Eternals director Chloé Zhao has taken on her next project, and it is a sci-fi western version of Dracula. Zhao is fresh off a Golden Globe nomination for directing Nomadland and is a near-lock to become the first Asian woman ever nominated for an Oscar in the Best Director category. Zhao also scored a Golden Globe nomination for co-writing Nomadland, which explores the world of those living outside society as nomads in the American West. Yet Zhao is not done making history quite yet.
The heavily anticipated Phase 4 Marvel film Eternals is also directed and co-written by Zhao, and is expected to deviate from norms established by previous films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For her next project, Zhao will be working with Universal Pictures to revamp one of the studio’s most coveted classic monsters. After Univeral tossed out their plans for a shared cinematic Dark Universe, they shifted focus to a more auteur-driven approach to standalone monster films. Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man was the first example of this reoriented approach.
Per THR, Chloé Zhao will develop a feature film for Universal Pictures based on the studio’s most well-known vampire, Dracula. While details are always scarce in the early stages of development, Zhao’s vision for the film is an “original, futuristic, sci-fi Western.” Living on the fringes of society is a theme Zhao previously examined in Nomadland, and is expected to be the main motif present in her Dracula project. “I’ve always been fascinated by vampires and the concept of the Other they embody,” Zhao, who will write, direct and produce the project for Universal, says.
Zhao is the latest name to jump on board the Universal monster train. Other filmmaking talents such as James Wan, Elizabeth Banks, and Paul Feig are also working on standalone projects of their own. Considering the unique vision and style Zhao will bring as a filmmaker, this new Dracula project will deviate notably from more traditional interpretations the classic Bram Stoker novel has seen in the past, such as its first screen adaptation in 1931 to Francis Ford Coppola’s more modern interpretation in 1992.
Bram Stoker’s oft-adapted novel has seen countless depictions on screen and it is hard to imagine how a filmmaker can muster an original take. But based on Zhao’s comments and her track record of deviating from established norms, she seems like the ideal choice to infuse the Dracula narrative with some additional relevance and breathe new life into a classic story.
Source: THR
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