Worthington in Talks for ‘Dracula: Year Zero’

Published by Jeff Leins on January 26, 2010

Universal Pictures is in talks with Avatar star Sam Worthington for Dracula: Year Zero, a period vampire drama Alex Proyas is directing.

The origin story centers on the myth of how Vlad the Impaler became Dracula, portraying him as a flawed hero instead of a savage prince, and his tragic love story.  Producer Michael de Luca told Collider Vlad is struggling to keep the invading Turkish army and the expanding Ottomon Empire from his country, so he treks to the top of a haunted Transylvania mountain top.  There he’s given the powers to drive the Turks out and transform into Dracula.

Latino Review first reported Worthington’s involvement, which was later confirmed by the studio to other outlets.

This movie should not be confused with Vlad, the origin story Summit Entertainment is working on with Brad Pitt’s Plan B.  It’s part of Universal’s overall plans to bring back the classic monsters like Joe Johnston’s The Wolf Man and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.

The 33-year-old Aussie actor quickly rose to stardom after Cameron plucked him out of obscurity to star in his sci-fi epic.  Since exploring Pandora, Worthington has appeared in the continuing Terminator series, landed the role as Perseus in Clash of the Titans, briefly fantasized about working alongside Angelina Jolie in The Tourist, and a few others including the Helen Mirren thriller The Debt.