Making ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE: Behind the Scenes
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A depressed vampire musician is rejoined by his centuries-old wife in this off-kilter romantic drama.
“I really like the whole history of vampire films that are the less conventional ones,” director Jim Jarmusch says. “I wanted to make a love story that involved vampires.”
The 2013 fantasy comedy-drama Only Lovers Left Alive revolves around the romance between two vampires. The two fragile and sensitive vampires, Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton), are cultured intellectuals with an all-embracing passion for music, literature and science, who have evolved to a level where they no longer kill for sustenance, but still retain their innate wildness.
Only Lovers Left Alive is a meditation on art, science, and the mysteries of everlasting love.
Driven by sensual photography, trance-like music, and droll humor, the film was written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, and also starred Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright, Slimane Dazi and John Hurt. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and Germany, the film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
“I’ve always loved vampire cinema and I’ve always wanted to make a vampire film,” Tilda Swinton told Fangoria, “and to make one with Jim Jarmusch was just the best trip of all.”
Jim Jarmusch told IndieWire, “I really like the whole history of vampire films that are more the kind of marginal, the less conventional ones. I’ve always loved all of those films, that type of approach. Rather than the sort of more obvious one and I wanted to make a love story for quite a long time. It’s had different variances to it, but somehow it got merged maybe eight years ago into my vampire film. So, I wanted to make a love story that involved vampires.”
The movie was ranked among the BBC’s 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century.
Sidenote: Talking with author Michael J. Seidlinger about his horror-comedy novel BROKEULA, he shared how much he appreciated Only Lovers Left Alive…
“I just love the thick atmosphere of [Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive], including how both protagonist vampires are humanized, their immortality and ‘powers’ deflated in favor of the endless plight and struggle of immortality itself. It really makes you think about the true reality, the actual burden, of living forever. It’s never as glamorous as you’d think.”
Find Only Lovers Left Alive online
Only Lovers Left Alive Behind The Scenes | Rotten Tomatoes Coming Soon
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) Cannes Interview - Tom Hiddleston & Tilda Swinton
A depressed, reclusive vampire musician is rejoined by his centuries-old wife in this off-kilter romantic drama. Watch the videos for info about the making of the movie.