IanHolt Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Not Even 'Dracula' Is Safe From a Sequel
Filed under: Classics », Horror », Thrillers », Deals », Scripts », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels »
Call me crazy, but Bram Stoker's Dracula (the book, not the movie) ends pretty definitively. Dracula gets a bowie knife in the heart, and crumbles into dust in the red sun of the Transylvanian dawn. The wiggle room has been taken care of in a score of movies, books, and television shows -- and we have plenty of new vampire stories, so must we really dig up Dracula again? Well, according to ShockTillYouDrop, yes. They say a sequel is coming -- and this time it's getting a literary and big screen outing. For the first time, the Stoker estate has authorized an official Dracula sequel titled Dracula: The Undead. Written by Dacre Stoker, Bram's great-grandnephew, and Dracula historian Ian Holt, the story uses characters and plot threads that were edited out of Stoker's original novel in 1897. It hits store shelves in October 2009, just in time for Halloween. And don't think it's the only sequel you'll be getting -- publishing house Penguin-Canada (who describes the book as having done a"fantastic job melding the old with the new"), has already signed up for two more.
But you won't get to read it before film production starts -- Holt and Alexander Galant have already completed and sold the script, and production is slated to begin in June 2009. Jan DeBont is one of the producers and I'm sure he's debating whether or not to direct as well.
I might be interested in this if estate authorized sequels were ever good -- I can't think of one that was, but there's always a chance this could be it. Besides, I think the definitive Dracula sequel has already been made -- Dracula 2000, starring a baby-faced Gerard Butler. I just know you've all forgotten about it, like Butler and Christopher Plummer probably want you to, but why wait until 2009 for sexy vampire times? Just rent this one.
1931 'Dracula' Sequel Rumored to Have Dickerson Direct & Bardem, Bellucci, Hurt Star
Filed under: Classics », Drama », Casting », RumorMonger », Remakes and Sequels »
Considering how easy it is to whip together a sequel or remake, and how tantalizingly delicious they seem to be to many filmmakers, you've got to give props to those who decide to make a sequel to an old movie without re-doing the first film. Last year, we spread word of Un-Dead, a sequel to Dracula, the Bela Lugosi classic. Written by Dracula scholar Ian Holt, it is a screenplay that, shockingly, the Bram Stoker kin approve of (they haven't given approval since the 1931 flick). The film picks up 25 years after the end of the first, collecting all the surviving characters together, along with Inspector Cotford, who was cut from the novel before its publication.Now Blackfilm has a source that brings a lot of names to this intriguing sequel. Ernest Dickerson, one of the directors of the ever-juicy Demon Knight, has reportedly signed on to helm it, and there are a few big names currently negotiating for the film's roles -- Javier Bardem as Dracula, Monica Bellucci as Lucy and in some incredibly cool casting, John Hurt as Professor Van Helsing. They could cast Rob Schneider and Jessica Simpson next, and I'd still watch it to see Hurt in that role. Interestingly, there's no word on who will be playing Jonathan and Mina Harker, although they're said to be part of the film. Of course, the feature will take place in England and Transylvania, as Holt has scouted out both locales, including Dracula's crumbling castle. As this film gears up, is there anyone you want to see in the remaining roles, or casting changes you'd make?
A Dracula Sequel that Might Not Suck
Filed under: Classics », Drama », Horror », Deals », Fandom », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels »
Back in December, we totally failed to pick
up the news that someone had written a screenplay for a sequel
to Dracula. Whatever, right? Hollywood has sequel-itis, and a whole lot of the results suck. It turns out,
though, that the film, entitled Un Dead, is the first Dracula movie to win the approval of author Bram
Stoker's family since Tod Browning's 1931 masterpiece. Not only that, but it was written by a gentleman
named Ian Holt who, according to the always-reliable internets, is a Dracula scholar, and actually traveled around
Europe, scouting locations while he wrote. Plus, it's NOT a sequel to Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, but rather to Stoker's original story. I don't know about
you, but I'm suddenly feeling quite intrigued.Variety is just reporting the story today (which is fine because, well, so are we), which probably means that all the dotted lines are finally signed, and that the project might actually be getting off the ground. Action king Jan de Bont (he's busy right now directing Meg -- fear his power) will produce the film, which picks up 25 years after the end of Dracula and brings all the surviving characters together, along with an Inspector Cotford, who appeared in Stoker's original draft of Dracula, but was cut prior to the story's publication.









