46. Coppola Cast #27: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

We’ve crossed oceans of time to talk about Francis Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). At first glance Coppola’s follow up to The Godfather Part III seems like just a job for hire, and that is how the project came to him, yet Coppola couldn’t help but find interesting ways to make his version of Dracula distinct from all the others. Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a box office hit allowing Coppola to finally climb out of 10 years of debt and its influence is still felt on the horror and vampire genre today. It gets dismissed by some as either unnecessary or pure spectacle (the same criticisms it received when it was released), but we find Coppola’s Dracula not only stylish but very effective and scary. We discuss the cast and their eccentric accents, the unforgettable look of Gary Oldman as the Count, the award winning costumes by Eiko Ishioka, the spectacular, old-fashioned practical visual effects, the influence of Coppola’s time working for Roger Corman, and more. There’s so much to talk about that there’s not much time for tangents, but there is time for an anecdote about David Paymer. This episode’s Coppola wine was: Diamond Collection Black Label Claret 2018.