Sunday afternoon in the Hammerstein Ballroom at New York Comic Con, FX screened the pilot episode of their upcoming TV series “What We Do in the Shadows,” based on 2014 film of the same name. Show After the screening, it didn’t take long for the conversation to turn to whether co-creators Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi would reprise their roles from the film. “Only if something really disastrous happened,” Clement told panel moderator (and Rolling Stone TV critic) Alan Sepinwall. “Has to be of incredible import.” Confirming that this new series, the film, and the recent New Zealand series “Wellington Paranormal,” all take place in the same universe, Waititi also joked that they were building out a rival to Marvel. “What we’re doing is taking one idea and stretching it out,” said a deadpan Waititi, who directed this pilot after taking the lead on “Thor: Ragnarok.” While Vladislav and Viago might not be guaranteed to show up, the series has an impressive trio of new vampire friends at its core, including couple Nadja and Laszlo, played by Natasia Demetriou and Matt Berry. Clement explained that he wrote the part of Laszlo specifically for Berry, while the character name of Nadja is a nod to the 1994 Michael Almereyda film. Related
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They’re joined by an ensemble that also includes Kayvan Novak as Nandor, the symbolic leader of the group, and Harvey Guillen as Guillermo, Nandor’s human servant. Mark Prosch, perhaps most familiar to “Better Call Saul” fans as baseball card enthusiast Pryce. Clement and Waititi’s 2014 movie featured a healthy amount of werewolf counterparts. Clement was cagey as to whether this new series would feature anything comparable, but after alluding to a new character introduced in the pilot, Clement said, “Probably some other ones you’re more familiar with.” Series writer Paul Sims also revealed that an upcoming episode will take this new vampire group into Manhattan, where they’ll find some unexpected companions. “In one of the episodes … they venture into Manhattan for the first time. They’ve assumed that Staten Island is all of New York or maybe even all of America,” Simms said. “They meet the Manhattan vampires who are a little bit cooler than they are.” As far as setting this in New York, Clement said they had considered other locations before ultimately landing on Staten Island. “We discussed a lot of different cities,” Clement said. “Can’t be LA. Too sunny. Detroit, but there had been another vampire story, Jim Jarmusch’s film [“Only Lovers Left Alive”]. The pilot, set to air next year, also features previously announced cast members who include “Lady Bird” breakout Beanie Feldstein and shapeshifting monster expert Doug Jones. “What We Do in the Shadows” will premiere on FX in 2019. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. Taika Waititi has been a part of multiple cinematic universes throughout his career. There's Marvel, of course, as the director of the widely acclaimed Thor: Ragnarok. Perhaps the more surprising world that's expanded under his purview is that of What We Do in the Shadows, the beloved mockumentary he co-directed and stars in with Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement that was released in the United States in 2015. The film finds a documentary crew following a group of vampire flatmates in New Zealand, who are concerned with blood-sucking, yes, but also household chores and their social standing among the undead. Waititi plays the neatnik Viago; Clement is the lascivious Vladislav. Since its debut, there's already been a New Zealand-set spinoff about clueless police officers called Wellington Paranormal, and now there's an FX show that starts its season on March 27 which checks in with another group of night-dwellers who live on New York's Staten Island. The all-new What We Do in The Shadows -- executive produced and directed in part by Waititi -- centers on roommates Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo (Matt Berry), and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou). They've all lived (very) long lives -- Nandor was an Ottoman soldier, known as Nandor the Relentless -- but now exist in a sort of collegiate cohabitation situation. Others occupy the house as well: Nandor's human familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), desperate to get his fangs, and "energy vampire" Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), who feeds by boring the hell out of people through dull conversation. The half-hour episodes follow the vamps' misbegotten quest to take over the "new world," starting at the municipal level. Fresh off his stop at SXSW, Waititi got on the phone with Thrillist to discuss the ever-expanding purview of Shadows. Thrillist TV History of The History of Tailgating Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement (L) at SXSW 2019. | Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for SXSWThrillist: I read in an interview that you did with Jemaine Clement back in 2015 when the movie was coming out that you shot 125 hours of footage. Is that correct? I ask this because the What We Do in the Shadows world has expanded so much since then. In addition to the FX show, there's Wellington Paranormal and talk the werewolf movie, We're Wolves. Did you amass so much that you just thought it was inevitable that there'd be more stories set in this universe, or did that come later? Jemaine was more hesitant to do it? You directed the pilot of What We Do in the Shadows. Were you just not involved in the writing of that first episode? How involved were you in the brainstorming? Did you leave it entirely to Jemaine? It sounds like making a Marvel movie is an all-consuming enterprise. You mentioned the trepidation of leaving New Zealand. There's a very specific rhythm to the humor of the country. Were you trying to recreate the exact rhythms of the movie in the TV show, and was that hard? I read that you and Jemaine had said that the bit in the movie with the vampire character Deacon and his Nazi past did not go over well with Americans audiences. You have a movie coming out in which you play Hitler. Doug Jones pops up as the Baron at the end of the first episode. Beanie Feldstein's character Jenna has an arc. How did you think about plotting the show and approaching those side characters? One final question: Energy vampires? Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email and subscribe here for our YouTube channel to get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun. Is Taika Waititi involved in What We Do in the Shadows series?Taika Waititi revealed he used stolen props from The Hobbit set to film the cult classic What We Do in the Shadows.
Was What We Do in the Shadows Cancelled?The vampire mockumentary isn't going anywhere anytime soon. This should come as no surprise, since the show has been immensely popular since its debut, managing to please both fans and critics alike, which is a rare accomplishment.
Does Taika Waititi directed What We Do in the Shadows?What We Do in the Shadows is a 2014 New Zealand mockumentary horror comedy film written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi and the first installment in the What We Do in the Shadows franchise.
Who plays the djinn in What We Do in the Shadows?At the start of Season 4, Nandor finds a Djinn (Anoop Desai) who will grant him 52 wishes. As he's been on a quest for love, he asks the Djinn to revive all of his 37 spouses as he insists one of them was his true love.
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