Plot
Prince Vladimir of Wallachia renounces God and becomes Dracula after the death of his wife Elisabeta during a battle with the Ottomans. Over the centuries, Dracula attempts to track down the reincarnation of his wife, creating vampiric agents to assist in his search and developing a perfume designed to lure women to him.
Four hundred years later, while negotiating a real estate transaction with the Parisian solicitor Jonathan Harker, Dracula discovers that Harker's fiancée Mina is the reincarnation he seeks. After imprisoning Harker in his castle, Dracula reinvigorates himself with the blood of nuns and heads to Paris in time for the centenary of the French Revolution. With the help of Maria, one of his vampiric followers, Dracula tracks Mina down and, destroying the perfume, reminds her of her past life as Elisabeta and takes her back to Wallachia, where she begs him to turn her into a vampire in order to live eternally by his side.
An expeditionary force led by an unnamed priest and Harker lays siege to Dracula's castle. During the battle, Dracula is confronted by the priest, who urges him to repent of his ways lest he condemn Mina to eternal damnation. Dracula allows himself to be staked by the priest and disintegrates in Mina's arms after declaring his love for her.
Production
In February 2024, it was announced that an adaptation of the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker was in development, with Luc Besson directing and writing the screenplay. Caleb Landry Jones and Christoph Waltz joined the cast in lead roles. [10]
Besson said his fascination with the project was not sparked by the story of Dracula, but by actor Jones, with whom he worked in his 2023 film Dogman. Wanting to work with him again, Besson began thinking of other roles that would be suitable for him, and settled on Dracula. [11] [12] "It's a totally romantic approach," Besson says of his adaptation. "There's a romantic side in Bram Stoker's book that hasn't been explored that much. It's a love story about a man who waits for 400 years for the reincarnation of his wife. That's the true heart of the story, waiting an eternity for the return of love". [13]
In another interview Besson claimed that: "When you take the original novel, it's a real love story. But because at the time [of the novel's release] there wasn't cinema and special effects and all that, people were more pulled in by the fantasy and sanguine aspects [of Dracula]. So he [Dracula] became a horror movie myth when actually, if we dig into the original novel, it's a big love story. So I wanted to go back to this man who loses his wife and who sadly is eternal because God stops him from dying, and he looks for his wife for 400 years." [14]
Luc Besson also admitted: "I'm not a fan of horror films, nor of Dracula". He also stated that he wanted to make a tragic-romantic love story rather than a horror film, even though he kept some horror aspects. What interested him most was to tell the story of Dracula as that of a man who tries for 400 years to find the love of his life. [15] [16]
Visual style
In terms of the film's visual aesthetics, Besson and cinematographer Colin Wandersman decided as early as pre-production to draw inspiration from Flemish painting and the pictorial technique of chiaroscuro. [17]
Costumes
The costumes were designed by Corine Bruand, based on concept art by Patrice Garcia and Luc Besson. In total, 550 costumes were created for the film. [18]
After being designed by Besson, Corine Bruand, and Patrice Garcia, Dracula's armor was crafted by artisan Terry English, who had previously worked with Besson on The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). [18] The soldiers' armor seen in the first part of the film was crafted in London by the team who worked on Game of Thrones . [18]
Elizabeth's gown was made by the Manufacture Royale Bonvallet, near Amiens, in France. The veil of the headdress, which is nearly eight meters long, is a silk organza (the lightest in the world) sourced from Japan. [18]
Most of the fabrics were produced by the French workshop BBC Jacquard, based on period drawings. [18]
Sets and props
The sets were designed by Hugues Tissandier, who has worked on numerous Luc Besson films. Many of the sets were fully built in the studio, including the interior rooms of the castle (unlike the exterior of the castle, which was primarily created using visual effects). The music box, which appears in the film's opening shot and is a significant element in the story, is made of brass. The Baghdad souk was created using 1,500,000 petals meticulously prepared by the film crew. The paintings of Dracula in the grand dining hall serve as an homage, depicting the main actors who have portrayed Dracula in previous adaptations. [19]
Make-up
The film's make-up was supervised by Julia Floch, Jean-Christophe Spadaccini, and Denis Gastou, who work on most of Luc Besson’s films. A total of 28 people were involved in the make-up department. [20] Making Dracula appear 400 years old in certain scenes was achieved using prosthetic makeup, which could not be reused. In total, nearly 200 prosthetics makeup were created for the film, including for Dracula's head, torso, and aged hands. The make-up for scenes in which Caleb Landry Jones portrayed a 400-year-old Dracula required six to seven hours of preparation, [21] while the make-up for Guillaume de Tonquédec, who played the scientist, took up to three hours. The make-up team also created, among other things, 35 fake severed heads of Ottoman soldiers. [17]
Filming
According to Collider , principal photography began on 27 March 2024, in Kainuu, Finland. The reason for this new shooting location has been reported to be the area's snowy landscapes. [22] Filming lasted from March to July 2024 and took place across several locations, including the Paris region at the Dark Matters studios in Tigery (Essonne). [23] For the exterior sequences, Besson set up his camera in Kuhmo, Finland, and later returned to Paris to film a scene at the Palais-Royal. [23] Production, which began in June 2024 in Paris, had to be rushed ahead of filming restrictions imposed in preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games. [23]
Post-production
He visual effects were created by MPC Paris. The studio delivered 656 visual effects shots out of the film's more than 1,500 shots, involving 162 artists and technicians. [24]
For color grading, Luc Besson worked with Yvans Lucas, who is known for having graded Amélie (Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain), The Bear (L’Ours), and The Big Blue (Le Grand Bleu), the latter also directed by Luc Besson, and also on numerous American films directed by Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarantino. [17]
Music
Danny Elfman began composing the score for Dracula: A Love Tale by creating three main themes. The first, a romantic theme, represents Dracula's love for his lost wife; it is often played on a music box but also has variations with different instruments and rhythms depending on the scene. The second theme is specific to the large dance sequence, while the third aims to convey Dracula's warrior and vampire nature. Once these three main themes were agreed upon, Danny Elfman and Luc Besson collaborated on various musical motifs to express strangeness, mystery, and tension, accompanying the different scenes throughout the story. [25]
