TORONTO -- In Jemaine Clement's own words, the character he plays in "What We Do in the Shadows" is "like Gary Oldman and Dracula, if life hadn't gone so well."
The actor best known as one-half of New Zealand's singing comedy duo Flight of the Conchords stars in a new vampire mockumentary that he directed with fellow Kiwi funnyman Taika Waititi.
Documenting the everyday exploits of undead flatmates Vladislav (Clement), Viago (Waititi) and Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) in Wellington, New Zealand, horror-comedy "What We Do in the Shadows" screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.
"I said, 'I want to do a vampire film,' because I had always been obsessed with vampires as a kid. Taika wanted to do a mockumentary," Clement said in an interview. "Basically, we just put them together and thought they'd be a good fit because mockumentaries don't tend to go into the paranormal or into things you can't really film."
The subjects of "What We Do in the Shadows" are not sparkly "Twilight"-inspired creatures. They harken back to Bram Stoker's "Dracula" or Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" -- think ruffled shirts, Transylvanian accents and flowing hair.
One of the subplots in "What We Do in the Shadows" involves the trio turning an obnoxious hipster named Nick into a vampire. Nick then uses his new blood-drinker status to impress girls, bragging in bars that he inspired "Twilight."
"We try to tell people that 'Twilight' is very dangerous," deadpanned Clement. "It makes vampires watching it think they're going to sparkle if they get in the sunlight. Of course, they'll die."
He and Waititi first made a short film about their vampire alter-egos in 2005. They secured financing to turn it into a feature film, but Clement "got busy" with his runaway hit HBO series "Flight of the Conchords," in which he co-starred with Bret McKenzie from 2007 to 2009.
McKenzie, for his part, has gone on to write music for "The Muppets" and "Muppets Most Wanted," the former of which won him an Academy Award for best original song in 2011.
Clement denied a report that he and McKenzie are working on a new miniseries for HBO. Instead, Clement said he and Waititi are collaborating on a pilot for the cable channel, but he couldn't provide many details.
"It's not 'Flight of the Conchords,"' he said. "We're writing some pilots... Each episode would be different and about a different set of characters, but they may be played by the same actors.
"We don't know if it will happen, though. But we're writing it. So if it doesn't happen, maybe we'll get you to read it."
Asked whether fans will ever see a "Flight of the Conchords" movie, Clement said he hopes so.
"Hopefully we would do that but it's hard to say. We've both been pretty busy," he said. "But now we're more experienced in films and you know, Bret's done music for a couple of films now and I've written a film in the meantime and I think we probably have learned a lot. If we do want to (make a film), we'd probably be in a good position to do it."
