Besson is best known as an action filmmaker. Will his “Dracula” follow suit and put the Count in a bloody modern-set splatterfest, à la “Hellsing”? Details are scarce so far, but reporting by Variety suggests that Besson is planning to adapt Stoker’s original novel, not merely use the Dracula character. That report also suggests the film will take cues from Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 epic “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (my personal favorite Dracula movie), depicting the vampire’s origins as 15th-century Wallachian Prince Vladimir, who spites God and becomes eternal evil after the death of his wife. This leads to his undead love story with his beloved’s 19th-century reincarnation, Mina Harker. Deadline reports that the current title of Besson’s film is even “Dracula – A Love Tale.”
The natural assumption would be that Waltz is playing Dracula; he’s a European gentleman with a devious smile and a penchant for playing villains, after all. However, reporting by Deadline (corroborated by The Hollywood Reporter) suggests that Landry Jones is actually the one in talks to play Dracula. If you have any doubt he can play a horror villain, watch Jordan Peele’s “Get Out.” Waltz’s role is still unconfirmed at this time — this is total speculation, but could he be playing Dracula’s human nemesis, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, perhaps?
Besson’s “Dracula” is being produced by his production company EuropaCorp and sold by Kinology. Currently in pre-production, it does not have a scheduled release date yet.