Luc Besson made his return to red carpets in 2023 with his film Dogman. And this year, the French director is preparing a new cinematographic adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, confirmed the media Deadline. This feature film, whose release date is currently unknown, traces the origins of the prince before he became a vampire.
The lead role of Vlad Dracula goes to Caleb Landry Jones, who previously worked with Besson in Dogman. The 34-year-old actor was rewarded at Cannes for his role in Nitram. Christoph Waltz, notably known for his multiple appearances in Quentin Tarantino’s productions, is also appearing for a role that is still unknown for the moment. The rest of the cast has still not been revealed.
This new adaptation of Dracula will benefit from a “large budget” in order to produce “epic and spectacular scenes”, underlined the American media Deadline. The budget of the feature film will, however, be lower than the film by French director Valerian (2017), estimated at $200 million.
This new adaptation of Dracula is not Luc Besson’s only current project. Indeed, the director is also working on the post-production of the film June and John. According to Deadline, this intimate feature film is an “experimental film shot during confinement” with Luke Stanton and Matilda Price.
Luc Besson was notably accused of rape by actress Sand van Roy in 2018. These accusations were dismissed by the courts in June 2023. The film Dogman, co-produced with his wife, allowed the French filmmaker to make his return behind the camera. And despite an unconvincing success with nearly 300,000 admissions, the film was still selected in competition at the Venice Film Festival and Deauville.
