Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant is the 2009 film adaptation of the first three books of the book series, The Saga of Darren Shan, by author Darren Shan. The movie began filming on February 8, 2008 in New Orleans and wrapped up June 3, 2008. The film is distributed by Universal Studios. Some of the movie was filmed on a set constructed within New Orleans City Park, approximately 1000 feet off to the side of the road, along Harrison Avenue. The film was originally set for release on January 15, 2010, but was moved forward to October 23, 2009.

Plot summary
The Vampire's Assistant is a fantasy-adventure about a teenager who unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires. Pulled into a fantastic life of misunderstood sideshow freaks and grotesque creatures of the night, one teen will vanish from the safety of a boring existence and fulfill his destiny in a place drawn from nightmares.

16-year-old Darren (Chris Massoglia) was like most kids in his suburban neighborhood. He hung out with his best friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson), got decent grades, and usually stayed out of trouble. But when he and Steve stumble upon a traveling freak show, things begin to change inside Darren. That’s the exact moment when a vampire named Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) turns him into something bloodthirsty.

Newly undead, he joins the Cirque du Freak, a touring sideshow filled with monstrous creatures from a snakeboy (Patrick Fugit) and a Wolf Man (Tom Woodruff, Jr.) to a bearded lady (Salma Hayek) and a gigantic ringmaster (Ken Watanabe). As Darren flexes his newfound powers in this dark world, he becomes a treasured pawn between the vampires and their deadlier counterparts. And while trying to survive, one boy will struggle to keep their brewing war from devouring what’s left of his humanity.

Cast

 * Vampires
 * John C. Reilly as Larten Crepsley
 * Chris Massoglia as Darren Shan
 * Willem Dafoe as Gavner Purl


 * Vampaneze
 * Ray Stevenson as Murlough


 * Humans
 * Josh Hutcherson as Steve Leonard
 * Jessica Carlson as Rebecca
 * Morgan Saylor as Annie
 * Don McManus as Mr. Shan
 * Colleen Camp as Mrs. Shan
 * Christy Hutcherson as Mrs. Leonard


 * Cirque du Freak members
 * Salma Hayek as Madame Truska
 * Orlando Jones as Alexander Ribs
 * Ken Watanabe as Mr. Tall
 * Michael Cerveris as Mr. Tiny
 * Jane Krakowski as Corma Limbs
 * Patrick Fugit as Evra Von
 * Kristen Schaal as Gertha Teeth
 * Frankie Faison as Rhamus Twobellies
 * Jonathan Nosan as Hans Hands
 * Tom Woodruff Jr. as Wolf Man

Production
"Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" was shot in New Orleans, the village of Folsom and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Some of the characters required a great deal of prosthetics and makeup led by Steve Koch, Brian Sipe and Mark Garbarino. Prosthetics did not quite add the height needed on certain shots for the character of Mr. Tall played by Academy Award-nominated Ken Watanabe. Although Watanabe’s height of 6 feet is tall, a body double was cast for certain shots. Trevon Flores, a local basketball player, stands at 6-foot-10, 210-pounds and was used for certain shots to show the abnormal height of Mr. Tall. Additionally, Ken Watanabe utilized dialogue coaches Kathleen S. Dunn and Francie Brown in pre-production and production to further enhance his performance as the circus barker. The filmmakers will be taking advantage of computer-generated imagery to portray other fantasy elements.

Recently, John Marshall High School (Los Angeles) was used to film a few parts of the movie. They also used Lusher Charter School in New Orleans to shoot a couple of scenes from the film.

According to IMDb, filming of "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" was finished early in 2008 and the film was released on 23 October 2009.

The film is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense supernatural violence and action, disturbing images, thematic elements, and some language.

They also changed Darren's love interest, Debbie Hemlock, but because of so many complaints they claim they will bring her into one of the later films.

Music
The score to "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" was composed by Stephen Trask, marking his third feature film with director Paul Weitz. He recorded his score with an 86-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox.