New Australian superstar Sam Worthington, who starred in last year’s hit movies ‘Avatar’ and ‘Terminator: Salvation,’ has reportedly signed on to star as Vlad the Impaler in Universal Picture’s new film ‘Dracula: Year Zero.’ LatinoReview.com reported on January 25 that Universal is being pressured by Comcast, which in December 2009 bought a 51 percent controlling stake in NBC Universal, to release at least eight movies next year, and ‘Dracula’ is on the fast track to be one of them.

Universal reportedly has up to 14 projects in the works, but has yet to finalize which will continue ahead into development. Many of these already have scripts, actors and directors, including ‘Dracula,’ which will be directed by Alex Proyas, who also directed last year’s ‘Knowing’ and 2004’s ‘I, Robot.’ ‘Dracula’ also reportedly has a $100 million budget.

‘Dracula’ will be an origin tale, telling the story of the Romanian royal who inspired Bram Stoker’s vampire tale. It will also radically detail how Vlad become the famous character. Proyas described the script, which was written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, as “an interesting and original take on this character. It’s all about how Vlad of Transylvania became this creature; the choices that he made to make him into this tragic character. It’s so intriguing to me, to approach this as a character study on a huge, epic canvas.”

Written by: Karen Benardello