Luke Evans is set to join a special group of actors that includes Gary Oldman, Gerard Butler, Adam Sandler, Rutger Hauer, Leslie Nielson, Dominic Purcell, Jack Palance, Morgan Freeman, Max Schreck, Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi. The young star of the upcoming The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has been tapped to play the title role in Universal Pictures’ Dracula.
The script for Dracula has been kicking around Hollywood for years under the title Dracula Year Zero, and focuses on the origin of the world’s first (and most famous) vampire. The title has been confirmed now as simply Dracula, although it will still be more of an origin story than an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 horror novel. Alex Proyas (The Crow) was previously set to direct the new Dracula with Sam Worthington (Clash of the Titans) in the title role, although both Proyas and Worthington have moved on. Dracula will be directed instead by first time feature filmmaker Gary Shore, according to Hollywood Reporter.
Luke Evans previously explored gothic literature in 2012’s The Raven, which found him teaming up with Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) to solve a string of brutal murders based on Poe’s stories.
When last we heard from Universal Pictures chairman Dan Fogelson, he suggested that the studio’s stable of classic monsters was a potential franchise along the same lines as James Bond and Marvel’s superheroes. With Dracula and a remake of Van Helsing already in the works, it appears that Universal might be laying the groundwork as we speak.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel, co-host of The B-Movies Podcast, co-star of The Trailer Hitch, and the writer of The Test of Time. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
