Director Sommers recalls, “Will was one of the first actors we saw. He came in to audition and was just spectacular. He had a real power to his performance. He can do things with his body that are just uncanny. He’s a dancer as well as a really fine actor. We knew we had to have him as our doomed prince.”
Kemp was most interested in his character’s journey from man to wolf. “The fact that I make this transition from a pampered royal into this great big, scary werewolf seemed like great fun,” exclaims Kemp, “and the way in which the creature comes from within was a major hook for me.”
Sommers continues, “There are some definite twists to our Wolf Man. This is not just a guy in a suit sprouting hair from his pores.” Through a combination of advanced makeup and physical effects along with computer-generated imagery, Velkan does not so much turn into The Wolf Man as the creature emerges from within the man, literally ripping through Velkan’s flesh. “It really is a curse,” adds Kemp.
Back at Castle Dracula, there is more than just the Count to contend with—three beautiful and bloodthirsty Brides who will stop at nothing to help their master in his plan to subvert human civilization and rule over a world of havoc, fear and darkness. Sommers took his cue from Stoker: Van Helsing enters Castle Dracula to kill the deadly beauties at the end of the novel.
Producer Ducsay remembers, “We brought three very different women together with three very distinct looks from different parts of the world. We wanted them to be very beautiful, but they also had to be able to act and handle very physically demanding roles.” He adds with a smile, “These three were totally into being vampires.”
The filmmakers found their first Bride, Aleera, in Spanish actress Elena Anaya, a recent recipient of the Goya Award (the Spanish equivalent of the Oscar® for her daring role in Sex and Lucia). Sommers reflects, “Elena sent us a video tape from Madrid. When I saw her audition, I thought, ‘She’s out there…she’s sexy, gorgeous and a little insane. Perfect!’ I flew to London to meet with her. She just came in and knocked it right out of the ballpark.”
Sommers recalls his London casting agent bringing in Silvia Colloca to read for the role of a second Bride, Verona, that same day. “Not only was Silvia physically right for the role,” he says, “but she had this regal walk about her, and the way she speaks English, with her accent, felt so worldly. Silvia was perfect because I’d always imagined Verona to be the wife and the other two Brides as being more like Dracula’s mistresses.”
As he was flying back from London, the director remembers wondering if they could discover a third actress to play the final Bride. The search for the remaining vampire Marishka proved more difficult than Sommers first imagined. Sommers saw Marishka as the youngest of the three women, a bit coquettish and unsure, but vicious when she needed to be. After months of looking, Sommers finally found her in actress Josie Maran. He recalls, “Josie walked in the door and that was it.”
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