Dracula: Year Zero has been in various stages of development at Universal for years. At one point Alex Proyas was set to direct with Sam Worthington starring, but that version fell through. In February 2012, it was revealed that Gary Shore would direct and we now know who will star as the famous vampire.
According to THR, Luke Evans (The Raven, Fast & Furious 6) is set to star in Dracula: Year Zero. This is the first starring role in a major studio film for Evans, who has been steadily building up his resume in high-profile roles. Gary Shore is still set to direct the film from a script written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless: "The script tells of a young prince who, when the lives of his wife and child are put in danger by a bloodthirsty sultan, risks his soul to save them, and in the process becomes the first vampire."
An update to the original report just noted that the "Year Zero" title has been dropped and that this will simply be titled "Dracula." Here's some more information on what we can expect from a previous interview Collider conducted with producer Mike De Luca:
“...these writers came up with the ingenious-what I think is ingenious-approach combining historical Dracula with Bram Stoker’s Dracula. So it chronicles the efforts of a young prince, Vlad of Transylvania trying to keep the Ottoman empire and the Turk’s of the time from using his small country as a stepping stone to invade Europe….
…As written it’s literally on the scale of Braveheart with Dracula, so it’s a lot of…it’s armies. It’s an invading Turkish army. It’s a lot of supernatural action. It’s wonderful. Like it’s an epic love story.”
No production start date, release date, or additional casting news has been mentioned, but we'll update this story as soon as more information becomes available.
After spending more than 10 years as a consultant in the tech and entertainment industry, Jonathan James launched Daily Dead in 2010 to share his interest in horror and sci-fi. Since then, it has grown into an online magazine with a staff of writers that provide daily news, reviews, interviews, and special features.
As the Editor-in-Chief of Daily Dead, Jonathan is responsible for bringing the latest horror news to millions of readers from around the world. He is also consulted with as an expert on zombies in entertainment and pop culture, providing analyses of the zombie sub-genre to newspapers, radio stations, and convention attendees.
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