All language subtitles for Conversation with a Vampire

- It was 1974.
- Yes.

How was your career
going that year?

Well, I could tell you about how
my career was going before 1974.

I'd been living in Italy
for about 14 years,

as I'd moved to
Rome back in 1960.

The Italian film industry was
in full swing in those years.

I had already done
several comedies,

with household names like Mario
Monicelli, Dino Risi, and Ettore Scola.

Fellini, too, and I wanted

to meet him so badly he was the
reason I had moved to Italy from France.

I wanted to fulfill that dream.

I've also worked with Bunuel,
Tarkovskij, and Oshima,

just to name a few
non-Italian directors.

I was also lucky enough
to work with Bertolucci,

playing a tiny role in his episode for
the anthology film LOVE AND ANGER.

I shared the screen with the
Living Theatre company.

That was my brief
experience with Bertolucci.

The ones I've mentioned
were all masters of cinema.

Oh, I almost forgot Lattuada,

but there are so many others I could
mention, such as Lina Wertmuller.

Do you remember how you came
to work on BLOOD FOR DRACULA?

Well, it happened
due to my agent.

She asked me if I was interested
in playing a role in the film.

That's how I met Paul Morrissey.

The prospect of meeting
such an admired artist

like Paul was
absolutely thrilling.

He was already famous for his
contribution to pop art in the US.

Pop art was distant from my, let's say,
more European cultural background.

On a personal level, it was
quite an important experience.

I believe it gave me the great opportunity
to take part in something

so unique compared to my
experiences up to that point.

What was your relationship with
horror literature and films?

Were you already familiar with Stoker's
Dracula? Did you like the horror genre?

I didn't have any particular
relationship or interest in horror.

But, of course, taking part
in this beautiful adventure,

I tried to learn about
horror as much as I could.

I obviously read the book,

and tried to relate with the surreal
atmosphere of Morrissey's film.

I'm not particularly
attracted to horror films,

but I gravitate towards the kind
of cinema that defies conventions.

It's something that has
always fascinated me.

How would you describe
your character?

Well, Esmeralda was the
only virgin of that,

let's say, problematic family.

She experiences life
in a very innocent manner,

and this also allows her to
find out things about life

that she'd have never
discovered otherwise.

She gets completely carried
away by the events.

And it happens in a
very natural way.

This was one of the interesting
traits of her character.

Despite the context, the
blood and the monsters,

she's surrounded by a
beautiful landscape

and lives her daily life
in a gorgeous, ancient villa.

A perfect harmony between the beauty
of the house and the nature outside.

What do you remember about your
costumes and Esmeralda's hairstyle?

Oh, it was all pretty
much in the style

of her noble
yet deranged family.

It was a very beautiful costume.

Totally white, of course,

to underline her
presumed innocence.

The movie was almost completely
shot at Villa Parisi in Frascati.

Any memories about
that location?

It was a gorgeous setting,

with that uncanny eighteenth or
nineteenth century-style garden.

It all looked so apparently
harmonious and magnificent.

As a matter of fact, the
weirdness of our story

complemented the splendid
beauty of such a setting.

It made a beautiful parallel,

also thanks to the addition
of the often deformed,

monstrous features
of our characters.

It made everything so
unreal yet totally natural.

It actually reminds me a
bit of Bunuel's films.

The process of viewing a normal

daily existence through
deformed lenses.

This also goes for the bits of
humor we find throughout the film.

I actually believe it's one of the
key points when analyzing this

filmed work of pop art.

The film's production
designer was Enrico Job,

whom you'd already worked with
on Wertmuller's film.

- That's right. - What's your memory
of such an outstanding professional?

Enrico was also an immense
professional of the stage.

He'd already worked with Giorgio
Strehler, Damiani, and other giants.

I also met him during my experience on
Lina Wertmuller's LASCIAMI ANDARE MADRE.

I was acting on an uneven stage,

which felt like standing
on a boat at sea.

He had also designed my costume.

It was a costume made
for a young girl,

who then becomes a much older woman
and confronts her own mother

for something she did
during World War ll.

It was about concentration
camps and the rise of Nazism.

But that's another story.
A story of real horrors.

Let's talk about the other members of
the cast, starting with Count Dracula.

What do you remember
about Udo Kier?

Oh, I have many funny
memories of him,

especially because we had a
lot of laughs during breaks,

mainly about how funny
our characters looked.

Friendships made on sets
often don't last long.

That's unfortunate, but that's the way
it is for actors of stage and screen.

You enjoy those moments
of unity and then,

all of a sudden,
everything ends.

We were all close: me, Udo,

Joe Dallesandro,
and my "sisters."

We had a wonderful complicity.

Speaking of the sisters,

how was your relationship with
those three beautiful actresses?

Well, we were all rather amused with
taking part in such a creative project.

I think it was very different from
the films they usually took part in.

This one was way more excessive
compared to the ones they were used to.

We all had fun wearing those
costumes and strange make-up.

There's a big sense of
camaraderie in a film,

especially in a picture so different
from the norm like this one.

Vittorio De Sica
played your father.

You had already worked with him in
1971, in Fausto Tozzi's TRASTEVERE.

That's correct, and in an
American film as well.

I remember when I met
him for the first time,

he said that if our paths
had crossed earlier

he'd have picked me
for MIRACLE IN MILAN.

For the role played by Brunella Bovo,
with whom people compared me a lot.

It was such an honor to hear De
Sica say something like that.

I'll never forget one of
his lines in the film.

I don't remember
the exact words,

but it was something along the lines
of "Everything will be all right,"

which of course sounded so weird
given the craziness of the story.

It was a pivotal line given the
nutty, surreal context of the film.

- It was his last picture, as he
died shortly after it. - Sadly, yes.

- He gave a very over-the-top,
ironic performance here. - Indeed.

How does it feel to share a scene
with such a legendary actor?

Oh, it was rather challenging.

Yet, he was such an acting giant
that he always put you at ease.

He was a legend. He
still is, actually.

An immortal presence, still
resonant to this clay.

How do I put this?

Well, when you're looking
at such a great artist,

you always realize how natural
he makes his performances look.

It's so flawless and impressive it can
only be defined as natural acting.

The ending of the film is a
crescendo of brutal violence.

Lots of blood and many
special effects.

- Such special effects include your
vampire teeth, of course. - Yes.

Can you tell us more about it?

Oh, well,

I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to
properly explain it, you see.

I still remember that
ending scene, though,

where the situation
escalates to the extreme.

I had this scene with my
character screaming in despair,

incapable of accepting
that Dracula

would not be mine forever.

I remember the
blood-curdling screams.

Paul allowed rne and the others to put
ourselves in the characters' shoes.

He's such a wonderful
individual.

We had a lovely
relationship with him.

At some point I
remember he invited me

and a few others to his
beautiful villa on the Appian Way.

He behaved a bit
differently there.

He wasn't an elitist
in the slightest.

I remember him as a
fun-loving, joyous person.

I only have sweet,
beautiful memories of him.

I'd like to say I hope to
meet him again someday.

It's been 45 years, but that's
nothing compared to eternity, right?