Director Luc Besson has released the first trailer for his much-anticipated film Dracula: A Love Tale, starring Caleb Landry Jones as the iconic vampire Count Dracula. Known for his compelling roles, including Sean Cassidy (Banshee) in X-Men: First Class, Jones takes on a deeply emotional interpretation of Bram Stoker’s legendary character. This movie reimagines Dracula not as a mere monster, but as a tormented soul driven by profound loss and an eternal quest for his reincarnated love, set against the lavish backdrop of Belle Époque Paris.
The trailer reveals Prince Vladimir’s tragic fall from grace, sparked by the death of his wife in the 15th century. His renouncement of God condemns him to immortality, wandering centuries in anguish. Juxtaposing scenes of medieval despair with the opulence of 19th-century Paris, the film paints Dracula’s curse as both a personal and historical tragedy. Hints of a potential reunion with his lost love add emotional weight, though the footage suggests that Dracula’s return may bring more doom than salvation, setting the stage for a gripping and tragic conflict.
Caleb Landry Jones embodies a Dracula fueled by desire for connection rather than simple horror, a departure from many past portrayals. The cast also features Christoph Waltz as a priestly figure, Matilda De Angelis as Maria, and Zoë Bleu as Elisabeta, the memory of Dracula’s lost wife haunting the narrative. Besson, who also wrote the screenplay, revealed in an interview that his primary inspiration was Jones’s acting prowess. “It’s not Dracula, my fascination is Caleb,” Besson stated. He explained how the project began: “We were just chatting about other roles that could work for him. I said, ‘You’d be great as Dracula.’ Then, I thought, ‘You know what, I’m just going to write it.’”
This movie enters an increasingly crowded field of vampire adaptations. Recent years have seen a resurgence of Dracula-inspired films, including 2023’s The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which retells the doomed ship chapter of Stoker’s novel; Renfield, a horror-comedy focusing on Dracula’s familiar; and El Conde, a Chilean black comedy featuring dictator Augusto Pinochet as an aging vampire. In 2024, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu reboot brought a chilling reinterpretation starring Bill Skarsgård. Besson’s film distinguishes itself with its focus on tragic romance and its Parisian setting, banking on Jones’s captivating performance to carve its niche in the movie genre of gothic horror.
Dracula: A Love Tale is set to premiere in French cinemas on July 30th, with a U.S. release date yet to be announced.
