Queens of the Damned

by Kate Reeves    October 6th, 2001

In December last year 250 Melbourne Goths had the opportunity to be part of a Hollywood movie.

Queen of the Damned, the movie sequel to An Interview with a Vampire, was filmed partly in Melbourne and required extras with the right look.

This film was to be low key in comparison to the original, with a small budget and the lead played by little known R&B singer Aaliyah. The 22 year old made her film debut last year in Romeo Must Die and had signed on for two sequels to The Matrix.

The recent death of this rising star, along with seven others, in a plane crash in the Bahamas has cast a shadow over the film's release. Aaliyah had just completed filming a video clip for her latest album and was leaving the island with her crew on a chartered flight.

The movie’s distributors, Roadshow Entertainment, has said that due to poor reviews and the star's death, the film would most likely be released direct to video in or around November.

The Melbourne-based extras were disappointed to hear that their work might not make it to the big screen (although there are rumours of a one-off theatre screening and premiere).

Surrounded by a ‘gloom’ of Goths this week, I had the chance to hear how their participation in the movie changed both their lives and the director’s vision for the movie. I also found out a little about what it means to be "a Goth".

Aside from the exotic clothes, the long black hair and the sometimes outlandish makeup, what is it that attracts people to Goth in the first place? And how did this particular group end up as extras in a Hollywood movie?

According to those I spoke to, the Goth sub-culture is attractive to all sorts of people because it is accepting and provides a generally non-confrontational environment for individuals to be whoever they want to be.

Megan explains: "It’s about people who are generally fairly intelligent and have very large internal lives, but they externalise their internal lives, which is why they end up dressing in such romantic clothes and have perhaps romantic ideas about life."

And it was these romantic clothes that led to the movie.

In July last year casting agents Melbourne’s Real People visited clubs to locate Goths willing to take part in a film based on the popular Anne Rice vampire series - required reading for any Goth.

Brendan had started a new job and was pretty nervous about asking for time off. He was relieved to hear his boss say "so you’re going to be in a movie!" He said it was great: "I got two weeks' paid rec leave to go and be paid to hang around with my friends, get fed and be in a film … it rocked."

Brendan was lucky, but on reflection says he would have quit his job for the opportunity to be in the film: "I wonder how many people chucked in a job for the sake of this?"

"I would have," says Michael, "especially thinking [about] the amount I got out of it ... really just the whole experience for me, I would have given up a job for that."

"It was so interesting, we all were a bit ratty, but there’s nowhere else I’d rather be, I enjoyed every moment," says Fran.

Megan was not so sure and was among those who would never do it again: "The outrageous hours on set, the travel and the time to do makeup, and then all the standing around in the freezing cold were a bit much."

For two weeks last December these extras were required to turn up in full Goth kit and fully made up to a quarry near Werribee for a week of night shoots, followed by a week of days.

Some days were 12 or 15 hours long. Apparently some cast members started showing up in their pyjamas. "I slept in my car, on the way home," said Dave.

"The nights were freezing, down to around four degrees, but 35 plus on the sound stage, followed by days of upwards of 30 degrees. Not a pretty sight for those in PVC!", Michael says. "It doesn’t do much for your makeup."

"People were fainting on the sound stage from the heat."

Brendan wonders about the copious supplies of Red Bull: "There was this combination of sleep deprivation and exhaustion, heat stroke and Red Bull. People going quite mad!"

On the Friday night at the end of the week of night shoots, some 3000 unpaid extras were brought in for a concert scene. Radio stations advertised and bussed the latest extras in from Spencer Street and other central locations. There were even some Work for the Dole people from Geelong.

The paid extras were put in place first and then the masses were brought in.

"That was one of the most impressive sights I’ve seen for some time. We saw an army in black advancing across the fields and it was really quite striking."

The concert scene was originally supposed to be a relatively minor scene in the film, however crew members were overheard discussing how that had changed because of the great result achieved. They said concert scene was going to become a major scene in the finished product.

At the end of the two-week shoot, director Michael Rymer praised the extras for their enthusiasm.

Fran says: "He couldn’t believe how full-on we got into it and how much we made the movie ours. We were so proud to be in it."

She says that during the concert scene: "We roared like our ultimate rock pig god was up there."

The cast and crew were amazed to find out that these beautifully dressed and made up extras dressed just the same way in real life.

Overall, these Goths say they learnt a lot about the movie business and made new friends in an environment that was far more conducive to being social than the usual club scene. "I knew no-one in this room prior to the movie. I met all of these guys on the set," said Brendan

Michael adds: "Lack of sleep can do wonders for your standoffish attitude. "

"Some of us came out of it really determined that we’re going to do more of this, others just had the acting gene knocked out of them well and truly," said Brendan. "I will not rest until I am a Bond villain."