Trivia / Dracula (2013)

• Awesome, Dear Boy: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, notoriously selective about his projects, signed on because he liked the idea of playing three different characters at once - Dracula, Vlad Tepes and 'Alexander Grayson'.
• California Doubling: Set in London but filmed in Budapest.
• Creator Backlash: Cole Haddon has referred to the series as "the most creatively unfulfilling, emotionally devastating experience of my career", and apparently his story was used as a cautionary tale by other agents to get their clients to "fall in line".
• Executive Meddling:
  • Cole Haddon wanted the series to focus more on the supporting characters and leave Dracula a mystery, exploring their reactions as he arrives in London. The execs however insisted that Dracula be the main character.
  • NBC at one point tried to give the series a subtitle - among the suggestions were 'Dracula: The Victorian Age', 'Dracula: The Awakening' and 'Dracula: The Aristocrat'. Cole Haddon convinced them that 'Dracula' on its own sold the concept fine.
• Fake Brit:
  • Katie McGrath and Victoria Smurfit play English characters. They're both Irish in real life.
  • Australian Jessica De Gouw plays Englishwoman Mina too.
• Fake Nationality: Irishman Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays a Romanian (playing an American) who also has an English accent in private.
• Friendship on the Set: Cole Haddon and co-executive producer Harley Peyton became good friends while working on the series, and the former maintains that it was the only positive to come out of a miserable experience.
• Recycled Set: The castle courtyard with the blossom tree where Dracula died was used extensively in Robin Hood, with both shows being filmed in MaFilm Studios in Budapest.
• Romance on the Set: Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Jonathan) and Jessica De Gouw (Mina) became involved like their characters, dating for a time.
• Troubled Production: Cole Haddon detailed the nightmare that was the show in an article titled The Horror of Dracula in 2023:
  • As noted below, the series wasn't even intended to be one from the start, and producers just told Cole Haddon to come up with a Dracula show when he was trying to sell a feature script for a separate project. It was shopped around for months, with multiple networks and directors passing on it before NBC finally picked it up.
  • Cole Haddon was inexperienced with writing television, as he had only written feature films, and it didn't help that execs kept trying to force through changes that went against the spirit of what had been developed - he wanted to do a faithful adaptation of the novel that showed Dracula as a mysterious, looming presence whose motives wouldn't be revealed until the end of Season 1. They insisted he be front and centre, despite a key producer agreeing with him that the surrounding cast should take priority. Multiple drafts followed, Cole Haddon even having to work on them while on his honeymoon, because he and his wife needed the money desperately. Hostile meetings with the executives followed, including one where they literally began throwing things at him.
  • He had to deal with condescension from one exec he only referred to as 'Mr Smiley' who, despite not being a writer himself, micromanaged every aspect of the process, and tried to bloat the pilot so much it would have run two and a half hours. He admitted he lost his passion for the project that day and began talking to his reps about getting out of it. At the last minute, another producer was able to intervene and bring the pilot into script, after which about six drafts were written. The same exec however then tried to rewrite the pilot draft himself, despite having no experience with screenwriting. Haddon once again tried to leave the project, but was persuaded to stay when his agents convinced him to go behind 'Mr Smiley's back and submit the script directly to NBC. A British producer then intervened to act as an intermediary between the two, carefully rewriting the pilot with Haddon.
  • While the series eventually got Sky on board as well for an international co-production, and the series itself was picked up for ten episodes right away, Cole Haddon dreaded the idea of working with the aforementioned producer, but was told by his agents that there was no way out of it. The producer continued to undermine him out of spite, to the point that auditions were held in London without inviting him until the pilot's director Steve Shill questioned the execs why the series creator wasn't going to be there. He also wasn't invited to a meeting about how to market the series.
  • The writing process was similarly troubled, Cole Haddon feeling that the initial showrunner didn't even like the material, and said person was quickly demoted to head writer, with Harley Peyton of Twin Peaks fame being brought on board as executive producer to try and help salvage a sinking ship. Neither Haddon nor the head writer were allowed to travel to Budapest while the episodes were filming, with the result that decisions impacting the story and requiring rewrites were made without their input, such as the pilot suddenly showing Dracula using Wire Fu and using a katana that made no sense for the character.
  • During filming, some sets were inexplicably dismantled even though they were needed for key scenes that hadn't been filmed yet, again requiring the writers to hurriedly explain away or write around. Cole Haddon likewise criticised the lack of diversity in the writers' room, as he had pushed for more female writers and the only one hired was because he called her agent personally to offer her the job.
  • The result was a series lambasted by critics that Cole Haddon himself says he has not even watched every episode of, and has called the production the most traumatic experience of his life. He was even happy it got cancelled as it meant he wouldn't have to work on it anymore.
• Typecasting: Katie McGrath once again plays a pampered upper class friend (Lucy/Morgana) to a more down-to-earth smarter heroine (Mina/Guinevere), and becomes a villain later on. The only difference between Lucy and Morgana is that Lucy is blonde.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Cole Haddon had actually written a spec script for a film titled Hyde, reinventing The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. As he had also written the graphic novel it was to be adapting, and had already planned for Dracula to appear in its sequel, he used the backstory he had worked out when the execs asked him to make a Dracula TV series.
  • The series treatment was first offered to Gore Verbinski, who passed on it.

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