Vampire Academy Isn’t As Bad As Everyone Says It Is

The world’s latest young adult literary phenomenon adaptation didn’t exactly take off as expected in international box offices. Vampire Academy — based on the bestselling series by Richelle Mead, and written and directed by cult heroes the Waters Brothers (Mark, director of Mean Girls and Daniel, writer of Heathers) — was critically panned and met indifferently by audiences during its recent opening weekend, making its ending — which hints at a sequel — all the more awkward. Uh, not sure the other five books in the series are gonna make it to the big screen, kids!

Which is a shame. I haven’t read Mead’s insanely popular series (because I’m an adult), but the arch tone’s enjoyably closer to Buffy than those other sparkly, sad vampires of recent times. Also, the film features a nice turn from young star Zoey Deutch, who’s super likeable as the bitter pseudo-slayer, Rose Hathaway. Deutch — the daughter of actress Lea Thompson (Back To The Future, Caroline In The City) and director Howard Deutch (Pretty In Pink, Some Kind Of Wonderful) was in Sydney recently to shill the pic. We caught up with her at at some hotel that has a magical elevator that changes tunes depending on how many people enter the lift: on the way up, I heard De La Soul’s ‘Me Myself & I’; on the way down, it was ‘Billy Idol’s ‘Dancing With Myself’. Yep, I’m always sad and alone. Great lift, though.

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Junkee: Okay, this is a weird way to start the interview, but whatever: I had the biggest crush on your mum when I was a kid.
Zoey: She’s upstairs!

Uh, what?
Yeah, I brought her here! She’s in a room upstairs. I thought it would be nice, because it’s so far away and we could do some fun beach stuff and a couple of touristy things.

Holy shit, Mrs McFly is in the building. What are her thoughts on you following this career path?
Well, I think she’s just happy that I’m doing something that I love and that I’m doing okay in it and that I’m working. But I’m sure it’s also very difficult for her, because when something bad happens to me in terms of my acting career – like, if I don’t get something I love – she knows how painful it can be.

Have you ever yelled at your dad for not letting Molly Ringwald hook up with Duckie?
[laughs] I was annoyed at that. Well, originally that’s how it was supposed to end, but they tested it with audiences and no one wanted that.

Oh yeah, I remember hearing that. It’s understandable – Andrew McCarthy versus the guy from Two And A Half Men? Come on.
It’s an interesting twist, because that’s what you expect in the movie, for her to go with Duckie. And she doesn’t, which I kinda like – there’s some humanity in that.

I liked the reference in Vampire Academy where your character calls your stalker-y classroom crush ‘Duckie’. Nice in-joke.
My father thought so too. He’s like, “Ah, that’s hilarious!” That was all Dan Waters – it was in the script before I was cast, too.

The whole teen vampire thing’s been done to death in recent years, but there’s a unique tone to this one: it’s more Buffy-ish than the recent spate of ridiculously serious stuff.
Yeah, it’s very playful. It has a real sense of humour about itself. Most of the plot and tone are true to the book, but the jokes are elevated – that’s much more of a Dan Waters specialty.

There are some interesting themes in there: it’s mainly about female friendship and competitiveness…
Yeah, and I’m sure there’s some weird sexual undertones that come through between them, which is inevitable when you have two young girls sucking each other’s necks. It’s also Mark Waters pushing the envelope: he’s not romantic at all, so he always needs to undercut it with some irony. Any sort of sentimental romance was like pulling teeth with him.

What’s it like working with the Waters Brothers? I read in an interview where you said Dan Waters has “the mind of a 13-year-old girl”.
Well, evidently – have you read the kinda dialogue he writes?

Yeah, kids calling each other “Bloodwhore!”
Dan Waters is impossible, and Mark Waters just doesn’t let anything phase him. They couldn’t be any more different.

You’re really good at playing comedy. Do you see yourself doing a sitcom in the future, you know, like Caroline In The City?
[laughs] Maybe later! My mum did that when she was having kids. It’s a good job to have when you’re trying to settle down. Right now, I wanna do the movie thing.

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Browser History

Last Google Image search you made?
‘Pink Dior dress’. I’m wearing one to the Vampire Academy premiere and I was trying to see what kinda hair and make-up people have matched with it. That’s kinda embarrassing. Previous to that was ‘Neil Gaiman’. He wrote a short story that I love that’s being turned into a film script.

He has really nice hair.
Neil Gaiman? I didn’t notice.

Last article you read online?
‘Things To Do In Coogee Beach’.

Wow, that must be the world’s shortest article. “Get an ice cream” isn’t one of their tips, is it?
Huh? No. Wylie’s Baths is number one, whatever that is.

Last song you played?
‘Actor Out Of Work’, by St Vincent. I saw her perform at a DVF fashion show in New York recently.

Last thing you bid on on eBay?
Oh, a pair of Eames replica white chairs. I lost on eBay, but I got them somewhere else.

Last thing you Wikipedia’d?
‘Gustav Klimt’. My favourite artist. I was at a museum and saw one of his pieces, and the plaque mentioned the year that he made it, and I thought he was dead by then. Wikipedia proved me wrong. As did the painting which was right in front of me.

Last YouTube search you made?
‘Armadillo walking’.

That sounds so boring.
I find interest in a lot of bizarre things.

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Vampire Academy is now showing in cinemas nationally.