 It was Winona Ryder (qv) who brought the idea of redoing Bram  Stokers novel to Francis Ford Coppolas attention. She had been  given a pile of scripts by her agent, one of which was titled  "Dracula: The Untold Story". This was the first time Ryder had ever  read anything to do with Dracula, let alone see a film about him.  Coppola was interested as he saw it as a bridge