BAM Column: “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” actor Michael Sheen enters vampires vs. werewolves debate
Michael Sheen plays the vampire Aro in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” opening Friday.
From Tuesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
Vampires get nod … by a fang
Perhaps no one is better equipped the answer the age-old question ‘Which is better vampires or werewolves?’ than Michael Sheen.
“The tailoring is so much better as a vampire,” he quipped during a Los Angeles press conference for promoting the highly anticipated film “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.” “I’ve been observing vampires for some time now and I finally got to give my own fang, although we don’t have fangs, do we? But no, it was great to be on the other side for a bit.”
The British actor first became familiar to American movie audiences as Lucian, a rebellious werewolf enslaved by vampires in the “Underworld” trilogy. He joins the “Twilight” phenomenon in the second film, “New Moon,” opening Friday.
Sheen, whose other credits include the acclaimed dramas “The Queen,” “Blood Diamond” and “Frost/Nixon,” plays Aro, a leader of the Volturi coven. The Volturi act as a sort of royal law enforcement squad for the vampire world, and they play a pivotal role as “The Twilight Saga” moves forward.
“My power is to be able to read people’s thoughts by touching them, and in real life, I would like to have the power to always look like I’m 3 centimeters to the right of where I actually am,” he said with a roguish grin.
To play the ancient bloodsucker, Sheen, 40, developed a soft, high-pitched tone to match author Stephenie Meyer’s description of Aro’s voice as “like feathers.” As he experimented, he realized the voice reminded him of the chief Blue Meanie of the animated Beatles film “Yellow Submarine.”
“I was also thinking about characters from when I was a kid watching stuff that really freaked me out, and the Blue Meanie really freaked me out. The Child Catcher from ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ — you know, ‘Lollipops’ and all that,” he said. “I liked the idea of a character who on the surface appears to be very friendly and thinks of himself as just being a sentimental old fool, a romantic at heart, and then he wants to eat your eyes.”
Sheen already has experienced one weird encounter with an exuberant “Twihard” fan,” and the buzz has found its way into his home.
“Also, going into my daughter’s bedroom and seeing she’s just got pictures from ‘Twilight’ and ‘New Moon’ everywhere and seeing my own little picture, which I think she did out of pity. ‘Have Dad up there as well,’” he said.
He also looks forward to adding an Aro action figure to his collection.
“I lose days just with my Lucian figure and my Aro figure fighting,” he joked. “They have their tea parties together. They like to fight and then they come back. I’m losing jobs because of it.”
-BAM
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
[...] – ‘Twilight: New Moon’: Michael Sheen brings vampire Aro to screens (read) – Michael Sheen Is A New Man (read) – Michael Sheen enters vampires vs. werewolves debate (read) [...]