AceShowbiz -

Picking up a well-known figure to be in charge for its "Dracula Year Zero", Universal Pictures has signed "I, Robot" director Alex Proyas to assume the task in the action fantasy drama, set to be an origins tale about Vlad the Impaler.

Written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, the project is said to attract the Australian filmmaker for their "fresh take on the legend", praising it of being capable to manage playing off the horror and the sympathy one has for a character that "sells his soul to the Devil to save his kingdom and family."

One of several in the works about the Romanian royal who inspired Bram Stoker's vampire tale, pic is intended to show Vlad when he was still vital and to explore the fact that he is considered a hero in Romania for fending off the Turks. With Proyas' hiring, it thereby marks the reunion between the man and producer Michael De Luca after the 1998 sci-fi thriller "Dark City."