‘Ed Wood’ Writers Tasked To Pen New Bela Lugosi Movie For Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way & Universal

Bela Lugosi is getting yet another big shot at his story being told by the screenwriters behind Tim Burton‘s “Ed Wood,” as Leonardo DiCaprio‘s production banner Appian Way (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) and Universal Pictures are looking to explore the legendary horror actor’s early life, from his rise to fall in Hollywood.

Writing partners Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were behind the 1994 film (adapting the Rudolph Grey novel into a script) that helped earn veteran actor Martin Landau the Best Supporting Actor Oscar statue in 1995 for his fantastic and comedic performance of the late Lugosi (who was also struggling with an addition to heroin and fame obscurity at the time), navigating a Hollywood that had moved on from the iconic “Dracula” actor as he was approached by the infamous schlock filmmaker, Ed Wood, to appear in his movies (considered some of the worst ever made).

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Deadline, who reported on the project’s development, added that the gestating film is expected to chronicle Lugosi’s immigration from Hungary and rise to stardom for playing one of the greatest iterations of the cinematic vampire character, alongside his fall after declining the role of Frankenstein, which ended up going to his rival Boris Karloff (his disatain for the fellow horror actor was everpresent in “Ed Wood”).

The group assembled for the producing team on the pic includes Appian Way’s DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson, and Michael Hampton alongside Alex Cutler and Darryl Marshak.

Other movies the screenwriting duo have penned in the past include “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” “Man on the Moon,” “Big Eyes,” “Dolemite Is My Name,” and “American Crime Story.” These previous projects should give an idea of their skills in combining biopic and comedy genres with larger-than-life characters from reality.

Finding a director and lead actor will be the next steps once this script is in fighting shape.