Adrienne Barbeau is known best for her roles in films such as “The Fog”, “Creepshow”, “Swamp Thing” and “Escape from New York”. Besides acting Adrienne is also a author. She has written a memoir “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” and just finished a second novel “Love Bites”, a sequel to her first novel “Vampyres in Hollywood”. Movie Mikes had a chance to talk with Adrienne about her books and her movies.
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Mike Gencarelli: What was your inspiration for your novel “Vampyres in Hollywood”?
Adrienne Barbeau: I was approached by the man that became my co-author on it, Michael Scott. He has many books published in the UK and Ireland about Irish mythology, vampires, sci-fi, horror and all that. He also had a background in marketing and book sales. I had just written by memoir which made the L.A Times bestseller list. He came to me and said “I think you wrote the wrong book. I think you should right a book for your horror genre fan base.” So I guess you could say the inspiration was money [laughs]. I love writing a memoir, I had such a good time. I was so excited by the response it got. I never considered writing a novel though. My first hesitation was that there is a big difference in writing fiction and non-fiction. I wasn’t sure if I was a storyteller. I can write the characters, the dialogue and the scenes but wasn’t sure if I could do it. So Michael said that he would help me. We sat down and I came up with a character that is pretty much like most of the women I have played over the years [laughs]. She is a scream queen but also happens to be a vampire, which gave me the opportunity to write a really strong woman’s character.
Mike Gencarelli: Tell about about its follow-up “Love Bites”?
Adrienne Barbeau: I wrote that one by myself. Michael was working on other projects. When we sold “Vampires of Hollywood”, we sold a two book deal. It is a sequel but it can be read as a stand-alone novel. I have been getting great reviews from romance magazines, which is great. But I never thought of it as that. It is a mystery, its funny (I hope), sexy and romantic [laughs]. “Love Bites” is a very contemporary vampire novel, in the style of Christopher Moore. It is about the scream queen who is head of a film studio, think Roger Corman, that produces low budget horror films. She is also happens to be a head of clan of vampires, most of whom are A-list actors.
Mike Gencarelli: Would you ever consider making this into a movie?
Adrienne Barbeau: You know we had an offer for “Vampires of Hollywood” but it wasn’t the way I wanted to go with it. So we turned it down. We have got Charlie Chaplin in there, Orson Welles, Mary Bickford who is dressed up as Cindy Lauper. It would definitely be visual. The problem is some of my villains are agents so [laughs] I am not sure how they are going to feel.
MG: Since your career was built from the horror/sci-fi genre, were you always a fan?
AB: You are making the assumption I am a fan of horror [laughing]. I am a fan of acting in them. I have had a wonderful career doing horror films and I love every character I have portrayed. And I love doing them, they give an actor an opporutnity to go places chick flicks don’t. As an audience member I do not like to be scared. I like action-adventure, espionage, sci-fi but I do not want things jumping out at me.
MG: How do you feel that most of the movies that started your career are being remade i.e “The Fog” and possibly “Escape from New York”?
AB: If they are remade well it wouldn’t bother me at all [laughs]. If the reason why in fact they were remade was to make them better and not just cash in on the original, that would be fine too. But so many of them do not bring anything new to the screen.
MG: Tell me about your recent role on “General Hospital”?
AB: I tend to be identified with strong women and she is a strong woman. I playing an ex-journalist who was so disturbed with the explotation of children, she founded a charity called ‘The Alliance to Save Exploited Children’. She has hired a character on the show, Brenda Barrett to be the spokesperson for the charity. Because of her work, she has a lot of people that want to put her “out of business”. I am there to protect her, be her mentor and guide her. I am having a good time so far.
MG: Do you have any further plans to do anymore writing?
AB: I am tossing some ideas around in my head. Since I started on “GH”, it has taken all of my time. In my mind, I will settle down in late October and give it some serious thought.
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