Last night, we were even more excited and honored to meet and talk with del Toro (director of Pan's Labyrinth and Blade II, among others) and The Strain co-author Chuck Hogan (Prince of Thieves, among others) in the green room of the Union Square Barnes & Noble here in NYC. They had some interesting things to say, despite the fact that they are still convinced that vampires are a myth.

Here's what happened:

Bloodcopy: Have you worked together before or is this a first-time collaboration?

CH: No, I've never collaborated with anyone. Guillermo has in the past, so he's used to it.

BC: Are you working together on the upcoming books?

GdT: Yeah, both. The two volumes. We are working on the second one right now, having a good time.

BC: Right now?

GdT: Yeah! In the car. [Laughs] We exchange fluid information all the time.

CH: But not fluent. [Laughs]

BC: Why did you want to write about vampires for your first book?

GdT: Well, what I was proposing originally was to do a biological/anatomical reinvention of vampires and then go to mythology and social stuff and do three books that show an alternative possibility of vampire origins. I showed Chuck the meager documents I had for the original TV series and he got excited, mercifully. I love his work.

CH: I saw about a 12-page outline, but my head exploded reading it. I got about 2 pages in and got back to my agent immediately.

BC: What was it about the outline that was so compelling?

CH: Everything. I could tell already that is was a really fresh take.

BC: How long did it take to get your first draft written?

GdT: It took all the way until the galleys were taken away from us. We started sending chapters back and forth early on and we didn't flesh it out, we went to chapters straight away.

CH: We were finding our way.

GdT: And he surprised me a lot and I surprised him a lot. He came up with the occultation of the sun. One day I was reading along and all of a sudden the sun is going into occultation and I thought "That's pretty cool!" And he invented the rat-catcher character, which I think is one of the great characters in the book. And I sent him stuff the same way.

CH: Yeah, when I see his address in my e-mail inbox, the heart starts going and I think, "Here we go."

GdT: He was sending me all these strange e-mails, like asking, "Guillermo, what color is vampire blood and what consistency?" Then I'd go into a dissertation. There were some morbid questions.

BC: Why do you think people are obsessed with vampires?

CH: I really don't know. Time has proven that it's a really flexible myth. We really focused on taking it back to the time where creatures slept in dirt.

GdT: They are as romantic as colon cancer. An infectious vermin. I mean, they are truly brutal. The flashpoint of vampire mythology is in 1819 when Polidori writes The Vampyre and he's born as both Lord Ruthven, the dandy, and he's born also as the monster that sucks blood. And I'm partial to that. I think Chuck's partial to that, judging from how brutal he is when he writes.

BC: Did you have anything to do with the promo videos for the book?

GdT: Yeah. [Chuck] wrote all the blogs on the website. They are funny. They're really good. I took over the audio/visual stuff, exploiting friendships to the maximum to make them look a little bigger. We were given a very tight budget. But we wanted to give the impression of a big event that combined the book with a movie, like a strange hybrid. I am partial to hybrids. And I don't meant the cars. I think it's exciting when people think about a book as a world.

BC: Is The Strain going to be turned into a movie or a TV series?

GdT: A series is possible. But a movie, no. When we sent galleys out, we sent some to people in the movie industry as gifts and we got several offers. But I didn't want to sell the rights. If anything, it should be a series.

BC: Why do you think it's better-suited to a series?

GdT: Because of the long arc of the characters. The beauty of cable writing now is that I think it's very close to literature in a strange way. It's not about the ratings, it's about the stories.

BC: Would you ever want to be a vampire?

GdT: No. No. Oh no. I want to be a finite entity.

BC: You don't want to live forever?

GdT: No. When I was a kid I wanted to die at age 25 so I could leave a acceptable corpse. [Laughs] And now I have made peace with the fact that the worms will be happy. They'll think I'm a buffet. I won't be an admired work of art, but I'll be a large fucking buffet.

BC: Have you met any real vampires?

GdT: Not me.

CH: No, not yet. Tonight probably.

GdT: I've seen those things on TV where they talk about how they are real and the drink blood. To each his own. Some people believe in one religion, some people believe in another. They are not more or less than a Buddhist or this or that. They believe in that? Great. Cheers.

Universal — which has a three-year first-look deal with the helmer inked in June ’07 — and del Toro are making a long-term commitment by setting up four directing projects, including remakes of Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Slaughterhouse-Five.

The fourth project is an adaptation of Drood, a Dan Simmons novel acquired by U that will be published in February by Little, Brown. ...

Frankenstein represents a longtime fascination for del Toro, who has made his home a memorabilia shrine to the Karloff monster from the 1931 U film.

"To me, Frankenstein represents the essential human question: ‘Why did my creator throw me here, unprotected, unguided, unaided and lost?’ " del Toro said. "With that one, they will have to pry it from my cold dead hands to prevent me from directing it."

Well, then. His involvement with Slaughterhouse-Five is slightly less intimate, with the director determined to explore the ways author Kurt Vonnegut "plays with and juxtaposes time" in ways that he says George Roy Hill's 1972 adaptation didn't. There are a few of his own screenplays in there as well — none of which del Toro is attached to direct, alas, which suggests that even he and his Uni bedfellows are anticipating the current trend in paranoiac, risk-averse rehash (See Exhibit A) to worsen before it improves. Fine with us! Whatever might keep The Hobbit to one movie is a cutback we can most certainly live with.

• Guillermo Del Toro booked thru 2017 [Variety]

WHAT'S NEW: This is a good weekend to maybe paint the house or just drink — a lot — as Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Meet Dave jockey for Top 5 position against holdovers Hancock and Wall-E. We admit: We walked out of Golden Army's LA Film Festival premiere, annoyed with its wisecracking self-awareness and degradation of Selma Blair — but that's just us, it seems, as director Guillermo del Toro and his magical make-believe realm of creatures and bad screenwriting have dazzled most critics and are likely to nab $40 million over the next three days. Journey, meanwhile, which places Fraser in 3-D, PG-rated peril somewhere near what looks suspiciously like the Warner Bros. lot, will be lucky to surpass Wall-E for third place around $27 million.

It's a crowded weekend for indies and art houses as well, with the documentary Oscar hopeful Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired making its "official" theatrical debut after a sub-sonic run in April. The Spencer Breslin/Cuba Gooding Jr. balding-teen dramedy Harold also opens, as does Death-Defying Acts, the Weinstein Company shelf-casualty starring Guy Pearce as Harry Houdini and Catherine Zeta-Jones as the con woman who falls for him.

THE BIG LOSER: Speaking of jilted premieres, you can reasonably take Murphy's Meet Dave no-show at face value; the spiritual heir of Norbit should still break $20 million, but if Murphy's latest multi-role hackwork doesn't stop the travesty of Beverly Hills Cop IV in its developmentally-disabled tracks, we don't know what will. Oh, who are we kidding? They'll probably start shooting on Monday, box office (and worn-out welcomes) be damned.

THE UNDERDOG: We recommend the ensemble drama Garden Party with a few reservations: filmmaker Jason Freeland's forced script could use a dialogue polish or eight; it's got more twee sound cues than a Moldy Peaches set; and if wanna-be dreams come true this fast in LA, then we should all be doing lines off each other's asses today by happy hour. That said, the low-profile cast — particularly Vinessa Shaw as a cutthroat realtor (with a past, natch), Willa Holland as a teen looking for her absentee mother or a decent job, whichever comes first, and the endlessly fascinating Patrick Fischler as a skeevy, unassuming porn photographer — does quite a bit with not a lot. And there's a bonus: The most awkwardly choreographed gay-bar dance sequence since Cruising. You heard it here first.

FOR SHUT-INS: Among this week's notable DVD releases: the gross-out psych-horror thriller The Ruins; the pig-nosed Christina Ricci rom-com Penelope; the not-eagerly awaited MTV! Award! Winner! Step Up 2: The Streets; and the masterful Dallas: The Complete Ninth Season.

So what do you think? Anything good on TV this weekend, or any books you might recommend? Or is the Eddie Murphy completist in you racing to the multiplex as we speak. Be honest — nobody is judged here! Well, sort of. Anyway, when is The Dark Knight opening again?

And while we think that fantastic idea is a second film in itself, read on to see why Tolkien geeks and studio suits alike may be shuddering this morning.

"We believe there is a second movie," del Toro said during a discussion at the Majestic Crest. "If there isn't, there will not be. If we find it, we will shoot it, but by God, if we do not find it, we will not shoot it. I am anxious to shoot the book, and I'm willing and able to dedicate myself to shooting the [second film]."

Not very reassuring, we don't think — especially for MGM, which needs the prestige and profit of a Hobbit two-fer, like, yesterday. It's trickier than it sounds, though; the second film, which would apparently bridge the gap between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, can only draw on the novels to which Jackson holds the rights. The rest of the background or ancillary literature (and there's a lot) is off-limits. "In the four books that are in the domain of the copyright, there are appendices and ideas and things that can be traced without risk," del Toro said. "But I have to be careful not to overstep. We believe there is a way to create this film and make it interesting, but it's too early."

Whatever. With del Toro or without him, there's too much at stake not to shoot both films, but either way, the filmmaker later alluded to how difficult he'd love to make things for the establishment. "Look, if I hadn't been a filmmaker, I would have loved to be a bank robber," he said. "I hate institutions. I hate banks. I wish they'd burn to the fucking ground. I hate lawyers. I hate anyone who fucks us every day and wants us to thank them. I used to want to plan bank robberies. I was fascinated by Rififi or any bank-heist movies. You give me Ocean's 11 or Rififi or whatever you want — as long as they're fucking a banker.

"And in my mind, those [robberies] would be creative endeavors, you know?" he continued. "They would need to plan them like a movie shoot, and they would organize a crew, and they'd probably make more money. I do have antisocial impulses, especially toward institutions, but I channel them toward my movies. People who like my movies would agree." Great! We look forward to seeing what he does with his flamethrower.

[Photo Credit: Jeffrey Wells]

We guess we'll wait and see, but meanwhile, we've scanned the program for a few daily recommendations you might consider through the end of the festival — from no-budget micro-horror to a primate-centric Charlton Heston tribute to a Reitman family gab session. See them all (and add your own tips) after the jump. And give us a ride, would you? We're quiet, clean and can probably fit in your trunk.

Tonight: Start the fest in style by crashing the premiere and after-party of Wanted; assuming she shows up, it's likely the only way Entertainment Tonight can be sure Angelina Jolie has not yet made twins.

Friday, June 20: Not to be confused with Alan Ball's execrable eye-terror Towelhead, the Duplass Brothers' Baghead is a nifty comedy/horror hybrid about four struggling actors who hit a cabin in the woods to hash out a screenplay for themselves. Creative tension gives way to sexual tension, which in turn gives way to a bag-wearing homicidal maniac. What, your writing partners never tried to kill you? Alternate: Swear-A-Long Scarface at the Ford Amphitheater. It is what it sounds like.

Saturday, June 21: After eluding their damn dirty hands in April once and for all, the late Charlton Heston receives a free tribute screening of Planet of the Apes outdoors on Broxton Ave. Alternate: Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator Joel Hodgson and his Cinematic Titanic crew return for a live-on-stage lampooning of Roger Corman's The Wasp Woman.

Sunday, June 22: David Duchovny and Chris Carter drop by the Crest to show clips from X Files: I Want to Believe and deflect amateur screenwriters' offers during the Q&A to write the franchise's next film. Alternate: The engrossing, Sundance-winning doc Man on Wire, about the wack-job who walked between the World Trade Center towers on a tightrope in 1974.

Monday, June 23: Ivan and Jason Reitman chat all things Canadian and nepotistic in a conversation at the Geffen Playhouse. Alternate: Guillermo del Toro chats all things monsters and Hobbit at the Billy Wilder Theater.

Tuesday, June 24: A late revival screening of The Lost Boys promises "special guests" (someone named "Corey" is a high-percentage guess) and a preview of the straight-to-DVD sequel Lost Boys: The Tribe. Alternate: Una Noche con Antonio Banderas at el Teatro de Guillermo Wilder.

Wednesday, June 25: We haven't seen Paper or Plastic?, but any documentary about a grocery-bagging competition in Las Vegas seems virtually guaranteed to soar. Alternate: Josh Safdie's kleptomaniacal Cannes and South By Southwest sensation The Pleasure of Being Robbed.

Thursday, June 26: The Russian social "satire" Cargo 200 is arguably the bleakest, most uncommercial and bitterly amusing film we've seen this year. Which is to say we loved it. See it now or wait for Netflix. Alternate: Rob Reiner gets his spittly, hyperventilating election-year game going with a screening and discussion of his 1995 film The American President.

Friday, June 27: Night Flight: Born Again revisits the gone-but-not-forgotten program's stash of music videos, interviews, shorts and other cult artifacts that made it the compelling (if short-lived) analog to '80s-era MTV. Alternate: If that's not fringe enough for you, three hours' worth of Kuchar brothers films are screening at the same time down the street at the Billy Wilder Theater.

Saturday, June 28: Another crash-worthy gala premiere of Hellboy II: The Golden Army starts winding things down, followed by more monsters-and-Hobbit talk from Guillermo del Toro. Alternate: The Peter Bart-approved crankhead opus Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal.

Sunday, June 30: The W Westwood hosts a 20th-anniversary screening of A Fish Called Wanda. Alternate: None. Are you kidding? Have you seen A Fish Called Wanda?

"No way. Sleepless in Seattle can go fuck itself," [Del Toro] said. "Monsters are the most beautiful creatures in the universe. I have no interest in everyday life, except through a twisted mirror."

Of course, slumping Seattle screenwriter Nora Ephron got to work straightaway, sensing an opportunity to rework her long-dormant third collaboration between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as the tale of a lovelorn, nocturnal minotaur and the elusive Fairy of the Dawn who fakes orgasms in his dreams. That, or Del Toro will just stick to his much cheaper, twisted-enough Ashton Kutcher/Cameron Diaz reunion entitled, naturally, Fuck Itself. Count on it.

• Guillermo Del Toro to Never Direct 'Sleepless in Seattle' Sequel? [/Film]

Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Guillermo del Toro's last film before disappearing down the Hobbit rabbit hole for four years, closes the festival June 29, while a smattering of world premieres (the Aimee Mann concert film Largo, Lori Petty's directorial debut The Poker House) can be found in the competition slate. Elsewhere are James Marsh's nifty Sundance-winning documentary Man on Wire — about the Frenchman who walked a tightrope between the World Trade Center Towers in 1974 — and Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal, which follows its infamous subject's "long, strange trip through the Nevada desert and brothel politics to open Heidi's Stud Farm."

Among the most notable of special screenings, however, we'd spotlight Swear-along Scarface at the Ford Amphitheater: "Think you've got what it takes to swear alongside Tony Montana and his foul-mouthed crew? Don't miss this opportunity to curse under the stars at this special 'Adults Only' screening of a timeless f#*!*ing classic." Actually, we don't think anyone has what it takes, but we'll probably give it a shot anyway. Check the rest of the selections at the fest's Web site, and save us a seat.

[Photo Credit: Wireimage]

• Los Angeles Film Festival [Film Independent]

1. Alfonso Cuaron. Del Toro's close friend and (with del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu) one of the "Three Amigos" conveniently packaged by American press in 2006, Cuaron was Warner Bros.' surprising pick to helm 2004's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. But his indie chops came in handy in both humanizing the franchise and positioning it more dynamically against Chris Columbus and Mike Newell's entries that sandwiched it. He's a versatile guy who gets the marketplace but isn't beholden to genre interests; in that way, his similarities to Jackson, who jumped from graphic B-horror comedies like Bad Taste to Heavenly Creatures to LOTR, are almost uncanny. Also, he's just a better director than del Toro; Cuaron could have made Pan's Labyrinth in his sleep, but del Toro couldn't have touched Children of Men.

2. Neil Jordan. Another guy with tons of range, the Crying Game/Michael Collins filmmaker is also a grossly underrated craftsman who could save everyone a lot of time and money by shooting both Hobbit films over about four months in Ireland. Alas, Jackson would likely object to the requisite IRA subplot in which Bilbo Baggins is sidelined indefinitely by injuries sustained in a car bombing.

3. David Lynch. A natural short-lister for any film involving midgets. Plus we all know how well his previous would-be fantasy franchise went.

4. Woody Allen. While it's true that Allen has returned from his four-year European exile with a new project featuring Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood, he has made little secret of his availability to the highest overseas bidder. With this in mind, and seeing as Middle Earth's brow-furrowed humorlessness is perhaps its most annoying attribute, we'd like to see Allen invited to New Zealand for a comic run through Baggins' deeply embedded neuroses — not the least of which is his underage shiksa love interest, played by saucy new Disney cast-off Miley Cyrus.

5. Uwe Boll. Why not? He is the only genius in the whole fucking business.