There isn’t too many detective stories floating around in mainstream Hollywood nowadays. If you mix that kind of story line together with some supernatural creatures and you have yourself one nice combination that is “Dylan Dog: Dead of Night.”
The story falls into the trendy category of comic book films that are suddenly transformed into the latest hot new film. Normally there’s a huge selection of fans who are absolutely ecstatic to check out the adaptation, but this time a majority of them don’t reside in the States. Actually, the fans who would be the most excited about it would probably be located in Italy where the comic originated.
“Dylan Dog” was created by Italian comic book writer Tiziano Sclavi, bringing the superstitious private investigator out into the fictitious-reading world. So when a character like Dylan Dog makes his big American debut on the big screen, you wonder if those involved have been exposed to the red shirt individual. “I actually had a friend who grew up reading Dylan Dog because he grew up for some time,” said actor Brandon Routh. “I got the low-down from him about who Dylan was and looked through some of his Italian comics. That’s where I got a lot of information about how I should use that and form that to who I am and bring that all into Dylan.”
When handling a character like Dylan who isn’t well known to the general public, at least it gives an actor a little bit of breathing room to slightly mold the character into how he would perceive him to be in person. “This is the first time that anyone had seen Dylan living and breathing. So I felt that I had a little bit of leeway there a little bit in the back of my mind, but it didn’t make me have any sleepless nights thankfully,” says Routh. After all, when you’ve played one of the most iconic characters that have graced the pages of comic books, any other creation from that medium that is translated to the big screen that you have to play is a piece of cake.
Although it’s always alluring to make your way into the supernatural world of “Dylan Dog,” what’s also visually appealing is having your entire film set in the backdrop of New Orleans. Huntington completely agrees with it, also commenting that the back drop was like another character in itself within “Dylan Dog: Dead of Night.” “We keep saying it, but it was another character in the film. The production bounced around all over the place and we landed in New Orleans and it’s a really, really, really happy kind of accident that it happened.”
The one other person, next to director Kevin Munroe, that made the guys happy to work on set was Taye Diggs. The veteran thespian brought a different but fun kind of vibe to set whenever he entered, making it an even more enjoyable acting experience for Brandon Routh and Sam Huntington. “The character he plays, within his quiet moments, that’s like when he’s being really sinister and quiet. That’s who he is, only that he’s really awesome.” But even though he was able to work with even the “great Peter Stromare,” Huntington had a blast working alongside his co-star and good friend Brandon Routh.
Be sure to check out “Dylan Dog: Dead of Night,” out in theaters now.
