-A lot of people think vampires are very sexy.
What do you think about that?
-Well, I don't know.
I mean that would be slight self-indulgent for me to say,
oh, yeah, they're really sexy.
-Sometimes the world no longer needs a hero.
Sometimes what it needs is a monster.
-Luke, what makes "Dracula Untold"
different from other Dracula movies?
-Well, the clue is in the title.
It's the untold story of the origins
of the very famous literary vampire
that we know from Bram Stoker.
It's about the man.
It's about the human that actually walked this earth
in the 1400s, a man called Vlad Tepes,
who was very famously known as Vlad the Impaler.
And so that's where we start the story.
You meet this man and you see him
as a father and a husband who loves his family
and is respected by his people and revered by his enemies.
And you know, you see his journey.
And the steps he has to take to safeguard his people.
And it all doesn't turn out as perfectly as planned,
but that's where the story begins.
And so, yeah, that's what makes it different.
It's not the Dracula that most people
would assume it would be.
-Was this your first contact with vampires?
-My first contact with vampires.
Yes.
Yeah.
I almost played a vampire very early on in my career,
but the film never got made.
So yeah, but I almost was a vampire a long time ago.
-Did you ever dress up as one?
-No, I didn't dress up as one.
I have the fangs for it.
I have canines, which is very odd.
I don't know why I've got them.
But I do.
So a lot of people over the years
have always said that I should be playing
a vampire at some point.
So why not start with the Dracula character?
You know, he's the daddy of all vampires.
He's of the oldest one of them all so, yeah,
that's where it began.
-And now for the next Halloween, you have your perfect costume.
-Yes.
Everybody keeps telling me that.
But I played him for a long time,
so I feel a little bit like I might
want to try something different this year, so who knows?
Who knows?
But I have got a big Halloween party, fancy dress party
to go to, so I have to start thinking about that.
-Do you have an idea already?
-Well, last year I hosted a huge Halloween-themed, fancy dress
party for the cast and crew because we
were shooting during Halloween.
And everybody came dressed up.
It was incredible.
And I went as Edward Scissorhands, which was great.
I loved it.
It was really cool, so I don't know.
I have to trump that one this year, which is quite difficult.
-We will not be defeated.
They brought war to our land and they will pay dearly for it.
-Revenge is a pretty big topic towards the end of this movie.
How do you feel about revenge?
-Well, sometimes it's warranted.
Sometimes revenge is necessary.
Sometimes it's not, but I think in this story,
he has a lot to feel revenge for.
And it's a very tragic story actually.
It's a very lonely story for a man who starts off
trying to do the right thing and decisions
he makes and sacrifices he makes turns the story and his life
and his journey into a very different outcome.
-Would you say he's making the right decisions?
-To him, I think he's making the only decision that he has.
I think that's what you have to understand, I think,
is this man, when he makes these big decisions
to do what he does in the film, you feel
like he has no other options.
If he did, I don't think he would go and drink the blood.
Of course he wouldn't.
But he has no other options.
And his responsibility to his people,
but primarily to his wife and his son
is too much to ignore this one option that
could save everything.
-Your character is very protective.
He tries to protect everyone around him.
And you played a father.
Do you think about having your own kids?
Do you want to have kids someday?
-Yeah.
I've had kids in quite a few different movies now.
I've got three in the Hobbit.
I've got one in this one.
Do I have kids in anything else?
Not sure, but it's quite fun.
It's like practice.
-Good practice.
-But no, I'd love to have lots of children, actually.
I'm an only child, so I've always
thought I'd like to have a load of kids.
So, who knows?
-So, a load is like 10?
-No, no, no.
I hope not.
Not ten.
No, I don't earn enough money to cope with 10.
Maybe four or five.
That's enough, I think in this day and age.
-You think you know the story of Dracula.
You have no idea.
-Do you like this vampire story?
Are you into vampire movies?
-No I wouldn't say I was into them massively.
It's not-- it was never a genre that I
was that-- I wasn't drawn into it like the rest of the world
is drawn into it as a big genre.
But it's a fascinating story and it's interesting
how it's captured the imagination
of the cinema-going public for such a long time.
There's something about it.
It attracts everybody.
You know, it's not just one part of the demographic.
There's everybody, women, men, young girls, young boys.
And this film really targets everybody,
because it sort of ticks the boxes for everything.
It's not just a romance or a love story.
It's about a warrior.
There's huge action, sweeping action, fight sequences.
There's CGI.
There's the supernatural part of the story.
And then there's the vampire.
So you really are being given everything
you want from a vampire movie, but also
learning a new story which has never been told before.
-A lot of people think vampires are very sexy.
What do you think about that?
-Well, I don't know.
I mean that would be slight self-indulgent for me to say,
oh, yeah, they're really sexy.
No, I don't know.
I don't know.
Is Vlad sexy?
I don't know.
That's for you to decide, not me
-He is.
-Is he?
Oh OK, well , thank you very much.
-Thank you so much for the interview.