Trivia and Quotes
Quotes
 / Renfield: I`m no lunatic man. I`m a sane man fighting for his soul.
Van Helsing: We`ve all become God`s madmen, all of us.
Van Helsing: She lives beyond the grace of God, a wanderer in the outer darkness. She is "vampyr", "nosferatu". These creatures do not die like the bee after the first sting, but instead grow strong and become immortal once infected by another nosferatu. So, my friends we fight not one beast but legions that go on age after age after age, feeding on the blood of the living.
Dracula: The blood is the life... and it shall be mine.
[Renfield holds a plate of bugs]
Renfield: Would you care for a hors d`oeuvre, Dr. Seward or a canape?
Doctor Jack Seward: No, thank you, Mr. Renfield. How are you feeling tonight?
Renfield: Far better than you, my lovesick doctor.
Doctor Jack Seward: Is my personal life of interest to you?
Renfield: Of course it is. All life interests me.
Doctor Jack Seward: Your diet, Mr. Renfield, is disgusting.
Renfield: Actually, they`re perfectly nutritious. You see, each life that I ingest gives back life to me.
Doctor Jack Seward: The fly gives you life?
Renfield: Certainly. But you might as well ask a man to eat molecules with a pair of chopsticks than to interest me in lesser carnivore.
Doctor Jack Seward: I shall have to invent a new classification of a lunatic for you. What about spiders? Spiders eat the flies.
Renfield: Yes, spiders eat them.
Doctor Jack Seward: What about sparrows?
Renfield: Oh, yes. Did you say sparrows?
Doctor Jack Seward: Something larger perhaps?
Renfield: Oh, yes. A kitten. I beg you. A little, sleek - a playful kitten. Something I can teach. Something I can feed. No one would refuse me a kitten.
Doctor Jack Seward: Wouldn`t you prefer a cat?
Renfield: Oh, yes, a big cat! My salvation depends upon it!
Doctor Jack Seward: Your salvation?
Renfield: Yes! I need lives. I need lives for the master!
Doctor Jack Seward: What? What master?
Renfield: The master will come, and he has promised to make me immortal!
Doctor Jack Seward: How?
[Renfield suddenly attacks Seward and the guards rushed in to subdue him]
Renfield: The blood is the life! The blood is the life!
Dracula: Renfield, you have betrayed me!
[Jonathan accidentally had a cut while shaving]
Jonathan Harker: I didn`t hear you coming in.
Dracula: Take care how you cut yourself. It is more dangerous than you think.
[Dracula breaks the mirror]
Dracula: A foul bauble of man`s vanity. Perhaps you should grow a beard.
[He licks the blood off the razor]
Dracula: The letters I requested, have you written them?
[Harker hands him the letters]
Dracula: Good. Should you leave these rooms, you will not by any chance go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old and has many bad memories. Be warned.
Dracula: I am the monster that breathing men would kill. I am Dracula.
Dracula: Do you believe in destiny? That even the powers of time can be altered for a single purpose? That the luckiest man who walks on this earth is the one who finds... true love?
Quincey P. Morris: And may I say that Miss Lucy is hotter than a June bride riding bareback buck naked in the middle of the Sahara!
Lord Arthur Holmwood: I would watch my colonial tongue if I were you.
Dracula: You will, I trust, excuse me if I do not join you. But, I have already dined, and I never drink... wine.
Jonathan Harker: [looks at painting on the wall] An ancestor? I see a resemblance.
Dracula: The Order of the Dracul, the Dragon. An ancient society, pledging my forefathers to defend the church against all enemies of Christ. Their relationship was not entirely... successful.
Jonathan Harker: Oh.
[chuckles]
Jonathan Harker: Yes.
Dracula: [roars with rage as he draws a sword and points it at Harker`s throat] It is no laughing matter! We Draculs have a right to be proud! What devil or witch was ever so great as Atilla, whose blood flows in these veins? Blood...
[laughs]
Dracula: Is too precious a thing in these times. The war-like days are over. The victories of my great race are but a tale to be told. I am the last of my kind.
Jonathan Harker: I have offended you with my ignorance, Count. Forgive me.
Dracula: [to Jonathan Harker] They say you are a man of good... taste.
Dracula: [about the wolves that are howling] Listen to them: the children of the night. What sweet music they make.
Lord Arthur Holmwood: Last week he wanted to marry her. Now he wants to have her committed.
Dracula: I have crossed oceans of time to find you.
Van Helsing: Jack. Come here. I know how deeply you loved her. That is why you must trust me and believe.
Doctor Jack Seward: Believe? How can I believe?
Van Helsing: I want you to bring me, before nightfall, a set of postmortem knives.
Doctor Jack Seward: An autopsy? On Lucy?
Van Helsing: No, no, no. Not exactly. I just want to cut off her head and take out her heart.
Van Helsing: Mr. Morris, your bullets will not harm him. He must be beheaded. I suggest you use your big Bowie knife.
Quincey P. Morris: Well, I wasn`t planin` on getting that close, Doc.
Dracula: Absinthe is the aphrodisiac of the self. The green fairy who lives in the absinthe wants your soul. But you are safe with me.
Mina: I want to be what you are, see what you see, love what you love.
Dracula: Mina, to walk with me you must die to your breathing life and be reborn to mine.
Mina: You are my love... and my life, always.
Dracula: Then, I give you life eternal. Everlasting love. The power of the storm. And the beasts of the earth. Walk with me to be my loving wife, forever.
Dracula: I condemn you to living death. To eternal hunger for living blood.
Jonathan Harker: The Count, the way he looked at Mina`s picture fills me with dread. As if I have a part to play in a story that is not known to me.
[to Mina about the wolf]
Dracula: He likes you .
Dracula: I... love you too much to condemn you.
Lucy Westenra: Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you, my darling.
Dracula: I shall rise from my own death, to avenge hers with all the powers of darkness.
Professor Abraham Van Helsing: We are dealing with forces beyond all human experience, and enormous power. So guard her well. Otherwise, your precious Lucy will become a bitch of the Devil! A whore of darkness!
Quincey P. Morris: Well, you`re a sick old buzzard!
Professor Abraham Van Helsing: Hear me out, young man. Lucy is not a random victim, attacked by mere accident, you understand? No. She is a willing recruit, a breathless follower, a wanton follower. I dare say, a devoted disciple. She is the Devil`s concubine!
Mina Harker: How did Lucy die? Was she in great pain?
Professor Abraham Van Helsing: Yeah, she was in great pain! Then we cut off her head, and drove a stake through her heart, and burned it, and then she found peace.
Mina Harker: Take me away from all this death!
[Dracula has been slashed in the throat by Jonathan and impaled by Quincey]
Mina: [to Jonathan] When my time comes, will you do the same to me? Will you?
Jonathan Harker: [pause] No.
Dracula: I, who served the Cross. I, who commanded nations, hundreds of years before you were born.
Professor Abraham Van Helsing: Your armies were defeated. You tortured and impaled thousands of people.
Dracula: I was betrayed. Look what your God has done to me!
Lord Arthur Holmwood: Forgive me, sir. My life is hers - I would give my last drop of blood to save her.
Van Helsing: The last drop? Thank you, you`re very welcome here.
Mina: I love you! Oh, God forgive me, I do!
Van Helsing: Yet, we may still save her precious soul. But, not on an empty stomach! Jack!
Doctor Jack Seward: Yes, sir?
Van Helsing: Ah! I starve! Feed me!
Dracula: There is much to be learned from beasts.
Professor Abraham Van Helsing: Civilization, and syphilization, have advanced together.
Dracula: [to Harker] Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways. And to you there shall be many strange things.
Dracula: [having just spotted Mina in the streets of London] See me. See me now.
Mina: [watching Lucy flirt with possible suitors at the party, voiceover] Lucy is a pure and virtuous girl. But, I admit that her free way of speaking shocks me sometimes. Jonathan says it is a defect of the aristocracy that they say what they please. The truth is that I admire Lucy, and I`m not surprised that men flock around her. I wish I were as pretty and as adored as she.
Lucy Westenra: Quincy... you`re such a beast. Will you kiss me, Quincy?
[Pulls Quincy close]
Lucy Westenra: Kiss me. Kiss...
[snarls; growls]
Trivia
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Winona Ryder saw the script when it was originally going to be made as a TV movie, directed by Michael Apted. She took the script to Francis Ford Coppola, whom she had not spoken to since withdrawing from The Godfather: Part III (1990) due to exhaustion six months earlier. Coppola agreed to make the film, and Apted stayed on as executive producer.
Director Francis Ford Coppola was insistent that he didn`t want to use any kind of elaborate special effects or computer trickery when making the movie. He initially hired a standard visual effects team, but they told him that the things he wanted to achieve were impossible without using modern digital technology. Coppola disagreed and fired them, replacing them with his 29 year old son Roman Coppola, who set about achieving some the effects by using old-school cinematic trickery. A thorough exploration of these effects can be found on the 2007 Special Edition DVD in the In Camera: The Naïve Visual Effects of `Bram Stoker`s Dracula` (2007) (V) featurette and in the `Heart of Darkness` article from Cinefax magazine (also found on the DVD), but some of the most interesting examples include: - When sitting in the train on his way to Transylvania, Jonathan Harker is looking at a map which appears superimposed on his face. This was a live effect achieved simply by projecting the image of the map onto actor Keanu Reeves` face on set. - In the same scene, outside the window, Dracula`s eyes mysteriously appear in the sky, watching Harker as he travels. This was achieved by combining three separate shots. First, the shot of Gary Oldman`s eyes was done with him wearing special makeup so that only his eyes would be visible when the image was projected onto the sky backdrop. The next shot involved the projection of the eyes onto the backdrop of the Carpathian Mountain set, making it appear as if two eyes are appearing in the sky. Then, a shot was taken of Keanu Reeves sitting in the train with the combined background/eye shot rear-projected through the window. - Another shot in this sequence involves a close up of Harker`s journal with the train appearing to travel along the top of the book, blowing smoke across the pages. This was a forced perspective shot using a huge book and a tiny miniature train model. - After arriving in Translyvania, Harker is met by Dracula`s carriage and the driver seems to magically reach out and lift Harker into the carriage. This shot was achieved by having the rider sitting on a camera crane which reached out and brought him towards Keanu Reeves. At the same time, the camera was moved to the right, so it appeared as if the rider`s hand wasn`t actually stretching, but was simply defying physics. For the lift, Reeves himself was also standing on a fake floor, which was in fact a movable rostrum which raised him up into the carriage. - As the carriage approaches the castle, there is a shot of the castle in the background as the carriage speeds along a narrow driveway. This was achieved by painting the image of the castle onto a piece of glass, and then positioning the glass in front of the camera whilst the scene of the carriage was shot on the sound stage. - The scene when Harker is shaving and Dracula approaches him from behind without a reflection in the mirror was shot by a classic technique as old as cinema itself. The actor with his back to the camera is actually Keanu Reeves double, not Reeves himself, and the `mirror` is simply a hole in the wall, with the real Keanu Reeves standing on the other side in a portion of the set - hence when the hand touches the shoulder of the double there is no reflection to be seen because there is literally no mirror. - When Harker is exploring the castle, there is a shot of some rats walking on the ceiling upside-down whilst Keanu Reeves descends a staircase right-way-up. This was achieved by using a double exposure. First, the shot of the rats was done with the camera upside-down. Then the film was rewound and a matte box was placed in front of the lens so as to ensure only the correct portion of the image would be exposed. The camera was then turned right way up and the scene of Harker going down the stairs was shot. Due to the matte box, it appears as if the beam with the rats is above Reeves, and because it was shot upside-down, the rats appear to be defying gravity. - The first scenes in London after Dracula`s arrival were shot with a real Pathé camera that was being hand cranked. It was also shot on a special Kodak stock to enhance the grain. There were no post-production effects added for this scene. - The scene when Dracula seems to magically catch Mina`s bottle was shot by simply having two men and two bottles. On set Winona Ryder drops the bottle and Gary Oldman scoops down and catches it. The camera then pans up to reveal he is already holding it out to Mina seemingly without having raised his hand. In reality, the hand holding the bottle out is a double standing just behind Oldman, wearing identical gloves, and holding a completely different bottle. - For the scenes involving Dracula`s POV, Francis Ford Coppola wanted to achieve something unusual, and it was ultimately decided to try to create something of staccato effect. These shots were created using a old piece of equipment rarely used today called an intervalometer. When shooting at 24fps, an intervalometer trims the end of certain frames, and prevents the exposure of certain frames here and there, creating the `jumpy` effect seen in the scene. Again, this was all accomplished in-camera, no post-production effects were added to the scenes.
During preproduction of the movie, director Francis Ford Coppola came up with the idea that when in the presence of a being such as a vampire, the laws of physics don`t work correctly. This is why shadows often seem to act independently of the figure casting them, why rats can run along a ceiling upside-down and why liquid drips up instead of down.
According to director Francis Ford Coppola on the commentary track for the 2007 Special Edition DVD, the film is full of homages to other movies and other directors. Three specific references he points out are to three of his favorite horror films: - the shot of Dracula rising upwards out of his coffin is a homage to F.W. Murnau`s Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)). - the blood splashing onto Lucy`s bed from the sides of the room is a homage to Stanley Kubrick`s The Shining (1980)). - Lucy vomiting blood all over Van Helsing is a homage to William Friedkin`s The Exorcist (1973).
Costume designer Eiko Ishioka (who won an Oscar for the movie) had never seen a Dracula movie prior to being hired for this film. She was initially hired as the art director, but when Francis Ford Coppola saw some of her costume sketches, he immediately asked her to work as the costume designer.
It was Winona Ryder who brought the idea of redoing Bram Stoker`s novel to Francis Ford Coppola`s attention. She had been given a pile of scripts by her agent, one of which was titled "Dracula: The Untold Story". This was the first time Ryder had ever read anything to do with Dracula, let alone see a film about him. Coppola was interested as he saw it as a bridge-building exercise between him and Ryder after she had inexplicably dropped out of The Godfather: Part III (1990).
Francis Ford Coppola considered at one point of giving the film the title, "D" in order to distinguish it from previous Dracula adaptations.
Prince Vlad`s scream after he drives his sword into the cross is not the voice of Gary Oldman. Lux Interior, lead singer of punk band The Cramps, recorded the scream and it was dubbed in.
Sadie Frost dyed her brown hair red after concerns that she resembled Winona Ryder too much.
In an attempt to elicit more emotion, director Francis Ford Coppola shouted "whore" and "slut" at Winona Ryder while filming the scene when Van Helsing catches Mina with Dracula.
Anthony Hopkins also plays Cesare, the priest who tells Dracula that Elisabeta`s soul is damned; and he provides the voice-over sequence during the narrative for the Captain of the Demeter.
Red jelly was used for the blood.
Earnings from the film was enough to save Zoetrope (Francis Ford Coppola`s studio) from bankruptcy after suffering from financial difficulties and liabilities of $27 million over the past 3 years.
When Mina recalls her previous life as Elisabeta she says she remembers a land beyond a great forest. "Land beyond the forest" is the literal meaning of Transylvania.
Among the moving-picture displays in the scene where the prince and Mina first converse is a shadow-figure show depicting the battle between Vlad`s army and the Turks.
Ian Dury was among those interviewed for Renfield.
Steve Buscemi was the first choice to play Renfield but turned down.
Francis Ford Coppola has openly criticized his own reasoning for casting Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker. According to him, he needed a young, hot star that would connect with the girls.
The painting of Count Dracula which Jonathan Harker mentions after his arrival at the castle, is in fact a self portrait of Albrecht Dürer (a German painter, 1471-1528), but with Gary Oldman`s face (the face of the young Count).
Mina walks past an advertisement for the Lyceum Theatre and Henry Irving. Dracula author Bram Stoker managed the Lyceum, and Sir Henry Irving is rumored to be one of the primary inspirations for the character of Count Dracula.
At the first "cast meeting" called by Francis Ford Coppola, he got all the principal actors to read the entire Bram Stoker novel out loud to get a feel for the story. According to Anthony Hopkins, it took two whole days to complete.
The little girl who played the child carried into the crypt by Lucy was genuinely terrified of Sadie Frost in her vampire make-up, and obviously wasn`t expecting to do more than one take. Director Francis Ford Coppola and Sadie Frost had to do a lot of sweet-talking to the child in order to get her back in Sadie`s arms for another go at the scene.
The scene of Lucy (Sadie Frost) getting back into her coffin in the underground crypt was shot in reverse to give it an eerie quality.
Gary Oldman was quite drunk the night they filmed the scene where he had to lick blood from Keanu Reeves`s straight razor. The scene was filmed far beyond midnight, which added to the spirit of the scene and helped put the cast "in the proper mood".
To keep the budget manageable, Columbia insisted that the film be shot in Los Angeles and not on location.
Among those who auditioned for the part of Dracula were Andy Garcia (who had concerns over the number of sex scenes), Gabriel Byrne, Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas and Viggo Mortensen.
Sadie Frost didn`t bother auditioning for the part of Lucy as she figured that she was too physically similar to Winona Ryder. It was only after Francis Ford Coppola had real trouble casting the part, and had happened to see Frost`s performance in Diamond Skulls (1989), that she was approached.
The blue flame that the coach crosses over to enter the castle is mentioned in the original book. In the novel it is explained that on one night every year blue flames are seen over areas containing hidden treasures.
Dracula`s final Kabuki dress is directly inspired by a Gustav Klimt painting known as "The kiss"
Liam Neeson was considered for, and very much wanted, the role of Van Helsing, but after Anthony Hopkins, still riding the success of The Silence of the Lambs (1991), showed interest in the role, Neeson was ultimately turned down.
This is the first major US motion picture to be edited entirely on a nonlinear edit system.
The film`s original teaser trailer (which consists of blood forming the logo on a jagged surface and quick flashes of scenes from the film) was pulled from theaters by Columbia Pictures when patrons complained of it being too intense. This trailer appears on the Criterion edition laserdisc.
In the scene where the heroes bust in on Dracula and Mina, Dracula turns into a bat-like creature and frightens the heroes out of their wits. Oldman had problems with this scene, feeling constricted in the suit and not very scary. Coppola told him to whisper something scary into each actor`s ear, which Oldman did with relish. No one knows what he said to them, but they all look absolutely terrified in the scene.
Writer James V. Hart started writing the screenplay in 1977. According to him, David Lean was the first choice to direct the movie, but was unavailable as he was working on Nostromo, which was eventually shelved after his death.
The front of Gary Oldman`s hairline was shaved, both for make-up purposes and to resemble Vlad.
According to Francis Ford Coppola, much of the cast was assembled as Winona Ryder`s "dream cast", including Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves and Richard E. Grant.
Despite his occasional discomfort in them, Gary Oldman creatively contributed to the make-up effects when Dracula transforms into various monstrous forms.
The exterior view of Dracula`s castle, as seen in several shots from the approach from the road, is designed to resemble Czech artist Frantisck Kupka`s painting "Resistance -- The Black Idol."
Francis Ford Coppola had Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes and Bill Campbell embark on a series of "adventures" including horse back riding and hot air ballooning to build the camaraderie between the three.
Coppola`s original list of possible actors to play Dracula included Daniel Day-Lewis, Alec Baldwin, Jason Patric, Aidan Quinn, Christian Slater, Keanu Reeves, Nicolas Cage, Michael Nouri, Dermot Mulroney, Gabriel Byrne, Costas Mandylor, Nick Cassavetes, Adrian Pasdar, Hugh Grant, Rupert Everett, Ray Liotta, Sting, Kyle MacLachlan, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth and Hart Bochner.
To help put himself in a grieving mood at Elisabeta`s corpse in the opening prologue, Gary Oldman carried a photo album of his then young son Alfie during and would go through it before doing a take. Interestingly, he also doubled , but uncredited as the mysterious coach driver when Jonathan is taken into the castle from the pass.
The coach scene before the arrival of Keanu Reeves at the castle (including the slow-motion horses) is taken directly from Mario Bava`s La maschera del demonio (1960).
Costume Designer Eiko Ishioka was from Japan, and because the costumes had a Kabuki theater-like appearance, Gary Oldman`s wig maker and hair designer Stuart Artingstall studied traditional Kabuki and Geisha hair styles and incorporated them into her unique and elaborate designs. Each wig was "built" and took many hours of painstaking work to thread each hair in a base individually, as is done in traditional opera companies do.
Prior to Sadie Frost`s casting as Lucy, Juliette Lewis was the first choice for the role of Lucy.
Originally, director Francis Ford Coppola had wanted to use highly impressionistic sets using only lights and shadows with minimum props. Instead he wanted to spend the entirety of the production design budget on the costumes. The studio however wouldn`t allow this, and ordered him to build `proper` sets.
SPOILER: Director Coppola screened the film for close friend, George Lucas. Lucas suggested that, in adherence to the vampire mythology, Mina should decapitate Dracula as the ultimate release for him to reach heaven. Coppola agreed and shot it three weeks before the film`s release.
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Winona Ryder
(as Mina Murray | Elisabeta)
with Gary Oldman
(as Dracula)
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