(Original Caption) Bela Lugosi is shown in a still publicizing the 1931 Universal Studios film Dracula. An unknown Hungarian actor, Lugosi had played Dracula for a year on Broadway. In the film, the eerie effect of his almond-shaped, crystal blue eyes was heightened by focusing light on them through two small holes in a piece of cardboard, Raymond T. McNally and Radu Floresco write in In Search of Dracula. They recall that when Lugosi died in 1956 at the age of 73, he had only $3,000. In accordance with his wishes he was buried with his cape. Here he shown in a closeup.
Bettmann Archive
Dracula legend Bela Lugosi is getting the biopic treatment from Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company and other filmmakers.
Released on Feb. 14, 1931, Dracula — starring Lugosi in the title role — was the first monster movie released by Universal Studios. Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff, was released by Universal just over nine months later, on Nov. 21, 1931.
While Lugosi played similar vampire characters for other studios, he only reprised the Universal version of Dracula once, in the comedy-monster mashup Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948. Before he starred in the big screen version of Dracula, Lugosi originated the role of Bram Stoker’s iconic vampire creation on Broadway from 1927 to 1928.
Now, DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson’s Appian Way Productions, along with producers Alex Cutler and Darryl Marshak, are developing a biopic about the young Lugosi, appropriately, for Universal Pictures, according to Deadline.
The industry trade publication reported that the film will chronicle the actor’s immigration from Hungary, his turn as Dracula on Broadway and on film and how he rejected the role of Frankenstein’s Monster. The latter move, of course, launched the British journeyman actor Karloff’s career into superstardom.
Lugosi, of course, went on to become involved in the Frankenstein franchise, first as the lab assistant Ygor opposite Karloff’s Monster in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and later as the Monster opposite Lon Chaney Jr.’s Larry Talbot/Wolf Man in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).
Deadline reported that Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski — the acclaimed scribes of Tim Burton’s classic 1994 black and white biopic Ed Wood — have written the screenplay. While Ed Wood was primarily about the iconic B-movie director, the plot also delved into Lugosi’s life in his later days and his work with the Plan 9 from Outer Space filmmakers.
Johnny Depp starred as Ed Wood in the film, while Martin Landau’s turn as Lugosi went on to earn the veteran actor an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
(Original Caption) After creating Count Dracula on stage Bela Lugosi’s first appearance as a film Dracula was in 1930 in Universal’s Dracula with the lovely Helen Chandler as his victim. Lugosi’s Dracula was a worldwide success and interpretations of the bloodthirsty Dracula have not stopped to this day. Undated movie still. (Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images)
Corbis via Getty Images
When Will The Young Bela Lugosi Movie Be Released?
Deadline did not give a timeline for the filming or release of the young Bela Lugosi biopic, other than to note that insiders with Universal noted that the film is in the very early stages of development. The studio did not officially comment on the project.
In addition, the extent of DiCaprio’s involvement in the film remains unclear. Deadline reported that industry veterans Alex Cutler and Darryl Marshak “are a pair of first cousins who have been working toward a Lugosi film for many years, beginning when they were teens.”
DiCaprio’s connection to the project appears to stem from his work with Marshak at the beginning of their respective careers, Deadline reported.
Lugosi died on Aug. 16, 1956, at age 73 in Los Angeles. Lugosi appeared posthumously in Wood’s 1958 B-movie classic Plan 9 from Outer Space, which is his last credited big-screen role.
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