Almost a month ago Luke Evans was cast to play the lead character in Universal’s Dracula, a film that has been in development for quite a long time, once attracting Sam Worthington in the lead role with Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City) directing.
Proyas’ project fell apart and now Universal is putting it back together with Evans as the first aboard to tell the story of a young prince who, when the lives of his wife and child are put in danger by a bloodthirsty sultan, risks his soul to save them, and in the process becomes the first vampire.
First time feature director Gary Shore is helming the project, which should give you some idea of just what exactly Universal is putting together. Shore first came to the attention of most for his non-commissioned trailer for The Wolverine, which you can watch to the right. By the looks of it I would say Zack Snyder had a bit of an influence on his work, we’ll see if that carries through and he gets the same start as Snyder, with a successful reboot of a classic horror franchise.
We continue with today’s news with a focus turning back to Evans who was cast to fill the shoes thought to be once occupied by the likes of Bradley Cooper, James McAvoy, Tom Hiddleston and Alexander Skarsgard, those being Eric Draven’s in The Crow, centered on a man who rises from the dead to avenge his and his fiancee’s death.
This one already has F. Javier Gutierrez aboard to direct with an early 2014 production planned.
Previous attempts to get the film off the ground collapsed, the one with Cooper starring for Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) being the one that seemed to get closest to being made to the point concept art featuring Cooper as the lead character even found their way online.
Looking at these two projects and much of Evans’ work — Clash of the Titans, The Raven, Robin Hood — it seems quite obvious to me he’s just the man to deliver safely generic performances. He’ll be seen this year as the villain in Fast & Furious 6 and as Bard the Bowman in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Neither film is likely to make me believe either of these films will be worth tracking, but who knows, maybe we’re in for a surprise. [THR / Deadline]
