MTV's Hollywood Crush Interviews VA Screenwriter Dan Waters

Nobody In 'Vampire Academy' Is Innocent, Says Screenwriter Dan Waters

Fans got their first taste of the big-screen adaptation of Richelle Mead's "Vampire Academy" earlier this month with the bloody fabulous debut of a teaser trailer. (SHIRTLESS DIMITRI WHAT!!!!!!!) But with a big-screen bow more than six months away, we're already bloodlusting for more.

Sooooooo... we hopped on the phone with screenwriter Daniel Waters (probably best known for penning 1988's "Heathers") to get all the dirty details about the Zoey Deutch-starring film, including what's changed from the book and how "Vampire Academy" will be different than other teen flicks.

Hollywood Crush: "Heathers" came out 25 years ago. How do you think the teen sensibility has changed since then? 

Dan Waters: I think it goes through different patterns and waves. Certainly, when "Heathers" came around, I think people were sick of a certain kind of teen film, like, even John Hughes films that we loved then and love now, I think it came at a period when people were sick of them, and I think we're getting to that point again, where we've seen so many different teen cliches and young-adult cliches and even vampire-themed cliches. I'm happy to be coming back to the teen genre, because I think it's time to slap those cliches around again. We need something new because I think everybody kind of feels like we're in a rut of the same kind of thing over and over.

(Read more after the jump)

How is that you and your brother ["Mean Girls" director Mark Waters] as adult men can so easily tap into the psyche of teen girls?

Well, I've always had the opinion that men are—there are so many movies about men and boys and things like that, and we're not that interesting. I think especially at that age, especially in the high school years, it's the girls that really run things, and they're the ones going through a lot more complex stuff. So to me, it's not about being a great feminist or anything like that, I just want to find what's most original that when you do something with a female character, you're already getting a much more original and interesting perspective. Even like the Catwoman character I did in "Batman Returns" was odd. You definitely have a different sensibility.

I get kind of weirded out when people get so surprised when it has a female protagonist. I think a lot of times people will compare Rose Hathaway's character with Bella Swan from "Twilight," and I'm like, "Can't they just be two characters in two separate universes?" Nobody says Iron Man has a better sense of humor than Wolverine because they're just two different characters. We need a lot more female characters. I think it makes the world a lot more interesting if we see that perspective. So I'm coming in almost on the level of a writer trying to be original, that when you have a female character—a female lead, especially—it colors everything.

We definitely find it disheartening when everyone lumps all YA adaptations together simply because they're geared toward a similarly aged demographic.
I was a little guilty of that too, believe me. When the producers first came to me, and I wasn't familiar with the book and they said, "Would you like to adapt 'Vampire Academy'?" I thought, "Oh no! It's come to this." It was like they were offering me "Zack and Cody in Space" or something. It took me to really read the book and really understand, "Okay, don't be fooled by the titled. There's a lot going on here. There's a lot going on here that you don't get in a typical genre movie."

What was it you saw that won you over?
I see every movie that comes out, so to me—and especially it seems like nowadays—every movie has some innocent character come across this new world, and they start screaming, "This just can't be happening! Magic is impossible! There's no such thing as a vampire!" I love that nobody in "Vampire Academy" is innocent. We get to jump the line past all of that stuff. They're all pretty chill about it. Magic is real. Vampires are real. Vampires doing magic is real. To me, what was interesting about the project was the chance to play the supernatural as completely natural. To me, it was just a new way. A new attack at this material.

It certainly has a unique mythology with the three different types of vampires.By being able to start on second base or third base, as it were, and not have to go through that whole opening getting everyone up to speed, we can actually get to a deeper level. We're all agreed there is such a thing as vampires. Now let's really get into it. Now, let's get into the different types of vampires and the different types of relationships that that makes. That's also pretty fascinating.

How involved was Richelle?
I didn't talk to Richelle before writing it. She's so cool that she knew it's a different process, and she didn't want to be in my head right away. But she did read the first draft. Mark and I went up and met with her after that. The great thing about her is that she' snot only the person who created this world, but she's also a fan too. So she can look at this as a fan and just like enjoy it and go with it. And I think she was surprised when she just went on the roller-coaster ride forgetting she's the one who actually created this stuff. There's definitely some stuff I tried that she was for. I tried to make Christian blond, and that's when she slapped me. Definitely don't want to mess with the boys and their personal appearance.

Read Hollywood Crush's FULL interview HERE