Patrick Lussier

May 2003

CONTINUED

One of the things that I noticed, to give a last reference to Dracula 2000, is that there is a tomb, which you see briefly, that I believe has the inscription, Spencer Hepburn on it?

 (laughs) yeah…

Which I took as an obvious reference to Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, of course…

 Yeah, it was the art department’s reference, I didn’t realize they were doing it until I showed up on set and saw that.

(laughs)

 Yeah, personally I would have rather not had that.  I felt that it completely distracted from the moment, and suddenly you were taken out of the movie by that reference.  But at the time we were shooting and it was too late; the things had been made and shipped down to New Orleans while we were shooting.  The first time I saw them complete was when I walked on set at the graveyard, and it was like “aww…”.

(laughs) Well, that certainly suggests a conscious respect for other Hollywood…

 Yeah, I think there is very much a respect for that…the film was just to create Dracula, an immersion in the Dracula story, I’m very much…you know, I’m a fan of the Hammer movies.  The original opening of Dracula 2000, which can be seen on the DVD, which is the capture of Dracula was all designed to be very much a homage to the Hammer films.

Scenes from Dracula II: Ascension

Are there other genres that you hope to delve into, or try your hand at, as a director?

 Oh sure, yeah!  There are all sorts of things that you’d like to…you know you never want to rule anything out, at the same time, horror has been very good to me for a long period of time, and it is a genre I really enjoy. So, ya know if I stick with it for a while I have no problem!

 With Dracula II, and getting back to Jason Scott Lee in particular, I once saw that he was quoted as saying “I exceptionally enjoyed working with Patrick Lussier, the director of the ‘Dracula’ films.  I would love to work on another project with him”, and of course we have all seen now that this will happen with Dracula III: Legacy.  What is it you saw in him that you made you want him as a part of your films?

 Well, Jason is a…well, Jason I have been a fan of for a long time, you know, I think with Dragon and then with Jungle Book.  My wife is a gigantic fan of Jason’s, and had always talked about him.  We were looking at a few people, which was kind of strange because we were basically looking for an Italian assassin (laughs).  The first person we all agreed on was Jason, right down the line every one of us said yes, he’d be perfect.  And it wasn’t a way any of us had thought of going, but it was the best decision we made.  Jason is an amazing physical actor, he is an absolutely wonderful performer, and Jason brings us so much.  We were incredibly fortunate, and I would work with him anywhere, anytime.  He is just a really talented, great guy; he is just a really good person.  And for a role that was so physical, that was one of the things we had planned in so many auditions in the past, but they show up and in these auditions, you can’t tell how physical an actor is.  With Jason we knew he was, again, somebody who could give everything that we needed and more, and Jason could just bring us so much.

 Are there other actors/actresses that you saw during the casting process, that you just had to have immediately?

 Yeah, one of the actors was John Light who plays Eric.  And he came in and his audition was fantastic, he started off doing…I think the shovel in the barn scene.  And what was amazing was Eric’s second scene which was, Eric, where he comes back and finds Luke and he is pretty much a blubbering mess of cowardice, and the transformation of character was incredible and was so entertaining.

 So you have three Dracula films under your belt so far, as well as some other projects on the horizon…Totem and others.  You have sort of a franchise going with Dracula…

 Yeah!

 Did you see that happening from the beginning?

 We had talked about it…I was actually going through some old computer files yesterday and dug up my original take on a sequel to Dracula 2000, which has the whole swimming pool…and it had Simon and Mary in it, and was just in order to write their story. And we got so much bigger…

Cardinal Sisqueros (Roy Scheider) and Uffizi (Jason Scott Lee), in one of a precious few serene moments from Dracula II: Ascension.

The early buzz I have heard on Dracula III is pretty vague.  Could you give us all some advance insight as to what Dracula III is all about.

 Well, what happened with Drac II is essentially a claustrophobic tale of trying to…well, treating vampires as a scientific anomaly, like something that you can analyze.  It’s something that you can break down; and there is no…the argument is that evil has no place in this analytical setting, yet clearly Drac is evil.  And given the inevitable equation where he ultimately gets out, everybody…everybody’s…(laughs)

 Yeah! (laughs).

 And the third one, how the third one came about, it was a conversation with Joel (Soisson) and I, specifically about Romania and why don’t we do a Heart Of Darkness kind of story.  Drac goes back to Romania and sets himself up a river, like Kurtz...he's sitting like a bloated tick...spreading a plague of vampirism across the country, that nobody can seem to really contend with; <they are> falling victim to the nocturnal attacks, and they don’t quite understand why and are incredibly kind of shell-shocked over the whole thing.  There are roving bands of human predators who are basically rounding up food for vampires, to sell and to make money and to gain favor with the king.  And they plan to extend our two heroes to try and track Dracula down and finish him off once and for all…

Sounds great!  I know…

 Yeah!  There are a couple of scenes in particular that I have wanted to do for years and when…there, there is a vampire on stilts, that was great fun…you have to see it!

 (laughs) Wow, that is great.

 …you have to see it!

 So three Dracs as your own franchise…would you consider doing another Prophecy 3 where you would take over another persons work again?

 Uh, yeah, depending on what it was, absolutely.  You know, I think that there are a lot of amazing stories out there, and a lot of stories that can be continued, and Dracula obviously, we didn’t…well we may have added some original elements to it, although some may argue that we didn’t (laughs).  It certainly was continuing a larger canvas.

"Hey, what's that over there?"

"Over where?"

<Okay...it worked...now, be cool and just hold 

his hand>

 Actually, one of those original elements that you did add to it, which is my favorite thing about the films, was the new twist on Dracula’s origin…

 Ahh, yeah!

 …how much of that came from you, and what were some of the inspirations for that?

 It was something that occurred to me while I was actually doing some music editing on Reindeer Games. We were trying to come up with an extra twist for Drac, and it was a pretty simple through line, in that whole notion of why would this Transylvanian warlord be so despondent over Christian icons?  And in Dracula, Stoker’s Dracula, you read the book and it never really talks about Drac’s origins.  It never says where he’s from…it never says where he comes from.  He is actually in the book only in the beginning with Harker and then briefly at the end where his motives are described for you to understand, and I’m misquoting, “who are you to try and understand what I am doing?”…that idea that Stoker didn’t even quite know, they made him definitely from Transylvania, but he doesn’t say he starts there.  And then it was sort of looking at the Christian thing, you know?  The fact of the silver and that the cross has the hopes of all these.

 ***DRACULA 2000 SPOILER***    ***DRACULA 2000 SPOILER***

The Dracula of these films is uncovered to be Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus to the Roman soldiers for thirty pieces of silver, and then hung himself to death when Christ was crucified.  Thus the aversion to silver, holy water, and of course, crucifixes…

 And than we just started thinking, what is Dracula’s last moment, what is the last thing he sees before he is turned…what Christian symbol would effect him the most?  It would be the crucifixion.  And then the silver was the thing that led him astray.  It’s funny because that is the single thing that we are both applauded for and attacked for (laughs)…is that element.  People either love it or hate it.

A little hard to see, but this is the goods!  Not only is this an advanced look at Dracula III: Legacy, but it is a pile of blood covered naked women!

Well, I am one of those that loves it! If you had to point to your definitive version of Dracula on screen, who would you look to?

 Well, you know, I really liked the Coppola version, although I think it is beautiful and…like soulless.  The Lugosi version is a lot of fun, and the Spanish version that was shot at the same time is actually even better.  My favorite is always Christopher Lee.

 Oh yeah…

 While the story deviates strongly from the book, there is something about the performance as Drac and the power that, that he had.  Cushing’s performance as Van Helsing, he’s earnest and educated…on a heroic endeavor, and that’s always stayed very close to my heart.

 Did you look to any of those directors for inspiration when you…

 Certainly!  Fisher, who did a lot of the Hammer films, you know, and one of my favorites was Vampire Circus.  And…you know, Vampire Circus certainly is…there is homage in Drac III; you’ll see a lot of that.

 You have done some theatrical releases and some straight to video releases.  What would the difference be to you, if you could wrap it up in a nutshell, from a director’s viewpoint.

 I think ultimately the directing is the directing.  A movie is as good as the story you have to tell.  It doesn’t really matter which venue you make it for.  Obviously, theatrically the goal will be clear and have a broader effect.  On video…you are going to have less money but at the same time you can be more aggressive, and you have to be smarter…you have to out-think your budget, you have to out-think your time.  And I can certainly say that I had more fun making Drac 2 & 3 than Dracula 2000.  I would say that generally there is a different aura…

 I think there is watching it as well, especially with Drac II, I saw a much greater sense of excitement…things seemed a bit more frantic and moved…

 Well, it is a tighter story and it had a better kind of through line, and it…the characters all…you cared about people more…

 Yes, exactly

 And that was one of the problems that we always saw, because we...with so many script changes before we started shooting that we…we went heavily into plot and lost the characters in the process.

Didn't think that one pile of naked girls was enough...did ya?  Naw, didn't think so...  More Dracula III blood-soaked concubines for your pleasure.

Any advance words on Totem, and what situation it is in?

 Well, that’s kind of up in the air right now, there is a little turmoil going on, so we have to wait and see how…how things go with that one.

 Hopefully they go well, I am a big fan of scarecrows in cinema and I don’t think that it has ever been explored as much as it could be.

 Yeah…

 Well, one last question from me.  You have pulled off a wonderful remake of a classic horror tale, and I’m interested in your thoughts on the upcoming Dawn of the Dead remake.

 I actually haven’t read it…I remember seeing Dawn of the Dead on a midnight show, on Easter Sunday…ya know, in high school, and loved it, absolutely loved it.  Its got the kind of Richard Matheson, end of the world kind of scenario, and it…it uh, certainly made you want to take over a shopping mall (laughs)

 (laughs) Right!

 I kind of have mixed feelings about it, I think it uh, I think Romero did such a kind of landmark job with that film, and certainly even with Night of the Living Dead, I think, while I really liked Savini’s remake of Night of the Living Dead, it seemed to lack the punch that Romero’s did.  And part of that has to do with the time in which Romero’s movie was made.  So…you wonder whether dawn of the dead will suffer that same fate.  I hope it doesn’t!  I hope it is...it echoes all my warm thoughts of the original, and then goes on to further inspire, because it is such a great series of films…

 As are yours! 

I would like to thank Patrick for being so open with us about his films and himself, and for taking some time out of what seems to be a consistently busy schedule!  Also thanks goes to both Patrick and Jeff at Buena Vista for the sneak peak photos of the upcoming Dracula III: Legacy due out in 2004.  Be sure that you are first in the stores on June 17th to pick up your copy of Dracula II: Ascension, or just head over to Amazon.com to preorder your copy now!

-aaron-