FILM · 2004 · CZECHIA
Van Helsing
33 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (33)
- #001
The location where Van Helsing and Anna fight Dracula's three brides is the same place where Frankenstein (1931), Dracula (1931) and The Wolf Man (1941) were filmed. The set is called Court of Miracles and is part of the studio tour at Universal Studios Hollywood.
- #002
During filming, Hugh Jackman accidentally broke an extra's hand.
- #003
Stephen Sommers wanted Kate Beckinsale for the role of Anna but did not ask her, fearing the part was too similar to Underworld (2003), the vampire/werewolf film she was shooting at the time. In the end her agent got Sommers to send her the script, and Beckinsale signed the deal immediately.
- #004
The film was intended to launch a series of "Van Helsing" adventure films. However, reviews were bad and box office returns fell far below expectations. All plans for a sequel were cancelled within days of the film's opening.
- #005
Richard Roxburgh plays Dracula and Silvia Colloca plays one of his brides, Verona. In real life Roxburgh and Colloca are married to each other. They met during filming and married the following year.
- #006
North American DVD sales reached 65 million dollars in the first week, more than half of the film's theatrical gross.
- #007
Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory was furnished with antique medical equipment bought on eBay.
- #008
Josie Maran, Silvia Colloca and Elena Anaya performed their own stunts for the flying scenes.
- #009
While preparing for the ballroom scene, Stephen Sommers had Richard Roxburgh, Kate Beckinsale and Elena Anaya practise dancing for several hours every day so that their performances would be flawless.
- #010
The grey werewolf shown earlier in the film (the werewolf that bites Velkan) was deliberately designed to resemble Rick Baker's werewolf creation in An American Werewolf in London (1981).
- #011
Dracula's tiny minions, the Dwergers, are actually small people from Germanic folklore.
- #012
The second-to-last scene of X2: X-Men United (2003) (Cyclops, Wolverine and Professor X discussing Jean Grey) was shot on a day Hugh Jackman had off from this film.
- #013
Dracula kills only one person in the film (Dr. Frankenstein). All the other murders are committed on his behalf by his priest henchmen.
- #014
Shuler Hensley, who plays Frankenstein's Monster, also served as a stand-in during the fight scenes between the CG Mr. Hyde and Van Helsing. Shuler wore a cardboard cutout with Mr. Hyde's face positioned above his head so that Hugh Jackman would have a reference point to look at.
- #015
One of the final shots of Van Helsing transforming from werewolf back into human was originally going to be a nude scene (for Hugh Jackman), but Stephen Sommers felt it would be too distracting for the audience and would undermine the emotion of Anna's death in the scene. The nude take is still used in the film, but a CGI loincloth was rendered to cover Jackman's back.
- #016
In an interview, Stephen Sommers claimed he changed the main character's name from Abraham Van Helsing to Gabriel Van Helsing because he did not think he could have a lead character named Abraham. Bram Stoker, who wrote Dracula, gave the character his own name; Bram was short for Abraham.
- #017
Apart from the Lord of the Rings films, this was the first film to use the MASSIVE software program developed for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
- #018
Silvia Colloca, who has a fear of heights, joked in an interview that she was not acting in the scene where Verona and Aleera hang upside down.
- #019
The last scene shot for actor Will Kemp was actually his death scene. It was filmed at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California. In the scene he leans against a rock. What the crew did not know was that the area had a large number of spiders, and when Kemp's scene was finally completed he went home with numerous spider bites on his back and arms.
- #020
According to Elena Anaya, she was told that on her first day someone would cue her lines for her. That person turned out to be Hugh Jackman at 5:30 in the morning.
- #021
The Transylvanian town built for this film would also serve as the basis for a television series. According to the producers, it was too good to be torn down.
- #022
David Wenham's character "Carl" takes his name from Carl Laemmle, who was president of Universal Studios during the period when Frankenstein (1931), Dracula (1931) and The Wolf Man (1941) were made.
- #023
When Van Helsing, Carl and Anna find Dracula's Castle, Carl looks at something resembling skeletons fixed to spikes. This is a reference to Vlad the Impaler, on whom Bram Stoker's Dracula was based.
- #024
A spin-off series was pitched to NBC. It was to be called "Transylvania," feature a Wild West sheriff brought to Europe to fight monsters, and have Hugh Jackman appear occasionally as a guest in the role of Gabriel Van Helsing. The series idea was dead on arrival, partly because the makeup, effects and location shooting in Romania were too expensive, and partly because the film's opening-weekend box office fell far below expectations (which also killed the film's proposed sequel).
- #025
Richard Roxburgh did his own wire work.
- #026
At one point in pre-production, the Gill-Man from Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) was planned to make a small appearance in the underground cave where Van Helsing and Anna discover Frankenstein's Monster. The idea was dropped before filming began, however. (Stephen Sommers had at one time been said to be involved in a remake of "Creature…").
- #027
The scene in which Carl loads Gabriel with equipment to fight vampires is a nod to the routine in most James Bond films in which Q arms Bond with the latest technological gadgets for his next mission. At the time, Hugh Jackman had reportedly been a candidate for the role of James Bond.
- #028
Hugh Jackman wore hair extensions for the shoot.
- #029
Hugh Jackman's crossbow weighed about 45 lbs.
- #030
Despite popular online rumors stating that this was originally planned as a direct sequel to Dracula (1992), with Anthony Hopkins reprising his role, that is not the case. Stephen Sommers came up with the film's concept while on holiday after completing The Mummy Returns (2001).
- #031
Kate Beckinsale was the last person cast.
- #032
The film, like Stephen Sommers's previous films, was storyboarded and previsualized with the intention of shooting in the anamorphic 2.35:1 format. The aspect ratio was changed to 1.85:1 to better accommodate Dracula's vertically oriented castle without having to expand the sets.
- #033
According to Shuler Hensley, he sang to the children on set between takes to entertain them.
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