By Michael MacLennan

Interview With The Vampire director Neil Jordan has returned to tales of the undead with his new film, about a mother and daughter vampire duo’s struggle to survive.

Byzantium showed at last weekend’s culmination of the hugely popular Glasgow Film Festival – and proved to be one of the highlights.

Visually stunning and full of intrigue, the film works as a drama about the fragility of familial relationships, while also not shying away from redefining vampire mythology.

Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan and Neil Jordan were all in the city for the UK premiere, and we caught up with them beforehand to find out more about Byzantium.

“It was strange, when I read the script it just felt so familiar,” explained Jordan. “It was about vampires, obviously. I made a film Interview With The Vampire years ago, and I had no intention of making another one – but this one was so lovely and so deft.”

In the film Arterton plays Clara, a 200-year-old vampire who works in sleazy strip clubs and prostitutes herself to support her vampire daughter, Eleanor (Ronan).

Arterton said: “I read the script, and just absolutely wanted to do it. It was right up my street.

“I love Neil’s films, and I love fantasy. This particular supernatural genre, I wanted to do something like that, but with the grit and reality that there is in this film.”

After talking about wanting to work with Jordan, Ronan explained: “The thing about this is that, even though it’s quite gothic and classical in some ways it’s very realistic – especially in the present.”

Jordan added: “Gemma’s an extraordinary actress, an extraordinary physical performer, and Saoirse’s got this extraordinary haunted concentration about her, so it was fantastic working with them on this movie.”

To find out much more about Byzantium, its plot and what else attracted the trio to the film, click on the video below!

Byzantium is released in UK cinemas on May 3.

Watch video interview at the SOURCE.