Interview: Damian Lewis on Playing Twin Vampires in The Radleys

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to The Radleys star Damian Lewis about the horror comedy. He spoke about playing two characters in the same film, working with co-star Kelly Macdonald, and more. The film is now playing in theaters, on digital, and on demand.

“Award-winning actors Kelly Macdonald (No Country For Old Men) and Damian Lewis (Billions, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood) star in a dark comedy thriller about a seemingly average suburban family with a juicy secret: they are vampires. In the light of day, the Radleys might seem normal, but they can only abstain from their natural cravings for so long until the bloody truth bubbles to the surface and turns their quiet country life upside down,” says the synopsis.

Tyler Treese: You’re having a lot of fun here. You’re playing two different vampires. One is a pretty standup dad, and the other’s like the horniest uncle, the worst Influence possible. What was most interesting as an actor about playing these very different characters?

Damian Lewis: Well, first, and first and foremost, when someone calls you up and says, uh, “Hey Damian, I’ve got a movie and I want you to play two roles in it.” It immediately pricks your ears up. That’s good for the ego always. Oh, good, I get to show off twice. This is fantastic.

In a vampire movie, and especially playing twins like this, vampire movies are great. They’re great platforms to explore all kinds of metaphors in our lives of addiction and longing, lust, carnal desires, the visceral and the carnal versus the rational and the intellectual. That’s what these two guys represent. They represent the rational, normal selves that we all try to present and the darker, more risque parts of ourselves that we have to keep an eye on.

You’re right, Will, the bad uncle, retains all his powers as a vampire because he is sucking blood committedly and happily so. He’s a confirmed addict, if you like, and a drug pusher. Charismatic and rock and roll, and exciting to his nephew. But mixed messaging here, kids, don’t always believe the exciting uncle because he could lead you astray.

The uncle also has very long hair. It looked pretty good on you. Are you gonna explore that look in the future?

I used to have hair down on my shoulders when I was in my early twenties, and I used to have a motorcycle. I used to go busking — street performing — around Europe on the guitar. So, I did long hair. I enjoyed having it again. You have to be careful that you don’t look like you’ve just come out of the hair salon.

Twin roles ask a lot from you. How was it actually just acting opposite yourself? You have some scenes where the two brothers are confronting each other. There’s even a bit of an action scene later on. How challenging was that?

Well, that actually was the most challenging part of it. It was the fighting with thin air. It’s really like being a kid. You pretend that you’re being hit, trying to remember what you had done when I had played the other character and he was fighting thin air. I had a really lovely stand-in who was able to dress up as Will and Peter and play opposite me for all the scenes. In case you caught bits of shoulder or hair or whatever it happened to be. It just really helped me. He was fantastic. But there always comes that point where you are just playing opposite thin air. It’s kind of weird, especially when you’re rolling around on the ground punching yourself.

I imagine one of the fun parts of this role was getting to act alongside these other actors in two very different ways, depending on which character you’re playing. Kelly Macdonald is great throughout this film. How was it having that husband-wife relationship, but also just this, a lot of tension when you’re playing the uncle with her? Because they have a past as well.

Yeah, so I think we all started out thinking Peter’s a wimp. He’s the husband, he’s given everything up, but there’s something noble in his sacrifice. He doesn’t want his children to be vampires. So, I have to say, the setting for this particular vampire film is it’s a comedy sort of family tone that sits with the whole movie. The premise that there is this couple who have moved into the suburbs to raise their two kids, like they’re in the program, having been active vampires, but have chosen to abstain and not drink blood anymore. It is just a funny place to start from. Of course, that all goes belly up very quickly when the daughter gets involved in an incident.

That’s when Will, the charismatic badass brother, is brought in, who has made no such concessions to middle-class bourgeois suburban life. He loves what he does. He loves converting people. He loves to drink blood. He loves to go out all night. He loves the fun of being a vampire. He is a confirmed addict.

I think as the film went on, we really found that there are two love stories there. There’s a dark love story between the brother and Kelly’s character. Kelly’s brilliant in this movie. Really funny bones that she’s got. So she’s beautifully comic in it and very touching as well. So she had this sort of dark past, but it’s revealed to be particularly dark later in the movie. Actually, she was not consenting really. It emerges that she and her husband have this very, very sweet love story, which he had always believed not to be true for various different reasons. He starts with this slightly wimpy guy that is kind of heroic towards the end, and it’s quite sweet.

Did you start filming Pressure yet? That just has such an incredible cast. I’m really looking forward to that.

My mustache is probably the giveaway, so yes, I have.

I can’t wait to see you and Andrew Scott acting opposite each other. That’s gonna be so much fun.

Thanks, man. Yeah, we’re enjoying it. We’re having a good time.