by Screen Daily

A hot cast of young Western stars has joined Vampire, the English-language debut of Japanese director Iwai Shunji, including Keisha Castle-Hughes and Rachael Leigh Cook.

Also on board the film, which started shooting in Vancouver last week, are Kristin Kreuk (Smallville), Adelaide Clemens (X-Men: Origins) and Trevor Morgan (Mean Creek). Previously announced cast includes Kevin Zegers, Amanda Plummer and Japanese star Yu Aoi.

Produced by Rockwell Eyes in conjunction with Convergence Entertainment, Vampire was pre-sold as part of the producer’s financing arrangements to the Middle East, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea and Japan. Fortissimo Films is handling sales for the rest of the world and co-repping North American rights with Rockwell Eyes.

Zegers plays a schoolteacher with a taste for human blood, who searches for suicidal young women as his victims; all of whom he falls in love with before their deaths.

Iwai’s credits include festival favourites such as Love Letter and All About Lily Chou Chou, and he recently directed a segment of portmanteau, New York, I Love You, starring Orlando Bloom and Christina Ricci. Iwai is also producing Vampire alongside Convergence’s Tim Kwok.