Christopher Heyerdahl: Interview With A Vampire

Christopher Heyerdahl knows from fanatics. Up ‘til now, the Canadian actor has bulked up his Imdb credits with work on cult sci-fi series the likes of Supernatural, Stargate: Atlantis, Smallville and the recently Gemini-honoured Sanctuary. But with his latest role -- that of the millennia-old, heartsick Volturi vampire, Marcus -- in the upcoming New Moon, Heyerdahl’s been introduced to a whole new breed of fangirl: the Twihard.

Before New Moon causes mass “dazzling” and hysteria in theatres Nov. 20, Heyerdahl talked to Dose.ca about the key difference between a Twi-hard and your garden variety sci-fi fanatic, how Marcus’ vampire superpowers (he’s an empath) would have come in handy on the New Moon set and how it was that a Twilight fan convinced him to take the role.

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Congratulations on your Gemini nomination for Sanctuary. It seems as though you’ve been involved in a lot of sci-fi shows with very fanatic fan bases.

(Laugh) Passionate is what I call them.

How do you find Twilight fans differ from the typical sci-fi fanatic? What makes them special?

Well, so far -- and I say so far because I have a feeling that after New Moon the demographic is going to change dramatically. I think that guys are going to be able to accept it without losing face.

Ah, you’re referring to the action scenes?

Yeah, absolutely. It’s pretty sexy, masculine stuff, I tell ya’, with the Volturi coming in, and the Wolf Pack. But so far it’s basically a female fanbase and I think that women allow themselves to admit to the world -- guys have a harder problem, though I think not so deep down we’re just as into it as anybody else -- that whole idea of very dangerous, sensual, animalistic, pure, everlasting love. It seems to be young women and their mothers. Twi-moms have invaded the scene! It’s been a lot of fun -- and there’s been an interesting amount of crossover. There’ve been a lot of people who’ve come down to talk to me [at sci-fi conventions], you know, sci-fi fans, and they know me from these other things I’ve done and also are extremely passionate about Twilight, so there seems to be some crossover there as well.

What are some of the more memorable fan encounters you’ve seen working on New Moon?

(Laugh) There was a girl in Chicago. I did an appearance in Chicago and there was a young girl there, it was very sweet. Literally every time she saw one of us she couldn’t speak. She’d sit there with this smile on her face and you’d see slowly she’d start to tremble, and then she would start to giggle, and then she would start to jump up and down, and she just giggled and jumped. That’s all she did.

She was about 15. She was a very, very sweet young girl. It was very funny. She could not speak. Cameron Bright [who plays Alec, another member of the Volturi] was there, and she’d just go ‘He’s s-o-o-o c-u-u-ute.’

So she wasn’t totally mute, then.

Well, she could only say something about someone who wasn’t there. If she was in their presence, I’d be like, ‘He’s right there, go talk to him, he’s a nice guy.’ ‘Oh no, he’s so c-u-u-ute.’ So it’s very sweet, very sweet.

I read you took the part because you know someone who’s a big fan, your niece. Is that true?

Yesss. She’s a big fan.

What was her reaction when she learned you’d be playing Marcus?

She was pretty excited, but she basically said, ‘Well, OK, but I don’t like Marcus.’

And I said, ‘Well, why don’t you like Marcus?’

‘He’s evil.’

I say, ‘What do you mean he’s evil? [*Total Twilight series spoiler!*] He saves Bella, he saves Renesmee, what’s the deal? He comes in and he saves the day all the time.’

She pauses, then says, ‘Well, he eats people.’

(Laugh) So there you go, you have to be a vegetarian to get the thumbs up from my niece.

What sort of insider gossip were you able to sneak her from the set?

(Laugh) True to form I gave her nothing at all! Nothing but the spin, baby. What happens on set pretty much stays on set, except for when Jamie Campbell Bower [who plays Volturi elder, Caius] gets dressed up in his geisha uniform and runs from bubble bath to bubble bath. Other than that I can’t say anything. Omigod, did I say that?

Now that the film’s almost in theatres, does she get anything else than the bragging rights that her uncle’s in the movie? Did you bring her any souvenirs from the set?

I wish I had, actually. I’m not an autograph seeker, and I have a thing for really honouring the set as a workplace, so what happens on the set stays on the set and it’s a place of work and concentration. It’s the inner sanctum. There’s so much craziness around this film that it’s best to leave all that fandom outside.

How would you describe the atmosphere on set?

The interiors were shot in Vancouver. … It was very serious. Very, very serious and very difficult set to work on. No, it was an absolute hoot. We were very intent on honouring the world that Stephenie [Meyer, Twilight’s author] created. We were very conscious. The fans have read these books, they know what’s in store for them. The lucky people like us who get to incarnate these characters, it’s a huge responsibility and one that everyone took very seriously, and the opportunity to work with Chris Weitz, who created this amazing set for everyone to work on, where everyone felt ready to take chances and be vulnerable and experiment and play and throw out ideas and -- it’s a great creative atmosphere.

Going off the action scenes we’ve seen from New Moon so far, it seems that the Volturi are far more smash-em-up than they seem in the book. Marcus has a rep as being the most apathetic of the Volturi, but in this movie adaptation, do things change so that even he is getting in on the stunts?

Well, I tell ya: I was always jumping up because I wanted to dive on Edward [Robert Pattinson] as well, and throw him around. But for some reason, Chris [Weitz, the director] just kept saying: ‘No, just stay in your seat, just stay in your seat, be more apathetic.’ It was very difficult, Marcus always wants to get in on the action. As soon as you wake the guy up -- as soon as Edward and Bella walk in -- he gets so excited seeing this beautiful young love, it reminds him of the old days with Didyme, his long-lost love, it’s pretty hard to keep that man down, now. He’s finally woken up after 2,000 years.

Marcus’ superpower is that he’s empathetic to relationships, right?

(Laugh) Yeah, his superpower is being empathetic. He has an amazing empathy and he’s able to see the connections between people. … He’s the one who’s able to see when allegiances are starting to wane, he’s the one who’s able to nip it in the bud. So we take care of problems before they become problems.

If you had that superpower in real life, how might it have come in handy on the New Moon set?

If I actually had it in real life I would know when Jamie Campbell Bower was going to be coming around the corner at any one time, knowing that he was going to be attacking me.

That’s the second time you’ve brought him up. Was he seriously a big prankster on set?

Huge prankster. He’s a very naughty, naughty, naughty young man.

Anything he actually did that you can tell me about?

You know what, I can’t tell you the truth. I can only tell you lies! (Laugh.) He’s a very naughty boy. I don’t think you could print the terrible things that he did on set. (Laugh.) That’s all I’m going to say. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination, it’s far more interesting.

Marcus plays an important role in the final chapter of the series, so I’m assuming you’re going to be back.

I certainly hope so. Marcus will be back, but you never know. I’m still waiting for the call and then until I see a piece of paper who knows.

You haven’t signed for the fourth movie, Breaking Dawn, yet?

No, we’re all waiting with bated breath.