On his cinematic journey to stardom, Gerard Butler made memorable onscreen appearances in such films as “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life”, “The Phantom of the Opera” and, of course, “300”, in which he played the breakout role of stubborn Spartan ruler Leonidas.
However, with Halloween around the corner, Butler’s scary, long-forgotten role from way back in 2000 has resurfaced thanks to a video (above) of the actor’s audition for “Dracula 2000”, in which he puts on his best vampire impression (along with a somewhat ratty wig) to offer his take on filmdom’s most famous bloodsucker.
Butler wound up landing the role, and his intense audition pretty much demonstrates why as he demonstrates Dracula’s lusty seduction techniques.
As for the film itself, perhaps the nicest thing that can be said for it is that it has a great cast (including Christopher Plummer as vampire-hunting Abraham Van Helsing and Jonny Lee Miller as his apprentice, while other stars include Jennifer Esposito, Omar Epps, Danny Masterson and Nathan Fillion), although the woefully low rating on Rotten Tomatoes kind of speaks for itself.
“In the millenium version of this classic Gothic horror we find Abraham Van Helsing (Christopher Plummer), who has tangled with Count Dracula (Butler) in the past, working as an English antiques dealer,” reads the film’s IMDB description. “Simon (Jonny Lee Miller) is a vampire hunter in training under his apprenticeship. Van Helsing and Simon travel from London to New Orleans to rescue Van Helsing’s daughter Mary (Justine Waddell) from the family’s life long nemesis — Dracula.”
