'Dracula: Year Zero' Rises From The Grave

He may have had a goofy mustache, but he also liked to impale people in his spare time

A few years ago, there was a project in the works called Dracula: Year Zero, and it was to be directed by Alex Proyas and star Sam Worthington.  It was shelved after its budget started to spiral out of control, and fans no longer had to fear that a Dracula movie with such a stupid name would get a release.  According to Deadline, however, the project has been put back in the running, this time with music video director Gary Shore at the helm.

The story is a prequel, as the oh-so-subtle subtitle attests to, but producer Michael De Luca has given some of the plot details:

"…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. So there’s a historical basis for all of that history that’s in the script, but when his back is up against the wall and he can’t figure out how 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, I guess the Roman’s did a version of it also, but this taking of male children from host countries and pressing them into military service for the invading army is another thing he’s trying to prevent. Because his own son is being threatened with that kidnapping. And in the script that we have, he was actually a victim of it himself. He earned the reputation of being the impaler while he was serving the Turks."

Despite my obvious misgivings about the name, I think this actually sounds really cool.  I'm a huge history nerd, so whenever I learn a historical movie that isn't about the typical American-centric  time periods is in the works, I can't help but get excited.  When's the last time we saw a movie involving the Ottoman Empire?  I do hope that they can get Sam Worthington back, I think he'd a be a perfect choice for the young impaler.  Who would you guys want to see play the title role?

Comments

[J.Bradley]

Nice but where's the DRACULA, and the fangs, and the blood sucking an' all that. Yeah, I like the whole history thing but the REAL history thing is that he DIDN'T BECOME A VAMPIRE. So somewhere in there history get's - bitten (mu hahahahaha) and somehow the old DRAC we all know and love emerges. Right?
Actually, I always DID like the INTRO of Francis Ford Coppol - oh no, "BRAM STOKER'S Dracula" so it sounds like a vampire movie that could get mediaeval on us . Heck, "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" did this kinda' thing and it did pretty good. Frankly, I hope they sink their teeth into it.