Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Dracula Year Zero
1/27/10 - The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Sam Worthington is in negotiations to star in Dracula Year Zero, a period vampire epic Alex Proyas is set to direct for Universal. Michael De Luca is producing.  Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless wrote the spec, which explores the origin of Dracula, weaving vampire mythology with the true history of Prince Vlad the Impaler. It seeks to depict Dracula as a flawed hero in a tragic love story set in a dark age of magic and war.

2/24/09 – SCI FI Wire reported that director Alex Proyas said his upcoming Dracula Year Zero movie could be his next film.  "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 said. "But the script is at a very good place and I think has a very unique take on the Dracula story."  The movie will reboot the vampire legend, based in part on Bram Stoker's original novel, but with an original take on the well-worn material.

1/29/09 - Director Alex Proyas (Dark City) told ComingSoon.net that he's still developing a movie based on John Christopher's The Tripods, as well as a prequel Dracula film.  "I'm working on a bunch of different things, and the two projects I'm excited about are an adaptation of John Christopher's The Tripod stories that I've co-written with Stuart Hazeldine, who is one of our writers on Knowing, and the Dracula project," the Australian filmmaker said. "Both are very exciting projects, but at this stage we're still in the budgeting process for both, so I can't really tell you much more than that."  Proyas added that he was intrigued by the Dracula script, Dracula Year Zero. "The reason I got excited about the project is I read a particular script that puts the whole legend on its head in every conceivable way and comes out with something that is both a kind of an ode to Bram Stoker's original Dracula, in that it's kind of a prequel to that, but it also redefines the character to such an extent that I found it quite exciting, so that is very much a kind of reinvention of that character, and it's why I got excited about it," he said.

07/30/07 - Alex Proyas will direct this film about Vlad the Impaler.  The film will show Vlad when he was still vital and will explore the fact that he's considered a hero in Romania for fending off the Turks.  Michael De Luca will produce this film.

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