Dracula's Jonathan Rhys Meyers Offers 6 Bloody Bits in Advance of His Dark Series' Premiere
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In the opening moments of Dracula, NBCโs new take on Bram Stokerโs classic vampire tale, the titular creature is awakened after rotting in a coffin for centuries.
Feels almost that long since weโve had Jonathan Rhys Meyers on our TV screens, doesnโt it?
The Tudors star makes his television return with the gothic โ and well-known โ story about a man cursed to walk the Earth forever, feasting on his victims and subject to the whims of the demon living inside him.
VIDEO | Dracula Exclusive Preview: โAs American as God, Guns and Bourbonโ
But the series that premieres Friday night (10/9c), Rhys Meyers says, is much more about his characterโs battered humanity than his superhuman abilities. (In other words, donโt expect this bloodsucker to sparkle.)
โHeโs been alive for 400 years, which means itโs not the monster that makes Dracula interesting. Itโs the human that makes him interesting,โ the actor tells TVLine. โThey cursed him with still being human, which is a terrible thing: to create a monster and leave this little melanoma, this little cavity of humanity in him.โ
Read on to find out what happens when that humanity is stoked, as well as why Dracula is quite the evolved horror project as well as who the fanged one loathes, lusts after, longs for and leaves standing guard when the sun rises.
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ME, MYSELF AND DIE
| Rhys Meyersโ character, Vlad Tepes, is a 16th-century warrior cursed with a demon: Dracula. โThis is where the conflict exists,โ Rhys Meyers says โ but wait, it gets even more complicated: Tepes, whom we see making his entrance into 1896 London society, is pretending to be an American industrialist named Alexander Grayson. Grayson โis Vlad performing as an American,โ the actor says, adding with a laugh, โI had to work very hard on the voice, because itโs not like an American of Santa Monica today.โ
GRAND ENTRANCE | At a gala Grayson throws for his new British contemporaries, we learn that heโs gunning to take down members of the Order of the Dragon, aka the same organization that doomed him to eternal torment. First order of business: Destroy the source of their wealth by taking out their fossil-fuel holdings; yep, the bad guys in this story are Big Oil.
โItโs like Sun Tzuโs The Art of War,โ Rhys Meyers explains. โIf you take away the armyโs ability to sustain itself, then it canโt fightโฆ So what [Grayson] is doing is trying to deplete [the order]โs army by rocking their finances. If you canโt pay your soldiers, your soldiers wonโt fight for you.โ An important note: โGrayson has wealth,โ the actor says โ and weโll find out exactly how that came to be in future episodes.
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HAVE WE MET?
| Grayson is distracted from plotting his enemiesโ downfall when he notices a very familiar face across the dance floor: Jessica De Gouwโs Mina Murray (Arrow), who bears an amazing resemblance to Vladโs long-dead wife. Grayson takes an immediate interest in getting to know the young medical student โ the only female in her class โ and in championing her relationship with a handsome journalist named Jonathan Harker (played by Mr. Selfridgeโs Oliver Jackson-Cohen). Rhys Meyers knows that sounds counterintuitive. โI keep her close by keeping him close,โ he says. โFor now.โ
IS IT GETTING WARM IN HERE? | Victoria Smurfit (About a Boy) plays Lady Jayne, a well-to-do woman with a secret thatโs connected to the Order of the Dragon. Naturally, Grayson makes her one of his projects, and naturally, that involves the doffing of corsets. โLady Jayne is the alpha female,โ Rhys Meyers says. โSex is very, very important to her.โ (Grayson doesnโt seem to mind, either.)
FRIENDS AND FRENEMIES | Though to the world Grayson seems like just another braggart American, a few know his secret. These include Renfield (Game of Thronesโ Nonso Anozie), his right-hand man, and Prof. Abraham Van Helsing (The Riverโs Thomas Kretschmann) โ the latter who is known in the lore as Draculaโs adversary. โThey will become so,โ Rhys Meyers says, laughing. โThat little love affair wonโt last.โ
THIS SUCKS โ BUT NOT TOO MUCH | The premiere features some hard-core fighting and a bit of gore, but donโt expect a Walking Dead-style gross-out each week. โWe didnโt want to do too much of the neck-biting killing,โ the actor says. โToo much of that, and then people get bored, and itโs not frightening anymore.โ Plus, itโs just not Vladโs style. โI didnโt want to turn him into somebody whoโs his shouting, roaring monster,โ he adds. โI wanted him to be much more controlled.โ
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