Count down “2″ “9″
Bela Lugosi as Dracula
I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his being as if lapped in a storm of fury… the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell fire blazed behind them. His face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires. The thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal.- Jonathan Harker’s Journal, Dracula, Chapter 3.
Count Dracula a character created by Bram Stoker, that has been to date immortalized on screen by scores of actors from Christopher Lee to Gary Oldman to Lon Chaney Jr. And then there was Béla Lugosi born close to Dracula country, Transylvania, in a small town of Lugos, now technically in Romania. After a series of silent movies, in Germany, he emigrated to the US in 1920. His most famous movie however came in 1931 when he appeared as Dracula in Tod Browning’s 1931 on screen adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel. Interestingly Lugosi was never the first choice for that role, it was another horror movie actor, Lon Chaney Jr, who was Browning’s first choice. And add to the fact that Lugosi was not too fluent in English. However Chaney’s death due to throat cancer, put a spanner in Browning’s plans, and add it to the recession, meant he had to pare down his budget drastically. That was when Lugosi lobbied actively for the part, cutting his pay, and getting the coveted path. Honestly though have not seen this movie( for that matter any of Lugosi’s movies), but from what i understand, he made one of the best Dracula’s entering into the character, and for quite some time it was inconceivable to think of any one else but Lugosi for role of Dracula.
Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr, Boris Karloff- all horror legends of an earlier age, an age about which i only heard from books, but never experienced. People whose movies i have not seen, but only heard of.
And then there was Ed Wood, the World’s Worst director, a person whose movies contained the cheesiest special effects, a acting so bad that it was so good, cast members who seemed to have been picked up from a loony bin. And yet Ed Wood was a legend, a cult figure. Some one who was admired for the fact that he made movies according to his ”vision”, not what the studios dictated. Some one who was his own man.
When you make a biopic, one of the ”musts” is that you should have a reverence for the person you are doing. Try making a biopic where you neither share in with the person’s ideals nor you have any knowledge about him, and it ends up nowhere. It was apt that Tim Burton should have bought the life of Ed Wood on to the screen. For Burton, the biopic was not something to be done for the studios, it was his own personal tribute to a man he admired, whose B movies he had ended up watching, while playing truant from school.
I don’t know what it was, maybe the movie theaters in my immediate surrounding neighbourhood in Burbank, but I never saw what would be considered A movies.
There’s a roughness and a surprising nature to most B movies that you don’t get in classic films-something more immediate. I never chose those movies to leave impressions in my brain, they just did.
Burton grew up on B movies, he had a fascination for it, so when given a chance to direct the biopic on Ed Wood, he jumped into it headlong. If you are seeking to know more on Ed Wood, check out the post i had written on it some time back on Burton, B Movies, Ed Wood.
Burton’s favorite Johnny Depp was Ed Wood, but it was the choice for Bela Lugosi, that would be more interesting. Martin Landau was familiar to viewers as Rollin Hand, a master of disguises, mimicry and voice imitation, in the TV series Mission Impossible.
Martin Landau as Rollin Hand in the TV series Mission Impossible
He also hit it off in the British Sci fi TV series Space 1999 playing Commander John Koeing.
Martin Landau as Commander John Koening in Space 1999
Ed Wood would be however be Landau’s most memorable movie, playing the role of Bela Lugosi. To call that performance as brilliant would be an understatement, Landau actually brings Lugosi to life on screen, recreating the arrogance, the cynicism, the gruff voice, the man himself. Landau being more of the method actor, actually watched Lugosi’s movies, understanding his style, his expressions, his way of talking. Landau however never goes over the top, at any time, he brings out the theatrical style of Lugosi, and yet makes it natural. He thoroughly deserved the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, it is one of the finest performances you ever get to see on screen.
Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi
“The Inventor” 2 Inspire us
2 is the Inventor in the Group of 9. The man who picks up all kinds of discarded material, traverses the wasteland searching for scraps, that could make the parts for his inventions. The oldest member of the group, walking around with a cane, and who can only see with a lorgnette.
Martin Landau voicing "2"
The voice behind 2- Martin Landau, the man who was Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood.
Martin Landau rarely did VO’s and he came into the short only on account of his association with his friend Burton.
I saw 9 as a very special piece. I came in with some ideas that I suggested to Shane, and we were basically on the same page.#2 hasn’t lost his marbles, but he sees things in his own head that he thinks other people understand.
2 is also a reference to The Inventor in Edward Scissorhands, the person who dies before completing his creation. The Inventor was Vincent Price, one of Burton’s idols in his growing up days, and the subject of Burton’s short named after him. For Vincent Price, working in Edward Scissorhands was “the most gratifying thing that ever happened. It was immortality — better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard.”
Vincent Price as The Inventor in Edward Scissorhands
"2" shows "9" the post apocalypse world
2 is the Inquisitive person in the Group, a ”salty old dog” as director Shane Acker puts it, sniffing around. And yet 2 would not be the leader, he was the person content to be the man behind the scenes, the Guy in the background, the one who lives in his own world. And yet it is 2’s questioning spirit, his enterprising nature, that would motivate 9 in the longer run to seek the central quesion about Life.
As we countdown to 9.9.09, hold on for more dope on the characters.
So we were able to delve deeper into why the world ended up the way it did, what happened to the humans, and the extent of hope. These creations ultimately have to look into the past to ascertain just who they are – why they are — and how they can again move forward. So while we’re bringing people into a fantasy world with a different sensibility, they’re on an emotional journey with characters who are very human in their emotions and interactions.- Shane Acker, Director of 9.
Tags: 9, bela lugosi, Dracula, ed wood, Martin Landau, Mission Impossible, Space 1999, The Tim Burton Blog Fest 2009, Vincent Price
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
My first Dracula movie was ‘Bela Lugosi’s’ ‘Dracula’.
THIS IS FUCKIN SPOOKY
JUST WHEN I WAS ON MY ED WOOD, PLAN 9, GLEN or GLENDA and BELA LUGOSI trip…this post…..
SPOOKY at it’s best
‘Z’ Grade at it’s awesome
and Tim Burton on the brink of his Plan 09.09.09
and yeh the new PFC ‘9′ interface is rocking.
this can be a great template for future film promotions.
i saw ED WOOD and instantly fell for BELA LUGOSI..
Bahut zordar article hai yeh…
he was/is a LEGEND
yeh log hi hai jo inspire karte hai yaara..
kaam karo aur phal ki icha mat karo..
but do it wid PASSION ..
mann ka radio bajne zara..
Nice to read more about Martin Landau. Even I haven’t seen any of him, it is only through these articles from Sid & you that I am learning all these lost treasures day by day – B films, hammer films, sci-fi and what not. I hope I get to see ED WOOD the whole film in entirety soon. 2 looks intersting. Landau should make it peppy with some nice allusions to the scientist, like you said. Waiting for more characters.
I still prefer “Nosferatu” over “Dracula”..
btw, I am finally gonna see Dracula soon. Totenkompf said he will lend that and few other totems.