Interview with Dacre Stoker (Dracula, The Undead)

Dacre Stoker is the author of Dracula the Un-dead (with Ian Holt) and the great-grand nephew of Bram Stoker

Hi there Mr. Stoker. The first question i would like to ask is the following: how come you and Ian Holt had decided to change the plot of the original “Dracula” in the sequel that you wrote? For example, in the novel of your ancestor there was no story about the love between Mina and Dracula, rather, on the contrary, Jonathan Harker and Mina were described as a faithful and confident couple.

We felt we needed to make some changes to the characters in order to modernize the story. Dracula was written in the epistolary style which did not give the reader much of an idea of the relationships between the central characters. We realized that after twenty five years and the fact that the “band of heros” underwent a series of very traumatic events in chasing Count Dracula back to Transylvania, that they would have been personally affected and changed. It is like coming back from a war when some of your friends had been killed, you would change yourself. We also thought it would be interesting for the readers if we developed the story of the relationship between Mina and Count Dracula. We know Mina and Count Dracula had an “encounter” in Bram’s Dracula, but nothing was mentioned about the effect it had on Mina.

You declared that your intention with this novel was to re-give Dracula’s figure his authentic and original spirit: since the plot is kind of different from the original one by Bram Stoker, what did you mean?

The plot does not really change, it continues 25 years later. We offer changes in Bram’s original characters to keep readers interested and offer them new things to challenge their mind. The locations in Paris and England are similar to the original story, giving the reader a chance to feel familiar yet challenged with the unexpected at the same time. At the same time we give Count Dracula and opportunity to have much more of a voice then in Bram’s novel.

The ending of your novel is, so to speak, "open", so then do you mean to write a sequel or maybe write another novel in the future?

Ian and I do have an outline for a sequel to Dracula the Un-Dead, if there is enough interest from readers and a publisher then we may decide to work together again.
I am currently working on a non fiction book with Dr. Elizabeth Miller. It is a very special look at Bram when he was a younger man, before he wrote most of his books. We have found a journal of Bram’s in an attic of one of his great grand sons, it gives us plenty of insight into his inner thoughts which we think readers will love to explore.

What’s your favourite Dracula movie? And Who’s the actor who played it the best way?

I really like two Dracula movies, the original 1931 Todd Browning version, and the 1992 Coppola version. I think that many actors have done a great job playing Dracula, all are a bit different, Sir Christopher Lee, Bela Lugosi, Frank Langella and Gary Oldman are at the top of my list.

What do you think about the modern figure of the vampire wich is more different from the original that appears in Dracula?

Vampires have been constantly changing since they were introduced in the early 1800’s to literature. Stage versions first changed the vampire into a dashing eastern european aristocrat. Movies have had to constantly offer something new and different with each new production otherwise the fans would grow tired of the “ same old thing”. Sine they are fictional characters, I am quite happy with all the different versions.

Who’s your current favourite vampire novelist?

I like Stephen King and Anne Rice, I felt they added some very realistic drama and horror to the vampire genre.

Thank you really much Mr. Stolker, good luck for everything. Regards.


clicca qui per leggere l''intervista tradotta in
italiano.

Domenico Esposito Mito, writer and Journalist