'The Last Voyage of the Demeter' Interview: Corey Hawkins

Moviefone speaks with Corey Hawkins about 'The Last Voyage of the Demeter.' "It was a thrill to bring this version of Dracula because it's the actual monster."

Opening in theaters on August 11th is ‘The Last Voyage of the Demeter,’ which is an adaptation of "The Captain's Log", a chapter from the 1897 Bram Stoker novel ‘Dracula,’ and was directed by André Øvredal (‘Troll Hunter’).

What is the plot of ‘The Last Voyage of the Demeter'?

Strange and horrifying events befall the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage from Transylvania to London, stalked each night by a merciless presence onboard the ship: a legendary vampire known as Dracula (Javier Botet). When the Demeter finally arrives off the shores of England, it is a charred, derelict wreck. There is no trace of the crew.

Who is in the cast of ‘The Last Voyage of the Demeter'?

Corey Hawkins ('Straight Outta Compton') as Clemens
Aisling Franciosi (‘God’s Creatures’) as Anna
Liam Cunningham (‘Clash of the Titans’) as Captain Elliot
David Dastmalchian ('The Suicide Squad') as Wojchek
Javier Botet (‘It’) as Dracula
Woody Norman (‘Cobweb’) as Toby
Jon Jon Briones (‘Blood Ransom’) as Joseph
Stefan Kapičić ('Deadpool') as Olgaren
Nikolai Nikolaeff (‘Mile 22’) as Petrofsky
Chris Walley (‘Unwelcome’) as Abrams
Nicolo Pasetti (‘Flip’) as Deputy Hirsch

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Corey Hawkins about his work on 'The Last Voyage of the Demeter,' retelling the Dracula story, how his character reacts to the monster, and working with filmmaker André Øvredal.

(L to R) Clemens (Corey Hawkins) and Anna (Aisling Franciosi) in 'The Last Voyage of the Demeter,' directed by André Øvredal. Photo Credit: Rainer Bajo/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. © 2023 Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Hawkins, David Dastmalchian, Liam Cunningham, and director André Øvredal.

Moviefone: To begin with, what was your first reaction to reading this screenplay and the new approach to the Dracula story the film takes?

Corey Hawkins: My first reaction was, this is scary as hell, and let's see where Andre's brilliant mind can take us. For me, signing onto a film, it's all about the creatives and obviously the script first and foremost. With this, honestly, it's like this incredible character-driven drama first and then it leads you more into the unknown. We just put ourselves, our hope and our trust into Andre, and it was just a thrill. It was honestly a thrill to be able to bring this version of Dracula because so many people know the version of Dracula before he goes to London and the version of Dracula after he goes to London. It's the in-between, it's the actual monster that you get to finally see in this film. This story lives in it and relishes in that. Which, again, it's like this throwback to old school filmmaking from Universal and Amblin. That's what they do and I thought it was cool to just go on that journey.

(L to R) Corey Hawkins and director André Øvredal on the set of 'The Last Voyage of the Demeter.' Photo Credit: Rainer Bajo/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. © 2023 Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

MF: Can you talk about working with director André Øvredal, his vision for this project and what surprised you about working with him?

CH: How incredibly collaborative he is. He's so easygoing. He's very much like, if you have an idea you get the opportunity to try it. If I had a thought about the bunk that I'm sleeping in and why it needed to have this in it or that in it, or the antiques, the historical elements of the ship, every little bit, the entire creative team would just walk through with me and talk about it all. And even building Clemens' arc, and who he is as this Cambridge educated doctor and the research that we had to do about these men who existed during that time, it was just important for us to get it right. So Andre, I just trusted his vision also because I've been a fan of his movies including ‘The Autopsy of Jane Doe,’ ‘Troll Hunter’ and everything he's done. I leaned into his filmmaking and I just think it's because he trusts us to do our jobs and so we have to trust him to do his job on his end, and I think he's just incredible. I remember him just saying ‘Alien’ on a ship, and we were like, "We're in." Also, we screened ‘Jaws’ for the entire crew when we were in Malta, and it was just cool to see everybody relishing in old school filmmaking.

(L to R) Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham), Abrams (Chris Walley) and Clemens (Corey Hawkins) in 'The Last Voyage of the Demeter,' directed by André Øvredal. Photo Credit: Rainer Bajo/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. © 2023 Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

MF: Finally, can you talk about the mutiny that happens on the ship once the creature is discover, and how your character and the other crew members react?

CH: Clemens is an outsider and it isn't just because of the color of his skin, although that is a part of it during this time, but he's an outsider because he hasn't sailed with these men before. There's also a stowaway, Aisling who's incredible in this film, she is on board as well. There's all sorts of myths about women on ships during this time and all these sort of things that Clemens doesn't necessarily believe in. He believes in science, he's a man of science. So watching these interactions it's all about trust, it's about fear, it's about walking through life with this fear and this evil on your back, and then literally confronting that fear and evil with Dracula. It's chilling because it's like, what do you do? Who do you trust? People are dying and you might be next. There's nowhere to run, there's nowhere to hide and so you have to adapt. You have to match the monster.