Festivals - Cinematheque Francaise festival 2026 : John Badham presents Dracula during one of the festival’s most memorable retrospectives

By Mulder, Paris, Cinémathèque française, 13 march 2026

The thirteenth edition of the Festival de la Cinémathèque Française offered one of its most memorable moments with the presence of John Badham, the guest of honor who came to present his 1979 film *Dracula* during a special screening attended by our media outlet. This event, organized as part of the festival’s tradition of paying tribute to the major figures who shaped the popular imagination of late 20th-century cinema, brought the director together with Debra Winger, another guest of honor whose career represents a different but equally significant era of Hollywood, marked by the emergence of strong artistic voices within the studio system. Our team was able to attend this presentation, film, and take photos, highlighting how the festival continues to be one of the few venues where popular cinema, auteur cinema, and film preservation coexist within the same program.

The Festival de la Cinémathèque française, renowned for its carefully curated retrospectives and restorations, has chosen this year to honor filmmakers whose work has left a lasting mark on the cultural landscape of the late 20th century, and John Badham fits perfectly into this tradition. Widely known for directing Saturday Night Fever (1977), WarGames (1983), and Blue Thunder (1983), the filmmaker has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to capture the anxieties and obsessions of his era, whether it be the disco phenomenon, Cold War paranoia, or the rise of computing. His version of Dracula, released in 1979, occupies a unique place in his filmography because it stands at the crossroads between the classic horror tradition and the more romantic, character-driven reinterpretations that would later dominate the genre. During the festival screening, John Badham explained that the project was never intended as a simple remake of previous adaptations, but rather as an attempt to give emotional depth to a character often reduced to pure monstrosity—an approach that would define all the creative choices made during production.

Released on July 13, 1979, by Universal Pictures, Dracula starred Frank Langella in the title role alongside Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasence, and Kate Nelligan, and drew inspiration from both Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel and the 1924 stage adaptation by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston. The project’s theatrical origins played a decisive role in the film’s tone, especially since Frank Langella had already portrayed the vampire on Broadway, earning him a Tony Award nomination for his performance before reprising the role on screen. Filmed in England at Shepperton Studios and on location in Cornwall and Buckinghamshire, the film featured cinematography by Gilbert Taylor, known for his work on Star Wars (1977), and a score composed by John Williams, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. The art direction, inspired by the visual style of illustrator Edward Gorey, contributed to the film’s distinctive atmosphere, combining gothic shadows with warm, golden lighting after the studio rejected John Badham’s original idea to shoot the film entirely in black and white, a choice that would have brought the project even closer to the aesthetic of classic Universal horror films.

One of the most fascinating aspects was Frank Langella’s approach to the role, which he conceived as a solitary and vulnerable figure rather than a purely evil creature. The actor explained, in particular, that he wanted Dracula to be elegant, erotic, and emotionally complex—a being driven by desire rather than cruelty—a vision that led the studio to market the film with the tagline “A Love Story.” This interpretation influenced many subsequent adaptations of the character, even though the film itself remained difficult to find for years due to the existence of multiple alternative versions, notably a desaturated “Director’s Edition” created by John Badham in the early 1990s and subsequent restorations released on Blu-ray in 2019 and 2020, which attempted to recreate the original color grading approved by the director and cinematographer Gilbert Taylor.

The screening at the Cinémathèque française was therefore less a simple retrospective than a rediscovery of a film that had been partially forgotten despite its importance in the evolution of modern horror cinema. The festival itself, which this year also paid tribute to filmmakers such as Aleksandar Petrović, Robert Bober, Anja Breien, Pierre Zucca, and film historian Naoum Kleiman, once again demonstrated why it remains one of the most important film events dedicated to cinematic heritage in Europe. For the audience, this screening of Dracula was not only a nostalgic return to a cult film, but also a reminder that certain works only reveal their full value over time, especially when they can be rediscovered in the presence of the artists who created them.

You can found our photos in our Flickr page

Synopsis : 
On board a shipwrecked vessel, the sole survivor is Count Dracula, who had come from Transylvania with nothing but crates filled with soil from his homeland. At Carfax Abbey, where he takes up residence, he meets the asylum’s director, Dr. Seward, and his daughter Lucy...

Dracula
Directed by John Badham
Written by W. D. Richter
Based on Dracula (1897 novel) by Bram Stoker, Dracula (1924 play) by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston
Produced by Marvin Mirisch, Walter Mirisch
Starring  Frank Langella, Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasence, Kate Nelligan
Cinematography : Gilbert Taylor
Edited by John Bloom
Music by John Williams
Production company : The Mirisch Company
Distributed by Universal Pictures (United States), 
Release date : July 13, 1979 (United States), 
Running time : 109 minutes

Photos and video : Boris Colletier / Mulderville