As sure as day follows night, a sequel for Timur Bekmambetov’s modern-day vampire classic Night Watch was always on the cards. However, nobody quite expected that Day Watch would have the impact it did. Released in Russia at one minute past midnight on January 1, 2006, it became the first film in the post-Soviet era to surpass the $30 million mark at the box office. Picking up the story from the original, we reunite with Anton (Konstantin Khabensky), a Night Watch agent who tries to keep the peace in a centuries-old underground cold war between two opposing vampire factions, the so-called Light Others and Dark Others.

While both Night Watch and Day Watch were released internationally by Fox, the Kazakhstan-born Bekmambetov is no stranger to working in the US system. Back in 2000, Roger Corman produced Bekmambetov’s second feature, Roman gladiator story The Arena (also known as Gladiatrix) in Russia. It certainly held him in good stead for working in Hollywood. Before he completes the third part of his vampire series, currently known as Twilight Watch, Bekmambetov has filmed Wanted. Based on Mark Miller’s explosive graphic novel, it stars James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie in a story about a young man who discovers his murdered father was an assassin.

Pyroradio.com: Do you consider Day Watch a vampire movie?

A: No. To me, the vampire is like a character in real life. Somebody drinks blood, …but it’s not a genre movie. It’s just a character who drinks blood. He’s a butcher because of that…I don’t like vampire movies. It’s very realistic what we’ve made; it’s just a realistic movie about vampires.

Pyroradio.com: Day Watch features the destruction of Moscow. Was that something you enjoyed doing?

A: No. No. I prefer to keep Moscow as it is. But we have to see what will happen. The destruction of Moscow is an interesting subject…we ordered these CG shots from Ukranian CG artists, and they made it. They were very enthusiastic!

Pyroradio.com: Was this a more complex film to make than Night Watch?

A: Yeah, because we understood how to make it. It was interesting. It’s part of our film language and we just made it…but we had already created the technologies, the network of CG artists. Immediately, if you had an idea, then at night, you can spread the task between all these people around the world.

Pyroradio.com: Can you give me an example of what was particularly difficult?

A: The opening scene: the castle was 3-D – and we had 3-D horses. Virtual horses!

Pyroradio.com: But the effects are not all computer-generated?

A: It’s mixed. All the time it’s mixed. You will never get a good result with just one method. You have to shoot elements, add CG and then the actors have to interact with this. For example, there was one effect, when he changed his face with the snow, and there’s no CG at all. That was just manipulating your attention – how to grab you and to change characters and you don’t see the cut. It’s witchcraft. It’s a movie about witchcraft! You are watching two hours – I hope – and you cannot escape!

Pyroradio.com: One of the most shiver-inducing effects in the spider-doll. What was behind that?

A: It’s my idea. It’s my doll from childhood! There was a small dark dot on the doll – it’s a nice pink doll but the concept was to find the scariest thing in the most ordinary of objects.

Pyroradio.com: You learnt a lot of your skills from Roger Corman, right?

A: I think he’s a most important character in filmmaking in general. He’s a person who declared and follows this declaration, that the movie is interesting itself. The projection, light, music, naked women, guns…it was a value in itself. I found from him that filmmaking is much simpler, like bread. People need it; people need any movie. To project something, to buy popcorn, to come to the theatre with a friend – somebody has to shout, to kiss. It’s a ritual and he’s like a priest. He knows how to serve this ritual.

Pyroradio.com: So you don’t mind working on a low budget?

A: If you don’t have money for a special effect, you have to create the idea of how to produce it cheaper.  It keeps you fresh, creatively. You can find this everywhere – Peter Jackson and Quentin Tarantino and James Cameron, all my favourite directors, have this relationship with filmmaking. It’s like baking bread. They love audiences and feel like children. Otherwise, it’s a very depressing process. Filmmaking is very complicated – and if you take it too seriously, it’s very depressing.

Pyroradio.com: Do you see Day Watch as a sequel?

A: No. It’s just one movie, in two parts, and it’s important to see both of them.

Pyroradio.com: What about a third film to complete the trilogy?

A: In Russian, it’s done. We’ve finished and gave it to Fox. Now, if it happens, it will be an American movie – but with some of the same actors. But it won’t be like McDonalds because that is the same product everywhere.

Pyroradio.com: Does this mean you’ll have the chance to destroy New York?

A: This was done a lot of times already!      

Pyroradio.com: Tell me about the crazy subtitles. What was behind the idea for those?

A: When Fox explained to me that the American market needs subtitles, as nobody dubs, I thought, ‘We don’t have to be ashamed that we have subtitles, but we should be proud’. It has to be an element of the movie – like a character. I have to direct it, create the costume….and now the subtitles are a part of the movie.

Pyroradio.com: So given Night Watch and Day Watch were released by an American studio, do you consider them Hollywood films now?

A: It’s a double masquerade. It’s a Russian movie dressed as a Hollywood movie, but still at the core a very Russian film. But to be recognised as something valuable for the Russian market, we should look like a Hollywood movie. It’s made with the look of Hollywood, but this is what attracts Hollywood. You can see very American stuff – like a coat made in China.

Pyroradio.com: But what would you say your original goal was with the series?

A: Our goal was to create a movie for local, Russian people. It was a unique idea. Usually, directors and producers there want to produce something for the European market, as it’s a huge market. It looks very sweet to do something for everybody, but it’s impossible. The only way to make something unique and successful is to make it for your country – and then it becomes international, because it has some universality and its interesting for everybody. I was surprised when the Hollywood studios grabbed us and proposed something…it was very strange.

Pyroradio.com: Do you see the film as political at all?

A: We never planned to tell something political. We just made an entertaining movie. But, of course, because we live there, and are aware of what’s happening around us, maybe it’s somehow presented in the film.

Pyroradio.com: Have there been academics analysing theories behind Night Watch?

A: Yes, there is a book in Russia, called ‘Dozor as a Symptom’ – a collection of articles by famous Russian philosophers about the film. It was very interesting. I felt like I was visiting the psychiatrist – they analysed everything.

Pyroradio.com: How would you explain the basic philosophy behind the films?

A: The original idea of the movie is not about the conflict between good and evil, but between dark and light. I think in our country, there are also dark ones and light ones – dark ones represent freedom and light ones represent care.

Pyroradio.com: There is no real history of fantasy films in Russia, is there?

A: It was a very interesting project. It was a new genre and we don’t have fantasy traditions in the movies. But we do have fantasy traditions in literature – we have Gogol, who wrote a lot of scary stories. Russian fantasy is mystical fantasy; it’s not fantasy like comics. It was very interesting for me, because I’m not a ‘fantasy’ man. I don’t believe in it – I didn’t believe in it. Like any director, during the process I’ve fallen into this world…the concept of the project was to find fantasy elements in reality. Because of the traditions, we have two different goals. One goal is to create another world to tell the story – it’s a traditional way. But for us, it was more important to find a story to establish the world. This is why our movie is not so straight. If they understand everything, it’s difficult to sell people the world.

Pyroradio.com: A lot of critics have the found the films difficult to interpret. How does that make you feel?

A: I had the same type of conversations for the first film, then when I asked people, it seemed they understood everything. But it wasn’t enough to think that they understood it! I don’t have a problem with the public and I don’t have a problem with executives. It’s just the critics! You’re trying to understand. We didn’t make a movie for people who wanted to understand…we made a movie for people who want to enjoy the movie. It’s different. You cannot analyse this movie – it’s really different. We made it especially for Russian people. We feel them. We love them. We know what they feel and how they will react – and we never thought, ‘What’s the genre of the movie? Is it a vampire horror or a Dostoyevsky-like drama?’ We never thought about that.

Pyroradio.com: So how would you explain Day Watch to these people?

A: It’s a movie about a man who made a big mistake, and it was so crucial to his life, that his world breaks apart – in two parts. Then, all his concerns become real. It’s strange for me. If you try and talk about a Beckett story, and you ask me to explain what it means, I will say it’s absurd theatre. Just create some word and say Day Watch is this – and then everyone will be happy!

Pyroradio.com: I wondered if you were influenced at all by Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom?

A: Yes! When we discussed about Zavulon, the leader of the Dark Ones, we built this character based on the Lars von Trier series.

DAY WATCH
RELEASED ON DVD
MONDAY 28 JANUARY 2008