Dracula 2000 (2000)

DRACULA 2000 brings the vampire's storied legend screaming into the realistic present. Screenwriter Joel Soisson knew the many myths and speculations surrounding Dracula's past but asked himself a series of disturbing questions about his present: What if Brain Stoker's Dracula wasn't just a story, as we'd like to think, but a true accounting of a strange and unsolved phenomenon? And what if the impaled Dracula never really died? And, furthermore, what if he awoke in the year 2000, hungry, lonely and ready to continue his macabre seductions in a contemporary America where no one is ready to believe he exists?

Soisson decided to explore the possibilities, and with them, the one secret about the Prince of Darkness no-one has ever revealed: the true source of his fury and his hidden identity.

Soisson's script was not only revelatory but stylish and sexy, exploring Dracula's hunger for a deeper connection to someone on earth. DRACULA 2000 director Patrick Lussier, who came to directing after a long association with Wes Craven as his editor, was thrilled by how the script unveiled the timeless human instincts at work beneath Dracula's continuing allure.

"Dracula is not only the most sensual and sexual of all our modern anti-heroes, he is also one of the most sensual characters in all of literature," says Lussier. "It's no wonder that Dracula is one of the most popular film characters in the world, even more so in the year 2000. And now we return to his struggle with his latest battle between light and dark, wrapped in a captivating story of seduction and temptation."

Lussier also was excited by the opportunity to get input from his friend and contemporary master of suspense, Wes Craven, who is executive producer. Craven lent his unique understanding of the psychology of fear to the film and was key in mixing the contemporary, youthful feel with Dracula's ancient power. Craven took a hand in every aspect of the film's development, from the screenplay to the casting.

Craven and Marianne Maddalena, his longtime partner that is also serving as an executive producer, along with producers Joel Soisson and W.K. Border, also worked with Patrick Lussier to assemble a stand-out cast of exciting young actors to bring DRACULA 2000 to visceral life. To give Dracula a fresh, contemporary presence, Craven himself selected Gerard Butler, a charming Scottish newcomer who presented the perfect mix of biting wit and undeniable sex appeal underscored by a darker side, to star as the Prince of Darkness.

Omar Epps, Lochlyn Munro, Danny Masterson, Sean Patrick Thomas and Tig Fong joined the cast as the ambitious young thieves who unexpectedly let loose Dracula's frightening power on the world — and themselves.

And then there are the only two people who have a shot at stopping Dracula's eternal thirst: Jonny Lee Miller stars as Simon, Van Helsing's assistant who discovers the truth of Dracula's existence, and Justine Waddell is the mysterious Mary, the New Orleans record-store clerk whose eerie dreams and shadowy past seem to be bringing her closer and closer to Dracula, and the truth of where he comes from and what he wants.

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