Your Dracula: A Love Tale seems to reflect not only on immortality and desire, but also on loneliness and human frailty. How did you balance the horror elements with the emotional and philosophical elements of the story?

The film focuses much more on loneliness and love than on the psychological fragility of the monster. He is a monster, but we love him. It is like Beauty and the Beast. The main character is a beast, but why? Because he was a man in love. And that’s where my attraction to the character comes from. And he is like Léon. Léon is the same. He is a murderer who cannot read or write, but he is the only one who can save a little girl. This says a lot about us, about our society. Evil can sometimes be good and good can sometimes be really bad. Especially in the movies. Especially in life. And even more so in politics. One should be good and, instead, is quite bad.

Dracula is a myth that has been endlessly retold. Countless versions have been made. What specific element did you decide to delete or rewrite to claim it as your own? And which change do you think will be most controversial?

I actually did not try to get into the “game” of Dracula. Because for me it is not a horror movie at all. I only use Dracula as a background. You can also take Dracula out of the title and simply leave “A love tale.” I didn’t delve into the subject of “horror.” It’s like you’re making a western and then you ask yourself, “Why are you making a western when thousands of them have been made?” Because you have a story to tell. That’s all. I know there are some people who are avid fans of Dracula. My film is not for those people. There is probably some confusion. It is not for fans of classic horror, these people will be disappointed. The film is not about Dracula with blood and everything. There is also another movie called Dracula, it is from Romania. It is funny. But it still has Dracula in the title. So people will probably go there to see Dracula. I hope people who come to see mine will watch it for the love story.

I would like to ask you about the lead actor, Caleb Landry Jones. Is it true that you decided with him to make this film while you were shooting Dogman?

Yes, we were shooting in New Jersey, and in between scenes, we were together drinking some water. Neither of us, in fact, drinks alcohol. The idea was to make another film together already. And as a joke we made a list of unlikely characters to play: De Gaulle, Jesus, Mao Tse Tung, Vercingetorix, Dali. It was just for fun. Then when Dracula’s name suddenly came up, we both thought maybe he could be interesting. So I started rereading the book and was surprised to see how romantic the novel actually was. Forget the horror part of the book for a moment. This is the story of a man who waits 400 years because he wants to say goodbye to his wife, in a “proper” way. It is very romantic. I started writing the script, advising myself with Caleb. And that’s how we built it up.

So afterwards you’re going to do Jesus?

Yes, and also Napoleon [laughs]. Although [Caleb] would have to act and walk on his knees to play Napoleon.

How did you choose, instead, Zoë Bleu Sidel as the female lead?

It was not easy to find my Elizabeth. I viewed a few actresses, some were unavailable, with others I didn’t get the right feeling. At one point Caleb sent me a picture of Zoë because he has connections with her on Instagram, I think because of the music, recommending that I evaluate her. I looked at her picture, saw some things about her, and realized that I already knew her. She is Rosanna Arquette’s daughter. I met Zoë when she was only three weeks old. You know, I knew the baby, she has grown a lot since then [laughs]. I wanted to meet her and I put her through a lot of really tough tests, even physically. You can’t play that role if you’re not strong enough. In the end, she went through a lot of auditions and passed them. She is a petite girl, but very strong. After we got the part, she, Caleb and I went to a spa for almost two weeks, walking around, chatting at breakfast, dinner, lunch, for almost 12 days, in order to create a strong bond between us, a solid foundation. This is because once you get to the set, and you have this base the others work around it. It is necessary to have this.

Let’s talk about the two new features you added in your script. Perfume is one of them.

So there is this guy who has been waiting for 400 years. He wants to find his wife. He could go anywhere to look for her, but by himself it would take forever. So he thinks, “I have to find a way for women to come to me, so I can see as many as possible and it would be easier to find mine.” At that time there were no newspapers. You couldn’t put an ad like “I’m desperately looking for my wife.” So how could he do that? With music, which reaches the ear. Or with perfume, which appeals to the senses. Music is the hearing. Perfume is the sense of smell. Voice would have been the paper, but they didn’t exist. So I chose perfume, as a means of attracting women, but the interesting thing is that he only loves one, he doesn’t care about the others.

The other novelty is gargoyles.

Dracula has been in his castle for 400 years. But who takes care of the castle? I asked myself this question. Who? The slaves? The people he bites? The women? In the novel, for example, Dracula lives with three nymphs in his castle, which is a rather strange thing. He is desperately looking for his wife and he has three girls at home…. I started looking and came across Notre-Dame and thought maybe the gargoyles themselves could take care of the castle. But then I asked myself, “Where do these gargoyles come from?” Maybe they are children, because Dracula does not want to kill them, but turns them into gargoyles so that they can serve him. That’s how the screenwriting process works. It’s not that if you come up with an idea that sounds good, you plug it in and you’re done. First you try to figure out what the problem is, then you think about how you can solve it, and then you try to come up with ideas to develop it.