Ngila Dickson
Ngila Dickson: I started on this in… I don’t know. And it’s gone through, as these films often do, quite a few iterations. We did a huge amount of historical research on this. As you do on these kinds of films. And we went “Well, no one will understand all that.” So we have played about a bit, but kept everything rooted in some kind of historical vernacular. My favorite thing. And what was really enjoyable for me on this one is that we were going in quite a different direction. An area that hasn’t been particularly mined in film terms.
To go into the world of Turkey, and we’ve also traveled much more to the world of Northern Europe for the look of the film. Against a lot of styles of filmmaking at the moment, we used a lot of color. We’ve really inked it up. At times, I find it almost disconcertingly me. Because it’s my nature to keep things real. But I think it’s really working. There are some quite fabulous works here.
Really new styles of armor – and I’ve done a relevant amount of armor, a ton – and here we’re trying some quite new things. Some quite new looks here. Brave new world.
For Gary [Shore, the director], he was very, very keen on understanding the history of things, and also bringing a Once Upon a Time in America cowboy way of thinking to it. I really loved it. I really loved the idea that you can go deeply historical, and then bring a kind of skewed vision. So far, I think he looks pretty good.
Did you take any cues from other Dracula films?
We have really been discussing, Gary and I, about all the different Draculas, and whether we wanted to be in that world at large. I was actually really keen on it because that particular Dracula [from Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film] is just one of the…. it’s just a great version. We really explored it, but something about our story and out characters, and it just became something else. So this really is its own take on Dracula. But I do think that equally amplified in that way.
It’s not as theatrical. Because one of the things about Coppola’s version is it almost had a stage-like quality to it. Whereas this doesn’t. This is big, big incredible landscapes. Big spaces. But it still definitely has that quality to it. There is a theatricality to it in some places. In the armor, which comes through on my leads, I’ve gone for… I’m working with a material that’s very textural, and you’re almost sculpting into the armor. It’s not being used very much. And I;m trying to work between a sort of classic version of it, and an ornate version of it. Layered. In the world of Bram Stoker, it was an incredible piece of armor for its time. And in a way, we’re trying something like that.
There are four different armor companies involved with me on this. Most of them are being made in New Zealand, funny enough. And we have another set which we’ve been working with Weta on. And we’ve also had a London-based company working on armor. So it’s been really quite interesting for me to work with all these different people and on all these different techniques. In a way, it helps me cement the different armies as well is to have different people doing it. And I’m hoping that brings some individuality to it.
Being the control freak I am, I would much rather have had them in here, where I can keep an eye on absolutely everything. My next best thing is to be a maniac on Skype. “Show me that! Show me that! Show me that!” Luckily, for me, I have good relationships with these people, and they put up with me.
How are the armies different?
Mehmed’s world is quite colorful. And Vlad’s world is much more a mixture of sober castle guards. And a whole mix of general local soldier boys who are in Vlad’s army. So we’re kind of playing that world. Very big powerful huge army, coming to get the little guys.
The 15th century Eastern Europe was very colorful! Yes. The Turks, very much so. With the red, gold, black and silver dominating. We’ve taken all those colors, but we’re dirting them up, so they’re not too “Hello!”
How do you invoke Dracula?
You want to stick between the two worlds in this film. You want Vlad to be a man that you can relate to. And part of his journey is that he’s chosen to go down this road for his family. And for his people. And then… Dracula is Dracula! You just move into that territory. It comes through in the performance and, God forbid, prosthetics. Where than character amplifies itself on a whole new level.
Capes? Medals? Anything iconic?
Well, you’ll have to wait and see.
It’s so classic, isn’t it? You need one woman in these films. So we’ve become incredibly reliant on what we’re going to do with our leading lady. There’s an awful lot of discussion and emphasis on how you roll with that. Sarah [Gadon], I’ve gotta say, I’m such a fan of hers. She’s really great in this role. And what was really important here is that we found a contrast between the light and the dark here. Vlad the one stuck in the dark world, she’s the light. She’s the believer. Believer in family. She’s the values. It’s an interesting way to create two characters is to make her the light. Always in my head I’m thinking about her as the light. They’re a great couple on screen.
Is it hard to walk the line between real clothing and fantasy clothing based in real life?
It’s really tough. There are times when, yes. But everyone’s job has limitations. You just have to make the absolute best of what you’ve got. How far you can move with a character to keep it real and allow an actor to perform that role with integrity, plus the demands of mega-Hollywood. Keep a sense of humor, I say. But it comes to the point where you have to go with the director’s vision. When you’re in some kind of artistic standoff about idea or concepts, I always go “I’m here for the director.” I have to go with that vision. He’s the one who’s going to pull all this together.
NEXT: François Audouy and the Design of Dracula Untold
