For the devoted vamp pack, Ethan Hawke’s character in “Daybreakers” should sound familiar. The actor plays an enlightened, smoldering-eyed bloodsucker with the most flawless of skin named — Drac, help us — Edward, who would rather help endangered humans than dine on them.
Of course, when Hawke came across the script a couple years ago, “Twilight” and fanged friends had not yet taken over the world. “When I read it, I was like, ‘Hey, about time for another vampire movie! Good idea!’” the actor says with an easy laugh.
And while writers and directors Peter and Michael Spierig had Hawke in mind for the role, he admits he wasn’t exactly a natural when it came to the dirty work. “I’ve never done a movie with so much blood. That was disgusting; it’s so sticky and revolting,” says Hawke playfully of on-the-job hazards.
“The truth is, I spend my life avoiding these kind of movies.”
He didn’t, however, mind the immortality perk: “To walk around with the idea that you will not die, it’s a little bit like a zen enlightenment experience.”
