One to watch
words: emma juhasz photography: adrian rogers/BBC ACTOR DAN STEVENS REVEALS HOW HE TREAD THE BOARDS AS MRS MOP BEFORE SINKING HIS TEETH INTO DRACULA When did you start acting? Playing Mrs Mop in a primary school play.I remember that it was a great buzz being on stage and I really enjoyed making everyone laugh. It made me wonder [...]
words: emma juhasz photography: adrian rogers/BBC
ACTOR DAN STEVENS REVEALS HOW HE TREAD THE BOARDS AS MRS MOP BEFORE SINKING HIS TEETH INTO DRACULA
When did you start acting?
Playing Mrs Mop in a primary school play.I remember that it was a great buzz being on stage and I really enjoyed making everyone laugh. It made me wonder if I wanted to dress up as a woman again, though.
The BBC series The Line Of Beauty launched you on to our screens…
It was an amazing opportunity, as roles like Nick Guest, my character, don’t come along often. He was so complex and vulnerable. I knew it would be good though, as I remembered my tutor at Cambridge, who was on the panel of the 2004 Man Booker Prize,raving about the original novel by Allan Holinghurst.
What is it about you and monster films? First Frankenstein with Donald Sutherland and now Dracula…
Fear is an infinite pool for filmmakers. There were scary moments while filming. I spent a whole day lying on tombs in a Victorian crypt while I drove a stake through the heart of Sophie Myles’ character. The tombs were cracked and you could see the mummified feet of real people below. It was truly chilling and I was very glad to get out of there.
Is it a very dark tale?
The script, which has been adapted from Bram Stoker’s classic, is visceral, sexy but scary. My character, Lord Holmwood, unleashes Dracula’s evil. It’s ideal for a dark winter’s night.
What keeps you going in this difficult profession?
I worked with Dame Judi Dench on the play Hay Fever and she told me to remember that we actors were “not proper grown ups” and that it’s all just pretending. It’s the best piece of advice I’ve had.
What does the future hold?
I am playing a German pilot in a new Miss Marple film. I like playing eccentrics and madmen. And then I’ll have to see what surprise is waiting for me around the next corner.
BREAK A LEG: DAN’S CV
Born in 1982 in Croydon, Dan Stevens is a rising star among the pack of new, young British actors (his peers include James McAvoy and Dominic Cooper). His extraordinary performance as Nick Guest in BBC2’s The Line of Beauty led to comparisons with the career-launching performances of Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews in Brideshead Revisited. Stevens read English Literature at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, but spent much of his time performing with the Cambridge Footlights, home to many British actors. He’s set to take on Dracula as Lord Holmwood (below) this Christmas on BBC1.
