All The World’s A Stage: Darkness Visible
The latest on-set reports by Kate Barker.
Official Xena Magazine: Issue 03
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Darkness Visible
The Great Hall of the castle of Vlad the Impaler is both imposing and magnificent. Crossed swords and vivid paintings adorn the walls, a candelabra flickers with an eerie Gothic glow, and grey stone gargoyles guard the pillared entrance to this dark, foreboding chamber. As the cameras roll, the door of the sarcophagus closes on Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) as his blood begins to flow...
Planned as a Halloween episode for the United States, Darkness Visible has been described by one actor as “Hercules Meets Dracula”. It's certainly one of the darker episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, dealing as it does with the classic vampire legend of Vlad the Impaler.
Guest actor Jeffrey Meek, playing Vlad, gives a potted pre-episode history of his character, the way the producers of Hercules have adapted it. “He’d come home from the wars with Hercules and found his kingdom in chaos and his father… strange. His father turned him into [a vampire], then he murdered his father for doing it to him. So he's not pleased with being a vampire, but he has to try and make the best of it for his kingdom, because he loves his people.”
Of course, Vlad does try to do this by attempting to kill Hercules. “He’s sent for Hercules primarily to kill him, in spite of his own heart. They were friends - they fought side by side in battles and wars - which is a nice twist. Vlad is actually very fond of Hercules, so he’s got a conflict. He decides that it might be better for his people if he has Hercules’ blood, and he tries to make a compromise...”
Though Meek is well known in the US for playing villains in two other television series (Raven and Mortal Kombat), he insists that Vlad is not an evil creature. As he blocks today’s scenes with Sorbo and his body double Patrick Kake however, it is hard to see the character of Vlad as anything but malevolent. The current scene as Meek describes it, for instance, does not portray Hercules' old friend in a particularly good light. “There’s a sarcophagus that has needles in it and stabs Hercules… bleeds him. He acquiesces because I have his partner.”
Elsewhere in the scene, Michael Hurst as lolaus crouches hidden behind a gargoyle. lolaus has been caught previously and is at this point in the episode attempting to fight against his gradual transformation into a vampire: Hurst is wearing “stick-on” fangs. He is in the background of the scene during this shot, so full prosthetics are not required.
The set Hurst is hiding in is very impressive. Made up of a virtual maze of replica stone walls and ornate props, it is only one of many ‘castle rooms’ put together specifically for this episode. Though this set will never be used again exactly as it is, the materials may well be broken down and used to create something just as impressive. As an insider neatly puts it, “Nothing gets thrown away - it just gets changed.”
As lolaus watches, Hercules’ blood is drained into the chalice from which Vlad and his minions will drink. But, of course, nothing is ever that simple... According to a source from the set, the FX team’s fake blood is “unique for New Zealand - they’ve got all their own recipes.”
Feasting on blood or not, Meek is still maintaining that such anti-social behaviour really doesn’t make Vlad the Impaler an evil person and that the character possesses a great deal of humanity. “Vlad is most complex. He doesn’t like what he is, he’s just got an addiction. He can’t help himself. Vlad’s not so bad...he’s just been given a bad lot.”
Okay, but it’s still hard to imagine that Vlad is really a nice guy. Especially when in the scene currently being filmed, Vlad raises the golden chalice in a toast to Hercules, now lying collapsed on the castle floor.
“To your health… old friend.”