X-Men star to lead an epic new Dracula origin movie from Léon director

Dracula is making another return to the big screen as Luc Besson sinks his teeth into the immortal vampire. The director of Léon and The Fifth Element will helm the origin story based on Bram Stoker’s novel.

A starry cast is attached too, including Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Get Out’s Caleb Landry Jones as a young Dracula. Two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz is also signed on, but his role is unclear at this stage.

Per Deadline, the movie will draw on the vampire’s life before he became Dracula, and in particular the ill-fated romance between Prince Vladimir and his wife. The publication says the script is "epic" and features some "potentially spectacular set pieces."

Currently, no other cast members are attached to the film, nor does it have any more plot details. However, it is expected to shoot next year, all being well. Besson’s last film was DogMan in 2023, which also starred Landry Jones.

Dracula isn’t the only vampiric film on the way in the next few years either, with Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu due out in December 2023. The film stars Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård, Emma Corrin, and Willem Dafoe, with early teases suggesting that Skarsgård will be unrecognizable in the role.

Elsewhere, Abigail is also due to hit screens soon and is about a kidnapped young girl who turns out to be a vampire's daughter. For more on these upcoming flicks and all of the other chilling films on the way, check out our guide to new horror movies out this year.