THE INVITATION is inspired by one of the most famous (perhaps the most famous) vampire stories. Nathalie Emmanuel plays a young woman who, upon running a routine DNA family tree test, discovers that she has ties to a very old line of people in Europe. Invited to a wedding, she soon discovers that one member of her host, played by Thomas Doherty, has big plans for her.
We talked to Nathalie Emmanuel and Thomas Doherty, and director Jessica M. Thompson, to learn about this horror story that has big doses of action.
"We're telling a sort of old story that has had many versions, and placing it in a modern context — and [that] interacts with this very modern woman," Emmanuel says. And as Walter, Thomas Doherty's character, reveals himself, the actor was challenged in different ways. "I got to play two characters in one movie," he says. "It wa really fun being an evil character, and that evil character playing the character that was kind and sweet."
To foster the approach Doherty mentions, director Jessica M. Thompson says she made sure that all scenes that take place before one particular part of the movie were filmed together, "so that at least there was that differentiation, so our actors didn't have to play two characters back and forth in one day, because I think that would be really confusing and not very fair."
Watch our full interview with the cast and director of THE INVITATION:
THE INVITATION opens on August 26.
All images courtesy of Sony Pictures.