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Eric Jensen can't quite grasp the allure of Edward the vampire, who pouts and sulks his way through "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," opening in movie theaters across the nation today.
Jensen, a Farmington resident who owns Salt Lake's Off Broadway Theatre, knows a thing or two about how a vampire should be portrayed. Jensen has played vampires in at least 17 stage productions, starting back when "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson was a preschooler still dreaming of big-boy pants.
"These 'Twilight' vampires are really '90210,' " said Jensen, 44. "They're old, but they still go to high school and they deal with teen issues. I like the old-style vampire stuff a lot better. And I'm not a 10-year-old, so I don't find teen stuff that exciting anymore."
Brad Ritchie stars in Layton High School's "Dracula: The Vampire Play," which wraps after shows tonight and Saturday.
"Edward is definitely different from the traditional vampire," said Ritchie, 17, of South Weber. "I don't necessarily associate the 'Twilight' vampires with Dracula at all. The 'Twilight' books and the first film are more about romance and action. The original Dracula story was not just about romance. It also had horror, and was creepy."
Actor Casey Wayman also went old-school for his portrayal of Dracula in the Hunt Mysteries production of "Dracula's Masquerade Ball," which played in Harrisville last month.
"My character was more in keeping with the ('Dracula' author) Bram Stoker vampire," said Wayman, 28, of West Haven. "I'm a fan of the classic vampires in old movies, especially the Bela Lugosi films. I'm not a big fan of 'Twilight,' and I didn't like ("Vampire Chronicles" author) Anne Rice's rendition of vampires either."
But actress Lara Johnson, 34, of Roy, who co-starred with Wayman in the Hunt Mysteries show, has love in her heart for 104-year-old teen Edward Cullen of "Twilight," a phenomenally popular book series by Brigham Young University graduate Stephenie Meyer.
"I read all the books, and saw the first film," said Johnson, who played Jezebel, one of Dracula's three brides. "I'm different than most people I know: I actually loved it. I thought the vampires were very sophisticated and like real people. Edward loves music, books and learning. He learned different languages. He made good use of the time his immortality gave him."
Vintage vampires
Richard Hale, longtime co-programmer of silent films for the Edison Street Organ Loft in Salt Lake City, said film variations on the classic vampire are nothing new. "Nosferatu" (1929), a German film starring Max Schreck as a thin, bald vampire, came out just 17 years after Stoker's death.
"The director, F.W. Murnau, was not authorized by Stoker's widow to do the film, so he went to great lengths to alter the ideas of the book, and change some names," said Hale, 68, of Salt Lake City.
Murnau's vampire, Count Orlok, had the power to draw people to his castle. He gained the ability to cast a shadow. Orlok lacked the suaveness and social skills attributed to Dracula in Stoker's novel. Also, Orlok was funny-looking.
"Max Schreck was not a handsome man, and the director's joke was that he had to use very little makeup on him," Hale said.
Murnau made the changes to avoid a lawsuit by Stoker's widow. His plan failed.
"She filed suit, and she won," Hale said. "The court ordered all prints of the film be destroyed, but the film had already started its release. Copies survived, or we wouldn't have the film today."
Multiple screenings of the film, recently converted to 3-D, sold out when shown at the Organ Loft this Halloween season.
Jensen owes his vampire alter ego to Orlok, he said.
"Early on, I played a vampire with lots of hair," he said. "It looked full and suave, like Bela Lugosi wore his hair in his films."
But as year passed, Jensen saw his hairline recede. He tried a wig, but it was too hot under the stage lights.
"Luckily, I stumbled on the old 'Nosferatu' look from that German film. This vampire was bald and ugly, with long fingers and a pointy nose and ears. He was the anti-Bela Lugosi. He was scary and monstrous and frightening, and I've been doing my character that way ever since."
Research
Johnson read up on all of the vampire myths she could find in preparing for her role.
"I thought about whether sunlight would make you sparkle or make you die, or whether garlic or crosses should kill you, or whether you should have a reflection or be able to walk up walls," she said. "There's a pretty big mirror at Boccia's D'Italia, where we were doing the show, and it would have been hard to cover, so we decided to have reflections. And walking up walls would be hard to fake, so we decided against that."
The actors decided to go with the attractive, sexy version of vampires.
"Dracula was charismatic, and I played a flirt," Johnson said. "We had one who was mean, and would steal people's chairs and say rude things to them. We decided vampires would not be afraid to do or say anything, because there are no real consequences for them. They are immortal. If a vampire seriously offended someone, he could either kill them or just wait for them to die."
Wayman figures most vampires would have to be charming and social to maintain a human food supply.
"Dracula would have to be a guy you'd want to hang around with," he said. "He'd have to be debonair and a smooth talker. He couldn't stick out like a sore thumb, or he would get caught."
So Wayman gave his Dracula a fashion makeover.
"I gave him a more modern look, with a red shirt and a vest," the actor said. "I think if he had lived to the present, he would have adapted his clothing and tastes to the time."
Ritchie tried to connect with a vampire's inner child.
"I researched Vlad the Impaler (1431-1476), and I came on a story that as a child, he was imprisoned with his family, and his family was killed, but he was able to escape," Ritchie said. "I thought about how that could have affected him in his life before he became a vampire, and how his broken childhood forced him to become what he was. Vlad impaled people and ate them, which was not all that charming."
Close encounters?
Wayman said vampire look-alikes came to his show.
"We had people dressed as vampires, saying they were vampires," he said. "They would show their teeth and we would show ours. I told them it's always good to see distant cousins. They're weren't very convincing, but they were having fun."
Jensen did once meet a native of what was formerly Transylvania and is now part of Romania.
"He was walking down the street, and he saw our (Dracula) poster and came in to complain we were demonizing a national hero of his," the actor said. "He said Vlad the Impaler was like George Washington to them, and how would we like it if we came to Romania and saw a poster of George Washington with an ugly sneer on his face?
"The guy said Vlad only killed thieves and criminals and people who deserved it, and impaled them to scare other people away. Vlad saved the country from invaders and turned away the bad guys. He said Bram Stoker had done his country wrong."
