, with an upcoming female-led story that has two of the biggest rising thespians across the pond in Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan already attached to star. Titled "Byzantium," the film has now also managed to add another promising talent in the form of Brit actor Sam Riley to its ranks.

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Gemma Arterton & Saoirse Ronan To Play Mother & Daughter Vampires In Neil Jordan's 'Byzantium'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 15, 2011 2:00 AM
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4 Comments

We always feel that Neil Jordan is somewhat undervalued. Generally speaking, his films aren't giant hits (bar "Interview with the Vampire"), or gather awards attention (except for "The Crying Game"). And there are plenty of misfires across his career, from "Michael Collins" to "In Dreams" to the truly awful "The Brave One." But his work is consistently interesting, and sometimes downright superb, particularly when he delves into more fantastical territory: we're not sure that films like "The Company of Wolves" and the recent "Ondine" ever quite got the attention they deserved.

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