In Stephenie Meyer's Twilight world, the Volturi are considered
the royal family of the vampires. They're the most powerful and serve
as lawmakers (and enforcers) amongst the neck biters. We're introduced
to them in The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Veteran Canadian actor Christopher Heyerdahl plays Marcus, one of the Volturi leaders.
"Marcus is the oldest vampire. He's one of the judges and rulers that lay down the
vampire law," Heyerdahl tells me on the phone from Montreal.
Heyerdahl, who has appeared in such films as Catwoman, Blade:Trinity, and Highlander 3 and currently stars in the sci-fi show Sanctuary, was one of the lucky new cast members that didn't have to audition for the part in New Moon. Director Chris Weitz offered him the role, which he agreed to immediately.
He first got into the Twilight series when his niece, an avid fan, forced him to read the books.
"I
reluctantly sat down and read them thinking it was going to be a girly
thing, it's not going to interest me at all," he admits.
It wasn't until he read New Moon that he was sucked into the story. The introduction of the Wolf Pack and the Volturi is "stuff we guys can relate to," he says.
Heyerdahl
says he has been "grooving" on vampires since he was a kid, when he
would either be a cowboy or a vampire on the playground. Before the
role of Marcus he also played Nosferatu in a stage production a few
years ago.
Twilight has some of the most dedicated fans of
any book or movie franchise. Heyerdahl was mainly in the studio and
away from the madness of everyone going crazy around the set.
"When
we went out in public you [would] realize how interested people are,
and how not shy they are to express that interest," he says. "I think
it took all of three minutes when we went to a restaurant for the
paparazzi to show up and people to find their way in hoping to find a
table close by...to catch a word or a wave or
something."
Although the next Twilight film, Eclipse, doesn't include the Marcus character, Heyerdahl says the production of New Moon "goes under the list of good experiences." He hopes he can return in Breaking Dawn,
the fourth film in the series, especially if rumours of Chris Weitz
returning to direct it are true. Weitz "allowed everyone to give input
and bring what they had to the table," he says. "He put everyone at
ease."
The Twilight Saga: New Moon is currently the #1 film in Canada and the U.S. Check out a featurette on the Volturi below.
brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com
Top image: Christopher Heyerdahl as Marcus in The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Courtesy E1 Entertainment.