Emma Badame, Portfolio

Move over Bella and Edward, there’s a new pair of undead lovers in town.

In Jim Jarmusch‘s Only Lovers Left Alive, audiences are introduced to Adam and Eve, two centuries-old vampires who live in very different ways in different cities – he is a reclusive and depressed musician in Detroit, she a well-read bohemian living life to the full in Tangier – but they are truly, madly, deeply in love. Played by Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton, both suitably pale and lithe here, the film follows the two immortals as they come to terms with the changes that both time and humanity (or “zombies”, as Adam refers to them) have wrought on their existence and the world around them.

With a kick-ass, must-have soundtrack (stay tuned for more on that Monday) and more humour and heartache than horror, Lovers is a unique and surprisingly optimistic and positive riff on the vampire genre that will give those despairing over the lack of mature vamp tales something to crow about.

The film premiered at Cannes last May and had its North American debut this past September as part of the Toronto International Film Festival. We had the chance to sit down with the ever-charming and articulate Hiddleston and his equally charming co-star Anton Yelchin (seen in the film as Ian, the only human Adam seems to find remotely acceptable) a few days after their big night to delve deeper into Adam, Eve and the world that Jarmusch has created here. Here’s what they had to say:

Tom also let us in on a little behind the scenes info that may mean fans of Michael Mann‘s Heat will want to pay special attention to the opening scene for a bit of an homage to that film, via Jarmusch’s lens and a souped-up version of Wanda Jackson‘s motown classic ‘Funnel of Love.’

Co-starring Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt and Jeffrey Wright, the film is set for a limited release beginning this Friday.