Exclusive Interview: 30 Days of Night Creator Steve Niles

Posted by Brian C. Gibson (brian@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 19, 2007

I had a chance to sit and hang out with good friend of the site, and creator of 30 Days of Night, Steve Niles. Steve has had his hand in alot of projects recently, namely the adaptation of his ground-breaking graphic novel to the screen. Steve teamed with director David Slade to create one of the best vampire films in many years. I have already had a chance to see the film, and you can check out what I had to say here. For those of you who haven’t had a chance to see it, let’s see what Steve had to say.

I wanted to know how Steve felt once he had heard that his graphic novel was in negotiations for film adaptation. “When the movie sold, we had a bidding war between three studios. I just remember my agent calling me and going, ‘So Sam Raimi is interested.’ And I said I don’t care what studio, I don’t care what they are offering, just go with it.” If Sam Raimi being involved wasn’t enough to send Steve into Hollywood heaven, when producers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert signed director David Slade, it sealed the deal.

David Slade is without a doubt one of the hottest young actors to hit the scene. Edward Douglas of ShockTillYouDrop.com said “Hitchock never made a vampire movie, but if he did, it might look something like 30 Days of Night.” When talking about the signing of Slade, Steve said “We saw Hard Candy, and we’re like ‘This is the guy.’ Anyone that can do a movie with two characters and keep you that interested the entire time, is cool by me. And as it turns out, he’s a big fan of the books. I couldn’t be happier with how the movie turned out.” So now that 30 Days of Night had a studio and a director, what did Steve think about casting?

Namely, I was curious about what Steve thought of Josh Hartnett. “I just went out and looked at some of his movies and stuff, and he had the look no doubt. Eben is just a stoic, Native Inuit who doesn’t really have alot to say. Now that I have seen what they have done, I’m really excited.” Hartnett’s performance was, for sure, the best of his career. 30 Days of Night is catching so much steam right now, that the studio is already in talks for a sequel. Make sure to check out 30 Days of Night which releases today October 19th.

Read more articles by Brian C. Gibson