Actress Saoirse Ronan is so busy she can’t star in The Hobbit, but it looks like she will have time to slide in the vampire drama Byzantium (she’s also recently becomes attached to The Host as well), with Gemma Arterton joining her, and Neil Jordan directing, according to THR.
The film is about a vampire mother (Arterton) who turns her only daughter (Ronan) into a vampire as well. They then pose as sisters to lure in their victims. However the locals in a sleepy British town are unaware of their supernatural quilities when they first show up, and are merely dazzled by the beautiful duo.
Neil Jordan will direct Byzantium from an original screenplay by Moira Buffini, who recently wrote the Gemma Arterton drama Tamara Drewe. Production is set to begin in October working from and £8 million budget. Of course this isn’t Jordan’s first bruch with bloodsuckers, as he helmed Interview With A Vampire, as well as The Company Of Wolves. It was revisiting Angela Carter’s short story collection that kicked off the project, although it’s based on Moira Buffini’s play, ‘A Vampire Story’.