The always provocative filmmaker Radu Jadu (Kontinental '25, Don't Expect Too Much from the End of the World, or An Unfortunate Dust or Crazy Porn) premiered his highly anticipated new feature, Dracula, at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland yesterday. Another cinematic revision of the myth in a bloody, wild manner, and, of course, given its author, iconoclastic. Filmed in Transylvania, the birthplace of the literary Dracula, Jadu aims to dissect Bram Stoker's work.
The director delves into the most famous vampire and the different dimensions of his image. Ultimately, the film shows a young filmmaker working with an AI system to create various cinematic versions of Dracula.
Beyond this festival premiere, Radu Jadu (Bucharest, 1977) has dropped some hints during the film's presentation to his country's media Cultura la Dub, as reported by the American publication The Hollywood Reporter. The most interesting announcement was the adaptation of another horror novel, this time Frankenstein, with a protagonist known to all. None other than the Winter Soldier, actor Sebastian Stan. Famous worldwide for portraying this character in the Marvel universe, as well as having been Tommy Lee or even Donald Trump in The Apprentice, he is Jadu's great asset to recreate Mary Shelley's gothic world. The film even has a title already.
"I am writing a movie," said Jude. "It will be called Frankenstein in Romania."
Sebastian Stan and Radu Jadu had previously discussed the possibility of collaborating, but at that time, Jude did not have a clear idea to offer the Hollywood star. It wasn't until now, with the opportunity to bring Frankenstein to Dracula's land, that the contacts have borne fruit. Both Stan and Jadu are Romanian, although Stan moved to the United States with his mother as a child, escaping from Ceaucescu's dictatorship. "My parents were part of the youth who opposed communism," Stan recounted in an interview with Vanity Fair. "My father helped people escape the country illegally, to the point where he was a wanted man. And he had to flee himself."
According to Jude, Stan could play "both key roles" in the novel: that of the scientist Victor Frankenstein and his creature. It is understood that the script would combine the real existence of a secret CIA prison in Romania with the legend of the Frankenstein monster. Quite crazy and rebellious, just like Jadu's cinema.
A very popular character who has just experienced his own resurrection with Guillermo del Toro's version. A Netflix production starring Oscar Isaac. An interesting duel awaits between a Romanian Frankenstein and a Mexican one.