As Eva Green's Vanessa Ives explains to Josh Hartnett's Ethan Chandler what 'a half-world' is, glimpses of scary monsters from Gothic literature flash in the video.
- January 17, 2014
AceShowbiz -
Showtime has debuted a new promo as well as announced the premiere date for "Penny Dreadful". In the recently-unveiled teaser, Eva Green's Vanessa Ives explains to Josh Hartnett's Ethan Chandler what demimonde is.
"Do you believe there is a demimonde? A half-world between what we know and what we fear?" she says, as the scenes offer glimpses of scary monsters from Gothic literature. "That sounds like a warning," Ethan responds, but Vanessa replies, "It's an invitation."
The psychosexual thriller created by John Logan ("The Aviator", "Hugo") takes place in Victorian London and weaves together the classic origin stories of horror icons like Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, Dorian Grey, and several characters from the novel Dracula.
At the TCA winter press tour, Hartnett said what lured him into the project was the people behind it (Sam Mendes serves as executive producer). "For me, the entire interest in doing the project was based on the people that were involved and being able to work with John, who's created such interesting stories over the years in film, knowing this was his first television project," he shared.
As for Green, it's her "meaty role." She explained, "All the characters are very complex ... [Vanessa] is such a beautiful heroine ... all the characters are very flawed, complicated and it's just great to sink your teeth into."
Responding to a reporter's comment that the show was like other psychosexual horror series namely "True Blood" and "American Horror Story", Logan said, "We're just creating our own show, and it's appropriate to what we want to do. I'm not concerned with pushing the envelope or not pushing the envelope. I'm concerned with being true to who these characters are."
"Penny Dreadful" will debut Sunday, May 11 at 10 P.M. ET/PT. Showtime has also set Sunday, April 13 as the premiere date for "Nurse Jackie" season 6 (9 P.M.) and "Californication" season 7 (9:30 P.M.).
Docu-series "Years of Living Dangerously" about global warming is set to follow at 10 P.M. Executive produced by James Cameron, Jerry Weintraub and Arnold Schwarzenegger, it is supported by prominent stars like Matt Damon, Jessica Alba, Olivia Munn, Ian Somerhalder, Harrison Ford, Michael C. Hall, Don Cheadle and America Ferrera.
