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MANILA, Philippines?Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire?s Assistant, based on the popular series of books by Darren Shan, is a fantasy-adventure about a teenager who unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires. Pulled into a fantastic life of misunderstood sideshow freaks and grotesque creatures of the night, one teen will vanish from the safety of a boring existence and fulfill his destiny in a place drawn from nightmares.

16-year-old Darren (Chris Massoglia) was like most kids in his suburban neighborhood. He hung out with his best friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson), got decent grades and usually stayed out of trouble. But when he and his buddy stumble upon a traveling freak show, things begin to change inside Darren. That?s the exact moment when a vampire named Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) turns him into something, well, bloodthirsty.

Darren?s journey begins the minute he makes a pact with Crepsley to join the traveling freak show. For Weitz and the other producers, bringing together the right combination of actors for the young vampire?s adventure was as important as creating the exact production design for the film.

To play Darren?s mentor, the legendary vampire Larten Crepsley who can run at the speed of light (i.e., ?flit?), the filmmakers made an unexpected choice: They cast John C. Reilly, a performer primarily known for his comedic roles. ?Crepsley is supposed to be this weird, eccentric dude,? explains Weitz. ?He is not your conventional image of a brooding, studly vampire. I needed a really wonderful character actor to play that part, and John fit the bill.?

When it came to playing Crepsley, Reilly found little difficulty bringing the two-centuries-old vampire to life. ?He just evolved in the way all my characters evolve,? the actor notes. ?I read the script and research materials, and Crepsley started to come to life. I didn?t make any big changes in my mind from the book.? He also found playing a nonmortal freeing. ?It?s not often you get to play someone who is 220 years old. That got me really excited about the character?how cynical you?d be after living all those years.?

Cast as the mysterious Mr. Tall, the Cirque?s owner and operator, was Japanese actor Ken Watanabe, known to most Western audiences from his Oscar?-nominated turn opposite Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai. Mr. Tall remains a strong-willed mediator between the vampires and the vampaneze, and his kindness is matched only by his fierce protection of his own. From rescuing Evra the Snake Boy when he was a baby to his long-standing tolerance of Crepsley?s bending the rules, Mr. Tall runs the Cirque with a kind, yet iron fist.

Playing the role of Darren?s longtime best friend and eventual enemy was 16-year-old Josh Hutcherson. The actor has a longer resume than Massoglia, having played characters in Bridge to Terabithia and Journey to the Center of the Earth. While he has often played the good kid, Hutcherson was excited when he heard he would be showing his bad side in The Vampire?s Assistant. Hutcherson explains his character?s motivation: ?With Steve, it?s part of his destiny to become a vampaneze. He?s obsessed with vampires, and he?s always wanted the life of a nomad living by his own rules.?

When Darren and Steve first enter the world of the Cirque Du Freak, they find humans and humanoids unlike anything they?ve ever seen. The fact that they?d dare flaunt boringness and normality infuriates one of their teachers, Mr. Kersey (Christmas With the Kranks? PATRICK BREEN), mortifies Darren?s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Shan, played by Ocean?s Thirteen?s DON MCMANUS and Four Christmases? COLLEEN CAMP, and fascinates his kid sister Annie, played by newcomer MORGAN SAYLOR.

Shuler Donner gives us a look inside the world of these freaks. ?The characters are wild,? she says. ?We have the beautiful Madame Truska, played by Salma Hayek, who grows a beard, and Alexander Ribs [Orlando Jones], who is one of the world?s thinnest men. There?s Corma Limbs [Jane Krakowski], who can take off her arm and it?ll grow back. We meet Gertha Teeth [Kristen Schaal], who can hang onto a flagpole by her teeth and Rhamus Twobellies [Frankie Faison], who can eat anything and put together anything in his stomach. My favorite is Evra the Snake Boy [Patrick Fugit], who is just as he sounds.

?There are all really fun characters, which is another reason I was drawn to this movie,? she continues. ?I knew we wanted the film to incorporate the Cirque, and not in a pathetic, sad way, but in a way that you understand these people who are born with deformities. If you take it one step further, everybody has a little something wrong with us?we just take it to the nth degree.?

Madame Truska not only portrays Crepsley?s frustrated girlfriend, the bearded lady of the Cirque is also a powerful psychic who warns Darren of the looming war between the vampires and the vampaneze. Of her casting, Weitz explains, ?I wanted someone who is conventionally voluptuous to be able to sprout a beard at will. Salma fit the bill, and she?s really fun.?

The actress agreed to the role because she read Madame Truska as someone who ?is strong and knows what she wants, but at the same time she can be very sweet and vulnerable.? Hayek agreed with Shuler Donner that one of the most curious aspects of the Cirque performers was not their peculiarities but their humanity. ?She is madly in love with a vampire. You definitely recognize in her a lot of the longings every woman has. She just wants this man to love her for who she is and to settle down. To see these very strange women deal with such common problems was fascinating to me.?

Little does Darren know but he has been destined for the war between the vampires and the murderous vampaneze since before he was born. The leader of the vicious sect is the ironically named Mr. Tiny, played by character actor Michael Cerveris. His second-in-command is the vampaneze killer Murlaugh, portrayed by Ray Stevenson.

Leslie explains the motivation of the sociopath who tries to snatch Darren the minute he becomes undead: ?Murlaugh is a good foil for Crepsley and is ultimately whom Crepsley ends up battling. The result of this battle changes the course of human and vampire history in this film.? Of Stevenson, he commends, ?Ray has a wicked sense of humor. He?s from Ireland, but he?s doing a Northern English brogue. Even though he?s this menacing, terrifying creature, there?s a bit of a twinkle in his eye.?
CIRQUE DU FREAK: The Vampire?s Assistant is released and distributed by United International Pictures thru Solar Entertainment Corp. In Cinemas 27 January 2010 (Wednesday) MTRCB Rating: PG-13

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