"Dracula" International Trailer: Caleb Landry Jones Sinks His Teeth in Luc Besson’s Operatic Take on the Vampire Legend
Caleb Landry Jones takes on the iconic role of Dracula in this dark, operatic reimagining by Luc Besson, exploring love, loss, and immortality.
French filmmaker Luc Besson (Léon: The Professional, The Fifth Element) apparently had such an incredible time collaborating with actor Caleb Landry Jones (Get Out, Nitram) on their 2023 crime thriller Dogman that the two quickly teamed up again for another film. Much of that decision came from Besson being deeply impressed by how fully Landry Jones committed to the role he was playing. After all, Landry Jones has built a reputation for never half-assing it, fully immersing himself into a character, even adopting a new accent and staying in it at all times.
Besson saw this firsthand while promoting Dogman at the Venice Film Festival, where Texas-born Landry Jones continued speaking in a Scottish accent for a movie he was working on at the time, which made a few headlines. But we can only imagine that same level of commitment was on full display when Landry Jones took on the role of the 15th-century Romanian prince who becomes known as Count Dracula.
Look, to be quite honest, it's hard to top Gary Oldman's performance in Francis Ford Coppola's version of the classic Bram Stoker gothic novel, but Landry Jones might be the only actor brave enough to give it a go. He certainly seems like he’s not holding back, delivering a Dracula very much in the vein of Oldman’s interpretation, less a bloodthirsty fanged monster and more a tragic figure, haunted by a lost love and cursed with immortality.
But don't take our word for it, decide for yourself by watching the first official international trailer for Dracula, Luc Besson's visually sumptuous horror epic that reimagines the timeless gothic tale of a doomed vampire prince.
Written and directed by Besson and based on the classic novel, the film sees Caleb Landry Jones transform into a Transylvanian ruler who, after the brutal killing of his beloved wife during wartime, denounces God and damns himself to a cursed life of immortality. It’s only when, centuries later, he encounters a woman bearing a striking resemblance to his lost love that he is consumed by a desperate hope that quickly spirals into a doomed obsession.
From epic medieval battlefields to shadow-drenched castles to French-era decor and period settings, Besson is bringing his signature visual flair to the screen, giving the Dracula legend an almost operatic scale of heightened drama. It’s Besson at his most showy... which, let’s be honest, is the best kind.
Joining Landry Jones in the cast is Italian actress Matilda De Angelis (from HBO's The Undoing) as Dracula's true love, while Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz co-stars.
Dracula is set to sink its teeth into theaters in July in France. As of yet, the film doesn't have an official U.S. release date.