Caffeinated Clint
Everyone’s favourite bloodsucker is returning to put the bite back into celluloid with two new direct-to-video sequels, "Dracula II : Ascension" and "Dracula III: Legacy", following on from "Dracula 2000". Director of the films, Patrick Lussier, gave Moviehole some of his time to talk about the two films, as well as his work with Wes Craven and the current trend in direct to video sequels.
How did you get involved in the Dracula sequels – initially interested?
After Dracula 2000 opened and turned out to be successful for the studio, Bob Weinstein decided he’d like to do a DVD sequel. Based on the original concept that Joel Soisson and I had pitched for D2K. The original idea was the opening heist of Dracula 2000 attached to what has now become Drac II: Ascension. That idea was discarded during the development of the original because the powers that be thought it would be too claustrophobic for a feature. Instead we made a much more traditional updating of Dracula. Now when Drac II came along, Nick and Andrew Rona guided Joel and I back into our original story with a desire to include a character that was written into the D2K screenplay but ultimately cut: Uffizi, the Vatican vampire hunter.In both Dracula II and III the role is played wonderfully by Jason Scott Lee.
