Max Schreck, Béla Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman, Jack Palance and… Leslie Nielsen – those are just some of the actors who have all portrayed Dracula at some point throughout this last Century of movie making. And today we get word that leading-man-of-the-minute, Sam Worthington, is going to be joining that list.

Latino Review has the exclusive on the story that Sam Worthington is in line to play Dracula in Universal’s Dracula: Year Zero. There’s no official word on Worthington being in talks but Latino Review’s trusted source “Pinche Taco” says the Aussie actor is supposed to be playing him. I guess it’s no surprise that Worthington is in the running, as much like Ryan Reynolds or Robert Pattinson, you should pretty much expect that  their names are going to be attached to any big role that comes along. I’m sure this story of Worthington’s attachment will be proven true or false soon enough. Watch this space.

Dracula: Year Zero is set to be directed by Alex Proyas (Dark City, I, Robot, Knowing) and the script has been written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (who are both writing the Flash Gordon movie). The film is an original take on Dracula, telling the story of, “Vlad the Impaler, the Romanian royal who inspired Bram Stroker’s vampire tale. It centers on how Vlad became the creature; the choices that he made to make him into the tragic character.” From Bloody-Disgusting – “It depicts Dracula as a flawed hero in a tragic love story set in a dark age of magic and war, repositioning him more as a vengeful hero than the monster seen in Bram Stoker’s classic novel.”

For what producer Michael De Luca had to say about the project – including what the story is and how big the scale is – you can head HERE to read what we reported on.

What would a new take on Dracula be like?

The project reportedly has a budget of over $100 million, which does seem like quite a lot for the type of film that it looks to be. Universal spent over $150 million on its new Wolfman movie (yowza!), but I imagine the special effects needed to create the actual Wolfman were much more costly than what you would need to put Dracula on-screen. Not unless they’re going for some CGI version of the bloodsucker…

Dracula: Year Zero is said to be one of eight films that Universal needs for 2011 and they currently have fourteen to choose from. With the success of the Twilight franchise, as well as vampires being popular on TV with True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, it’s no surprise Universal would want to choose the movie they already have a script and director for, which is about vampires. Recent attempts to bring Dracula to life have been unsuccessful with examples being Blade: Trinity (one of THE worst excuses for a vampire flick, never mind Dracula, I’ve ever seen) and Dracula: 2000 where Gerard Butler portrayed the character. Can Universal revive arguably the most famous horror character of all time and draw in audiences? We’ll have to wait and see.

Would you like to see Sam Worthington play Dracula? Are you looking forward to a new take on the character? And can the project play off of Twilight and become a success?

There’s no official release date set for Dracula: Year Zero but it looks to be slated for a release sometime in 2011.

Sources: Latino Review, ComingSoon and Bloody-Disgusting

One look at his IMDB page will show you that producer Mike De Luca is a busy guy. Some of the movies he is involved with include the Nicolas Cage films Ghost Rider 2 and Drive Angry, as well as the Alex Proyer-directed Dracula Year Zero. Recently, Steve Weintraub from Collider had the chance to talk to De Luca about all three of these upcoming features. We covered Steve’s conversation with De Luca about Ghost Rider 2 last week,  and today he posted the segment where De Luca opened up about the latter two films.

In the interview, De Luca promises that Drive Angry will be “hyper-pulpy” and definitely a “Hard R.” He also goes into great detail on the unique plot of Dracula Year Zero. I have excerpted some of the best quotes, but I highly recommend checking out the full interview at Collider.

On the “pulpiness” of Drive Angry:

“It’s hyper pulpy. It’s kind of like hyper-pulp, just kind of blood drenched, heavy, heavy car chase action that if you’re a fan of early Shane Black scripts. If you’re a fan of from the 70’s Two Lane Blacktop or Vanishing Point and you’re a fan of Dust ‘Til Dawn or Sin City, this kind of like glorious exhiltation of pulp movie-making. It aspires to be in that cannon, so that’s my torch way of describing why I’m excited by it because I like all those things.”

On the film’s use of 3D:

“It’s a Hard R…Car parts and body parts flying at you in 3-D…we’re not the high minded 3D of James Cameron. We’re the low 5, very fun, in your face kind of exploitation 3D.”

De Luca also mentions that the cast isn’t complete, identifying three important roles besides Nicolas Cage’s protagonist. First there is a “young female lead” and then there is a “semi-antagonist” and “one true antagonist.” De Luca didn’t give any word on when those parts might be cast.

After talking about Drive Angry, De Luca moved on to Dracula Year Zero. Although the film still hasn’t been greenlit for production, De Luca seemed very enthusiastic about its potential, calling the plot of the film “ingenious.” He also says he is putting “a lot of time and attention” into the film to convince Universal to make it one of their big upcoming releases.

On the plot of the film (which mixes the historical Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, and the literary Dracula):

“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…and to keep the Turkish army out of his country and keep their hands off his country’s children, which they want to kidnap and press into their army as something they used to call the Jannisserie core.

[...]

So in a moment of desperation he looks at this mountain top in Transylvania that all the gypsies in his country say is haunted and full of bad black magic. And he’s never believed in any of that supernatural kind of what he thinks is hogwash. But in a moment of desperation he ascends that mountain to see if there’s any truth to any kind of power that he could use to keep the invading army out. And he finds something that gets him to where we have come to know him as Dracula and uses that power source to kind of fight the Turks after he’s changed.”

On the vampire movie trend, specifically Twilight, and finding the right angle for the film:

“I think vampires are endlessly appropriate candidates for reinvention because there’s something in the DNA in that mythology that appeals to every generation… For kids now it’s Twilight to the extent that Twilight kind of transcends vampire mythology because it’s also Romeo and Juliet and it’s also any love across the tracks… But I think it’s always right for reinvention and I think there’s something in the DNA of that myth that appeals to all demographics.”

On the scale of the film:

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.

Personally, I think both of these films sound like they could be pretty decent. While I find Nicolas Cage’s work to be pretty hit or miss, De Luca’s description of Drive Angry, which sounds to me like Taken mixed with the best parts of Death Proof, is something I could get behind. Also, while I’ve had my fill of vampire movies lately, imagining a Dracula movie on the scale of Braveheart is pretty cool. If he can get Universal to green light the project, I’d be interested to see what director Alex Proyas could do with it.

What do you think? Do De Luca’s insights make you any more excited about either of these films?

Source: Collider

SciFiwire reports:

“We’re still trying to resolve budget and casting and all the stuff that you need to get through before a project becomes real,” Proyas (Knowing) said in an exclusive interview on Monday. “But the script is at a very good place and I think has a very unique take on the Dracula story.”

The film is set to revive the original tale of vampire lore, which is already quite popular due to the Twilight series of books and now films. The script is supposedly a very modern take on the dated Bram Stoker novel. The last time I heard something was a modern take on Dracula was Blade, and although I loved the trilogy I like to hope this film has more to it than something like a day walking vampire.

Proyas goes on to say that the script is an original telling of the origins of Dracula. From what has been mentioned previously about this film, it almost sounds like it may be a prequel to the Dracula legend.

If I recall correctly, hasn’t this already been attempted in Francis Ford-Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula where they explain the origins of Dracula? I guess if it really is original, bring it on, but I really do not want to be disappointed by another poorly told film about such an epic character.

It seems like an interesting choice for Proyas’s next film, but I’m not sure what the movie industry needs is another vampire film -  especially one about Dracula.  Are there any ideas out there that are remotely original anymore?

Alex Proyas definitely has some directing chops, and if he can make this anywhere near as creepy as Dark City it may turn out pretty well.

Source: SciFiWire

JoBlo.com sat down with Proyas for a Knowing interview and ask about the recent announcement. He had this to say:

“I think it’s kind of premature, really… It’s seems like ‘The Crow’ is only like 15 years old maybe. It’s seems, early. (laughs) I always thought that remakes, you shouldn’t be given license to remake something for at least 25 years. I don’t know. It just seems kind of odd to me. Just re-release the original movie.”

Screen Rant is with you, Alex! We’ve about had it with Hollywood’s new infatuation with the terms “remake” and “reboot.” Ever since Tinsel town struck gold with Batman’s suit (sans-nipples), all we’ve been getting is regurgitated and half-thought-out flicks. Some original source materials are butchered so badly they deserve to be remade, but cult classics don’t need to be.

The Dark City and I, Robot director has a number of projects in the works, including Dracula: Year Zero and The Unpleasant Profession of Johnathan Hoag.

Year Zero is a “prequel of Bram Stroker’s ‘Dracula’.. that’s essentially a medieval epic.” In terms of casting, he was slim with the details but he did say “it may be someone a little younger than we’ve seen.” He also noted it won’t be like other Dracula movies, “it’s really about the birth of the legend. So it’s set in 13th Century Transylvania.” Because it’s still early in production, he didn’t have much else to say.

And finally, Johnathan Hoag is  “just starting” with his first draft of the script. It’ll be some time before we hear anything about that one.

Knowing is out March 20, 2009 and stars Nic Cage.

Source: JoBlo.com

This week:

We see who is penning Flash Gordon, we learn some details about Alex Proyas’ Dracula Year Zero, discover what David Goyer is working on, Channing Tatum lines up something for after GI Joe and The Conversation goes to television.

1. The Flash Gordon Remake/ adaptation has now grabbed Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless to pen the script. The Neil Moritiz produced, Breck Eisner (Sahara) directed film is in production at Columbia.

I just hope the film is more like the 1980’s movie and less like the Si-Fi channel show.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

2. Speaking of Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, their script for Dracula Year Zero is to be directed by Robot and Dark City director Alex Proyas. Proyas recently gave some details about the Dracula prequel/origin story:

“You could see it as a prequel to Bram Stoker’s novel, in some ways. All the cool bits out of Francis Coppola’s “Dracula”. You can see it that way as well.”

It sounds like a cool idea. I hope that they change the title. It worked for Batman in a comic – that’s it!

Source: Moviehole

3.  David Goyer spoke with MTV about his upcoming film slate, the writer-director appears to be a very busy man. He’s got a Magneto film in the works, an Invisible Man film in the pipeline as well as a slew of comic book adaptations on the way.

Goyer had this to say:

“I’m writing a new version of ‘The Invisible Man’ for Universal I’m in the process of (doing that) right now, and I’m working with some conceptual artists in tandem with writing the script. I’m actually working with one of the artists from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. So it could be ‘Magneto’, or it could be The Invisible Man next.”

“Well, ‘The Invisible Man’, the Universal film, is a great movie, a Claude Rains film. My take is kind of an extrapolation. It actually deals with a nephew of the first character. It’s got some of the characters from the H.G. Wells book, but it’s kind of a continuation. It involves Scotland Yard getting their hands on the current Invisible Man and basically saying, ‘Wow, you’d be a really good secret agent to send into Imperial Russia right now. It starts off from there.”

“It kind of crosses a lot of genres. It’s very steam punk. I don’t want to give too much away, but I took what being invisible could mean to the next logical extreme. We do a lot of crazy things in it that are sort of far beyond what anyone’s done with it yet.”

I always enjoy a good Invisible Man film, so I really hope that it gets cooking before Magneto, because who really wants a Magneto spin-off?

Not me.

Source: MTV

4. Forthcoming GI Joe star Channing Tatum is attached to a free running film at New Line Cinema. The script written by Kevin Lund and T.J. Scott involves a pair of Parkour experts who use their skills in order to carry out crimes. The film will be directed by Rychie Smith, and it is currently without a title.

Tatum’s character will be called Peter Parkour.

Just kidding.

Man – Parkour is so 2005

Source: Variety

5. I have a real soft spot for the Francis Ford Coppola directed film The Conversation, starring Gene Hackman. The film plays like a low key prequel to Hackman’s Enemy of The State (that co-starred Will Smith). Seriously, watch the two movies back to back in a double bill – it’s worth it!

Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Erik Jenresen (Band of Brothers) are writing a television series based on the film for cable channel AMC.

The series will have the same 1970’s setting as the film.

I’m pretty interested in this, but as it’s a remake I won’t get too excited. The original is a masterpiece and it includes a beautiful performance from Gene Hackman and a strangely creepy turn from Harrison Ford.

Source: Variety

That’s it for this week. See you at the movies!