At one point pretty much every Hollywood studio had a Dracula project in the works, but nearly all of them have either fallen into development hell or been killed off completely. One that appeared dead was Dracula: Year Zero, which was first announced back in August 2010, with Sam Worthington due to star and Alex Proyas directing.

Both the actor and director dropped out, but now new life is getting breathed into Dracula Year Zero, with Deadline reporting that Gary Shore has come on board as the new director. Proyas’ version fell by the wayside when the budget spiraled out of control, but it is back on track with a new script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (Flash Gordon), which will presumably be a lot cheaper to make.

Proyas is certainly having a lot of budget worries, as his version of Paradise Lost has just been completely killed due to the fact Legendary/Warner were worried about the costs.

Dracula Year Zero is a prequel to Bram Stoker’s tale, looking at the legend of Vlad the Impaler, the Romanian royal who terrorised his countrymen, with the script looking at who he supposedly became a vampire in the first place.

The film will mark Shore’s first feature, having got Hollywood’s attention with his stylised short/trailer for planned martial arts movie The Cup Of Tears, which Universal bought the rights to last year.