In our weekly seriesAnatomy of a Scene's Anatomy, we're going to be taking a look at (in)famous sexscenes and nude scenes throughout cinema history and examining their construction, their relationship to the film around them, and their legacy. This October, we'll be looking at some famous horror movie nude scenes and this week, the director of The Godfather gives a classic horror legend the sexy upgrade he always deserved with Bram Stoker's Dracula!
If you love Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula, you have Winona Ryder to thank for that, as the actress brought the script to Coppola shortly before exhaustion compelled Ryder tobow out of the role of Michael's daughter inGodfather Part III. Looking to show there was no ill will between himself and the actress, Coppola read screenwriter James V. Hart's sensual take on the legendary Bram Stoker novel "Dracula," and decided to make it his next film.
Coppola employed a wealth of in-camera effects, rear projection, and otherantiquated Hollywood techniques to give his film the feel of a classic horror movie. The production design, Oscar winning costume, sound, and makeup design, incredible score, and cinematography by longtime Scorsese collaborator Michael Ballhaus all compliment this aesthetic beautifully, creating the first wholly successful gothic horror film of the modern Hollywood era. While the Hammer horror films out of Britain from the mid-50s to the early-70s certainlycapitalized on the increasingly loosened restrictions on violence and nudity, they were often low budget efforts that did the most they could with what they had.
Bram Stoker's Dracula, on the other hand, is a big budget extravaganza costing the 2019 equivalent of $75 million. The practicality of the film certainly increased the budget, but the sets, costumes, everything looks lived in and tactile and of a piece with the Universal monster movies of the 1930s. Coppola also, wisely, takes advantage of what an R-rating allows, creating not just aGrand Guignol style blood drenched horror movie, but also one with copious amounts of sex and nudity. Coppola seems to have had a game cast, willing to follow him just about anywhere, and it pays off with a finished product that both acknowledges its genre influences and pushes them into the modern day.
Simultaneously, the film's biggest achilles heel and greatest asset is its cast. Gary Oldman is terrific in the title role and many of the supporting actors like Tom Waits, Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes, Billy Campbell, and Sadie Frost all do admirable work. However,there is a trifecta of leading actors in the film who flounder to varying degrees. Anthony Hopkins plays Abraham Van Helsing as an out-and-out maniac. just one year removed from his Oscar winning role as Hannibal Lecter, Hopkins must have left the set every day and headed to the hospital where they could pump all of the scenery out of stomach. Winona Ryder isn't bad in the film so much as she's out of her element in the period setting. Scorsese would use her tomuch bettereffect the next year in The Age of Innocence, but here, she incongruously stands out as a very American presence in an otherwise European ensemble.
Then there's the matter of Keanu Reeves. No one has ever accused Keanu of being a riveting and captivating actor, but he is an enjoyable screen presence who hasspent the last decade or so embracing his limitations. The role of Jonathan Harker seems to be right in Keanu's wheelhouse as he is mostly a helpless bystander to the action around him—something he does quite well in films like The Matrix and the Bill Ted movies. He has always given great reaction shots, but here, he is hampered by an inconsistent English accent as well as some hammy overacting like when he watches as Dracula feeds a newborn baby to his brides...
Sticking with Keanu, he's at the center of the film's first big nude scene, the moment which announced to the world that this wasn't your grandfather's Dracula. Reeves' Harker has traveled to Count Dracula's castle to finish the work started by his predecessor Renfield (Waits) in which the count will acquire substantial land in England. Dracula starts playing mind games with Harker before he even arrives at his castle, so by the time he stumblesthrough the depths of the castle around the thirty minute mark, we know that the wicked count has him just where he wants him. Then his brides interfere with the plan.
Played by, in order of appearance, Monica Bellucci, Michaela Bercu, and Florina Kendrick, the brides lure Jonathan to them, calling him to the bed, and then popping up out of it...
They just sort of writhe about, sucking his blood, until Dracula shows up, scolds them, and eventually offers them the aforementioned baby, over which Reeves goes into quite a tizzy...
There is plenty of sex after that, with Sadie Frost getting jiggy with Dracula in his werewolf form...
And Winona Ryder bouncing about in a sheer gown as she searches for Sadie...
As I mentioned in my SKIN-depth Look at Coppola's films some months back, this amount of sex and nudity is out of character for Coppola. He's like a teenager in the throes of puberty on this flick, but by his own admission on the film's director's commentary, was too timid to ask Belluci, Bercu, and Kendrick to disrobe. He passed the job off to his son Roman, who himself passed the buck off to an assistant. Coppola was also smart enough to know his limitations as an elder statesman of cinema, hiring acting coachGreta Seacat to work with both Frost and Ryder on their more intimate scenes.
It's nice to know that he was considerate of his actresses in that way, particularly in an age when consideration for this sort of thing was in short supply. Perhaps he was just toobashful to do it himself, or recognizing of the fact that a man their father's age doesn't have much to offer them, but in retrospect, it's a shrewd move on his part to bring in a female acting coach for those scenes. No matter the reason, he looks like a bastion of progressive directing techniques.
I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the absolutely gorgeous theme song for the film that many people may not even know because it only plays over the end credits. Annie Lennox wrote and performed "Love Song for a Vampire" which is a gorgeous and haunting song that only an artist of her unique talents could pull off. Enjoy...
