IT (2017) Director Andy Muschietti to Helm DRACULA Prequel?

He's helping to bring one of horror's creepiest characters to life on the big screen in his latest film, IT, and one of director Andy Muschietti's future projects could feature another iconic character in horror.

Deadline reports that Paramount Pictures has picked up the film rights for Dracul, what is described as an official prequel book to Stoker's seminal 1897 horror novel. According to Deadline, the adaptation of the yet-to-be-released book could be a potential project for filmmaker Muschietti to take on along with IT movie producers Barbara Muschietti and Roy Lee.

Muschietti is currently set as the new director of Hulu's Locke & Key pilot episode adaptation (taking over for Scott Derrickson, who had a scheduling conflict) and he could potentially direct the second IT movie that would follow the Losers' Club as adults (although a follow-up film has yet to be officially announced by Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema).

Dracul is being co-authored by Bram Stoker's great-grand nephew Dacre Stoker and The Fourth Monkey writer J.D. Barker, and, according to Deadline, "the tale is set in 1868, where a 21-year old Bram Stoker meets with an ungodly evil that he traps in an ancient tower all the while scribbling the events that led him there."

When we caught up with Barker for a Q&A back in June, he had this to say about writing the Dracula prequel:

"I’ll let you in on a little secret, I haven’t talked about this anywhere yet. In March, Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) invited Dacre Stoker and me out to Seattle to view the original Dracula/The Undead manuscript. We spent the day locked in a very secure room going through every page. It was incredible. I grew up with that book. It was one of the first I ever read. To see the original, handwritten corrections and all, was a surreal experience. Aside from the cool factor, we had other reasons for viewing the manuscript. Most people don’t know this, but the Dracula story we know is incomplete. The opening (Jonathan Harker’s journal) actually appears on page 102 of the original draft. 101 pages of story precede it. For the past two years, we’ve been buried in Bram’s original notes and journals piecing together the beginning of his story and needed to see the original in order to confirm some of our findings. After what I’ve seen and read, I truly believe Bram thought vampires were real. The prequel explains why. I can’t wait to share it."

We'll be sure to keep you updated on the Dracula prequel film adaptation as more details emerge from the shadows. In the meantime, would you like to see Muschietti's take on the iconic bloodsucker? Let us know in the comments below!