Josh Hartnett?s the kind of guy that other guys would find easy to hate, if, in person, he wasn?t so damn down-to-earth. Granted swoon-worthy status by women the world over, Hartnett broke through in a pair of horror projects?Halloween: H2O and The Faculty?before establishing himself in blockbusters like Pearl Harbor and Blackhawk Down as one of Hollywood?s hottest young stars. FEARnet chatted with Hartnett?alongside a bunch of other journos, at last weekend?s 30 Days of Night junket in New York?about the joys and real-life horrors of making the vampire comic-book adaptation.

Are you fond of this genre?

Yeah! I grew up watching vampire movies, and I don?t think there?s been a really interesting look at the vampire genre in a long time.

The biggest reason I wanted to do the film was David Slade?s vision. He came up to where I?m from, Minnesota, and kind of laid out what he wanted the movie to be like. It seemed completely different from anything I?d ever heard of before, visceral and dark but also something artistic. He always wanted to use very little score, but the score to be something rattling and weird. Brian Reitzell is an amazing composer, and he?s always done art films, independent films, until now. David comes from the independent world. Sam Raimi I think has a real tongue-in-cheek approach to horror; obviously this is a little bit different. But if you can trust anybody as far as the genre of horror goes? So I thought it would be an interesting project. I met all these great actors that came on, too, Melissa and Ben Foster and of course Danny Huston. Good people to work with on something interesting.

David Slade mentioned something about ?the turmoil of the beard,? but he wouldn?t elaborate.

Well, the turmoil of the beard really comes down to? They wanted me clean shaven at the beginning if the film, and it would have been a lot easier had I been able to grow as much as I could grow, which would have been pathetic. [Laughs.] Then add pieces as we move further along. I mean, it is Alaska. It is cold there, and I thought the guy should have a beard. But there were people who just didn?t believe it was a good idea for me to start the movie with a beard. I tried to point out?I actually sent a letter to somebody about different people who were in very successful films who had beards. I tried to explain how much I wanted, and where I would fit in that progression. Didn?t work. [Laughs.]

Did it take a while to adjust to shooting at night and how long did it take to get back into the swing of things?

I?m still not back, man. [Laughs.] It?s funny, because when you work on a film it depends on how well organized it is. This film, 30 Days of Night, was really well organized, and so we shot nights for, whatever, a hundred nights, and then days for the rest. We didn?t have a lot of going back and forth. On this last movie I worked on, I Come with the Rain, in Hong Kong?terrible organization. It was, like, a night, then a day, then a night, then a day. We were going insane. It messes with you. But at the same time, 30 Days is a movie about vampires, so you kind of get a certain sense of what it must be like. It?s method acting I guess.

How familiar were you with the graphic novel prior to doing this film, and how well did you prepare?

I have a friend who?s a graphic novel and comic-book freak, and he gave me this and another graphic novel?actually five other graphic novels?a few years ago. This was one of his favorites. So I?d read the novel before. But, when I got the script, David Slade gave me the graphic novel as well. So I reread it, and looked at the script and kind of saw what I thought he wanted to do with it. I?d been in one other graphic novel adaptation, Sin City. So I kind of understood that this was something that was supposed to be half fantasy, half reality. I like the fact that the characters in this film are real characters with real problems, so that you can hopefully relate to them, so that you can follow them. If you follow them, and you find yourself relating to them, you can more easily follow them into the realm of the supernatural, you know? Because this obviously is not your typical everyday story.

What did you think about working with Melissa George?

I like Melissa a lot. We had a great time working on the film. At the very beginning we showed up and we started rehearsing and nobody knew where the project was gonna go. I thought that it was going in a certain direction, and I talked to David a lot. Melissa thought that she wanted one thing. We all kind of got to the rehearsals and everything halted for a second. But we spent a couple of weeks before we started getting to know each other. Melissa?s a really, really sweet, really intelligent, ambitious, cool actress. I think she?ll go very far. She?s obviously incredibly beautiful.

What did you think of the decision to have Eben and Stella separated (which was not a part of the graphic novel)? Did that add a new dimension to their relationship?

Yeah. Because it?s fun to have multi-layers of turmoil. I can?t compare this to any other movie, but I would say if everything was hunky dory back home and you?ve got these vampires chasing you?there?s always solace. The idea of being trapped in this horrible situation?you want to feel like everybody?s sort of alone. If everybody has somebody to latch onto? I mean there?s even a conflict between Jake and myself, you know? The conflict enriches the whole feeling of isolation and the feeling of impending doom. They have a lot more to get over. I thought it was a good choice, honestly.

Your character doesn?t feature in the sequel graphic novel to 30 Days. Are you disappointed by that?

No, I have a short attention span. So if I don?t move on to something else right afterwards that?s completely different I tend to get pretty stale.

Did you and David, or you alone, investigate the vampire myth in society?

Well, the vampire tradition or mythology has been engrained in, I think, all of us from a very young age. I was probably eight to ten years old when I saw my first scary vampire movie. I went up to my buddy?s house?he was like three doors up?and we watched Salem?s Lot or something. He was allowed to watch these movies and I definitely wasn?t. So we?d sneak away and watch them over at his house and his mom didn?t care. Then we?d have to make the three-door-journey back home, and just haul ass?terrified?back to my bedroom. [Laughs.]

I have my own version of what the mythology of vampires is. I just kind of developed my own theory, I think, the way that a lot of people have. Vampires know a lot more about poetry than we do, which is kind of surprising. If you could live forever, what would you get into? Apparently it?s kind of a baroque late-seventeenth century lifestyle, black candles? [Laughs.] Honestly, it wasn?t as important to get into what the mythology of the vampire is, as it was to see what Stuart and Brian wanted to do with their [script]. Because it?s kind of a throwback to a more Nosferatu vampire, with less courtesy and less tall, black collars. More visceral and feral.

Could you talk about the vampires that we know and the ones in this film?

Well, it?s like doing a movie about spies in the modern age. You can?t disregard he fact that there is internet, and people travel a lot more. And that you have to be multi-lingual on a lot of levels. They?ve changed Bond in order to suit the times?of course we have to change the vampire flick to suit the times. I mean, they have to know what is going on in modern culture. Otherwise, it seems fake.

This seems to be a film that requires a great deal of rehearsal. Can you talk about preparing with everybody?

Yeah, we actually spent a lot of time talking about what it would be like to be isolated, in this Mutiny on the Bounty sort of isolation. Then maybe some sort of Treasure of Sierra Madre insanity that may occur; and any other film references I can throw out real quick. [Laughs.] But there was actually more in the script about that, and about how man turns on man when isolated and fearing for their lives. It got, I think, a little too esoteric for a vampire film. But it was a really interesting script, the way that people tended to throw each other in front of the bus.

Was it a challenge to add in details that weren?t in the graphic novel to make the film work?

Absolutely. What I really appreciated about working with David is that we did all this backstory. We worked on all of these scenes that we knew at the time probably wouldn?t make it into the film. Because we had extra time to shoot the film. We felt like there was a real life there. We felt like these guys actually lived together. I think that it worked. I mean, there are relationships that aren?t really highlighted in the film, that exist below the surface on film. It should always be that way in film. Subtlety is the key to going back and watching a film again, I think.

Were there any alternate scenes shot?

No alternate endings, but there are alternate scenes that haven?t made it into the film.

Anything you felt should have been in there?

No, I think we got the gist. There were multiple scenes where, up in the attic, my character starts to lose it a little bit, because of all the pressures, and all the things that are going on with his ex. I think that the story didn?t suffer from me not going a little bit more insane. It?s okay. It works. The idea was to see this character start to go out there and then pulled back by a traumatic event. But is that necessary in the grand scheme of things when there?s all this action going on? Probably not. I?ve got another movie to do that in anyway. I lose my shit in I Come with the Rain. [Laughs.]

Could you talk the point where your character made the transformation?

I think the pivotal point as it plays in the movie right now would have to be when he cuts off Carter?s head. I never thought I?d say that sentence? [Laughs.] Up until that point, he?s surviving and trying to find a solution to all this. After that, it?s just no-holds barred??Let?s just kill ?em all.? It?s much more nihilistic. It?s not about finding a solution. It?s just pure survival.

In real life, what?s your biggest fear?

Sharks. That?s a fact. I?m not lying.