FANGTASTIC
Fancy something a bit darker? Then get your teeth into a blood-curdling new Dracula... and A Christmas Carol reimagined
While they were filming their Emmy-winning version of Sherlock Holmes, the idea that they should one day turn their attention to a very different Victorian literary hero began to stir in the minds of Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat. An image of Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock with his collar up, silhouetted against a door and looking very much like Dracula, was enough to whet their appetites, and when they mentioned it to the BBC the response was, “Go for it!”
The result is an exciting new take on the vampire legend from self-confessed geeks Steven and Mark. ‘Just as we were with Sherlock Holmes, we have been both faithful and faithless to the original book,’ says Mark. ‘We have the same characters that are in the book but they might not appear in the same order.’
‘There are disturbingly strange things in it’
Ever since Bram Stoker published Dracula in 1897, film-makers have put their own spin on the story, which starts with lawyer Jonathan Harker going to Count Dracula’s Castle in Transylvania because the bloodthirsty aristocrat wants to buy land in Britain. Soon Harker, played here by John Heffernan, finds himself a prisoner of the Count and barely escapes with his life. He’s then treated by nun Sister Agatha while Dracula heads to England to wreak havoc.
Steven and Mark have created a darkly entertaining schlock-horror fest that plays out over three 90minute episodes, but they admit they weren’t sure how to approach it at first. ‘He’s despicable but he’s the hero in that he’s the main character, and that made it incredibly hard to start writing,’ admits Steven. ‘Other stories I’ve written depend on the moral centre of the main character. They go on a journey towards morality, or loss of it — the moral dilemma is the story. But this is a character who doesn’t have a moral dilemma.’
‘It became easier once we started thinking about what he needs,’ adds Mark. ‘He wants something to eat and someone to talk to. Because he’s existed for centuries he has a very different view of humanity. He likes us because we’re his food but, like any connoisseur, he likes the good stuff.’
The show will air at 9pm because while it is horror with a nudge and a wink, it’s still pretty scary. ‘It was a prerequisite from the beginning that we couldn’t do it and not make it scary,’ says Mark. ‘But there are lots of different ways to be scary. Our version is very weird, with some disturbingly strange things in it.’
The team explored almost all the Dracula films before coming up with their own version, and also reference some of them in their series. Orava Castle in Slovakia, where the first Dracula film, Nosferatu, was made in 1922, provided exteriors for Dracula’s Castle, and other filming was done at the newly reopened Bray Studios where many of the classic Hammer horror movies were made.
Even their Dracula, Danish actor Claes Bang, did his research. ‘The team provided me with links to the old Dracula films and I watched them all for inspiration. When you do something like this, there’s a legacy that you need to respect, even if you want to reinvent it or put your own spin on it,’ he says.
His Dracula is quite classic looking. ‘In terms of the physicality, he’s got the nails,’ says Claes of the vampire’s famously long talons. ‘The make-up design team created my fangs first, and then based the design of the nails on the fangs. They’re actually quite annoying to wear though. I don’t think I’ve had a role before where there were so many elements to the costume that could have been obstacles — the teeth, the nails, the contact lenses and prosthetics. I had to get accustomed to them all.’
But behind the costume, Claes says this Dracula is different because they tried to make him a more three-dimensional figure. ‘My ambition was to make him perhaps not a person you can relate to but, at least, a creature you can relate to. He’s quite interesting. This Dracula reinvents the story in the most brilliant way.’
■ Nicole Lampert Dracula begins on New Year’s Day at 9pm on BBC1.