Young Bela Lugosi Biopic In The Works From ED WOOD Writers

The face that inspired a thousand vampire movies is finally getting a film of his own. Deadline reports that Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way is producing a new biopic about the life of Bela Lugosi, the actor who brought Dracula to the big screen for the first time and cemented himself in cinema history. Attached to write the film are Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the scribes behind Tim Burton’s acclaimed biopic Ed Wood. 

According to Deadline, the untitled biopic will focus on Lugosi’s younger years as he catapulted to fame after playing Dracula both on Broadway and in Tod Browning’s 1931 film based on Bram Stoker’s novel. The film will chronicle not only his experiences on the film, but also his immigration from his native Hungary as a young man, and the decline in his stardom after he declined the role of Frankenstein, which would go on to be made iconic by Boris Karloff. 

No casting for the film has been announced, but DiCaprio will produce the film alongside Jennifer Davisson and Michael Hampton for Appian Way. The film will also be produced by Alex Cutler and Darryl Marshak, who according to Deadline have been striving to make a film about Lugosi’s life and legacy for years. 

While Lugosi could never quite escape the reputation that came with playing Dracula — a legacy that would ultimately lead to a severe decline in his popularity before his death in 1956 — he made a name for himself playing plenty of other roles in classic horror films of the day. Among his other roles were films like Son of Frankenstein, in which he played the now famous Ygor, as well as The Black Cat, The Raven, and numerous Ed Wood projects like Plan 9 From Outer Space. 

No release date has been announced for the untitled Bela Lugosi biopic. Stay tuned to FANGORIA for more updates as they arrive.