The Big Picture

Director André Øvredal discusses making The Last Voyage of the Demeter, a film inspired by one chapter of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Øvredal emphasizes the importance of capturing as much as possible in camera, including building a full ship set for authenticity. He also discusses how Javier Botet’s performance as Dracula heavily impacted the character, with his unique body language and ability to bring unexpected nuances to the role.

One of the greatest challenges when making a monster movie is nailing the creature reveal. Not only must one figure out exactly how much to show and when, but then, when the full reveal does come, the design absolutely must live up to the hype set by the film’s building tension and dread. With The Last Voyage of the Demeter hitting theaters nationwide this weekend, director André Øvredal took the time to walk me through how he and his team tackled that challenge on the new Dracula film.

The movie is based on one chapter of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The Demeter is a merchant ship packed with private cargo — 50 unmarked wooden crates of dirt to be exact. Soon after the crew sets sail from Carpathia to London, strange events start to occur, and eventually, those strange events turn deadly. When the Demeter finally makes it to London, the ship is a wreck and the crew is nowhere to be found.

During my chat with Øvredal, he broke down how he approached bringing this version of Dracula to screen which required the services of creature actor legend Javier Botet and some very helpful lessons learned from Guillermo del Toro. Hear all about that and why Øvredal favors practical effects and capturing things in camera in the video interview at the top of this article or in transcript form below.

Image via Universal

PERRI NEMIROFF: I always love hearing about how films evolve along the way, so what would you say is the biggest difference between how you envisioned this film turning out when you first signed on compared to what people are going to see in the finished feature?

ANDRÉ ØVREDAL: I think the job of the director is to retain that vision. Whatever I felt when I read the script the very first time – when I fall in love with a script at that level, at that stage, I need to make sure that’s the movie I’m showing the audience at the end of the process. So it is a constant battle, if you will, to make sure that everyone else gets behind that vision, and to physically get it right. I don’t think there are many differences in the way that the movie works now compared to when we started the process.

How about an instance when unexpected magic popped up along the way? A time when somebody behind the scenes or maybe one of your actors brought something to the role, to a scene that you didn’t expect and you opted to embrace and run with?

ØVREDAL: Oh, absolutely. That happens all the time throughout. That’s what gives the little nuances in the movie that we all want. It’s when the actors really embrace their characters and really are able to portray the moments emotionally and portray the relationships in some way that you can’t possibly imagine until these two particular actors, or a group of actors, are standing there doing it. That is the greatest joy for me as a filmmaker is actually to watch that happen because it’s not part of what I can control. It’s the magic of performances. But also other stuff like, you know, the way the ship ends up becoming, the detailing of the textures, and the reality of the ship. And of course the design of Dracula. All these things are just vague ideas at the beginning of the process, and then to land it and make it really work on screen is, yeah.

Image via Universal

Did your goals for what you wanted your Dracula to look like change much from design draft one to what we see in the finished film?

ØVREDAL: No, not much. It was always meant to be this kind of demon at the end of the movie. It’s described in the script so I can’t even take credit for it, but it’s my job to then guide it, and it was just such a fun vision of what Dracula should be, and I embraced that. With the producers and with everyone, with the VFX people, with the special effects designers, we kind of came up with this creature that I was very happy with. But, as you know, it’s a process. It’s always a process, and there is evolution, but it was always in the same ballpark.

What about figuring out how much to show of your Dracula? I always find that to be one of the greatest challenges with any monster movie – nailing the right moment and how much to show of your creature. Is there any workshopping in that respect or rules you abided by in terms of making sure he always looked good and there was scare and mystery there?

ØVREDAL: The mystery of the look of Dracula is obviously a huge thing that, when you’re sitting watching the movie, you’re supposed to feel evolution. I’m very much about working with the dramatic effect of discovery and therefore, the creature, which you are discovering in this movie, the evolution of the creature, is the biggest one. So, in the beginning, you need to kind of keep him in the shadows. I mean, you know. You kind of need to keep him in the shadows, and as he evolves, as the creature evolves, you can bring him more and more out. You gotta just go by a gut feeling, but at the same time, you’re also breaking down the script. You’re also putting together all the scenes that are with Dracula and trying to analyze, “Is this evolution working when you go from here? Now it’s 10 minutes later. Now it’s three minutes later. When we see him now, what have we learned? What have we not learned?” It is also a scientific process.

I’ll never pass on an opportunity to highlight Javier Botet’s work and, of course, he played a significant part in bringing Dracula to screen. Is there anything about his work that impacted this version of Dracula heavily in a way that you never could have imagined before you hit set and were working with him directly?

ØVREDAL: He’s such a character actor. He really thinks like the creature, he really puts himself in the spot of the person he is, the mentality. Whether it’s very animalistic or it’s very intelligent, he’s able to portray all these things. And he has a body language that is so unique that you can’t really predict, and he could come up with suggestions for how to portray this moment or that moment, in just the details of how he uses his fingers or how he moves his body. It’s just kind of all these things. Even though you’ve seen him do things before, and I’ve worked with him before, he always surprises you.

He is one of the best of the best!

Image via Universal

I did want to ask you a little bit about emphasizing the importance of capturing as much as possible in camera. Can you give us an example of something that most productions would use visual effects to finish, but you and the team prioritized capturing that in camera on set instead?

ØVREDAL: The environment. We wanted the ship to be a real place, first of all, to start with that. We had to build the whole ship as one big piece so we could live on it, so the actors could get used to it. It’s not broken into pieces, it’s a full set, and that was very important.

Of course, Dracula, you have to do the same. In large scenes, we always had Javier Botet there to portray how Dracula would behave in every scene. And even though there is augmentation later, like there practically always is today, it’s always him. It’s always his performance that is there. I don’t know how everyone else does it, but I’m very much in favor of how Guillermo del Toro thinks – that you have to create your creatures physically on set. I mean, it was awe-inspiring to learn about how he thinks and how he works when we did Scary Stories [to Tell in the Dark].

Bringing up Guillermo is making me remember the fact that he was originally signed on to direct this film and he recommended you to fill that role. Did you ever collaborate with him throughout this process? Run scenes or ideas by him and get some feedback?

ØVREDAL: I got the script also through Brad Fischer, the main producer on the movie, and I didn’t actually get to work with Guillermo on this particular thing, but he’s such a presence in my life, and was, and the way he thinks, and to learn from the way he was thinking definitely impacted the way I’ve seen this movie.

I’ll always gravitate towards the films he’s involved in, and also the filmmaking family he seems to create around him. It’s a very special group of people, you included.

ØVREDAL: Yeah, I’ve been so lucky to be able to be in his presence.

Image via Universal

Something that I was especially impressed by in this movie that usually takes me out of a lot of films is capturing things in camera, but using a digital backdrop and still making it feel real. Is there anything you were able to do in that respect on this set that has these incredible results, things that perhaps should be used as a model for more films out there using those techniques?

ØVREDAL: I’m really happy you observed the film that way. We worked so hard to make sure that we are in a world that actually works for the actors, that works for the camera. That’s how I make movies. I want a reality around the camera. But of course, when you are in a tank and your world is actually out at sea in the middle of the night, you do need to replace stuff that you can’t do. So to blend that is a huge number. It’s a big job.

Job well done in that respect.

I am obsessed with The Long Walk and I have a whole lot of faith in a James Vanderbilt-penned script of that. Dare I ask, is there any update – or are you still attached to direct that?

ØVREDAL: I’m unfortunately not, but it’s one of the big regrets in my life is not to have made that movie.

I wanted to see your version of that movie with Jamie. I’m bummed to hear it, but I know there’s gonna be lots of wonderful things on the horizon for you.

Looking for more The Last Voyage of the Demeter talk? Catch my conversation with Corey Hawkins below: