Lili Reinhart says Hollywood ‘too afraid’ to greenlight lesbian vampire project
Lili Reihnart (Getty Images)
Lili Reinhart has said Hollywood studios are “too afraid” to back her planned screen adaptation of a novella “about lesbian vampires”, as she continues trying to get the project made.
Speaking in a Hits Radio interview clip, bisexual actor and producer Reinhart said she has struggled to find a studio willing to take on the material. “People are too afraid to make that,” Reinhart said.
She also made a direct appeal to industry decision-makers watching the interview, saying: “So, if you work at a studio and are watching this video, I don’t know why you wouldn’t make that in this day and age. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Reinhart did not name the novella she wants to adapt. The title has not been confirmed, though it has reportedly been speculated by some to be Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, first published in 1872.
Studios and queer genre risk
Reinhart’s comments land amid wider conversations about whether financiers and studios are still hesitant to take risks on explicitly LGBTQ+ stories, particularly in genre spaces like horror and romance. Similar concerns have been raised by other high-profile names, including Lilly Wachowski, who said financiers were reluctant to back her new film over its “wall-to-wall trans cast”.
Director Elliot Tuttle also spoke with PinkNews about his controversial gay camboy movie Blue Film, which saw multiple rejections from film festivals before it eventually found a distributor.
Lili Reinhart’s current project
Reinhart has been discussing the vampire project while promoting Prime Video’s upcoming adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis. In the film, she plays PhD student Olive opposite Tom Bateman as professor Dr Carlsen, with the pair entering a fake relationship to test theories of love.
Reinhart is also an executive producer on the adaptation, which is directed by Claire Scanlon and written by Sarah Rothschild. She has previously served as an executive producer on Chemical Hearts (2020), as well Look Both Ways (2022) and American Sweatshop (2025).
Best known for playing Betty Cooper on The CW’s Riverdale, Reinhart has also spoken publicly about mental health, including anxiety and depression, and has said she is bisexual.
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