“Dracula Untold” is the hottest film to hit theaters this weekend and UrbanBridgez.com recently attended the press junket for the film.
Find out what Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon and the films director,
Gary Shore had to say.
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Q: With Dracula being such a massive figure in pop culture and storytelling
over the last 100 years or so, can you share with us your first experience
with Dracula growing up or as a child. Was it in film, or a novel or
television?
Gary Shore: It was actually a novel. I found the novel when I was 8 years
old. I have no idea why the novel was in school but it was something that I
read and was very fascinated with. Growing up my Dad used to take us down to
Bram Stoker’s house which was just down the road, and we were very aware of
it’s origin. We also used to watch Sesame Street growing up.
Q: What were the challenges that you had to face when creating the film
based on the fact that there are so many Dracula stories out there already?
Gary Shore: When I first got the script there was a bit of skepticism. I was
like “do we really need to see another Dracula film?” I remember opening the
script, it was a very quick read (104 pages long). It was such a left field
approach and there were a few characters in there that didn’t make it into
the film. The way the script was able to take the real character in history
and bridge it over to into mythology; I thought was just a really exciting
approach. And then I started discussing with the studio how we would make
the film. I wanted to try and find a way into the story where the audience
could see the film through different characters eyes.
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Q: We’ve never had an image of a woman interacting with Prince Vlad. What
did you do to create your idea of Vlad’s woman?
Sarah Gadon: It’s so interesting because people always say “your Vlads wife”
but no one ever says your Mirena’s husband to Luke Evans” (laughing). I
think I probably started there. I definitely didn’t think of her as a
secondary character in the film. It was very important for me to convey to
our films director, Gary Shore, that I was interested in playing a woman
that the audiences could access. I think that kind of dynamic is what I also
brought to my interaction with Luke Evans. Mirena had this pure, unrelenting
love for her family. I think it was beautiful to see this woman that was
just so in love with her husband.
UrbanBridgez.com: With there being so many Dracula films released, what
was it about this particular script that drew you to the role? Also, what
was the process like preparing for the role of Mirena?
Sarah Gadon: Well I was really excited to be apart of the Dracula film
because there have been so many cinematic incarnations on the film. For me,
each film kind of speaks to a point in film history that it was made. So it
was kind of a cool thing to think of us putting a cool contemporary
Hollywood stamp on this story of Dracula. From the visual effects to how we
tell the story. That was really exciting for me. In terms of preparing for
the role of Mirena; Luke and I did a lot of work researching the characters’
background. Knowing that Vlad had a dark past was an interesting dynamic for
us to play. I did dialogue coaching and my typical scene study. I watched a
lot of samurai movies too because I felt that there was kind of a real
samurai feel to the story. I actually gave Luke a samurai box set when we
finished the film (laughing). Gary is also heavily influenced by Steven
Spielberg so he asked me to watch a lot of early Spielberg movies because of
the banter that they contained between men and women.
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Q: Luke, looking at your bio, you’ve appeared in a number of mythic period
pieces. Are you the go-to-guy for this genre?
Luke Evans: I don’t know. Maybe I’m an old soul. Maybe I’ve lived before.
And I guess maybe directors see a face that seems to have been lived in. I
know that my face has been lived in. So yeah, I guess I’ve got a certain
look about me and I think once I’m in a costume or I’ve got a certain period
look, I seem to fit it quite well. I don’t know why that is. I’m quite happy
that’s the case though because it’s actually quite fun to jump into a world
that doesn’t exist anymore or didn’t exist ever. But it’s exciting because
it’s an incredibly immersive job, as an actor, to disappear into a world
that doesn’t exist or to tell a story about a character that lived a long
time ago.
Q: Can you talk about your fighting gear in Dracula Untold?
Luke Evans: Costume is a massive thing. I think costume makes you stand
differently. And in in this film, quite clearly in the billboards, you see
this incredible, elaborate armor. This chest breastplate with the dragon on
it and it makes you stand differently. It also turns heads. It turned the
cleaners’ heads, it turned the caters’ heads, it turned makeup’s heads,
everybody. I remember walking out of my trailer the first day on set when I
put that armor on for the first time, and only my assistant and I and my
dresser had sen the costume. And then I walked out for the first time and we
were up in a quarry and it was cold, and mother nature had allowed us this
great atmosphere so there were no fog machines needed. It was all natural
and I walked out through this mist, and everyone was just like “Holy shit!
He’s here. Bad Vlad’s arrived.” It was a really good moment. But it makes
you walk differently and carry yourself differently. You even fight
differently.
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Check out UB’s Review of The Film!
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