14 DAY TRIAL // If you thought you would never read the name of Martin Scorsese and “Twilight” in the same sentence, never has come. In a recent GQ interview, the iconic director weighs in on the vampire frenzy, and argues why vampires are the coolest of the undead.
The conversation starts off with Scorsese saying a few words about the rumored sequel to his “Raging Bull,” and then suddenly takes a turn down vampire / undead alley.
If you ask him, Scorsese prefers vampires for a variety of reasons, just one of them being that they can talk and move about normally, which makes them ideal to build a story around and with them.
Not the same can be said about werewolves and zombies, unfortunately.
“The vampire thing always works for some reason. Always works,” the director says when the interviewer brings up “Twilight” and how its incredibly loyal fanbase enables the studio to come out with a fresh installment each year.
“I happen to like vampires more than zombies. Well, a vampire, quite honestly, you could have a conversation with,” Scorsese adds.
“I mean the undead thing... Zombies, what are you going to do with them? Just keep chopping them up, shooting at them, shooting at them. It's a whole other thing that apparently means a great deal to our culture and our society. There are many, many books written about it and many movies,” he continues.
Of course, exceptions also exist, the director further says.
One of them is a very bold, cheap but well done zombie project that took Cannes by storm when it premiered there in 2009: it's the perfect example of how the zombie horror genre can still bring forth something original.
“I saw one in London when I was doing Hugo. I saw one late at night one weekend. It was called Colin, by a young filmmaker [Marc Price]. He shot it, I think, digitally by himself, edited it himself,” Scorsese says.
“It was savage. It had an energy that took the zombie idea to another level. Really interesting filmmaking. Disturbing,” the director adds.
For the full interview, see here.