It is a well known (and contested) bit of movie trivia that states Dracula, often the Bram Stoker literary creation and occasionally the historic Prince of Wallachia, is the most filmed and performed character in cinema.
Well, one good turn deserves another as Universal Pictures, the studio that delivered the first authorized and most well known adaptation of the Stoker book in 1931, prepares to mount a new vision that marries the legend with the supposed fact.
Dracula, a movie tale that relays how a noble Transylvanian prince became the damned Undead in a quest to save his wife and child, is shaping up into an interesting spin on the old count. With the titular role already cast in the moody shoulders of Luke Evans (Fast and Furious 6), the studio is adding two more fan-ready names to the list.
Samantha Barks, the haunting and ill-fated Eponine of Les Misérables, is joining as a “baba yaga,” a beautiful girl who seduces men before turning into a savage witch. Also, Game of Thrones’ Rickon, Art Parkinson, has been cast as Dracula’s son. And finally Charlie Cox of Boardwalk Empire and Stardust is also set to play a yet to be described role. The film also features an impressive supporting cast that includes Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon and Thor Kristjansson.
The project is being helmed by first-time feature director Gary Shore and is set to be released on August 8, 2014.
Personally, while the concept sounds like an extended version of the first 10 minutes of Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), the increasingly impressive cast leaves me hopeful that it will have plenty of bite.
SOURCE: THR