Newsarama broke the news that Jason Henderson’s Sword of Dracula is headed to Hollywood, and producer Danny Alter provided us with the following on the project:
Chuck Gordon of Daybreak Productions and Adrian Askarieh of Prime Universe Productions have acquired the feature film rights to Sword of Dracula, a military horror project based on the Image Comics series by creator Henderson, and will act as producers along with Daniel Alter in an effort to set up the project with a major studio. Gordon is the producer of the Die Hard movie series, while Askarieh is producer of the upcoming The Rock actioner, Spy Hunter. He is also producing Danger Girl and Hero Bear and the Kid (all in partnership with Gordon). Henderson is represented by manager Noelle Wright.
Called “the most unique take on Dracula in over a century” by critics, Sword of Dracula is a contemporary revamp of the Dracula legend. Dracula is portrayed as the world’s foremost terrorist, a king on the run with a vampire army and an array of new powers. Unlike in any interpretation before, Dracula here controls blood itself, using the blood of thousands of victims to build weapons, vehicles and strongholds. Askarieh and Gordon say they intend the project to be a major action event film, far different from the romantic Draculas of Hollywood past.
“Jason has taken one of the most recognizable figures ever created and brought him into modern day. He’s turned the legend, and its surrounding mythology, upside down on its head,” Gordon told Newsarama.
“What we would like to see with SOD is an opportunity to produce a modern day Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Askarieh added. “Instead of the Nazi’s looking for the Ark and harnessing the power of god, there’s this contemporary militant force, hell bent on discovering the tomb of Dracula and wielding vampirism into a weapon of unspeakable evil. Which is why it’s up to our protagonists to go behind enemy lines and win the race in an action-packed, thrilling expedition.”
“The concept is just so radically different from anything we’ve ever seen before with this character,” producer Danny Alter said. “From the perspective of a comic book fan, it really is “Ultimate Dracula.” As opposed to being some “been there, done that” epic, romantic, costume drama period piece, SOD struck me as a chance to mount a summer event film with military commandos attempting to unearth one of the greatest horror icons of all time. Adrian has his finger on the pulse, his eyes on the ball, and his ears to the ground when it comes to identifying material with blockbuster potential. And when I broached the subject matter with him, his first impression was just as ecstatic as mine.”
As for who the producers would like to cast as the Lord of the vampires, Askarieh said they’d go after the best actor they can find for the role. “Actors like Vigo Mortensen or Jude Law would be perfect candidates to nail – no pun intended, the tone we envision for this character,” he said.
You can read more on the comics and film at the link above.
Source: Danny Alter
