Let The Right One In Cast Talks Magic Tricks, Vampire Special Effects, and What Blood Tastes Like

Let The Right One In centers around a community of people in New York who struggling to find a cure for the young loved ones in their lives who have beens turned into vampires, while dealing with the mystery around a highly addictive drug that also makes people behave like vampires. This new Showtime adaptation of the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist expands the original story and tackles vampires through the lens of addiction. I spoke with the cast of Let The Right One In at New York Comic Con about magic tricks, challenging scenes and special effects, and what fake blood actually tastes like (Spoiler alert: It’s good!).

Ian Foreman broke down his two month audition that ended him landing a coveted role in Let The Right One In as Anika Noni Rose’s magic loving son Isaiah. “I really thought that I could book it. I thought that the role was just like me. When I got a callback I was super excited because prior to that I hadn’t had many callbacks,” he told me. “[Then] a couple days later I got the chemistry read. For the chemistry read I actually learned a couple magic tricks and I sewed my pockets to my jacket. I felt like that gave me the boost and [was] maybe one of the reasons that I booked it.”

And not only did Foreman book the role, but he even did all of his character’s magic tricks in the show. “I did do them myself. Then while we were going through the season me and Madison, we learned a couple more that we could do together. We kind of competed with magic tricks,” he shared, with Madison Taylor Baez adding: “I grabbed a deck of cards and I was able to learn a few tricks, so on set we were both teaching each other. Eventually some of the crew workers, the camera ops were doing magic with us. We got all of us to do it together.”

Not everyone got in on the magical action, but they were all captive audience members. “I did not pick up any magic tricks, but [Ian] and Madison had tricks galore. I would walk in and they’d be like, ‘Miss Anika, look!’ Anika Noni Rose laughed, with exaggerated hand gestures. “They are stupendously intelligent and fun children. […] I really love to have them around me. They’re bright lights and Ian […] learned a magic trick for the audition, so these kids are serious business.”

When asked how he related to his character, Foreman expressed that he understood what it felt like to not fit in. “Just like Isaiah, I was bullied in school. Not only by students, but also adults,” he opened up. “In my case, I love to talk. I’ve always been one of the energetic, animated people. I was made to think that because I love to talk my opinions weren’t really valued.”

Foreman praised Rose’s “great motherly instincts,” saying that she reminded him of his own mother. The two built up a strong mother and son bond while filming the series. “[Ian] is really the central point, the central heartbeat of my life if you will, but I'm also a professional woman,” said Rose. “Single mothers are some of the most amazing people on the planet the fact that they’re able to do all that. You really get to see this balancing act with her between these two worlds and also taking care of this sweet little face.”

Demián Bichir had a lot of respect for the young actors on set. “Musicians, they take care of their instrument, you know? They practice every day and that's what actors do. We try to be always in shape, we try to be fit, we try to be ready for anything. It was physically exhausting, emotionally draining also,” he shared. “And I have to say the kids had a rough ride and they performed so beautifully, with professionalism and determination and patience. This is always difficult to to have kids playing lead roles and Ian and Madison made everyone's work very easy.”

But it wasn’t all magic tricks on set, there were some deeply challenging moments. “I genuinely mean it when I say any moment that might have been challenging was challenging because it was ambitious. Those challenges are thrilling. We have the most phenomenal group of artists in front of [and] behind the camera who are genuinely good people. So when you have that then you embrace the challenges,” said showrunner Andrew Hinderaker. “There is an image in the first episode where something pretty dark has just happened. Demián’s character reaches down his hand and Madison's character — his daughter — reaches up her hand and they take each other's hand. What I always try to remember and what I let our writers know is whenever you feel lost look at that image because that's the show. That moment […] really emblemized what the show is about.”

Jacob Buster broke down the difficult opening scene of the first episode, which features his character Peter on literal fire as a vampire trying to see if he’s been cured by stepping out to see the sunrise. “I know this is probably not what everybody thinks is crazy about it, but that was real snow. We were walking int hat barefoot all the way though there,” he shared. “My stunt double was able to do the fire. That was crazy. [They] put all that gel on him and then it just went. I think the hardest part of that scene for me was the screaming. After about three takes my voice was gone.”

Following that intense scene, Buster is seen with severe burns that took two to three hours to put on with the makeup team and an hour and a half to take off each time. “I couldn’t do much. If I sat back against the couch it would start peeling off the makeup. It would put stuff on the couch as well, so I was kind of immobile when I was in the makeup. I just sat and waited for my scene. I would sit in it for maybe six hours so my skin was pretty raw for lack of a better word,” he shared. “But to be able to have [that makeup] in a scene made the scene feel very powerful. Being in the makeup is not the most comfortable thing and the character in that situation is not comfortable in the slightest, so it did give me a little bit to work off of just to feel that around my body. […] It did help me get into that character.”

Both Baez and Buster play the young vampires we follow in this series, with Buster confirming there is a connection between the two. “I can't say a whole lot about it. Something that I can say is they do know each other through a connection here or there,” he teased. “It's not the biggest connection, but it is a connection for sure.”

Baez was able to do her own a lot of her own stunts on set as a vampire. “I had an amazing stunt double who was also able to ensure that I was safe. The stunt director Chris Place was also there to make sure everything was good,” she shared. “That was really fun being able to do all of the unnatural, unrealistic things a vampire could do.”

And, of course, as vampires, they both had to drink blood. “There's a corn syrup mixture that's very sticky and runs like blood and then there's some that is more safe to drink,” Buster said of the two types of fake blood they used on set.

What’s the drinkable blood made of? “The blood mixture is Crystal Light, but the sugar ratio is times 100 to one. That’s definitely what kept me up during those late nights,” said Baez, with Buster confirming: “It actually tastes really good.”

New episodes of Let The Right One In drop Sundays on Showtime.