Juliet Landau on ‘Bosch’ Season 5, ‘A Place Among the Dead,’ and the Value of Vampires [Interview]

Known for her role as Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Juliet Landau can now be seen as Rita Tedesco in the latest season of Bosch on Amazon Prime Video. 

I recently had the chance to chat with Landau about her intriguing new role, the significance of her work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the vampire genre as a whole. She also discussed her directorial feature film debut, A Place Among the Dead, and another upcoming project, The Undead Series (both of which also involve vampires). 

Landau said she was excited to be a part of Bosch for several reasons. 

“First of all, I had seen every episode of Season 1 through 4, which was quite a feat because my husband Deverill and I have been creating/making a number of projects — wearing many hats. We still had to make time for Bosch because it is such a brilliant show.,” she said.

“I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the phenomenally talented Titus Welliver and the rest of the cast, Michael Connelly, from whose imagination the Bosch universe sprang, Eric Overmyer and Daniel Pyne, whose work I’ve loved, the gifted Tom Bernardo, Shaz Bennett, and so many others. I was excited when I got the call and even more so when I read the script. Once I saw what was going on with Rita, I was in!”

Landau’s character in this season of Bosch is a court reporter who has a shocking secret.

“She’s a very complex character. She lives a dual life and has been keeping everything compartmentalized for a long time. At work, she’s this person who tries to slip under the radar. She’s a hard-working, gifted court reporter who has been in the honorable Judge Sobel’s courtroom, played by Bess Armstrong, for years. She also is secretly married to Preston Borders, played by Chris Browning. He’s on death row for a brutal rape/murder and is suspected of more. We met at his trial and formed a bond despite his gruesome crimes. Many women are in this situation in real life. There are even dating sites for death row inmates. I found this element particularly fascinating,” Landau shared.

For Landau, understanding Rita’s relationship, as well as her motivations, was key.

“I became obsessed with researching women who have made this choice. There’s a condition called Hybristophilia. This is when someone gets sexually aroused and attains orgasm contingent on their partner having committed an outrage (rape, murder). The word is derived from the word ‘hubris.’ Some of the women have this condition. With others like Rita, however, a big part of it comes from feeling like an outsider. She feels that Pres is an outsider; he’s literally outside of the norms of society, and that he’s the only one who truly ‘sees’ and understands her,” she explained.

“Initially one could view this at arm’s length, but as you delve deeper you find it comes from a desire, which every human being has. Rita maybe carries it out a little bit differently, but her need is to be loved. I think that’s the core. Her relationship is a microcosm for many alliances. It’s the ultimate long-distance relationship, but instead of partners being separated by geography, it’s by walls and by the system.”

“It’s the extreme version of an unhealthy relationship. Many of us have had at least one of those, based on fantasy, on who we think someone is, who we want them to be, rather than on who they really are. I wanted to look a bit rough for this role. I thought the burden of her life and keeping it hidden should show outwardly. Harry Bosch and the team try to suss out if she is indeed involved in this marriage. The threat of exposure is terrifying for her.”

In addition to Bosch, Landau also recently completed her directorial feature film debut, A Place Among The Dead.

“The movie is about the repercussions of growing up under the sway of narcissism and evil. It questions if you come from evil, will you continue to go towards the dark side in life, or can you make a change and go towards the light? It looks at the agreements we make with our parents, how these become the voices in our heads and inform our choices, for better or worse. I star in the movie, and we put together what I like to call ‘cameos on steroids,’ because they’re much larger parts than traditional cameos.”

“These include Gary Oldman, Ron Perlman, Robert Patrick, Lance Henriksen, my old boss from Buffy Joss Whedon, and best-selling authors Anne Rice and Charlaine Harris appearing for the first time ever in a film,” Landau noted.

“Anne Rice was the first person who came on board for A Place Among The Dead because she believed in the vision and the message of the movie. And once Anne was in, we were off to the races!”

“We recently held in-house screenings and this has been the most exciting part of the journey! The response has been so powerful and beautiful. It’s everything we’d hoped our special movie would illicit. We made it to provoke conversation, and it did just that. We had one screening for a theater full of young people from the Midwest. They were electrified and galvanized by the film. The Q&A was on fire. They kept asking if their teacher had told us the inner thoughts they’d confided in him and if that’s why he brought them to see the picture. He didn’t even know what the movie entailed, and of course, hadn’t shared their private matters!” Laundau exclaimed.

“We held three other sneak-peek screenings in LA, London, and New York, which included industry notables such as Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), David Greenwalt (Grimm), Jim Kouf (National Treasure, Grimm, Jodie Foster’s Money Monster), David Grossman (12 Monkeys TV series), April Webster (Star Trek Beyond), Eryn Krueger Mekash (Ratched, American Crime Story), and many more,” she continued.

“The entire audience, many who came out crying, stayed to talk about the film unprovoked for an hour and a half afterwards all three times– discussing the nature of evil, their experiences with it, their own childhoods, their parenting, their unhealthy relationships, the voices in their heads which drive them, and the times they’ve ignored red flags. I have never experienced anything like the outpouring of intensely personal stories shared at a movie before.”

Landau also said that they’ve already been approached by two major distributors for the film. “It’s really exciting to have the interest and the momentum. But we want to meet with everyone possible to find the right home for this project. Dev and I have also been working on another project called The Undead Series. It is a little bit like Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, but this is Vampires In Coffins Getting Blood! All of the people that worked with us on the movie came back again. In addition, we interviewed Tim Burton, Willem Dafoe, Nathan Fillion, Christian Kane, Kristin Bauer van Straten, and on and on it goes! We’ve shot 35 interviews already that are really extraordinary.”

From Landau’s iconic role as Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel to both of the projects she’s working on now, the vampire genre clearly plays a significant role, and with good reason.

“I chose to use the vampire genre for A Place Among the Dead partly because it’s an ever-enduring cultural/global phenomenon, partly due to my role on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and spin-off show Angel, partly because the vampire is the greatest metaphor for the draining narcissist, but mostly to lull the audience into a sense of safety, in order to explore unsafe, radical ideas.”

Landau spoke a little further as to why vampires can be used to tell such truly meaningful stories. 

“For the series, the thing that became so remarkably apparent in talking with each person is how pliable vampirism is. It can be used as a metaphor for almost every aspect of the human condition. For Joss, it was high school as a nightmare, for Kevin Grevioux, who created the Underworld franchise, the stem of the idea was from his experiences with interracial dating, so he created two species which don’t get along.”

“With Anne Rice, the impetus was her daughter, who tragically died of leukemia so she created a child vampire who lives forever. Leukemia is a blood disease. You speak with Charlaine Harris, who created the books True Blood was based on, and it was about homosexuality. For Tim Burton, Dark Shadows was about the dysfunctional family.”

There’s no shortage of vampire stories being told right now, either. The genre continues to be popular. “There are so many vampire shows currently. Lost Boys is coming out as a series. There’s What We Do In The Shadows, Ridley Scott’s The Passage. Nos4a2 will be on AMC. Anne Rice is doing her complete Vampire Chronicles for Hulu. It’s a marvelous time for the undead.” Landau noted. “It’s the most enduring genre — one which constantly adapts and changes. It’ll be interesting to see what Lost Boys today is, as opposed to what Lost Boys was when it was made in the 80s.”

There’s also the recent news that a modern sequel to Buffy the Vampire Slayer could be in the works. “I don’t know what it’ll look like, but I’m sure it’s gonna be fantastic. I think it’ll be a reimagining or separate universe, and I’m excited to see what it entails,” she said.

Landau’s interest in vampires started with her work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

“It definitely came from playing Drusilla. With the subject matter of the film, it was a compelling way to delve into the themes I am exploring. The picture is constructed in a revolutionary way: part fact, part fiction, part fantastical. Originally, The Undead Series was a fictional plot point in the movie because my character was making a documentary series. While shooting, Dev and I realized that it was a great idea, that it should exist in reality, so we decided to make it for real!”

“The interviews/conversations are very relaxed and intimate. You’ll see sides of everyone that you have never seen before. One of the last questions we ask each interviewee was if they would choose eternal life. The answers cover the spectrum,” she added. “I’m in the process of editing our first episode with Gary Oldman and his response to this makes me laugh every time.”

Landau recalled playing Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as well, and she shared some of what she was most proud of.

“Dru was such a special character. She definitely was not a run-of-the-mill kind of gal. I think for an episodic TV show, there was an unusual filmic quality to the role. It was a rewardingly collaborative experience. Joss has such a razor-sharp vision, which makes your job as an actor so much easier.”

“After I was cast, James Marsters came in for his audition and we immediately had an electric acting chemistry. He has a strong theater background as do I, so we would get together and rehearse all the time. I think we were able to make the history and epic nature of the relationship work. Hopefully, we did. We wanted to create characters who felt like they knew one another for 200 years!”

On top of everything else, Landau has a few more projects coming up that she’s excited about. 

“I’m starting a movie with William Malone, who directed House on Haunted Hill with Geoffrey Rush and Feardotcom with Stephen Rea. It’s called Thalliums’s Box. We’re in the process of developing the look of the character, designing the makeup and costume design,” she said. “A lot will be communicated with the physicality, so I’m going to be using my dance background in this one. I’m also working on Book of The Undead, the companion book to our series. It’s hectic, but like I said, who needs sleep?”

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Be sure to catch Juliet Landau on Bosch, now available for streaming on Amazing Prime, and be on the lookout for more information on A Place Among the Dead and The Undead Series! 

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