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Transcribed from audiofile by JudyA
SlideShow Presentation by JudyA

JOEY DONOVAN

I’m Joey Donovan. Glad to have you with us.   David Durica along with us.  

And, in this segment, we’re going to talk about another SciFi Channel original picture, or as Thomas Patali (phonetic) would call it, a popcorn movie.   And this definitely one is going to premiere July 30th, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, on Sci-Fi, “Bloodsuckers.”

Now just imagine here intergalactic vampire hunters, "Buffy" meets "Star Trek" in a Mad Max world.   And that’s what we’re talking about.   “Bloodsuckers” debuts July 30th, 9 p.m. Eastern on Sci-Fi.   And it stars Michael DeLuise, as well as Michael Ironside and our guest Joe Lando .

Welcome to Sci-Fi Overdrive.

JOE LANDO

Well, thank you for having me, guys, I appreciate it.

JOEY DONOVAN

Well, let’s – let’s get to the main meat of the matter here.   What is “Bloodsuckers” all about?

JOE LANDO

“Bloodsuckers” is all about – kind of a rock ‘n’ roll vampire world of the future.   Some sick idea my buddy Matt Hastings had and he got a whole bunch of his friends together and we made a little movie called “Bloodsuckers” up in Vancouver. And had a great time doing it.   It was like 16 days of, you know, 20-hour days and we had a great time and got it done and I’m proud of it.

JOEY DONOVAN

Now Matt Hastings happens to be the writer of the piece, am I correct, and does he also hold another production title with this?

JOE LANDO

I’m sorry?

JOEY DONOVAN

Well, Matt Hastings, he’s the writer or the Executive Producer?

JOE LANDO

He’s the writer and director.

JOEY DONOVAN

That’s good.

JOE LANDO

And he was also one of the producers and creators of a show I was on called “Higher Ground.”   And that’s how our association started, on “Higher Ground.”   And from “Higher Ground” you might know a guy named – that we hired for that show, because he and I were both producers and, like I said, he created it -- and we hired a guy named Hayden Christensen who plays somebody in another science fiction movie.

And then A.J. Cook is another actress that was on that show and she’s also in this “Bloodsuckers.”  But, you know, Hayden went on from our show to do “Star Wars” movies and he’s got a great future and he’s a great guy.

JOEY DONOVAN

He’s had a great future indeed. And I know you’ve had a terrific – a terrific career so far obviously because of your role   -- performance in “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.”    And it’s still considered one of the greatest family programs of the 1990s and 2000s

JOE LANDO

It kept me busy over the years.

JOEY DONOVAN

Yeah. Yeah.   So – so let’s talk at least about what the plot -- without giving away too many spoilers here about – about this film, “Bloodsuckers,” which premieres on ScFi July 30th, at 9 p.m.

JOE LANDO

Well, it’s kind of tough, other than it is a lot like Mad Max .   I don’t want to give away too much but it takes place in the future and I’m a – I’m a private contractor with a team of people that I’ve assembled, with a military background.   And what we do is, we work for a company called V-San, which is vampire sanitation.

We go out and we clear planets of existing undesirables, like vampires.  And we go in there first and we clear the way and then they bring in their mining teams and set up shop after us.

And what happens is we hit this one planet and I come across an old foe and then the fun ensues.

JOEY DONOVAN

(Laughter)   Now obviously you did 20-hour days doing this, so when you’re doing a vampire movie, obviously most of these scenes have to be done at night.    So this must have been an adventure, especially when you’re doing this, and strangely enough, not Bulgaria, but, in this case, in the beautiful country area of Vancouver.

JOE LANDO

Well, because what they can do with effects and we lit it so that – it’s a lot of rainforest area, and then also we were in places that really looked like the surface of the moon or mars or -- you know, and we went to some mining areas and we shot in these little towns, a place called Squamish.   And it really lent itself to what we were doing.  

And the effects that they did to that cinematically, that changed it and made it look like we were on another planet.   And Matt’s a very cleaver director and he got a lot of really cool shots and -- you know, they didn’t have enough money to make this movie. It was just made basically on his hard work and the conviction of everybody involved.   

The actors– he just called up a lot of folks and said we’re going to make this movie and we’re going to have fun doing it and we want to entertain people and everyone signed on.  

I took it just on like a two-minute pitch on the phone.   And I was honored to play Churchill , which is a really interesting character.   I haven’t played anything like him before.   He’s this kick-ass.    He’s got a – he’s got a problem in his past that allows him to go ahead and – and do this kind of job, which is really – it’s not nice.   And he has a choice and he chooses to do this for a living and so does a few of his partners.

And in comes this young, upstart kid who’s kind of screwed his – screwed himself up in the military and he’s been bounced out and I -- I think he’s a good candidate for our group of V-San and I hire him and get him transferred to me and -- and try to teach him the ropes.

And I’m in the movie for about the first half and then I disappear for a while.

JOEY DONOVAN

(Chuckle)

JOE LANDO

So – so there’s a lot of stuff that takes place on board the ship that was some great sets for -- that we were lucky to use.

And we were up there about the time when they were shooting “Fantastic Four.” So I think we got a lot of the stuff that – (laughing) -- that they were throwing away that we were able to use on our sets.

JOEY DONOVAN

Well, it’s good to know at least that you happened to be in the area of a major blockbuster in production.   So you -- it’s always nice to know that the folks, especially in the movie industry up in Vancouver, make it a point to just take care of themselves as well.

Joe Lando is a character of Nicholas Churchill in the film “Bloodsuckers” which premieres July 30th, 9 p.m. Eastern Time, next Saturday, on SciFi.   So check that out.

We have a couple of minutes left to go before we let you go off and to do other things, but….

…Michael DeLuise and Michael Ironside in the cast.   Must be a treat to be working with these two talented individuals.

JOE LANDO

Yeah.   I never worked with Michael Ironside before but he was a great guy and quite a commanding presence and I have a couple good scenes with him.

And the DeLuise boys.   Peter DeLuise was in the movie also and I used to work with him once in a while.   He would direct episodes of “Higher Ground” but he was also “Stargate,” writer, producer on that show and he has a little appearance in the movie but the DeLuise character is just funny, you know, and there’s some humor in this and I really think everyone will enjoy this.   I’m looking forward to seeing it.

I have not seen it in its entirety but I just finished a little screening room in my house here and it’s going to be the first movie up.

JOEY DONOVAN

Well, that’s good to know.   And we’re looking forward to seeing it as well.

 “Bloodsuckers,” starring Joe Lando , Michael DeLuise, A.J. Cook, Michael Ironside.   And it’s premiering – it’s a SciFi Channel picture – July 30th, coming up this Saturday, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, on the SciFi Channel

Joe Lando , thank you so much for being on this broadcast of Sci-Fi Overdrive to talk about “Bloodsuckers.”

JOE LANDO

Thank you very much, guys, enjoy, and I’ll talk to you later.

JOEY DONOVAN

All the best and thanks once again.

JOE LANDO

Take care, man.

JOEY DONOVAN

Thanks.

Check out our website, won’t you.   It’s www.scifioverdrive.com, scifioverdrive.com

You’re listening to a broadcast of Sci-Fi Overdrive on the Business and LifeStyle Talk Networks.

(Star Wars music begins to play,)

Hey, Speaking of Hayden Christensen, stay with us.

(Music fades out)

The End
(8 minutes)

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