A stylish adaptation of the cult comic book, 30 Days of Night sees Hollywood heart-throb Josh Hartnett play a sheriff attempting to defend a small Alaskan town against a vampire attack. “I think fans will be happy,” he tells David Grove.

What attracted you to this project?

I hadn’t read the graphic novel before I was sent the script, so I read both at the same time. I’ve always been a big fan of vampire films, but the real reason I was drawn to the project was because of the people who were involved as I’ve never been a big comic book fan.

I saw Hard Candy, David Slade’s last film, and I was blown away by how good it is and what a good job David did with the characters. Then I flipped through the comic books and I was amazed by the visuals in the books. I thought that the combination of the exciting source material and David’s vision would make for a great film.

What did you like about your character, Eben Oleson?

What I liked about the comic books was that there was room for a lot of interesting characters - both the human characters and the vampire characters.

Eben’s a small town guy who lives in Barrow, Alaska, in the middle of nowhere, and he’s the sheriff, the authority figure, along with his wife. They represent the law in this barren place, the only sign of authority because there’s nothing else around.

If you’ve ever been to Alaska, there’s a lot of reasons why people would want to live in such an isolated and bleak setting. It’s an amazing, haunting location to set a film in, and a great location for a horror film. I thought the film had a great premise in that you have these characters who are stuck in this situation where there’s no way out, literally. You’re being hunted by these vampires, and there’s really nowhere to run.

What was it like working with David Slade on his first big studio film?

David’s a great director. We actually met for the first time when he came to Minnesota, my hometown, and met me in a bar to talk about doing the film. He had a digital camera and he took pictures of the place and of me and then sent the pictures back to me, which he’d edited and added stuff to. The pictures were very dark in terms of the surroundings and that was David’s way of showing me what his approach was going to be for this project. I could tell he had the right vision for the film.

David’s a great director to work with because he doesn’t let the special effects or the violence ever overwhelm the characters. He understands that you have to care about the characters before you care about what happens to them, like if they’re about to be eaten. He’s also been extremely faithful to the comic books in terms of the vampires, the look of Barrow and the characters.

How do the vampires in 30 Days of Night differ from other movie bloodsuckers?

That’s what I loved about the comic books. I loved the fact that the vampires looked different and acted in such an unconventional way. The teeth are jagged, their faces are ripped to pieces and they’re just killing machines.

What’s unique about this story is that it plays on the idea that vampires have become these mythological beasts. They’re not taken seriously because people either don’t believe in vampires or they’re not scared of them anymore because vampires have been treated in such a silly way in recent years.

In the film, the vampires have a real sense of mystery in terms of where they came from and who they are. They maintain their mystery by making things look different than they are - they kill somebody and make it look like it was an accident so they don’t draw attention to themselves. By the time the killing becomes an epidemic, everyone’s dead and they leave town. They look for a town, like a Barrow, that’s isolated, that’s cut off, and they kill everyone they can find and they kill any witnesses…It’s definitely a new take on vampires.

What was it like working with Danny Huston, who plays the chief vampire Marlow?

Danny’s a great actor, and his performance in the film is amazing. He’s terrifying! As soon as he appears you can tell he’s the leader of the pack because of the great authority he has in terms of his physical presence, his eyes, the way he’s dressed.

Danny had a tough job because he had to wear contact lenses along with teeth and nails. He would actually wear that stuff when he went back to the hotel so he could stay in character. His character speaks in a different language that sounds really creepy. Danny’s a really nice guy himself, but when he walked around in costume he scared people!

What was the biggest challenge in making the movie?

We filmed in Auckland, in the snow, and we filmed at night for weeks. It was a very long shoot, one of the longest I’ve been involved with, about 50 days. We filmed in this town in New Zealand where the locals basically let us take over the town completely.

I think the biggest challenge was just trying to bring the essence of the comic book to the screen, and I think David’s done a great job. The drawings in the comic by Ben Templesmith are so shocking and grotesque that it’s almost impossible to duplicate them exactly on-screen - but I think we’ve gotten as close as possible. I know that Ben and Steve Niles are very happy with what they’ve seen. If they’re happy, I think fans will be happy as well.

Are you a fan of horror movies?

Yes, I’m a fan of the horror genre, of any genre as long as it’s good. I’ve always been a fan of vampire films. I haven’t done a horror film since I did The Faculty with Robert Rodriguez, and before that I did Halloween H20. The reason is I never found the right combination of good material and good people that I wanted to work with, until I talked to David and Sam Raimi about doing this. I thought it would make for an interesting film, and I would also be able to say that I starred in a vampire film, which has always been a dream of mine.

30 Days of Night is out now on DVD (region 1 & 2).