Neil Jordan‘s latest supernatural offering Byzantium hits cinemas this week, and with Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton heading up the cast, it’s sure to be quite the crowd pleaser. Earlier in the week I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to head over to London to talk with Gemma and Neil ahead of the big release, and find out a little bit more about this vampire film with a twist.

Byzantium tells the tale of mother and daughter vampire duo Eleanor and Clara, who are constantly on the run from a mysterious force. Eleanor wants to share her story with the world, but Clara has other ideas about what’s best for her daughter, and she ain’t shy about making her point.

When I caught up with Gemma Arterton (who plays Saoirse’s mum, obviously) she told me it was that ferocity that had attracted her to the character in the first place, and revealed that herself and Saoirse spent a lot of time getting to know each other before filming started. She even gave me a few clues about her upcoming film Runner Runner, which also stars Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake. Check out our chat for all the juicy details.

Interview With The Vampire was the first vampire movie I ever saw, so as you can imagine, I was quite excited to meet Neil Jordan. The Dublin native was in fantastic form, and shared his thoughts on what you should and shouldn’t do with the creatures of the night. If you’re a Twilight fan you might want to look away now. I had to ask him how working with Saoirse and Gemma compared to working with Brad and Tom, and his rather, shall we say, diplomatic answer, made my trip more than worth it. You can see/hear what he had to say about the lads and our Saoirse right here.

Byzantium is in Irish cinemas from today, May 31st.