Russell Crowe’s name has suddenly surged back into headlines during the last few months as he’s been rumoured for, or attached to, a variety of high-profile pics. The latest to flirt with locking in his services? Warner Bros.' Dracula reimagining Harker.
Between this and the sudden reappearance of Dracula: Year Zero, it’s clearly been decided that this will be vampire news weekend (theme tune by Vampire Weekend).
Harker, which boasts Leonardo DiCaprio among its producers, is the new take on the vampire story that repositions it from the point of view of Jonathan Harker. In this version, he’s not a lawyer but a Scotland Yard detective hunting the fanged fiend after Drac pulls off a series of bloody murders in England.
Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy wrote the script as a spec and last year Unknown’s Jaume Collet-Serra was attached to direct. But then he was dragged away to try to breathe life into Warners’ troubled, long-gestating live-action Akira. But with the anime adaptation still moving at a lower gear, Vulture reports that Harker may leapfrog it in Collet-Serra’s calendar. Still, the talks with Crowe are at a very early stage, so there’s always a chance it could all collapse.
Crowe’s also busy proving his pipes as he works on Les Miserables alongside Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway for director Tom Hooper. And he’s been considering the lead in Darren Aronofsky’s Noah and found time to join Jackman onstage to present a BAFTA last night.