History Trivia / WhatWeDoInTheShadows

!!'''2014 film:'''

!!'''2019 FX series:'''
* AbilityOverAppearance: The character that became Guillermo was initially pictured as a few decades older, but Harvey Guillén's acting was seen as a natural fit and they rewrote the character to accommodate for this casting.
* ActorInspiredElement: Almost everything specific about Guillermo's character beyond his backstory and his name were created by his actor Harvey Guillén. [[https://www.vulture.com/article/guillermo-what-we-do-in-the-shadows-harvey-guillen.html This article]] describes how the creators ordered the makeup and costuming department to completely recreate the character look that Guillén made up for his audition.
* ActorSharedBackground:
** Nandor is a warlord from the Ottoman Empire, and his actor, Kayvan Novak, is ethnically Persian.
** Nadja is revealed to be from the Greek island of Antipaxos in the third season, and her actor, Natasia Demetriou, is ethnically Greek-Cypriot.
* AwesomeDearBoy:
** It was Creator/TildaSwinton who pitched the idea of her vampire character intersecting with ''What We Do In the Shadows'' with Clement after both of their vampire films had played at SXSW and subsequently agreed to make a guest star appearance in the show when Clement came up with a story that could work with that pitch.
** Similarly, Creator/DaveBautista became a guest star after Creator/KristenSchaal mentioned that Bautista would do anything to be a part of the show.
** Matt Berry himself was extremely eager to join the show because he viewed it as fun, absurd, and a form of escapism.
** Creator/MarkHamill is a huge fan of the 2014 film, and often raved about it on his Twitter account. When he was offered a role in the series, he didn't hesitate for a second.
* TheCastShowoff:
** Matt Berry is an accomplished musician, and the show frequently has Laszlo playing piano and other instruments as a result. A few of his songs have actually been used as the end theme of an episode! Couples with ActorAllusion in Season 3, Episode 10, where he starts playing the theme to ''Series/ToastOfLondon'' on the piano.
** Remember in Season 3, Episode 2 where Laszlo, Colin, and Guillermo all disguise themselves as Nandor? Nandor wasn't overdubbed, that's Kayvan Novak doing the voices for all three in his body! He's gained fame as an impressionist in his native England and has voice acted in quite a few animated films.
* TheDanza:
** Arj Barker as Arjan the werewolf.
** The Vampiric council turns out to consist of actors who have previously played vampires [[AsHimself as themselves]] [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy as vampires]].
*** Creator/TildaSwinton as Tilda (''Film/OnlyLoversLeftAlive'')
*** Creator/PaulReubens as Paul (''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'')
*** Creator/EvanRachelWood as Evan (''Series/TrueBlood'')
*** Creator/DannyTrejo as Danny (''Film/FromDuskTillDawn'')
*** Creator/WesleySnipes as Wesley (''Film/{{Blade}}'')
* RealSongThemeTune: 1966 folk song "You're Dead" by Norma Tanega, again. Several of the {{Ending Theme}}s are also existing published songs, although a few are stock music intended to sound like songs from various genres.
* RoleReprise: "The Trial" sees Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh, and Jemaine Clement return in the roles of Viago, Deacon, and Vladislav from the original film.
* SerendipityWritesThePlot: Clement explained in [[https://ew.com/tv/jemaine-clement-what-we-do-in-the-shadows-season-2-finale/ an interview]] that they were originally planning to do the same joke from "The Trial" about an actor who played a vampire really being a vampire in the show's universe for the second season finale (ideally Creator/AntonioBanderas to really tie together the ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire'' reference in the episode) but nobody was available to come to location for shooting in that limited time. As such, Clement reprised his role as Vladislav as a CallBack to fill in the role.
* SpecialEditionTitle: Several times in Season 3.
** The episode where they go to a casino has the photos in the opening replaced with footage of the vampires traveling to Atlantic City.
** The episode about Nandor's Ascension Day has the title song covered in Nandor's native Farsi.
** The episode after [[spoiler:Colin Robinson dies]] has all of [[spoiler:Colin's]] photos torn out of their frames or covered up in sticky notes.
* ThrowItIn:
** Just with the film, [[https://twitter.com/AJemaineClement/status/1114058619266318336 Jemaine Clement stated on Twitter]] that there's a lot of improv in the series.
** Harvey Guillén came up with the surname "de la Cruz" for Guillermo just to make the character feel more real to him than if he had OnlyOneName -- which Jemaine Clement instantly approved, because it fit so well with his as-yet-unrevealed heritage [[spoiler:as a vampire hunter]].
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** According to an [[https://ew.com/tv/2019/05/09/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-season-1-episode-7/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly_ew&utm_content=link&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=697F620E-721C-11E9-B693-41DF4744363C interview]], Waititi and Clement tried to get Creator/RobertPattinson, Creator/KieferSutherland, Creator/TomCruise, Creator/AlexanderSkarsgard and Creator/BradPitt for the Vampiric Council, but they were unavailable. Creator/CateBlanchett ''did'' want to do it, but since she hadn't ever played a vampire, they didn't want ''her''.
** [[spoiler:Jenna]] was originally planned to have a bigger role in the series. However, [[spoiler:Beanie Feldstein's]] other acting commitments have put the kibosh on that.

* {{Corpsing}}: [[spoiler:During Nick's trial,]] Vladislav (Clement) confronts Viago about the Procession of Shame, then smiles, clearly on the verge of cracking up, as Viago awkwardly backpedals. Clement quickly goes back to being serious for his next line.

* TheCastShowoff: Matt Berry is an accomplished musician, and the show frequently has Laszlo playing piano and other instruments as a result. A few of his songs have actually been used as the end theme of an episode! Couples with ActorAllusion in Season 3, Episode 10, where he starts playing the theme to ''Series/ToastOfLondon'' on the piano.
** Remember in Season 3, Episode 2 where Laszlo, Colin, and Guillermo all disguise themselves as Nandor? Nandor wasn't overdubbed, that's Kayvan Novak doing the voices for all three in his body! He's actually voice-acted in quite a few animated films.

* ActorInspiredElement: Almost everything specific about Guillermo's character beyond his backstory and his name were created by his actor Harvey Guillén. [[https://www.vulture.com/article/guillermo-what-we-do-in-the-shadows-harvey-guillen.html This article]] describes how the creators ordered the makeup and costuming department to completely recreate the character Guillén made up for his audition.

* TheCastShowoff: Matt Berry is an accomplished musician, and the show frequently has Laszlo playing piano and other instruments as a result. A few of his songs have actually been used as the end theme of an episode! Couples with ActorAllusion in Season 3, Episode 2, where he starts playing the theme to ''Series/ToastOfLondon'' on the piano.

* RealSongThemeTune: 1966 folk song "You're Dead" by Norma Tanega, again. Several of the {{Ending Theme}}s are also existing published songs, although several are stock music intended to sound like songs from various genres.

* TheCastShowoff: Matt Berry is an accomplished musician, and the show frequently has Laszlo playing piano and other instruments as a result. A few of his songs have actually been used as the end theme of an episode! Couples with ActorAllusion in Season 3, Episode 2, where he starts playing the theme to ''The Toast of London'' on the piano.
** Remember in Season 3, Episode 2 where Laszlo, Colin, and Guillermo all disguise themselves as Nandor? Nandor wasn't overdubbed, that's Kayvan Novak doing the voices for all three in his body! He's actually voice acted in quite a few animated films.

* BreakoutCharacter:
** Guillermo was always intended as a major character -- and, indeed, the primary viewpoint character as the AudienceSurrogate for the vampires' antics -- but the audience has latched on ''wildly'' to him, leading to him steadily growing in importance from the ButtMonkey he was conceived as, until TheReveal of his [[spoiler: vampire slayer heritage]] at the end of Season 1 became the primary MythArc of Season 2. It's reached the point where some fans have expressed support for a full-on ReTool of the show where [[spoiler: Guillermo and the vampires become enemies and [[https://www.cbr.com/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-guillermo-vampire-hunters/ the show follows his POV as he becomes a vampire hunter]] as a PerspectiveFlip, effectively making the show into his OriginStory.]]
** To a lesser degree, Guillermo's fellow StraightMan Colin Robinson. His fans love how Mark Proksch's acting and the new situations the writers find to put him in have made him far more than the one-note RunningGag he initially seemed to be.

** Nadja is implied to be from a Greek nation in the second season, and her actor, Natasia Demetriou, is ethnically Cypriot.

** Nandor is a warlord from the Ottoman Empire, and the actor is ethnically Persian.
** Nadja is implied to be from a Greek nation in the second season, and the actress is ethnically Cypriot.