DRACULA: Jessica De Gouw, Katie McGrath + Oliver Jackson-Cohen on power, passion + sparkly vampires
DraculaIV1
DraculaIV1
Sky Living and NBC's Dracula is so much more than just a story about a vampire: That's what Irish actress and former Merlin star Katie McGrath tells us as we gather in the crypt beneath Christ Church in Dublin.
She's just one of no less than three Irish actors among the cast of the latest adaptation of the Bram Stoker classic. The show makes its debut on Sky Living at 9pm this Halloween, with our own Jonathan Rhys Meyers playing the titular vampiric prince.
читать дальшеThe new series sees puts a different twist on the tale as the rather calculating Vlad Tepes arriving in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who just wants to teach the English a thing or two about modern science. Little do they know, he's actually hoping to wreak revenge on a secret society of powerful people who ruined his life a few centuries earlier.
However, when he meets McGrath's sexy, sassy Lucy Westenra (check her out below - we did tell you it was a twist on the original), her best friend Mina Murray (Arrow's Huntress, Jessica de Gouw) and Mina's beloved Jonathan Harker (Mr Selfridge star Oliver Jackson-Cohen) things get rather complicated. Carrying out a brilliant master plan isn't too easy when you're face to face with a young woman (Mina) who's the spitting image of your dead wife.
Now, I know some of you will be thinking "Another series about vampires? Really?" but, according to the cast, that's most definitely not the case.
"It's actually something quite raw", says Jackson-Cohen, who admits that the recent vampire/werewolf resurgence isn't something he's into. "Sparkly vampires" definitely aren't up this lad's alley, so he's eager to assure us that Dracula isn't in the same vein as Twilight which by the way, shock horror, he has yet to see. Harker isn't the "fluffy" good guy counterpart to Vlad Tepes' all-consuming evil. Both men are flawed and fragile, and far closer to their original incarnations than modern day love rivals like Jacob Black and Edward Cullen.
"When you bring something back to the origins that's definitely something that I'm a fan of" Jackson-Cohen muses, admitting that it was the pull of our own Mr Rhys Meyers and a completely glitter free vampire tale that convinced him to sign on for the project in the first place. "The fact that Dracula is a vampire is actually such a small a part of it" McGrath adds. "The real driving force of this story is revenge and love. The fact that he's a vampire is just this little bit at the end of it."
And by the time we reach the end of Episode 1 (we'll try not to spoil it for you) we know she's most certainly not lying. Love is right at the heart of this story, and it's all being directed at Jessica De Gouw's Mina Murray.
"I get all the fun" the bubbly Australian giggles when I ask what it was like to play the intelligent and beautiful Mina, who has her beloved Harker, her best friend Lucy and the enigmatic Alexander Grayson fighting over her on screen. For Jackson-Cohen, who had to compete with two red blooded Irish stars for her attention, things weren't quite so easy though. "It was challenging," he admits between chuckles, turning to face his amused co-star. "Well, you'll see... It's quite a struggle to keep her." McGrath raises an eyebrow before assuring us her Lucy was always going to win the war.
So, what can we expect when the show lands on our screens tomorrow evening? "Even if you know the Dracula story like y'know, most people do, this is going to surprise you," Mc Grath says. "It's going to give you all the things you expect but not in the way you expect them so even if you love the book and love everything, there's still something in there for you to find."
And are the young stars of the show worried about how the show will be received? "I find it quite terrifying" Jackson-Cohen admits, "because you do something that's so kind of personal ("Our bubble", De Gouw excitedly interjects) and then people either destroy the bubble or embrace it... or both." De Gouw says she's just curious to see what the audience will make of their version of the story, while her co-stars say they hope people stick with the show until the end.
"It's a 10 part show so the first episode is setting up so many different characters" Jackson-Cohen explains. "It's one of those where it builds and builds and builds and builds. I originally thought it was going to be a miniseries but when you see what happens at the end of 10 you sort of go, 'Oh my God, this has been upped to another level'."
"Everyone watch it" he laughs, "otherwise I will find you".
And you know, we're actually half tempted to tune out for a split second just to see if he'll really come knocking at our door...