Jacob Buster as Peter Logan in Let The Right One In - "What's Done In The Dark." Photo by Francisco Roman and courtesy/copyright of Showtime.
Most parents always try to do what they believe is best for their children. Sadly, things do not always work out how they hope. This is true of not one but two families in Showtime’s Let The Right One In. This psychological horror drama TV series, which was inspired by a novel of the same name by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, introduces viewers to Arthur Logan, a terminally ill scientist whose young son Peter was turned into a vampire. Arthur has spent the past 10 years trying to find a cure for Peter’s condition, but his good intentions only end up inflicting more pain on his son. No stranger to TV watchers, moviegoers, and bibliophiles, these sharp-toothed, blood-drinking denizens of the night have sent shivers up peoples’ spines for decades. From Nosferatu to Dracula, most of these fictional vamps have been adults, so actor Jacob Buster jumped at the opportunity to play a younger version of such a legendary antagonist. It was a first for him in more ways than one.
“Living in Utah, auditioning is always a bit interesting for me because I have to put myself on tape, and before COVID that wasn’t really typical,” says Buster. “When I got the [audition] sides for Let The Right One In, I did a tape and sent it off. I was working with my brother in the food industry, specifically hosting at a restaurant, when I got a callback for the series. I quickly asked for the day off, went home, did another tape, sent it in, and not long after I got a call telling me I had the job.
(L-R): Jacob Buster as Peter Logan and Madison Taylor Baez as Eleanor Kane in Let The Right One In - "Stargazers." Photo by Francisco Roman and courtesy/copyright of Showtime.
“One of the biggest things that stuck out for me when I was cast on this show was having to move to New York alone at the age of 18. That was a big jump for me. I had been used to having my family around when I was working, so not having them around was initially a bit challenging for me and took a little getting used to. Luckily, the cast as well as crew were very welcoming, and I was so grateful for that. I have to say, though, that when we began filming, any loneliness I might have felt was a huge help to me as an actor because Peter was such a lonely character having been isolated from other people for so long. Being able to identify with him in that way made it easier for me dive into the role,” enthuses the actor.
Peter Logan is not the only young person who is suffering a fate worse than death in Let The Right One In. Ten years ago, Mark Kane’s (Demian Bichir) daughter Eleanor (Madison Taylor Baez) was also turned into a vampire while she and Peter just happened to be attending the same summer camp. Having remained physically unchanged, the 12-year-old girl can only venture out at night and is kept alive thanks to Mark’s efforts to obtain human blood on which she can feed. Eleanor and her father have returned to New York where Mark is desperate to also find a cure for her condition. Meanwhile, across the country, Peter’s sister Claire (Grace Gummer) returns home and is shocked to learn after all these years that her brother is still very much alive, despite their father Arthur’s (Zeljko Ivanek) story to the contrary. As Claire does her best to support as well as comfort Peter, the two siblings quickly reestablish their bond and, not surprisingly, this impacts the Logan family dynamic.
(L-R): Grace Gummer as Claire Logan and Jacob Buster as Peter Logan in Let The Right One In - "What's Done In The Dark." Photo by Francisco Roman and courtesy/copyright of Showtime.
“As a character, Peter still has a childlike wonder to him in that he hasn’t really been able to have a lot of the experiences that other people have had,” notes Buster. “So he views the world in a very different way, which has obviously been influenced by the fact that he’s a vampire. However, looking ahead, now that he’s been reunited with his sister, Peter is starting to see his life in a new way and he’s finding a renewed sense of humanity, which I think will be very interesting to see develop as the story continues to unfold.
“When it comes to Peter and his sister Claire, she’s almost like a mother to him. They’re very close and their relationship, although already being a tightknit one, has further grown since she’s come home. As far as him and his dad, that’s a difficult one. Peter’s father has devoted the last 10 years or so to his son and tried to give him back some of the life that he had. However, it’s hard to forgive his dad for a lot of the things that weren’t so great while he was growing up. As a result, Peter can sometimes come across as maybe a little self-centered and selfish, but you can understand why. His relationships with the people around him really reflect who Peter as a person and, again, how he grows as the series progresses."
(L-R): Jacob Buster as Peter Logan and Nick Stahl as Matthew Dean in Let The Right One In - "Stargazers." Photo by Francisco Roman and courtesy/copyright of Showtime.
Arthur Logan’s attempt to cure for son’s vampirism results in Peter being severely burned over most of his body. This gave Buster the opportunity to work behind prosthetics for the first time. “The make-up process slowly got faster as the season went on, but in at the beginning it took about three hours to put on and one-and-a-half hours to take off,” he explains. “A good portion of my [work] day was spent sitting in the make-up chair having the prosthetics glued on and then painted so they would all blend together. It was very constricting and itchy, but that’s how Peter would feel if he was truly burned and in that state.”
At the time of this interview (mid-November), the actor has to respond carefully when asked if he has a favorite Let The Right One In episode. “I really love episode eight; I wish I could talk about many of the scenes, but I can tell you I’m excited for that one to air,” he says. “As far as the episodes that have already been shown, I really enjoyed episodes two and three and the scenes with Peter and his sister. You get to see them smiling and making jokes, which gives Peter the chance to sort of step back from all the pain he’s recently gone through and view his life as an opportunity and a gift as opposed to something he must endure.”
Jacob Buster as Peter Logan in Let The Right One In - "Outings." Photo by Francisco Roman and courtesy/copyright of Showtime.
Along with a number of made-for-TV movies, the actor’s other TV work include roles in Ballers, Colony, The Thundermans and Suits while Storm Rider and Just Let Go, which earned him the Best Actor Under 18 award at the Film in Utah Awards, are among his feature film credits. To this day, Buster’s very first time acting in front of the camera remains a memorable experience. “It was called Heaven Under a Table, and it was a short film for a college student’s project,” he recalls. “I played a young boy whose father, an astronaut, passed away, so my character created this outer space world underneath a tablecloth where he’d go to be with his dad again. The whole story kind of revolved around that and I was pleased to be a part of it.”
Prior to Let The Right One In, Buster first worked in genre TV when cast in the series regular role of Charlie Bowman opposite Josh Holloway and Sarah Wayne Callies in the Sci-Fi TV series Colony. “That was a fun one,” says the actor. “My character was emotionally traumatized and kind of kept to himself, but I loved Colony because there was so much humanity in it. Like Let The Right One In, that show was Sci-Fi, but also rooted in reality. I love how Sci-Fi can be bigger than life, but at the same time make emotions really pop out in the stories being told. Colony definitely did that, and I was so happy to be a part of it.”
Steve Eramo
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