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Alex Proyas on Vampire Mythology for Dracula: Year Zero

by Alex Billington
August 28, 2008
Source: MTV

Last week we announced that Dark City director Alex Proyas would be helming an adaptation of Robert Heinlein's "Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag", but one film we forgotten to mention was Dracula: Year Zero. Proyas is still set to direct Dracula: Year Zero and recently chatted with MTV about some of the finer details of another new vampire film. As we all know, there are some elements of vampire mythology that must be included - the teeth at least - and Proyas answers some questions regarding what we can expect with this origin story, which thankfully isn't just another dark interpretation inspired by The Dark Knight. Proyas seems to be a bit more excited to take this one to different heights.

Like Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One", Dracula: Year Zero retells the origin of the dark vampire lord known as Dracula. As Proyas describes, it's "sort of the origin tale that mixes [the historical] Prince Vlad of Transylvania with sort of [fictionalized] Bram Stoker [take]." Now that we know it's got an interesting mix of all things vampire, what sort of mythology will still be included? "Stakes and teeth" and of course "lots and lots of blood!" Proyas also mentions that the "garlic thing is kind of weird," which isn't a problem. If you're concerned about Proyas handling vampires, check out this reference. "I mean, the teeth are really important. I think Frank Langella in the Dracula movie that was made in the 70s, I think he didn’t want to have teeth in the movie. But, no, I like the teeth. I want to see girls with a lot of teeth."

As is always the case with MTV when they do an interview, there's not much to add than these skimpy details. But I'm sure in due time we'll hear a lot more about this film, especially considering this is Proyas' next project after he finishes work on Knowing with Nic Cage. The minor amount of information that is out there at least makes me confident that Proyas knows what he's doing. This isn't going to be another Van Helsing, this will be dark and intense and the perfect kind of origin story for Dracula that we haven't yet seen. Screw garlic - all we need is teeth and lots of blood - and Proyas said he's got both of those, so why not? We'll be sure to keep our eyes and ears open to keep vampire fans happy. Interested already?

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