Australian actor Sam Worthington is to play the lead in the new thriller Dracula: Year Zero.

The film combines the myth of vampire Dracula with the real life historical character Prince Vlad of Transylvania.

Encore magazine reports that Avatar star Worthington is set to play the prince who is believed to have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

The Universal Pictures project is due to be shot in Australia next year. [Source]

Sam Worthington is going Down Under — from where he hails — to play a journalist/photographer in ‘Drift,’ an $11 million surfing drama set in the town of Margaret River, Australia, a hotbed for world-class surfers.

According to TheWrap, the film is inspired by a true story and will depict how surfing has gone from a individualistic pastime to a global sports industry.

Worthington, who describes himself as a lifelong surfer, is looking forward to returning to West Australia, “and to go back there and put something back into my home town is something I am really looking forward to.”

Production is expected to begin during the next Australian autumn (America’s spring) in order to take advantage of big waves, moodier skies and the Margaret River Pro Surfing Event. [Source]

Sam Worthington has remained consistently busy since putting together back-to-back blockbusters like “Terminator: Salvation,” “Avatar” and “Clash of the Titans.” He currently has three pictures in various stages of post-production, including John Madden’s “The Debt,” which will be at the Toronto International Film Festival. And he has seven projects in development, according to IMDB.

One of them, however, has jumped to the front of the line.

Production Weekly tweeted this afternoon that Worthington will begin filming Asger Leth’s heist thriller “Man On a Ledge” in October.

The production will be filmed in Miami. Summit Entertainment reportedly will distribute the film, which is about a ex-cop (Worthington) threatening to jump from a ledge who must be talked down by a female psychologist. The man’s motives, however, are not what they seem.

Stay tuned for more “Ledge” news, including which female star will be cast alongside Worthington for Leth’s film. [Source]

‘Avatar’ star Sam Worthington has expressed a desire to star in a reboot of the 1985 Arnold Schwarzenegger hit ‘Commando’.

After portraying a humanoid in ‘Terminator Salvation’ and an alien in ‘Avatar’, Worthington is now wanting to turn himself into this generation’s Schwarzenegger, a statement said.

 Worthington is interested in landing the lead role in the forthcoming 20th Century Fox production. The action-thriller will be written and directed by David Ayers. [Source]

Sam Worthington is to play the lead in spooky new thriller Dracula: Year Zero.

The film combines the myth of vampire Dracula with the real-life historical character Prince Vlad of Transylvania.

Avatar star Sam is to play Prince Vlad, who is believed to have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Encore magazine reports.

The 34-year-old Australian actor, who shot to fame after starring in Avatar and Clash Of The Titans, is to return home for filming as the Universal Pictures project is due to be shot in Australia next year.

The film, directed by Dark City’s Alex Proyas, follows Prince Vlad the Impaler as he battles the Turks and tries to stop them taking all the young male children, including his own, after they invade Transylvania.

Producer Mike De Luca has said: “Every generation owns their own version of the vampire myth… but I think it’s always right for reinvention.” [Source]

When you think of ‘Dracula’ on the silver screen Christopher Lee and Gary Oldman spring to mind. Now it is being reported that ‘Avatar’ hero Sam Worthington has signed on to star as the vampire legend in ‘Dracula: Year Zero’ directed by Alex Proyas.

The film will  focus on the story of how Prince Vlad of Transylvania became the famous bloodsucker.

The producer of the film Mike de Luca said  “These writers came up with what I think is an ingenious-approach combining historical Dracula with Bram Stoker’s Dracula. “I think vampires are endlessly appropriate candidates for reinvention because there’s something in the DNA in that mythology that appeals to every generation. Every generation owns their own version of the vampire myth.”

Worthington seems to be increasingly busy these days what with the proposed sequels to ‘Avatar’ and ‘Clash Of The Titans’ in the pipeline. He will next be seen in ‘The Debt’ where he stars alongside screen legend Helen Mirren and opens in the UK on 11 February 2011. [Source]