Trivia: Frances Ford Coppola has stated that he cast Keanu Reeves in an attempt to try and broaden the film's appeal by adding a hot young actor, and admitted in retrospect that he was somewhat miscast. Reeves himself has admitted he was exhausted after having filmed several movies back-to-back without a break, and said that his performance greatly suffered and that he shouldn't have taken the part.
Trivia: Co-stars Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves were already close friends before this movie was made. They found the rumours that their marriage in the film was "real" so amusing that it became a long-running inside joke for them. To this very day, over thirty years later, they still address each other as "husband" and "wife" whenever they text each other.
Trivia: With the only notable exception being the spectral blue flames (an optical effect), virtually every special effect in the film was achieved through old-school in-camera techniques like miniatures, forced perspective, double exposures and rear-screen projection. Director Francis Ford Coppola even brought on a stage magician to help him work out a few of the effects he wanted to try.
Trivia: When Mina meets Dracula on the street, after she first rebuffs him, she walks past a sandwich board advertising a play with Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre. For many years, Bram Stoker worked as the business manager of the Lyceum Theatre, which was run by Irving. The famous stage actor is widely believed to be one of Stoker's inspirations for Count Dracula. (00:46:30)
Trivia: Gary Oldman also played the driver of the carriage that takes Jonathan to the castle. This is a reference to the novel, where Jonathan Harker notices that there are no servants in Dracula's castle and concludes that it must have been the Count himself who was the driver of the coach that brought him there.
Trivia: The marriage scene between Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder was performed by an actual Romanian Orthodox priest. Contrary to rumours this made the marriage legal, that wouldn't be possible without corresponding paperwork, which of course they wouldn't have had.
Trivia: This movie is filled with scenes showing how the laws of nature do not work correctly when in the presence of a vampire, such as liquid dripping upward, shadows moving on their own accord, etc. A more subtle example is the scenes where Dracula is standing outside the large French doors to Lucy's bedroom: When other people walk through the doorway or stand in front of the glass doors, there is a considerable height difference between their heads and the door frame, but when Dracula is standing outside her bedroom, he almost reaches the top of the door frame. (00:58:00 - 01:19:50)
Trivia: Anthony Hopkins plays the Greek Orthodox priest who tells Vlad that Elisabeta's soul is damned, the narrator, the voice of the captain of the Demeter, and of course, Van Helsing.
Trivia: The Brides originally had many more scenes in the movie. There were flying scenes and many others. The actors were disappointed when they viewed the movie when it first came out. Especially the Medusa vampire, played by Florina Kendrick.
Trivia: Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen were considered for the role of Jonathan Harker.
Trivia: Andy Garcia was considered for the main role of Dracula.
Trivia: The blood you see in this film is actually red jelly.
Suggested correction: Technically "Dracula Untold" is the highest grossing. (Although it only out-grossed this film by about $2 million, so it's close).
TedStixon