Write On: 'Abraham's Boys' Writer/Director Natasha Kermani

“Vampires hold incredible destructive power, and so we're very
drawn to them, sort of like moths to a candle, right? I think
that's sort of eternal, and that's the reason every culture,
pretty much around the globe has some version of the vampire
because it represents that very human conflict of what we desire
which is so in tune with and aligned to things that can also
destroy us. That just feels very honest and eternal, so I don't
think [vampires] will ever go away. I think they will be an
eternal part of our mythologies,” says writer/director Natasha
Kermani, about the everlasting appeal of vampires on film. 


On today’s episode, we chat with Natasha Kermani about her new
movie Abraham’s Boys that extends the world of Dracula into a
psychological family drama with its own chills and thrills. The
movie centers on brothers Max (Brady Hepner) and Rudy (Judah
Mackey) Van Helsing, who have spent their lives under the strict
rule of their father, Abraham Van Helsing (Titus Welliver).
Unaware of their father’s dark past as a vampire hunter, they
struggle to understand his paranoia and increasingly erratic
behavior. But when the brothers begin to uncover the violent
truths behind Abraham’s history with Dracula, their world
unravels, forcing them to confront the terrifying family
legacy. 


Kermani talks about adapting the Joe Hill short story of the same
name, shares tips for structuring a short story into a feature
film, and ways a writer can bring a classic monster story like
Dracula into a modern setting.  


“I think it's about examining our world through an eternal lens
of these mythologies that don't change. Power dynamics.
Authority. Submission. These are eternal. So the question is, if
you take that structure, and apply it to our world, how do things
fall into place? And when you can start to look at the world
around us through that lens, I think you start to get really
interesting, truthful stories because you're not trying to come
up with a new structure, or a new classic. You are obeying the
laws of how our brains work and how our stories work.


“I think it's a question of, ‘What are the things that you
desire, but also fear? What are you drawn to, like a moth to
flame?’ For me, with Abraham's Boys, it's that we're so drawn to
the idea of someone coming to you and saying, ‘I know what the
monsters are, I know what the heroes are. Follow me and you'll be
safe.’ That's very dangerous,” says Kermani. 


To hear more, listen to the podcast.