With “Dracula – The Resurrection” (original title “Dracula: A Love Tale”), director Luc Besson is bringing a romantic horror drama to German cinemas on October 30, 2025 – a vampire film in which the relationship between the Count (Caleb Landry Jones) and his Mina (Matilda De Angelis) is the focus (and in which there is still blood). We met the French filmmaker for an interview.
The scene in which Dracula is lifted up by lecherous nuns is reminiscent of the human towers from concerts in the 1990s, in which stars like Madonna were lifted into the air by hundreds of hands. Was that your inspiration?
Good idea, but I definitely didn’t think of moments like that. I work every morning from half past four, put on music – and the inspiration is like a strange fog, you never know if it will lift and clarity will emerge. It probably depends on what you eat, also on your relationships with other people the day before. And I don’t know why I suddenly have this vision of a scene that’s supposed to be erotic but in which you don’t see any skin at all. Everyone wears corsets! The sensuality in this scene arises from the dilemma between good and evil.
What do you mean?
Expressing sensuality as a dance. All the nuns in the scenes are dancers. And I really want to have that, I don’t know, I want that kind of movement and then craziness. But at the same time it’s a celebration for Dracula because he doesn’t like blood.
Please what?
He doesn’t like blood. And Mina Harker is the only person he wants. The nuns are not important to him. I listened to a lot of music when conceiving this orgy.
Which?
Billie Eilish’s new album.
How did you ensure that Mina Harker could be a kind of modern or feminist figure like Joan of Arc, to whom you already dedicated a film?
That’s not my job at all. I am a painter, I paint pictures. If you look at the history of painting… how many painters are poorly rated and end up in museums! Artists are always there to open doors everywhere, and they are not responsible for the rest – the interpretation. I don’t think about such things.
Who is Mina to you?
Mina is a young woman and she doesn’t feel comfortable in this society at this time. Yes, she’s doing her best: she has a boyfriend, Jonathan. She might marry him, but she doesn’t feel well, something is wrong. To move forward to today, it can be assumed that there are many young people who do not feel comfortable in the society into which they are born, be it due to gender, age or other factors. Mina seeks to confront her past and discovers that Dracula was already the man of her life back then. And for 400 years he has never loved anyone other than Mina. Pure love.
Is Dracula even evil?
No. No, I think Dracula is disappointed in God. Because he believed in God very much. But sometimes we don’t understand everything, we don’t understand the signs that God sends us. So everyone kind of has this question…you know, you go to church every Sunday and you come back and your son is dead. What’s the message, yeah, what could that be? God doesn’t give you answers.
Is there even a religion we should believe in anymore?
That’s a very good question, my friend. I don’t know, I don’t know. Maybe love. Love is something we do not decide, it is in our DNA and we are all born of love. Yes, no one is born of money. So why don’t we put love first? Everyone is so cynical today, calling you a wimp when you reveal romantic feelings. Love is still the most beautiful thing there is.
How important was it for you to retain elementary Bram Stoker scenes, such as the real estate agent Jonathan Harker’s visit to the Count’s castle?
When I read the book I was very impressed by the love story. I had completely forgotten that she was so romantic. Because almost all of the versions we’ve seen of “Dracula” have been horror films with blood and everything that goes with it. I think this is because there were no special effects films at the time of the book. As soon as cinema was able to stage special effects, they were attracted to this brutal type of story because it allowed them to create a powerful impact. Over time, they forgot that Dracula is in love and wants to see his wife.
We won’t reveal your film’s ending, but it differs from that of the novel. Either way: Mina will always love Dracula more than her Jonathan.
I actually find this very sad and it shows that love can be very cruel when it is not reciprocated by the one you love very much. That’s correct. We feel so bad for Jonathan because he really loves her and she… likes him. Even Dracula likes him.
What do you think Dracula should look like?
I work with a man named Patrice Garcia. He’s a designer and I hired him for The Fifth Element in 1995 when he was about 19 years old. So it’s a long collaboration. And he’s a little genius. We try everything possible. The first thing we decided on was the color. That was purple. And after that…you know, it’s fun when you walk through time like Dracula. You can’t get attached to people because people will die. Dracula is more tied to art because art doesn’t die. He loves music, he loves silk, he loves jewelry, he is a dandy, so a purple dandy. Those were the two things: purple and art. The third element is time. When you live that long, you have time, so you slow down.
Are you sneaking along?
The gestures, the way Dracula touches himself, everything is slow. So those were the three elements for me: purple, the dandy and the slowness.
Christoph Waltz is not called Van Helsing here, but as a priest who loves hunting, he is a Van Helsing figure.
First of all, I love him as an actor, so it was a dream for me to be able to talk to him and tell him to play the role, but this kind of… the actors are so good that even though the script can be good, they always want to know who they are going to fight with. So I went to Berlin and showed him my film “Dogman”. He was very impressed with Caleb Landry Jones, who I would now cast as Dracula. Christoph had great ideas for his character. Without the right actors you can’t get very far with your story. You get to 60 to 70 percent – you build the rest together with them.
This clergyman seems rather amused by God.
The spirit of the church is basically an Id. Because no one has seen God yet, as far as I know, no one has any information. Science is different, it is not an ID. It is precise. I found it very interesting to reverse the roles. The priest has facts. The doctor is lost.
Dracula attacks a ballroom full of rococo nobles. He soils them with their blood, their white clothes become dirty. You can imagine how much dirt had to be concealed with clothes in earlier times.
Yes, that’s why I chose this time. Dracula just can’t take it anymore in this Versailles era. Everything was very dirty and smelled. People cover everything up with big wigs and makeup. It was the end of the Age of Kings. Like the Romans who perished. When the Romans started eating more and more and doing crazy things, even sexual ones, there were constant parties and the empire collapsed. It is the excess before the end.