Regardless of personal tastes and quality of the product, vampires went through a pretty hot phase for a while there. However, time tends to snuff the flames of fads and one has to wonder if Universal is coming too late to the vampire party with its newest take on the Dracula mythos. This particular project has been kicking around for a few years now, but it finally built up some steam a couple of months ago when Luke Evans landed the role of “Dracula” himself. Now the production has sunk its teeth into a few more notable stars.
THR reports that Samantha Barks, who got her big screen break playing Eponine in “Les Miserables,” is attached to play a “baba yaga,” a character from Eastern European folktales about a woman who is turned into a witch. She will also be joined by Icelandic actor Thor Kristjansson, who will play “Bright Eyes,” a young slave boy who grows to be an assassin in the Ottoman Army. Art Parkinson, who plays Rickon Stark on “Game of Thrones,” has been attached to play Dracula’s son while Charlie Cox from “Boardwalk Empire” has also been added to the production, but there’s no word on what his roles will be.
“Dracula” will work as an origin story and will show Dracula as a Transylvanian prince risking his mortal soul to save his family from the onslaught of the Turkish army. Dominic Cooper and Sarah Gadon round out the cast, Gary Shore is directing and you’ll see it in theaters on August 8, 2014.