- Can you take a photo of us, please?
- I will, of course.
- No, can you get in this photo with us?
- Whatever you need.
- Yeah, we'll get a photo with everyone.
- First, I'm gonna get you guys.
- While the interview is still going. [Laughs]
- While the interview is still going.
- We keeping the mics on?
- Yeah, keep the mics.
- Yeah, we need that branding.
- MTV.
- MTV News.
- Here we go, a moment.
Nailed it.
- Any good prom memories
this conjures up? Any horrible memories this conjures up?
- I - We call it in Australia,
we call it a formal and I didn't go to mine.
Instead, I had a little rave with a private DJ,
which was my sister, but, you know, still.
- Sounds boujie.
- No one's competing with that.
- Yeah, that sounds amazing.
- Yeah. It sounds like you won that, yeah.
- I didn't get to go to my prom,
but it was literally almost traumatic
'cause I like missed it just by, like, an hour or something
'cause I was, like, filming Nickelodeon at the time.
- Since she was working.
- Yeah, whatever - She had jobs.
- I thought it was just 'cause you take three hours
to get ready.
- That's why I specified.
- I'll do the next prom. - That's why I specified
- I'll get the next one, that's OK guys.
- My after prom was in, like, a field
and we slept in, like, sleeping bags and a tent,
which was not what I expected. - That's a little too familial.
- But it was - That's the Canadian way, baby.
- My high school prom was terrible, but I did a music video
and I got to play in a prom and someone ripped my heart out.
So that was like, literally -
- That was a good video.
- I tell everyone that was my actual prom now.
[Laughs] It's a metaphor.
- Do you call it prom in the UK?
Do you call it prom or?
- I think we're just trying to be American, you know?
- He's trying to acclimate. He's in our world now.
- Yeah, I'm enveloped.
- Well, I'm looking forward
to the prom-themed episode of Vampire Academy.
We'll see, Season 2 maybe?
I don't know.
- Well, you get a little bit of a party.
You're a little bit of a party in the first episode.
- Fair enough.
- It's glitz and glamor, seriously.
- All the way. - It's amazing.
- As you would expect expect from 'Vampire Academy.'
So this is a property,
bbviously, the fans have loved for quite some time.
Talk to me about, OK,
when this one comes around, like, awareness
of the previous movie, the books,
did it come just outta nowhere?
Who knew anything about 'Vampire Academy?'
- Big fan. - Yeah.
- Big, big, big fan.
I read the books as a kid
and loved it and loved the movie, guilty pleasure.
I probably watched it 7 times
while we were shooting in Spain.
So yeah, like, long time, long time fan.
- Yeah, it kind of came outta nowhere for me.
I mean, I was just auditioning
and I got the audition for 'Vampire Academy.'
- Yeah. - And I was like,
"Oh vampires, like, that's fun."
But no, I hadn't even heard of the books.
I did read them after I booked the role, but -
- Sure. - No, no idea.
- I have the same story as Danielle, that's all.
I'm just gonna let her say that.
[Laughs] - Ditto.
And for you sir? - I got the breakdown.
I was like, "This looks cool."
Did a bit of research and was like,
oh my god, memory unlocked.
I went to the cinema to see the film in high school.
So I was like,
"Oh, that's cool." - What? 2015?
- Yeah, I left school in 2016.
- Nice. - In Year 10, which was great.
And then, yeah, when I got the actual role, I read the book -
I read the first few books and then I got too carried away.
- Yeah. - And I spent a lot
of time reading every single quote of Dimitri's on Good Reads
and every time he's ever talked about. [Laughs]
It was my little way in. - Amazing.
So is it, is it helpful 'cause you obviously have a lot
of different resources in this case,
right? When you're doing an adaptation, you've got the books
you've got your show runner, you've got the scripts.
Is that more is better?
Is it confusing?
Like, where are you turning to for inspiration
or is it kind of all of the above?
- I think everywhere, really, right?
- Yeah.
- I think everything brings different things.
Obviously, comes with a bit of responsibility
and respect to all the previous other adaptations
of the books themselves, but then it's also, like,
the passion for our new story is kind of, like,
"Oh, it can take elements of this and let's find our own."
- Yeah, and I think, I think, also, we were pretty aware
that we weren't gonna follow exactly
the same storyline as the books.
We, we kind of asked that pretty early.
- Modern adaptation, kind of. - Yeah.
It was a modern adaptation, but the themes
and the characters and the - - The essence.
- Yeah, the essence of the characters,
the themes that are explored and, like, the central plot
and the the specific, like, secrets kind
of were the same.
So, I think definitely the books were super helpful
to read them and - - Yeah, I'm
of the philosophy consuming as much content as you can.
Like, I've done that for other roles, as well,
with preexisting stories and fan bases
and stuff. Like, just feed it to me.
But other actors, they find it more helpful to not do that
and to just read what's on the page
and then, you know, build their character
and process from that.
So they're not influenced by, you know,
externally by the books, which -
- Well, considering - - Which is also cool.
- Considering you'd seen the film 7 times
maybe this, that wasn't gonna work for you.
- Like, 7 times during the 7 months in Spain.
I don't wanna tell you how many times before that.
- Yeah, I was too scared to watch the film.
- Yeah, as soon as he said, like,
I feel like I am way on that wavelength.
Like, I was reading the first book after I booked the show,
but for me, like, watching other actors
and watching other interpretations of Christian
I feel like would've really gone in my head.
- Yeah. - Yeah, same.
- So, I wanted to keep like a fresh perspective,
but also keep the essence of Christian
from the book as well.
- How do you think it is, kind of, you've mentioned kind
of modernized, just, like, how do you feel
it's more current or more, I don't know.
What is your take on it
that's a little bit different than people saw
in, maybe, the film?
- I think the big thing, one of the big things
for us is diversity.
And I think that's something that we find really important.
We wanted to showcase our world
as a representative of what the world is today.
And I mean, it hasn't flown over my head
that I haven't seen a lot of Asian vampires growing up.
- Right. - So hopefully, you know,
people can can see Christian
and see, like, maybe I can dress up as a vampire
for Halloween this year too.
And I think that would make me really happy.
- Yeah. - Yeah, well said.
- Oh, thank you.
- Have you guys, OK, so again, we,
I love the movie, too.
And I covered that movie here at MTV, talked to that cast.
They're great. - Oh wow.
- Nice. - Shout out to that cast.
Absolutely, Zoe Deutch, Danila [Kozlovsky], all of them.
Amazing.
- So have you, do you know, Zoey?
Would you wanna talk to Zoey?
Have you compared notes?
- She's absolutely terrified. [Laughs]
- Bit of a fan, bit of a fan girl,
I don't know how well that would go there.
I'd be scared, but, you know -
- I'd be interested to see what they thought of this.
- Yeah, I'd be interested to know that.
- A little bit sad no one said anything
'cause I kind of want to make them proud, as well.
- Yeah. - I often thought about that a lot
while we were filming because I know
the fans, obviously, were hungry for the story
and they loved their interpretation,
and I often thought, "Oh, I wonder how much
"they would've loved our script?" Because our script
is so yeah, I mean, yeah, just something.
- Yeah, and we have way more time to explore in this world.
- Right. - Absolutely.
- I mean, listen, I'm glad we're doing it.
You know what I mean?
[Laughs] - Yeah.
Don't give away your role, man. - Sorry.
- Let's talk about some of the relationships
'cause I mean, they're key, obviously,
in this show. I mean, for you CC and Danny,
like, establishing this relationship
is a core part of this whole story.
Did you guys know each other going in?
How do you establish, kind of,
what's gonna be conveyed on screen?
- No, we didn't know each other.
We connected through Zoom on our chemistry read
which is really interesting 'cause,
obviously, how much chemistry could you have
through a screen?
But I mean, I just think that Julie [Plec] and Marguerite [Macintyre]
are really great at what they do
and they, obviously, knew what
they were doing when they cast everyone.
And I think it just works.
I mean, chemistry is kind of a hard thing to, like, work on.
- Right. - I think you either have it
or you don't, and the scripts are so amazing, too.
And she's just such an amazing actress,
so it's, like, it's just so easy, you know?
And I think that through that we just,
I don't know, it just works.
Like, you just have so many hours on set together
and you just bond, like - - Yeah.
- Yeah, I think our friendship grew as we worked,
you know, together as soulmates, 'cause the girls,
that's what they are, they're soulmates.
They're, it's, you know,
they're kind of in love in a platonic way.
And I know we've both had that, particularly
with women in our lives.
And I'm really glad that we got to show that.
And if you're playing best friends,
you know, all day, every day, you kind of,
you kind of just, like, that closeness happens organically
I guess, which was really, was really, really lovely.
And you know, we've got a little family going on
'cause we - She's the only one that speaks Spanish,
so in Spain we were like, "We don't have anyone else!"
- I find it always interesting
in, like, vampire-themed stories,
like, the rules because there are always different rules
and, like, there's some commonalities.
And 'Vampire Academy' has its own very particular world
that has been created. - Yeah.
Why can't all the vampire stories just agree?
Like, why can't we all just come together
and decide what's gonna kill the vampire?
Can they go out in sunlight?
- One rule for everyone.
- And that's what Richelle Mead did so great with this book.
- Yeah. - Is that she,
she was like, "OK, here's the the generic blueprint
"of vampires, let me create a vampire world."
This isn't coexistent.
Well, it is coexistent, but it's not part of the human world.
We're not running away from humans.
It was, like, there's a society, there's a race of vampire,
there's a hierarchy.
And I think that's what we get to do here
is that we get to explore the world
and it's, like, these are our rules and is governed, I guess.
- Right.
- I think with that becomes a bit of like a,
a new excitement with - Everyone's seen all
the other kind vampire rules - - Yeah.
We've seen sparkling in the sunlight.
- Right.
- I mean, I kind of liked it at the time.
I've not seen that before. - Oh, well yeah.
We love, we love 'Twilight.'
- I mean, come on. - We definitely -
We definitely have, like, one race of vampires that
is kind of, like, more the traditional vampire.
What you think of when you think vampires.
- That's right, yeah. - Super scary,
can't go out in the sun, suck blood.
- But then, also, the other, you know,
the good vampires of the society.
They're beautiful
and they're regal and they're enticing.
And you know, when you, in this world, when you get bitten,
you get like, you know, an endorphins rush
and it's it's kind of like an elation, really.
Elation, is that a word? - Yeah.
- It's sexy innit? There's a sexiness to it.
- It's almost, like, whatever
like, the people that want vampires to be sexy
and cool and elegant will get that,
and people that want them to be scary,
will get that, too. - Exactly.
- And we also do a little bit of, you know,
magic on the side, which is new to vampires.
- You also get, look, you get,
I think this is gonna popularize shirtless training
on tops of castles.
Like, this is gonna be the new -
- Best moment of my entire life.
Like, just, like, cat on that set.
I was still on a castle,
it was like middle of Spain,
it was pretty cold
to be honest - - Nipples out.
- Yeah, nipples out, waxed chest, which I regret.
[Laughs] Yeah, I was doing Tai Chi
on this roof on my own.
But that's such a good insight into
Dimitri and who he was.
Funny story, actually,
'cause when I was I'd signed to do the job
and we had to wait, obviously, even options to find out
if you got it.
And I was so like,
"Oh, I really wanna play Dimitri.
"I really wanna play Dimitri."
I had a couple things going on in the background,
but I couldn't stop thinking about this guy.
And my agents are like, "You need to relax,
"theygot a couple days to let us know."
So I was like, right.
I'm not looking at anything to do with Dimitri.
I'm not watching the movie for the 20th time.
I'm not doing anything.
And I left it, 3 days later, just couldn't stop.
I was bubbling.
So I was like, do you know what,
what would Dimitri do, Kieran? Allow yourself.
So I go on, I go on YouTube, do a Tai Chi video.
So I'm doing Tai Chi in my bedroom,
thinking this feels kind of, like, right.
I get a phone call from my agent
whilst I'm doing Tai Chi, "Yo, you're playing Dimitri."
I was like, "That is so mad 'cause I'm doing Tai Chi!"
Fast forward 3 weeks, I read the script
and it's like, "Whoa I'm doing Tai Chi on a roof."
Feels like this is meant to be.
- You manifested it. - It was nice full circle moment.
- [Host] Amazing.