Dracula Director Luc Besson on Turning Horror Story into a Gothic Romance | Interview
ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Dracula director, writer, and producer Luc Besson about the new Gothic romantic fantasy film. Besson discussed what interested him in making a Dracula movie, how the set was a collaborative environment with all the talent involved, and more.
“When a 15th-century prince (Caleb Landry Jones) witnesses the brutal murder of his wife (Zoe Bleu), he renounces God and damns heaven itself,” the official synopsis reads. “Cursed with eternal life, he is reborn as Dracula, an immortal warlord who defies fate in a blood-soaked crusade to wrench his lost love back from death, no matter the cost. On the verge of reuniting, Dracula is hunted by a relentless priest (Christoph Waltz), sworn to end his immortal reign.”
Dracula will be released in United States theaters on February 6, 2026, by Vertical.
Brandon Schreur: I’m wondering if you can just tell me a little bit about how this project came about. I mean, you’ve done so many different kinds of movies throughout your career, whether they be sci-fi, action, etc. What made you want to do a Dracula movie?
Luc Besson: I didn’t want to do a Dracula movie. I wanted to make another movie with Caleb Landry Jones [laughs]. We were working on Dogman, on the set, and then we were waiting for the light. We started talking like, ‘What’s next? What are we going to do next?’ Because we wanted to do another movie together. So we dropped some names. Jesus. Napoleon. Mao Tse-Tung. Charles de Gaulle. Then Dracula came on the list.
And I said, ‘Oh, let me read the book again.’ So I read the book, and I was amazed. I had totally forgotten that it was about a man who waits for 400 years because he wants to see his wife again. It’s so romantic that, just this line, I said, ‘I want to do this movie.’ For me, it’s much closer to Beauty and the Beast than Dracula.
Totally. I love that take, too, and that leans into what I wanted to ask you next. Dracula has been interpreted so many times over the years. I mean, there are versions where it’s a horror movie or a Gothic romance movie. I’ve seen Dracula portrayed as a superhero. When you were working on the script and after rereading the book, what aspect of that original story interested you most and made you want to dive in to really find your vision?
First, except for Coppola’s [Dracula movie], which I saw 30 years ago, and maybe the Christopher Lee when I was 10 years old, I’d never seen any of them. I’m not so much interested in horror films. I’m too scared. I’m scared — I have too much imagination, when I see a horror film, I get nightmares for weeks. I’m not interested.
It was really about taking the essence of the movie, playing a little bit with the gimmick and the codes of Dracula, but playing with it. For example, the Priest at certain moments says, ‘I heard garlic is working, but I’m not so sure about it.’ I want to play with that. It was more fun. So, I used the code, but the main thing was — we know Dracula was here for 400 years. What did he do for 400 years? This is what I want to tell. I want to show him in the 15th Century, the 16th Century, and the 17th Century. To see what happens. How is it to be so lonely for so long?
Totally. I love the little stuff that you add into this movie, too. The army of gargoyles, those little guys, they were so much fun. The love potion, I thought that was a blast. This movie kept surprising me with how much fun it was.
Thank you. There are too many movies today. They’re good, but they’re like warm water, you know? We’ve seen it before. Maybe it’s a little better, but. I just want to cook food for you, and I want to surprise you. I want you to taste it and be like, ‘Oh my god, this is good, where did this come from?’
I love that. Another thing I love about the movie, too, is the look of it. The way you film it and the production design with Dracula’s castle and all that. Can you talk a little bit about collaborating with the production designer and the visual team on Dracula? What were the key ideas you wanted the audience to feel when they enter this world and look at this movie?
You know, when I was young, I was stubborn. I wanted to do everything by myself. Every time someone came up with an idea, I was like, ‘No no no no. This is my movie. This is my movie.’ Now I’m older. I’ve learned that you’re stronger — if you have to move a table, it’s better to have four [people] than be by yourself. And so I surround myself with real artists. I’m not scared anymore to work with people who could be better than me. It’s a bunch of artists — costume design, set design, make-up artists. There’s a guy who is making drawings, I’ve worked with him since The Fifth Element. He’s a genius.
Caleb was also integrated into the thing. Every week, we’d have a meeting, and everybody can say everything they want. They just throw things out. Little by little, as a conductor, I’ll say, ‘Okay, I’ll take this.’ For example, the first thing was the color. Purple. Okay, good. Silk. Okay, good. Copper for the castle. Copper goes well with the purple. Yeah, good. The skin — Caleb was starting to touch [his neck] because he wants to feel the time. I asked the guy from the make-up artists, and he comes back with images of iguanas. We put a lot of skin [on his neck] so Dracula could touch it.
That’s how you build little by little. It’s really a team that works every week…The voice, so we bring two coaches from Romania. They spent time with Caleb to try to find [the voice]. They worked for four months. We put all these things together just to find the right height of the guy. One week, we started with certain shoes. A week later, we said, ‘Let’s try an inch higher.’ Then you find the height. It’s the work of a team, all together. We don’t have the money of a big studio production like Marvel and things, so we can compensate with talent and time.
Sure. And it turned out so good, too. I was going to say, I love the laugh that you came up with that Caleb does as Dracula. That took me out.
You know what he did? We rehearsed for a month, but sometimes, there were things that he didn’t tell me. I say ‘action,’ and he starts laughing. He’s never laughed for 200 years, so it can’t get out. He didn’t tell me anything about that. I was like, ‘What the f— is he doing?’ But I let him go, and I say ‘cut.’ I said, ‘Caleb, that’s great. Why didn’t you tell me about it before?’ He was like, ‘Oh, I just wanted to see if it works.’ So, it’s his laugh. He came up with the idea. And everyone on the set was [amazed].
It’s such an awesome moment in the movie. At first, you don’t even know what he’s doing.
Exactly! Then you realize that he’s trying to laugh.
It’s great. Caleb is obviously great in this movie, but I also wanted to ask about Christoph Waltz, because I thought he was perfect casting in this, too. I mean, you look at him, and he seems like he is the Priest, and he plays him so well. How was it working with him, and what did you feel he could bring to the table with the role of the Priest?
Christoph is like a Swiss clock. He’s also a director of opera. He’s almost an encyclopedia — he knows everything. It’s such a joy for me to work with a guy with so much knowledge. It’s very technical. We go line-by-line. Someone in his family is a priest. So he was on the phone with the guy to verify every line, every word, to be sure. It’s fantastic. He’s all about work, you know? There’s no bulls—, there’s no nothing. It’s just, like, work. Every time we’d see each other, we’d sit for hours and work on the thing. And we love that, both of us.
For example, you know at the end, when he killed Dracula, he has a prayer he’s saying? A few months sooner [in rehearsal], he said a few lines of the prayer, and I said, ‘God, you know this prayer?’ …He said the entire thing right in front of me. I said, ‘Take it. We’re going to make one shot of it, and you’re going to do the entire thing.’
It’s a space of freedom, where you can come with your ideas and talents, and someone will be here to listen. I’m here to listen. I’m the conductor, so sometimes I say no, because I’m in charge of making sure it looks like an assembly. But I love to offer that to creative people, the actors, and everyone. Yes, you can express yourself, yes, you can have an idea. Go. Sometimes, the second assistant can say, ‘Luc, I’m sorry, can I tell you something? What about this and this? And I’ll say, ‘That’s a good idea, I’m going to try it.’ It’s a free space. And I cherish this space, because we don’t always have it anymore. It’s very difficult to protect this space. You always have an executive producer from the studio coming and saying, ‘We have to do this and this and this.’ No. Get out.
Thanks to Luc Besson for taking the time to discuss Dracula.
Source: Comingsoon.net