Sam Worthington In Proyas' "Dracula" Epic

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

Aussie hunk Sam Worthington ("Avatar," "Clash of the Titans") is the apparent frontrunner to star in Alex Proyas' epic "Dracula Year Zero" for Universal Pictures, reports Latino Review.

According to Latino Review: “Sam Worthington is the top choice to star in 'Universal's Dracula: Year Zero.' In regards to the budget of the film that is said to be $100 million, that is not true and at this moment there is no budget for the film.”

“This is the day that Universal decides what it is going to make for summer 2011. You see, Universal has been stagnant since they got sold to that Cable company Comcast. And now they realize they need to make 8 big films for 2011. You see it takes at least a year to make a moving picture--and they don't have enough for next year.”

One of the films they are looking to be a tent pole feature is "Dracula: Year Zero." The film is a period retelling of Dracula that has the young prince leading the charge to fend off the Ottoman Empire's attempts to use Romania as a foothold to conquer the rest of Europe.

In a moment of desperation, he ascends a mountain, where a dark magical power resides in the hope of finding something to keep the Turkish hordes at bay. That power helps him defeat the Turks, but comes at the price of him changing into a creature of the night.

Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless penned this strange fusion of historical fact and literary fiction that centers around the life of the young Transylvanian Prince Vlad, better known as Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker's vampire tale.

Vampires are still all the rage in Hollywood, and it looks as if Worthington will try to take the mantle of ‘hunkiest vampire’ from Robert Pattinson. I love Worthington. He has one of those immeasurable intangibles that make for a great, classic leading man.

Even though “Terminator: Salvation” was an utter disappointment, I thought he was pretty good in it and clearly from his trackl record, he isn’t afraid of a big-budget. I mean, the man starred in “Avatar” so, enough said.

But while the new Dracula film sounds like it could be interesting and unique, so far period pieces set during that time haven’t fared so well. “Van Helsing” was a critical and box-office bomb, and the upcoming “Wolfman” went through countless reshoots and delays.

Obviously, only time will tell, but look for “Dracula: Year Zero” in 2011.