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DAMIEN MOLONY FANSITE → DAMIEN MOLONY FORUM → Being Human → Damien Molony and Toby Whithouse on 'Cool Gothic and the New Vampire' Panel at BFI Event
 

Topic: Damien Molony and Toby Whithouse on 'Cool Gothic and the New Vampire' Panel at BFI Event

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UJ
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RE: Damien Molony and Toby Whithouse on 'Cool Gothic and the New Vampire' Panel at BFI Event
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I feel the same way, wabbit. Even John Shepherd said, 'We can't meet your dietary requirements.'

Does having to kill something that has the same intellect as yourself, someone you could have a conversation with - hell, you might have been friends if you weren't so damn hungry! - make the vampire more cold blooded, more ruthless so they don't have massive guilt just because they need to eat? So they come across as crazy fun loving sociopaths, but really, underneath it all, they're just trying to mask the guilt.

It depends which universe we're in, and whether vampires can substitute human blood with animal blood. Human blood tends to be portrayed as the steak and cavier of the blood world. I like to think abstaining vampires have condemned themselves to a diet the equivalent of no salt, no sugar, no dairy, only boiled chicken and boiled potatoes, no sauce of any kind, day after day. Anyone who likes their food has no business criticising vampires for their diet.

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domino l - l - l
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Clips would be great, but a live stream even better!

Not sure how well a non Being Human question would go down but..

Detective Albert Flight "man of secrets" ..is he a vampire? fangs

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domino l - l - l
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*** There are still tickets left for the 'Cool Gothic and the New Vampire' panel event at the BFI on Monday! ***

some in the back centre block but plenty in the right and left blocks!

click below to buy

 

BUY TICKETS HERE



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wabbit89
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UJ wrote:

I feel the same way, wabbit. Even John Shepherd said, 'We can't meet your dietary requirements.'

Does having to kill something that has the same intellect as yourself, someone you could have a conversation with - hell, you might have been friends if you weren't so damn hungry! - make the vampire more cold blooded, more ruthless so they don't have massive guilt just because they need to eat? So they come across as crazy fun loving sociopaths, but really, underneath it all, they're just trying to mask the guilt.

It depends which universe we're in, and whether vampires can substitute human blood with animal blood. Human blood tends to be portrayed as the steak and cavier of the blood world. I like to think abstaining vampires have condemned themselves to a diet the equivalent of no salt, no sugar, no dairy, only boiled chicken and boiled potatoes, no sauce of any kind, day after day. Anyone who likes their food has no business criticising vampires for their diet.

 Exactly. And Shep came a long way between Steve and Todd, you know?

And perhaps you are right - the ruthlessness is a way to deal with it. But of course universe does matter. I'm not a huge vampire buff, so I'm not that familiar with the different takes (other than Buffy's vamps can't be in sunlight and obviously BH's can - with Hal seemingly more okay with it than Mitchell - perhaps, like other things they needed to rationalize to make fit the plot, it's an age thing in the BH 'verse?

And I personally like my steak - a lot. So...yeah. Who am I to judge?



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wabbit89
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domino wrote:

Clips would be great, but a live stream even better!

Not sure how well a non Being Human question would go down but..

Detective Albert Flight "man of secrets" ..is he a vampire? fangs

 I think non-Being Human would be fine...if it were Buffy, The Fades, Dracula, etc. Sorry, but I think Ripper Street is right out. ;)



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domino l - l - l
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wabbit89 wrote:
domino wrote:

Clips would be great, but a live stream even better!

Not sure how well a non Being Human question would go down but..

Detective Albert Flight "man of secrets" ..is he a vampire? fangs

 I think non-Being Human would be fine...if it were Buffy, The Fades, Dracula, etc. Sorry, but I think Ripper Street is right out. ;)

 HA!  OK then... although Ripper Street Being Human crossover is a tantalizing thought.



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domino l - l - l
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The BFI event with Damien and Toby Whithouse (and more!) is tomorrow..and there are still tickets left!

How could you refuse these invitations?

 

 







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domino l - l - l
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guys, guys!

you can ask your questions on twitter! 

 



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__knightley
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Have fun tonight to everyone who is going!!!!

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domino l - l - l
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ditto to that Mary!

The BFI folk have been really good to allow non attendees to tweet Qs for the event! if you want to have yours added, get in there quick (check my last post in this topic!)

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domino l - l - l
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The quite frankly awesome Rhidian Davis who is overseeiing BFI gothic sent me these exclusive quotes and pics for use by the forum, which i have turned into a quick feature!

Enjoy!

more pics coming, here

 

 

DAMIEN MOLONY AND TOBY WHITHOUSE TALK ‘BEING HUMAN’ AND ‘COOL GOTHIC AND THE NEW VAMPIRE’ AT BFI

 

Damien appeared on a discussion panel ‘Cool Gothic and the New Vampire’ part of GOTHIC: The Dark Heart of Film at the BFI last night, alongside Being Human creator Toby Whithouse. Anthony Head (Buffy), Lily Loveless (The Fades), Dominic Mitchell (In the Flesh) and Darren Blackburn (The Fades).

 

bfi12a.jpg

BFI

 

As part of the event, the panel members addressed “the resurrection of Gothic myths on our TV screen and their vast appeal to todays generation”, with Damien and Toby offering unique insights into their own journeys with horror, Hal and Being Human.

BFI

BFI

 

Thanks to BFI Gothic overseer Rhidian Davis for the quotes!

Toby Whithouse:

“I was 14 at the time, and I was watching some very dark stuff” (on his early horror experiences)

“It’s a very primal thing, and you want to test yourself. You’re being scared in a very safe environment”

“We have a noble tradition of suggestion and implication in Britain, because we’ve had to be creative with very meagre budgets”

“In Being Human we didn’t have a lot of money. It had to be inventive. It had to be character-led”

“It’s curious reading Dracula as a grown-up. You realise it’s about fear of the foreigner, fear of women, and the fear of menstruation”

“In Science Fiction, aliens became heroes, and exactly the same thing happened with the vampire”

“The vampire is the ultimate bad boy: they think: I can save him.” (on female fans)

“People were furious when the handsome mass murderer was reported to the police. Audiences said: ‘You cow’”
(on Mitchell in Being Human)

“In Being Human we had characters discussing what humanity is.. It allows you to ask the big questions – without necessarily coming up with the answers”

 
BFI

BFI

 

Damien Molony:

“I used to dress up as Dracula. I’ve always been secretly addicted to horror”

“The good Hal is so terrified of blood .. and sex – it’s a very carnal fluid”

“The beauty of getting to play a vampire who is 500 years old, is there are so many facets to that”

“I suppose sex and blood and vampires and the AIDS things all got very intertwined”

“I see it as a joy that Toby gave me so much to play with”

“I did so much when I was working on Hal about drug addicts.. ”

“I’ve never watched True Blood or those shows. I always looked back to Nosferatu and Dracula”

And finally…When asked if he would ike to become a vampire in real life, Damien responded:

“Yeah, why not? It would be great”.

 
 

Stay tuned for video highlights coming soon on the BFI Website and BFI Player.

For more ‘Gothic’ screenings and events at BFI Southbank, click here.



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domino l - l - l
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Hearing back from forumers about the event last night, apparently it was fab - looking forward to all of your reportage on the event!

I have also been chatting with Rhidian who is overseeing the BFI new gothic - watch this space for quotes and piccies!

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domino l - l - l
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I do believe that final Question was one of whimsy's!

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whimsyfox
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halyes that last one was mine! coolbounce I'm so stoked I got a question answered!  Doubly so that I was told he recognized my name, though the presenter read it as Emotional Latitude, not my twitter handle @whimsyfox

 

 giddy to see/hear his complete answer.



-- Edited by whimsyfox on Wednesday 6th of November 2013 10:13:44 AM

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wabbit89
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*squee*

That is all.

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domino l - l - l
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I just realised we have still not heard from you guys what actually happened on Monday night....

how was the panel? what was it like and did you all get to ask questions? what Being Human clips were shown? it wodul be awesome to hear all about the actual event!

Yes, looking forward to the footage very much, keep your eyes on the BFI player, as above!

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whimsyfox
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would it be in the actual BFI player or just a clip or two on their website. *hopes for player*



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PradaKat
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The actual panel itself was more interesting than I thought although I think a number of the panellists were quite nervous. Certainly Toby and Antony Head did the vast majority of the talking and some of the others (Damien included) had to be actively encouraged to speak at times, especially when they weren't talking about their own programmes.

They were introduced onto stage using clips from the programmes they created/starred in, so there were excerpts from The Fades, In The Flesh, Buffy and BH - they used the S4 and S5 trails I think. The moderator - a guy called Danny Leigh who co-presents the Film programme on BBC1 - then asked all the panellists to introduce themselves through how they got into the gothic genre and why they were fascinated by it...Damien's answer was about dressing up as Dracula as a kid!

The rest of the panel was a combination of clips from the past, so there was a collection of pieces from the 60's/70's, then the 80's/90s and then the present (which included more from all the panellists' shows - the BH clip was Hal begging to Cutler in the basement after Alex was killed) and after each one, Danny asked about how the panellists thought the gothic genre had changed through the past 50 years and why it was so "cool" now in particular. He also made note of vampires being a lot more buff now and asked Damien why that was - hence the laughing.

The thing went over time, so there were only a few questions - the ones from Lisa and Whimsy that have already been mentioned - and another three or so from the audience, none of which were specific BH type questions.

All in all, it was great fun...I may look up some of the sci-fi ones when they happen.

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yay
thank you Kat!
So good t hear about the actual panel, I can imagine it was very filmy wilmy and it has to be quite a pressurised situation sitting on a stage but in the photos there was a lot of smiling so it looked like fun!

Did you have a good view from the seats? (I have a vested interest in this question! lol!)

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PradaKat
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Do you?

Laura and I were sat across the aisle from Rhidian, so about 5m to the right of the view we've got from his pics! Su, Becca and a couple of others were on the front row a bit further along to the right, and everyone else was dotted around.

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domino l - l - l
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Lol! I know where you were, i meant that i chose those seats because i thought the row behind the front and closer to the isle would be a better view of the panel? cool that the seats were near Rhidian

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PradaKat
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They were indeed. And luckily on the right side for DaMo staring as well

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I was sooo excited about this and it really didn't disappoint  It was over too quickly...I really wanted them to just keep talking!  Toby apologised afterwards when we were chatting (!!!) in the foyer, that - as fans - we hear him saying the same things about being human over and over again....but, quite frankly, I'd never get tired of hearing it all and could've happily listened all night.

Danny Leigh did an excellent job as chair - as Kat said, Toby and Anthony Head were definately the most vocal....and they all did seem a bit nervous, but he made sure that they all spoke, and the atmosphere was actually quite relaxed - I thought it felt quite intimate.  Although I did think it was really unfair of him, when he asked the 'sexy vampire' question (but, admitedly rather amusing!) to then direct it at Damien.....who was clearly very embarressed, and for a few minutes, totally lost for words!  When Lily Loveless (Anna from The Fades) then said that she couldn't speak for all women I realised what a shame it was that she was the only woman on the panel...it would've been nice to get more female perspective.

It was lovely that both SciFyGeek and whimsy had questions asked.....damien did qualify his readiness to become a vampire with 'but only for about 250 years'...  And it's fantastic that Rhidian shared the quotes and pics with the forum.  He was a real sweetheart, and seemed rather excited by our general enthusiasm for being human!  It was Ridian who asked us to pose infront of the poster for the pic with Toby.

Can't wait for BFI to post the video.....



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domino l - l - l
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Fortuitous bonus Kat!

Thank you for sharing your account fifi, and agree, how could anyone ever tire of hearing Toby talk about his creation? It feels special and right that Being Human was on the panel and can imagine how fascinating the whole event was.

Really looking forward to the footage!

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whimsyfox
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And see I feel the opposite.

 

Call me a romantic, or anti-feminist, or antiquated, or a depressingly predictable fangirl but yes, I WANT to save him.  I'm a bit like Annie in wanting to save Mitchell. Which is funny in that the first time I watched S1-3 I thought Annie was a complete pushover, a very weak person who let all these men take advantage of her.  But it actually took S4 for me to see her true strength.  It's not that she "has the worst taste in men" and let them take advantage of her, it's that her biggest strength was her compassion and selflessness.  

 

However, I'm not delusional enough to think Hal can be saved, not in the ultimate sense that he would never kill again or be able to atone for his sins and find peace (alive or in the afterlife).  (unless you count some sort of “magical” element, like him truly becoming human through the whole devil plot or something something something...) But I think he deserves credit for trying, for trying so hard and for so long, and trying over and over again although part of him knows it's futile and he'll revert and it would be worse each time.  Because in trying for 50 - 55 year stretches, surely so many hundreds are saved that wouldn't have otherwise.  And also credit for feeling the guilt, for hating himself.  Vampires like Snow, Hetty, Herrick never have a conscience.

I don't have a problem with Alex's feelings for a couple of reasons.  One, as Polly Buckle said in her interview, Alex feels somewhat liberated from the shackled life she had taking care of her family.  By her own words she's used to "getting off with inappropriate people", so I got the feeling this isn't the first bad/odd boy she'd been with.  I think this is a pattern for her, a way of "acting out" in reaction to her mom leaving and she being saddled with the responsibilities of a demanding family. And in many ways she has the upper hand in their "relationship". Two, I think deep down, she has forgiven him for his role in her death.  He didn't kill her, no matter how many times she accuses him, she knows he didn't kill her.  Of course she's rightfully angry at times at him for bringing her into his world, but she's come to accept that he didn't actually have a direct role in her death (and didn't mean her harm; he even left her in the museum so he wouldn't hurt her).  And three, she has seen him struggle to fight his own nature.  As she told Crumb, she admires him for it.  I'm not sure if what she said is really her rationalizing her irrational feelings, but I get the feeling she does acknowledge that Hal deserves credit for struggling to keep clean.  And that leads me to Four, sometimes we just feel.  It's irrational for her to be attracted to him when he can be such an ass, it's irrational to want to be with someone who hurt her, it's irrational to love someone who is a monster, who is unpredictable, who makes her question her moral compass.  But that also is being human.  Sometimes we just feel things that rationally we shouldn't.  Oh and I have a Five - I think Hal is Alex's root.  (Or technically that would be her familiar, by Hal's words to Leo).  So it's possible there is a ghostly component to the attraction, an intangible yet present connection to someone they came into contact with just before they died or like in Annie's case just someone that can see them and befriends them.  A bond forms.   

Will it work with them?  How long can it last?  I don't know.  They do seem like such an odd pairing in canon.  The problem with vampires in general and BH vampires in particular, is that they live "forever", and forever is a very long time to resist what is an elemental part of you.  As Hal said, it's a cellular change.  Add to that Hal's apparent personality shifts... The only saving grace, possibly, is that Alex also could be around forever. It was her doubt that made him snap into bad Hal, not the blood.  If she continued to believe in him... but given her personality I don't think she could tolerate him forever.  So I'm still undecided about the working out for them in the long run.

Well anyway, I think Hal can be saved in the sense that he can be saved from his own pain, to find small measures of happiness/peace (even if they are temporary, ephemeral) and he can have the support he needs to resist. He needs people that care about him enough to help him resist, to keep him accountable.  Mitchell needed that support system as well.  And I don’t think it’s a flaw of Hal or Mitchell, or vampires in general to need help, it’s just being human.  We all need friends, family, support.  We all crave love and acceptance. Daisy didn't care about saving Ivan, but she did, in a way.  She helped him feel, to hang on to some of his humanity. Ivan said it best: "You should have said it was about love. I get it now. We all lead long and appalling lives. But I have my Daisy. Everyone deserves a Daisy."  Yes, I think even Hal deserves a Daisy.  

Oh my god, I think that is my longest ramble yet! I'll shut up now! and hide. hide

 





-- Edited by whimsyfox on Sunday 10th of November 2013 07:51:27 AM

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papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser
A lilt in his voice.  Every sentence like music...
#kisskisskiss 
A terrible beauty is born.
Love me some #Jacksass
 
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