20 Great Movie Remakes With One Miscast Role

We may have just been graced with the best Dracula adaptation we’ve seen this century (thank you, Mr Eggers), but that doesn’t mean we should ignore last century’s offerings – especially not Francis Ford Coppola’s version, with Gary Oldman in the title role and Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing.

Bram Stoker's Dracula follows English solicitor Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) to Transylvania, where he parlays with the Count and unintentionally gets the old fella hooked on his fiancée Mina (Winona Ryder). The film nails the lavish gothic aesthetic and eerie undertones, and stands apart as one of the century’s best retellings of the Dracula myth, retaining just a touch of the Hammer vibe but with much more writing talent and budget at its disposal.

But we all know its weak link: Keanu Reeves.

The Point Break actor is not known for his dramatic range, and his take on Jonathan is abysmal. The accent is terrible, he never seems at home in his own skin, and there’s not a moment that Keanu doesn’t look to be recalling lines from a script.

Yet we’re able to get past it, to ignore whatever Reeves is doing in his scenes by focusing on the talent around him. After all, Jonathan is rarely alone, as he's the primary plot device connecting and causing the different parts of the story, so we almost exclusively watch him opposite grand, masterful, and (in Oldman’s case) eccentric performances that all but paint Keanu into the scenery. Just as they should.