Mena Suvari is stepping into the supernatural once again. In Vampires of the Velvet Lounge—in theaters Friday, March 20—the actress stars alongside India Eisley as part of a seductive female vampire coven that lures unsuspecting victims through dating apps before bringing them to a mysterious absinthe bar. Written and directed by Adam Sherman, the genre-blending film mixes horror, satire and neo-noir style while playfully exploring the modern fears of online dating.
This seems like a fun film to work on. What was your experience on-set?
"It was absolutely amazing working on it. It kind of came about pretty quickly and a little last-minute for me. I'd worked with two of our producers before on a film with Kevin Lewis called The Accursed and so they thought of me and brought me in. I just fell in love with the script and the character immediately. I really took to the dark humor.
I've been a huge fan of the horror genre for a long time. I've never played a vampire, but I always wanted to. Everything about it was really, really exciting for me. Also, knowing there would be stunt work involved and things I’d never done in my career before.
Aesthetically, I really feel like it's my favorite character that I've played to date. I had such a blast. I also knew India, who plays Joan. We'd been friends for a while, and I'd worked with Sarah Dumont on The Accursed. It felt like reconnecting with family. Even our camera department was the same."
And there's a little bit of glamour, glitter, the works. What did it take to drop into the role with the other vampires?
"It was a lot. We had an incredible team around us. There were hours of hair, makeup and wardrobe, and really finding those looks. All of it was pretty extensive, but so fun and so cool. To me, that's definitely a big part of what I enjoy about this work; getting to experiment with all of that and find the character. Our costumer, Shelley, her ideas and storyboards are just phenomenal.
I basically left Los Angeles on a red-eye, landed and went straight into a fitting with her. Then I had two hours at the hotel to unpack and settle myself and then I went straight to set to film. It was like a whirlwind, but when I saw everything that she wanted to do, I was so onboard with it. I love how she really captured the personality, the spirit of each of the vampires."
That's amazing. When you are living out of a hotel and working long days, how do you decompress, get back into your personal life and go to sleep?
"Right? Because I truly felt like I was turning into a vampire on this project! It was really gnarly. There were a couple of mornings I got physically sick and then would just continue on to go to work. I think my body and my mind were so turned around from the hours. Staying in Savannah which is always alive and noisy and you're trying to sleep when the sun is up. You're trying to find the one coffee shop that's open until 6:00 p.m., because you'll be having breakfast then."
One of my favorite memories was getting a latte after I'd found my spot a couple of blocks away. I found a place in the park where I sat, and I was just letting the sun hit my face as it was setting, so I could get 10 minutes of sunlight [laughs] before going to work, because you're just living in the dark. Just trying to absorb that energy to keep you going.
I was staying in an apartment downtown and I don't know, doing laundry or just eating food and watching something dumb and mindless on TV was the only way to decompress. Then you were so exhausted that you'd pretty much just pass out right away. I think I was always trying to manage everything to make sure that I got at least seven or eight hours. I really need that to function the next day.
I was able to come back to LA every couple of weeks or so. Then that was hard, too, because I would have to put on my mom hat and get up really early. [chuckles] It was an adventure, but it was all worth it. I know everyone was really spent and exhausted shooting in Savannah, at the end of the year, freezing outside. I had those heat patches all over my body, even under these tiny costumes. I would hide them everywhere.
It was an adventure. It was a journey, but we had such a great time. Everybody was so lovely and awesome to work with. It was great figuring everything out. One of my favorite moments too is with India. We were in the car filming this scene where we have to hit this couple and we get splattered with blood, and that was great. I've posted some of those pictures. I've never been more covered in blood in my entire life! Just working to find the angle on how to take the hit when you know you only have so much time to get the shot, that was a lot of fun, too."
Since we're a beauty magazine, I have to ask: Is there a really good cleanser that helps to get off that blood after you wrap?
"They use certain products, but I don't know the names of them. I use Eminence. On-set, they have certain chemical concoctions that help take it off because otherwise you're just pink-stained. They would have that first, and then I would always use my own stuff afterwards. That's pretty much the formula."
