Click here to view prayfordayligh.com the official Near Dark web site 

Near Dark 1987

A genre-crossing vampire flick, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Jesse Hooker is one of Lance's most memorable characters.

"I remember thinking about my mother - her family was dead, all her friends were dead, she had no contact with anybody that she knew from her past. It clued me in on a piece of Jesse Hooker. I loved doing that guy. I would love to do a prequel to that movie. In fact, Bill Paxton and I pitched it to Kathryn one night ... "

"SFX Magazine, May 1998 Book", Copyright Future Publishing 1998


Near Dark saw Lance reunited with his co-stars from Aliens, Jennette Goldstein (Vasquez)and Bill Paxton (Hudson). They went from one movie to another as a group and seemed to derive a great strength from that, finding themselves a closely knit team rather than an 'ensemble'.

"I play Jesse Hooker, the leader of the family. He's a romantic who has outlived his era. He has seen all the changes take place and his version of romance die terrible deaths. The family members are nocturnal nomads - wanderers, very much like the Romany. In fact, the work I used to describe anyone who wasn't one of us was gajo (not-Gypsy). Their main purpose is to keep the family together."

To help get into character before filming, Henriksen rented a car and drove down to the location in Arizona, picking up hitchers along the way. " Stayed in character and would say things like 'Roll me a cigarette,' and give him a tobacco pouch. The guy would roll one with great difficulty, and I would say, 'You call that a cigarette?' and then throw it out the window. Or, I would tell him to turn the radio on, then say, 'What kind of stupid music is that - turn it off'.

"I wanted to see how much you can subtly say to somebody before they start getting scared." He sighs, "You know after three hours, this huge guy, who could probably have crushed my head, was begging to get out of the car. I felt so guilty for what I had done that I gave him 30 bucks, all the money I had in my pocket."

Interview from Starlog Magazine #121;, Copyright Starlog Press