Distaff Dracula Cast

Just a bit of wild speculation for the sake of fun...

There was an excerpt of a play I saw on YouTube some months ago, a production of Dracula wherein all the characters' genders were switched. Certainly an intriguing idea, and with more than a touch of promise. So it got me thinking (always a bit of a dangerous thing).

Suppose a young female solicitor (Joanna Harker) traveled to the wilds of Transylvania to meet a wealthy Countess, one who wishes to discretely purchase properties in London. But said Countess is a vampire, with harem of undead Grooms that haunt the crumbling castle. She means to travel to fresh hunting grounds, and along the way will feast upon the blood of this young solicitor's fiancee (William Murray) as well as his best friend (Louis Westenra). The latter is a bit of a womanizer, and three of his conquests--Dr. Jacqueline Seward, Lady Aurelia Holmwood and the American Cathy Morris--unite to try and save him. Even with the help of occult scholar Beatrice Van Helsing they fail and Louis rises from the grave as a vampire, at first a hunter of girl children until they put him to rest. Then they all must find the source of the contagion, the strangely melancholy Countess Dracula herself.

Has possibilities, don't you think?

In fact, doesn't this scenario shake up a lot of what we expect from the whole dynamic? If Louis Westenra starts feeding on little girls, the specter of pedophilia rears its ugly head--one wonders why it doesn't feel that way if Lucy goes around biting boy children? Likewise, in writing the plot description above it seemed natural to call Louis a womanizer, as befits a man with up to three fiancees! Who then cheats on them!

This isn't a long post, just a bit of fun speculation to let readers know I've not abandoned my blog. If you've anything to add, feel free to do so. For example, who would you cast as Countess Dracula? One of the first names that come to my own mind is Neve McIntosh, whom I admire very much after seeing her perform opposite Jonathan Rhys Myers in Gormenghast. But I saw Kelly Reilly as Joanna Harker. Likewise I almost immediately imagined Pauline Moran (Miss Lemon on Agatha Christie's Poirot) as Dr. Seward and Sophie Winkleman as Lady Aurelia Holmwood. Methinks Rupert Penry-Jones would be a fine Louis Westenra (the cad!). What about William Murray? How about Rupert Evans?

Under-Used Tropes, Part One

Last night I learned that a lesbian werewolf movie is the works. Now, that idea is just plain cool (and I can hardly wait to tell my friend Ruby about this--she loves werewolves, plus has a wicked sense of humor). Jack and Diane tells the story of two teenaged girls in love, one of whom isn't really human. Or not completely. It was supposed to have co-starred Ellen Page, but there was a delay and now other commitments interfere. Oh, well.

But I was thinking about how some tropes go under-used, especially in genres that I enjoy. For example, it has become a staple going back to Dark Shadows that a male vampire has a female human love interest. Nick Knight had Natalie. Edward has Bella. Angel and Spike both have Buffy, while the former also had Cordelia. And so on. But what about a female vampire and her male human lover? Not quite as rare as one might think since it was prominent in both Dracula's Daughter and Hammer's Lust for a Vampire, but has been fairly rare ever since. Until recently. True Blood has actually introduced two compelling stories about a female vampire and her male, human lover. The more prominent involves Jessica, a teenager "made" only a few weeks ago, and having already fallen for a nice young man named Hoyt. Plus there is Isabelle, the Texas elder heartbroken over events involving "her" Hugh, whom she clearly loves very much indeed.

Now, if we could just see a female vampire detective on a show, involved in some way with a human man! A sort of Nicole Knight, or Angela the Vampire-With-A-Soul. Some part of me really would enjoy seeing the unearthly loveliness of Edwina Cullen falling for a shy nerd named Ben. Or what if the upcoming CW series Vampire Diaries were about a sad young man who becomes the focus of good and evil vampire sisters?

While in general I'm not in favor of doing anything creative by rote, using a formula, I do think creating something new by breaking the formula--at least as a starting point. The image of the wise witch Gandalfina comes to mind, or the lost Hammer classic The Grooms of Dracula.

Something to think about.