Alex Proyas Talks Dracula

Not be outdone by his colleague the Wolf Man, yet another classic movie monster--namely the one and only Dracula--is set to return to the big screen as well, in a high-profile project announced last year called Dracula Year Zero.

On Wednesday, ShockTillYouDrop had a word with the film's director, Alex Proyas. Known for his excellent adaptation of The Crow, as well as his underrated cult fave Dark City, and yes, unfortunately, I Robot as well, Proyas should bring a unique vision to a script that supposedly merges Bram Stoker's fictional count with the historical Vlad Tepes upon which he was based. Presumably even moreso than Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), which also did this to a certain extent.

Here's some of what Proyas had to say:

"I'm not a fan of remakes or sequels - I haven't done any and I'm not really that excited by them usually.

"In the case of Dracula, the reason I got excited is I read a particular script that puts the whole legend on its head in every conceivable way and comes out with something that is both a kind of ode to Bram Stoker's original Dracula, in that it's kind of a prequel to that, but also redefines the character to such an extent that I found it quite exciting, so that is very much a reinvention of that character and it's why I got excited about it."

The script in question is by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, two untested commodities who also penned the screenplay for next year's remake of Flash Gordon--to be directed by Breck Eisner, the man also at the helm for the remakes of The Crazies and Creature from the Black Lagoon. How's that for random connections?