Van Helsing in this film is played by veteran actor Sir Lawrence Oliver. At the time, he was suffering from a disease that made him bleed at the slightest scratch (ironic, given the subject matter). He was so ill that many of the cast and crew were worried if whether or not he was even going to make it for the rest of the filming.
Miraculously, he lived another 10 years after filming Dracula.
Gary Oldman has about six different looks as Dracula throughout the film.
1. As a human during the crusades.
2. As an elder vampire count.
3. As a young vampiric Prince
4. A sort of vampiric demon face
5. As a werewolf-like creature
6. As a bat creature
Even though Oldman doesn’t play all the forms, Dracula appears in the film also as a living mist and as a swarm of rats.
This was the third adaptation of Richard Matheson ‘s book “I am Legend”. Before this one was “The Omega Man” with Charlton Heston in the 1970s were the monsters are light sensitive mutants, and “The Last Man on Earth” with Vincent Price, where the monsters are vampires.
The Price version is closer to the book.
The old man that the vampire Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) greets at the door at the Collinwood ball is actor Jonathan Frid, who played Barnabas in the original Dark Shadows TV series. He sadly, passed away soon after filming this cameo. This was his last film appearance.
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