I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to interview Joe DeMuro and Thomas Edward Rice of Tales of Dracula. As a fan of classic horror, I loved Tales of Dracula. It’s a great tribute to those black and white horror movies enjoyed by so many horror fans. Joe and Tom have shared some behind the scenes info about the movie and the characters.
How did the idea for Tales of Dracula come about?
Tom/Joe : Growing up, we felt there was a need to answer some questions that Universal hadn’t, for 70 plus years! So, we took the direction from Universal, created our own ideas about certain things (which have yet to be answered, hence the pushing of the budget through Indiegogo) and started our own story and canon.
How did you balance your many roles and which job is your favorite?
Joe : Being a creature suit actor is my favorite, although I found all the other hats I wore an adventure. I had a great team assisting me, and there really wasn’t much to balance, honestly. I spent very little time in the suit, and way more time directing, but I’d like to hire a director for the next installment, so all I have to do is act.
All the characters are really interesting, from the classic monsters to the original characters who appear. Did you have specific actors in mind or did you have tryouts?
Tom : We held two casting calls and pulled from all local talent. That was an adventure in and of itself.
Were all the locations in the movie real places or did you have sets?
Joe : The Chateau was a real location, shot inside Roberson Museum in Binghamton. We were the only film company ever allowed to film in there, beyond the local TV stations for any news worthy stories regarding the museum. The Tavern was also a real location, located in the Chenango Valley State Park. We got in there just in time, as the next summer they completely redid the interior. It still looks somewhat the same, but it has changed enough that we wouldn’t have been able to get all the shots we needed had we had to wait.
The special effects in the movie truly give the feel of those old classics. Two particular effects really stood out to me. The first is the ship at the start of the movie. Those scenes have that old film grain look. In the present, with CGI and access to other modern tools, was it harder or easier to capture the feel of an old movie like you’ve done in Tales of Dracula?
Tom/Joe : The old ship scenes were actually stock footage, as we didn’t have the budget to create our own, so we felt that the footage would definitely add to the feel of the old films and put people in the right mindset and mood.
The second special effect that grabbed me was the werewolf transformation. It’s a great tribute to Lon Chaney’s Wolf Man. I remember reading that back then the transformation was achieved by actually filming each stage of the actor’s makeup process and it took a really long time. Was the same technique used in this movie or did you have other ways of showing the transformation?
Tom/Joe : We did film each stage exactly like the originals using the technique known as Lap Dissolve, although done on the hand, instead of the face, but it got the point across. We did originally film Tom Delillo going through the makeup changes on his face, but the footage didn’t work in the end, so rather than do a lap dissolve on the face, we just showed the various stages in between the lap dissolve of the hand.
The movie has humorous moments, in particular some of the exchanges between the father and daughter who own the tavern. Did the comedic moments develop as you were filming and getting to know the characters or were the bits of humor in the script from the beginning?
Joe : The humor was originally written into the script, but Cassandra Hayes and Dwight Kemper both pulled out the relationship humor of Father/Daughter perfectly. We were very careful with the choice and placement of humor within the film, as we wanted to make sure it was never insulting to the genre.
I enjoyed the music from movie as well. Was it composed specifically for Tales of Dracula or was it already created and you selected it because it fit the movie?
Thomas : Weirdly enough, some of the music was originally just composed from mere suggestions to Johan Back Monell by Thomas Edward Rice in Facebook messages. Johan would write a piece based on what was described, and send it back, and we’d put it somewhere in the film we wanted the music to see if it fit. Sometimes it fit perfectly, with minimal readjusting, and sometimes it wouldn’t fit the portion of the movie we had originally told him to write for, but it ended up working perfectly over a completely different scene. The one scene Johan actually wrote to, was the scene where the moon rises, and Tom Delillo goes through his trasformation right up until he kills Ben James in the woods. The score was split up a bit between Johan and Thomas, as Thomas ran out of time during post production to do it all himself, so we outsourced. Thankfully, Johan took up the gauntlet.
I’d like to ask some Frankenstein Monster-specific questions. The creature in the original novel is really sympathetic. Your version of Frankenstein reflects this. He’s not just a monster, but he clearly has feelings and a sense of loyalty. Did you use the original novel as well as the classic films for inspiration?
Joe : Nope. I tried to bring my own thing to the Monster showing his family ties and loyalties to the Frankenstein family, as he grew up being (in our story) being treated truly like a brother to Dr. Victoria Frankenstein.
As an actor, what drew you to the character of the Frankenstein Monster?
Joe : Growing up, he was always my favorite. I started playing him at different conventions, and it kind of stuck.
In the movie, Victoria Frankenstein has a huge interest in the monster. Do you think it’s purely scientific or does she actually have feelings for him? In one scene she says he’s like her brother. Is that truly how she feels or is he just an experiment to her?
Joe : The intent, as previously answered, is that he was treated exactly as a brother/son in our film. We felt Courtney Bennett did an excellent job portraying the character as a sister to him.
She definitely did. Joe, your costume looked great, but it also looked pretty uncomfortable. Was it difficult to work in it?
The costume weighed approximately 40 pounds, but it wasn’t difficult to work in at all. Sitting through the 6 hours of makeup was the real trial. It’s always rough, but I enjoy it.
You’re planning two sequels to Tales of Dracula. Would you tell us about them and also about where fans can go online to support the movies?
The first film, we decided, was a catalyst to introduce the public to our version of the characters, what their motivations are and to establish them for the next two installements. In the next two, we will be delving into the darkest parts of all the characters to explore why they are the way they are, and to explain some things that Universal never answered, like where Dracula’s ring comes from and why he wears it, why he wears the cape, where the werewolf curse originates from, and many other things.
If anyone is interested in helping support the next two films, please check out our Indiegogo campaign located here :
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tales-of-dracula-dracula-versus-the-wolfman-film#/
and you can also donate at our own personal website located here : http://wbpfunding.weebly.com/
Is there anything about the movie you’d like to add?
This film is an homage, as it were, to the original classics. We felt that we didn’t need to do the whole modern “Blood, Gore and Nudity” to try to sell the story. The story stands on its own, but it’s new, and a new direction, without going all modern Universal (taking the original monsters and turning them into a super hero), and it’s done with the loving care of some pretty great fanatics of the genre. We had Ron Chamberlain doing all the makeups and monster makeups, we had two composers who both enjoyed the genre growing up, we had Dwight Kemper on as the writer, who is a great writer in his own right, having published many books under his name.
We specifically set out to make a classic monster movie that the parents could take their younger kids to see, without having to explain the nudity, or possibly scarring their kid witht he blood/gore factor.
We hope anyone who is a classic movie monster fan takes away from this film exactly the amount of love that went into it. We hope anyone who is new to genre, we not only like our film enough to purchase and watch again and again, but if they are unfamiliar with the originals, perhaps order some of them up for a good nights worth of watching!
Thank you, Joe and Tom!
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