Dracula is an undead nocturnal predator who feats on the blood of the living and spreads his curse through infection. No matter how much of a gothic masterpiece the novel may be, it is not a romance story. He does have wives. Three of them. And they are as savage as him.
This romance angle is a relatively recent invention. It was seeded into a few adaptions before finally breaking cover in the Broadway show that was then adapted into the John Badham movie in 1979. That starred Frank Langella as Dracula.
This angle was then cemented by Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, using the author’s name to present itself as a faithful retelling, when it inserted the entire reincarnated wife subplot out of thin air.
It seems like this is an angle that they won’t be letting go of anytime soon. Luc Besson is the next director to adapt Stoker’s novel, and he is going down the romance route. A synopsis for his upcoming adaption says this is telling the story of 15th-century Prince Vladimir, who cursed God following the death of his beloved wife and is turned into a vampire.
Later, in 19th-century London, he discovers his wife’s doppelgänger and dooms himself by pursuing her.
Christoph Waltz and Caleb Landry-Jones are apparently in talks to star in the project. Landry-Jones previously worked with Besson on Dogman. Dracula will be produced under the EuropaCorp banner.
Besson was facing rape charges involving Belgian-Dutch actress Sand Van Roy, but he has now been cleared of these. Besson stepped down from a leadership role at EuropaCorp over this.
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