AWFUL CASTING: Sam Worthington to play DRACULA!

Latino Review are reporting that Sam Worthington is being lined up as Vlad III, the Prince of Wallachia, the infamous ruler who impaled thousands of Turks in the 15th century Ottoman Empire resistance and then by some religious or supernatural curse, ended up living forever for his crimes against humanity as literature's most famous blood sucking vampire. The movie is Dracula Year Zero, and it's to be directed by the talented Alex Proyas (Knowing, I Robot, Dark City) from a script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, two geeks who have also wrote a Flash Gordon script. The movie has a $100 million budget at Universal, and with that price tag and the casting of Worthington, it's obvious Proyas will be going the action heavy route with this adaptation. It will probably run close to 300 for the majority of the picture, with a few dramatic bits thrown in at the end as our protagnist Vlad turns into the blood thirsty creature who would then act as the villain in the sequel - as the fully formed Dracula. I could maybe buy Worthington as the ruler of a big empire and a killing machine warrior - he makes a credible action lead and I think he'll work better in Clash of the Titans than he did in Terminator Salvation but as the tragic, charming, multi-dimensional Dracula? Well, he's no Gary Oldman.