So, is Luke Evans on the cusp of breaking out on the big screen? Lord knows the actor has been paying his dues. From “Clash Of The Titans” to “Immortals” to “Robin Hood” to “The Three Musketeers,” Evans has plenty of history in franchises…that never quite took off. But 2013 seems to be the year where he poised to break the spell. He’ll play Bard The Bowman in “The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug,” and next month he gets to bite into a juicy bad guy role in “Fast & Furious 6.” And clearly, Universal like what they see.
They’ve tapped Evans to lead their long developing “Dracula Year Zero.” At one time set up as a vehicle for Sam Worthington with Alex Proyas directing, the movie penned by “Flash Gordon” writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless is an origin story (sigh), showing how young Prince Vlad sacrifices himself at the hands of a bloodthirsty sultan and becomes the first vampire or something. Can we call enough with the origin stories? Does it really matter how Dracula becomes a vampire? That’s kind of the least interesting thing we’d want to know about him.
Anyway, Universal must be really feeling this script to have been carrying the torch for so long. Last year, commercials director Gary Shore came on board to helm and now the goal is to get it in front of cameras this year (it has already been greenlit). We’ll just say that vampire movies generally are a mixed-to-terrible bag, so we’re proceeding with caution. But sometimes, they can provide unintentional entertainment. Behold this (supposed) audition tape by Gerard Butler for “Dracula 2000.” Amazing. [THR]
