Dracula Year Zero
 

Proyas to direct Universal's 'Dracula'
De Luca to produce Vlad the Impaler tale
By DIANE GARRETT

Alex Proyas will direct "Dracula Year Zero," Universal's origins tale about Vlad the Impaler.

Project, being produced by Michael De Luca, is one of several in the works about the Romanian royal who inspired Bram Stoker's vampire tale.

Proyas ("I, Robot") was attracted to the script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, enthusing over their "fresh take on the legend."

He said the project manages to play off the horror and the sympathy you have for a character that "sells his soul to the Devil to save his kingdom and family."

The scribes, who set up the project a year ago, said the goal was to show Vlad when he was still vital and to explore the fact that he's considered a hero in Romania for fending off the Turks.

"Usually when you see him, he's past his prime and 100 years old," Sazama said.

"In our movie, he's at the height of his powers," Sharpless added.

"Dracula Year Zero" reunites Proyas with De Luca, who shepherded "Dark City" when he was a New Line exec. It's also one of several monster movies in the works at the studio, which is prepping a third installment in its "Mummy" franchise and a "Wolf Man" redo starring Benicio Del Toro.

"One of the cool things about this is that we're doing it at Universal," Sharpless said. "This is the home of monster movies."

The script was the first spec sale for the writing partners, who are busy on a couple of other Universal projects, including Zack Snyder's "Cobalt 60."

Dueling Dracula projects set up around town include "The Historian," a contempo book about the search for Vlad the Impaler's grave that Brad Caleb Kane is adapting for Sony's Red Wagon shingle, and "Castlevania," an adaptation of a popular vidgame for which Rogue recently signed up director Sylvain White ("Stomp the Yard").

Sounds cool to me.

I have been waiting for a good movie about Vlad the Impaler. 2008 will definitely be Universal's return of the monsters year.

I hate the title, but like the concept. Just call it Vlad the Impaler.

Most people have no idea Vlad is the inspiration for Dracula. People know Dracula so name alone will help get more people to see it than some name they are not familiar with.

in other news, a few weeks ago the descendants of Vlad sold the castle. I think they are going to turn it into a hotel

I guess it's just the Year Zero part I hate. Sounds like a video game.

Or a comic book. (Not that there's anything wrong with comic books, but the title might turn some people off to the movie)

Actually, I was thinking of comic books. There are actual comics called Batman: Year One, Robin: Year One, etc.

:(

:lol:

Or a Nine Inch Nails cd.

With Dracula in the name, I'll still see it.

I like the "Year Zero" in the title. It's a nice, succinct way to convey the fact that the film is an origin story and, plus, it sounds cool.

This sounds completely badass. Proyas doing a film of Vlad's early days? This has some serious potential to be very dark and brooding, as I typically expect from a Proyas film. It's about time someone decided to make a film based on this period on Vlad's life. I'm just glad someone like Proyas is tackling it.

From MTV:

Why does everything have to be so "realistic" nowadays. Sure a superhero that has no superpowers like Batman can be done realistically, but that doesn't mean everything has to be done realistically now. A "realistic" vampire sounds laughable. What's next? A "realistic" zombie movie that explains in detail how a corpse becomes undead?

Anyway, how far along is Dracula Year Zero? This topic was created a year ago, and there is still very little known about it. I searched on wikipedia, and there is no article at all about the movie.

This Dracula movie sounds cool. With a new Wolfman movie in the works could this produce another remastered universal DVD-The original Wolfman? That would be cool too.

Personally, I'd prefer a realistic take on Vlad with all the silly vampire stuff thrown out, but this movie still sounds interesting to me.

Title sucks, but everything else is good.

Sounds like a Capcom Video Game title.

There was a film a few years back called "Vlad" that tossed out the vampire stuff, although it flirted with him sleeping in coffins and such if I remember correctly. It wasn't bad; Billy Zane and Brad Dourif were in it.

The interview quoted above was done in late-July at Comic-Con, so I'd say he's still in the pre-production stage. He's been busy with "Knowing," but I think this is up next.

One film with 'Year Zero' in the title is enough.

Sounds kick ass to me