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Dream Casting: Dracula
Dream Casting is an imaginative look at the casting process of potential Hollywood projects based on comics and other media. This isn't just about what is being made; this is about what should be made, and who we think should be the stars.
Following the success of The Invisible Man, Universal and A24 have tapped Karyn Kusama to make a new version of Dracula. Whereas the recent Netflix/BBC adaptation didn't get good buzz at all, this version is actually very promising. We don't know how much it will draw on Bram Stoker's original novel, or even the 1931 Universal version with Bela Lugosi, but Kusama's take is bound to be interesting.
For my cast this week, I did draw on Stoker's novel, but the characters are shared by most previous film versions. I'd like to get away from the idea of Count Dracula as a romantic and sympathetic figure and make him the menacing and predatory figure he was meant to be. Jonathan, Mina, and Lucy should bring the pathos, and Renfield can offer a bit of comic relief.
Mads Mikkelsen as Count Dracula
Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal) has already done his own version of the upper class foreigner who secretly wants to eat you, and I'd love to see him play a classic sort of monstrous Dracula. Handsome, yes, but scarier than he is seductive.
Walton Goggins as Renfield
With his odd look and even weirder energy, Walton Goggins (Them That Follow) is exactly the sort of actor who should play Dracula's creepy bug-eating henchman.
Idris Elba as Professor Abraham Van Helsing
Idris Elba (Thor, Pacific Rim) can balance intellect with heroics in a way that makes him a perfect choice for history's most famous vampire hunter.
Daniel Radcliffe as Jonathan Harker
Daniel Radcliffe (Miracle Workers) can be a leading man, but he also has an oddball side, not to mention a real vulnerability that will come in handy as Harker, who spends much of the story recovering from his trauma at vampiric hands (and teeth).
Mia Goth as Mina Harker
Mia Goth (Suspiria) is a great young actress who obviously loves working in horror, and she'd be perfect as one of the genre's first great heroines.
Samara Weaving as Lucy Westenra
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) has the looks and the charisma to play the much desired Lucy, who's being courted by three men but ultimately suffers for catching the Count's eye.
Taron Egerton as Arthur Holmwood
Taron Egerton (Rocketman) can handle the upper class demeanor of the dashing Arthur Holmwood.
Dev Patel as Doctor Jack Seward
Dev Patel (The Personal History of David Copperfield) will bring a lot to the ensemble as the young psychiatrist who's courting Lucy and treating Renfield.
Alden Ehrenreich as Quincey Morris
I don't know why more versions of Dracula don't take advantage of the fact that the novel includes an actual cowboy from Texas, but Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story) would be incredibly charming in the role.
Tao Okamoto, Alexandra Shipp, and Cara Delevingne as the Three Brides
The three beautiful vampires who share Dracula's castle don't always have that much to do, but Tao Okamoto (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), Alexandra Shipp (Dark Phoenix), and Cara Delevingne (Suicide Squad) will make a memorable trio regardless.
