Interviews
[Comic-Con ’13 INTERVIEW] 5 Questions With ‘Fright Night 2’ Vamp Jaime Murray!
While we wait for the trailer to hit tomorrow evening, Thursday afternoon Evan Dickson had the chance to sit down and speak with the beautiful Jaime Murray (the seductress from an earlier season of “Dexter”) about her role as Gerri Dandridge in Fox Home Entertainment’s Fright Night 2, the sequel to their 2011 remake that also stars Chris Waller, Sean Power, Will Payne, Sean Power, and Sacha Parkinson.
Eduardo Rodriguez directs the sequel, which introduces Jaime Murray as Gerri, Charlie (Will Payne) and his horror obsessed friend “Evil” Ed’s (Chris Waller) young attractive professor. When the new villainess vamp turns Ed, Charlie seeks out Peter Vincent, the infamous vampire hunter (well, he plays one on TV) who is in Romania filming his show “Fright Night,” to teach him how to take down Gerri before she gets to Amy, who’s blood will cure Gerri of spending eternity as a vampire.
Tell me about your character, you’re taking over for Colin Farrell right?
“Yeah, I’m taking the place of the character you last saw played by Colin Farrell. Her name is “Gerri Dandridge.” The kids are taking a semester in Romania, which is a bit of a silly place for Charley to go off to based on his past experiences. In our film my character is a professor of art history. Very mysterious and enigmatic. Charley has his suspicions early on, so a lot of the humor comes from him trying to convince people who don’t believe him [that she’s a vampire].”
If Charley is aware of the vampires, then it has to be a half reboot/half sequel then. He’s experience the vampires already, but Evil Ed is back?
“Yeah, yeah.”
What are some of the gorier moments you had to endure?
“I don’t know if you’re familiar with the story of Elizabeth Bathory, who is the Romanian (or Hungarian depending on your source) aristocrat who was powerful and bored while her husband was away fighting wars. She kind of got involved with the occult and she decided the blood of young women was anti-aging and she started bathing in it.”
So the film has a nod to that? What was the most extreme moment when you read the script? Anything that gave you pause?
“I don’t know if I should give that away, but there’s some vicious and gory moments that require a lot of commitment with prosthetics. So, with the Elizabeth Bathory nod to bathing in the blood of virgins, there may be a little bath action in Fright Night 2.”
In the original Fright Night 2, in 1988, the female vampire is Jerry Dandridge’s sister, Regine. That’s not the case here?
“No, no. I think we’re saying that since we’re in Romania, which is the home of vampires, that this is an older vampire. Maybe even the original vampire.”
A release date for Fright Night 2 could come as early as tomorrow.
As the inaugural season of Apple TV+’s stellar new series “Widow’s Bay” barrels toward its finale in two weeks, the latest episode gives Kate O’Flynn the spotlight as her character revisits her trauma with the Boogeyman.
“Your Baggage“, directed by Andrew DeYoung (Friendship), sees O’Flynn’s scene-stealing Patricia once again renew her fight with the Michael Myers-like stalker that slaughtered her peers during her adolescence. Thrillingly, it makes for one extended chase sequence that sees Patricia trying to warn others, while evading the undead killer.
In short, this episode’s incredible riff on Halloween and the slasher subgenre transformed Patricia into a fierce Final Girl.
“Well, that felt like a bucket list that I didn’t know was on my bucket list until I did it, but when I did it, I just lapped up every minute,” O’Flynn tells Bloody Disgusting of her triumphant turn this episode. “It felt fantastic for her to get that moment where she is becoming a badass. That was amazing.”
The actress turned to a few notable references for her performance. “Horror-wise, I go back to my youth, which was referenced in some of the episodes: Wicker Man, Carrie, and Rosemary’s Baby, that sort of thing is my kind of vibe.”
O’Flynn also notes how the series’ unique tone allows for so much creative freedom to make bold swings. “There’s something very freeing about it. Every moment is up for grabs, so it’s like we don’t have to totally land in one direction or another. It keeps it alive.“
Patricia is the eccentric assistant to Matthew Rhys‘ Mayor Tom Loftis, who’s at the forefront of trying to solve the island’s pesky curse predicament. Rhys felt the same about “Widow’s Bay” and its rare ability to make you laugh and scream in equal measure, stemming from series creator Katie Dippold.
“The mandate was, ‘It’s a real world with real people. You play for real.’ There’s no playing for comedy or horror,” Rhys echoes O’Flynn’s sentiments on how freeing the series’ tone has been.
New episodes will release every Wednesday through June 17 only on Apple TV+.
Kate O’Flynn in “Widow’s Bay,” now streaming on Apple TV.
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