EXCLUSIVE: One of many final large European Movie Market pre-sales initiatives to be revealed is without doubt one of the most intriguing as SAG winner Caleb Landry Jones (Three Billboards Exterior Ebbing Missouri) has been set to star with two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) in a big-budget reimagining of the Dracula story from Lucy filmmaker and Taken creator Luc Besson.
Based mostly on Bram Stoker’s iconic novel, sources near the manufacturing affirm to us that the venture will likely be Besson’s subsequent film and mark his personal tackle the vampire basic in regards to the darkish Prince who’s condemned to everlasting life.
We hear this has an origin story factor to it exploring in somewhat extra depth the gothic romance between Prince Vladimir and his spouse whose loss turns him to forsake God and grow to be a vampire. Patrons conversant in Besson’s script inform us there are some epic and doubtlessly spectacular set items.
Landry Jones will play Dracula. It’s not clear but which character Waltz will play, however talks are underway with different buzzy forged to hitch within the different key roles.
The venture is predicted to have an enormous funds for a European film however is nowhere close to Valerian ranges. Luc Besson Productions is producing with EuropaCorp co-producing. The purpose is to shoot this yr.
The venture has been effervescent available in the market for a short while however is now firming up with Paris-based vendor Kinology dealing with gross sales and discussing the venture with potential distributors.
Landry Jones and Waltz are each Cannes Greatest Actor winners. The previous for Justin Kurzel’s Nitram. The latter for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. Landry Jones, additionally identified for enjoying Banshee in X-Males: First Class and ‘Jeremy’ in Get Out, just lately collaborated with Besson on 2023 Venice Movie Competition film DogMan, which was one other film a few tortured outcast, and showcased why he’s thought-about probably the most distinctive younger actors round.
DogMan was billed as one thing of a comeback for visionary filmmaker Besson, a totem of French cinema who made his identify with films resembling Massive Blue, Leon and The Fifth Factor, however whose profession lately has been dogged by the bruising monetary expertise of mega-budget Valerian And The Metropolis Of A Thousand Planets and sexual misconduct allegations, together with by an actress from that manufacturing. Besson steadfastly denied any wrongdoing and final yr the filmmaker was cleared of all costs in that case by France’s equal of the U.S. Supreme Court docket.
Briarcliff will launch DogMan domestically this spring after it was picked up broadly by patrons in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Kinology additionally dealt with gross sales on that one.
Besson can also be in post-production on intimate drama June And John, an experimental movie he shot throughout Covid lockdown with newcomers Luke Stanton Eddy and Matilda Value.
