Eli Roth may bring out the vampire in Russell Crowe.
So we have two interesting bits of news here. One is that Eli Roth of the gorefest “Hostel” franchise is talking with Warner Brothers about directing “Harker.” Jonathan Harker was a character in Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula,” a solicitor who becomes mixed up in Dracula’s affairs. In the movie, Harker would be a Scotland Yard detective who tries to track down Dracula.
And here’s the second part of the news. Russell Crowe is on board to star, but not as Harker. Rather, he’d play Dracula. I think we can all guess which part is more fun. Leave Harker to some do-gooder, square-jawed type.
Roth did well with the first two “Hostel” movies, but the third showed that the trend had worn out its welcome and flopped. Roth’s last work of note was acting in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.” Roth and Crowe are veritable buddies, though–Roth wrote the script for Crowe’s next release, “The Man with the Iron Fists,” so this will be something of a reunion for them.
No word on when this will get going–they have a script by Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy but according to Deadline, it seems like they’re going to rewrite it. In other words, this is probably quite a ways away…
