Before playing the role of Hal Damien Molony has researched on the Russian and Eastern European history and tried to find out where Hal might have been. For the prequel he wanted to find more information about Orsha, because Hal has been turned into a vampire during the Battle of Orsha. Molony thought that the bloodlust of vampires is similar to addicts. To understand Hal's bloodlust Molony did a lot of research on drug addicts and alcoholics and rehab and falling off the wagon, which helped him to get into Hal's world. Furthermore, Molony started to watch as much classic vampire films as he could. Films within the Bram Stoker, Nosferatu era helped him to play the vampire Hal, who doesn’t really know how to live a modern life.