Universal is looking to take Dracula: Year Zero off the shelf, and there's a new director lined up to take the helm...
We reported recently that Universal is looking to give the HD treatment to a number of the classics in its back catalogue, and among those is the 1931 Dracula, as well as its Spanish language version from the same year.
In somewhat related news, it has now been revealed that the studio intends to restart work on Dracula: Year Zero, which was shelved some time ago when it was planned to be helmed by Alex Proyas and star Sam Worthington. The studio was concerned about the budget spiralling out of control, so shelved the project.
The project's original producer, Michael De Luca, will remain in his role, with Gary Shore set to direct. Worthington is unlikely to return, so we’ll have to wait to see who will be cast as the films lead. In an interview around the time Proyas was at the helm, De Luca had the following to say to Collider:
“…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 Turks of the time from using his small country as a stepping stone to invade Europe. So there’s a historical basis for all of that history that’s in the script.”
It certainly sounds interesting, although with Dario Argento’s Dracula 3D and Russell Crowe set to star in Jaume Collet-Serra’s Harker, another revamp of the Dracula myth, it could face some competition. Still, it’s Universal, so we should be able to count on them to deliver another Dracula movie of considerable quality.
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