Universal Gives New Life To Dracula Year Zero
Sam Worthington & Alex Proyas no longer involved in the 'Dracula Begins' movie that focuses on Vlad the Impaler's ruthless rule in the 15th century.
Not to be outdone by Warner Bros' revisionist undead tale Harker which is eyeing Russell Crowe for the lead role, Universal have this week resurrected their long-gestating Dracula Year Zero. The period movie revolves around 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 literatures most famous blood sucking vampire. This is not really a Dracula movie, at least not from the outset by the sounds of things, it is the 'Dracula Begins' of movies and we probably won't see Dracula established until the finale. To give you a sense of what Universal were previously planning with the adaptation as recently as 18 months ago, action star Sam Worthington had been set in the leading role for I, Robot director Alex Proyas. Though Deadline reports that both are no longer attached because the $100 million budget had spiraled and indeed it sounds like the studio are throwing everything out and start a fresh. And going noticeably cheaper... Dracula Year Zero will now be based on a new script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (their old draft reportedly trashed) and will be directed by Gary Shore, a commercials helmer who caught the studio's eye with his samurai short 'The Cup of Tears' and he was previously set to make that into a feature at the studio. You may remember he was one of the names surprisingly linked with The Wolverine directing job a while back. The hunt for a new Vlad the Impaler begins...