Universal Developing Young Bela Lugosi Biopic Penned by Ed Wood Scribes
Who would have guessed that there has not yet been a Bela Lugosi biopic? As the original actor to embody Bram Stoker’s Dracula onscreen, Lugosi staked his claim not only as one of the most influential actors in cinema history, but arguably as Universal Pictures’ most iconic star. Yet no studio in Hollywood has ever given him center stage in the story of his life. That is about to change, courtesy of none other than Universal itself.
Bela Lugosi (1882-1956): A Brief Overview
Bela Lugosi was born in Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary) in 1882. His acting career began in Hungarian theater at age 20; he subsequently found roles in silent films. His socialist political affiliation obliged him to leave the country following the failed 1919 attempt to establish Hungary as a Communist state. In 1919 and 1920, he lived in exile in Weimar Germany, where he continued acting. In 1920, he came to America, where he decided he wanted to stay – and where he landed the role that would make him a legend.
This role, of course, was as the titular vampire in Universal Pictures’ 1931 adaptation of the novel “Dracula.” This film was also an adaptation of a 1927 Broadway play, in which Lugosi likewise starred. He was not the first actor to portray Dracula onscreen – that honor goes to one Paul Askonas in the 1921 Hungarian film “Drakula halála” (“Dracula’s Death”) – but since the previous film has been lost, he is the first one whose performance can be appreciated to this day (at least if you discount Max Schreck’s turn as Count Orlok in 1922’s convicted copyright infringer “Nosferatu”).
Lugosi’s role as Dracula was as famous during his lifetime as it is today, and this was more of a curse than a blessing: despite his best efforts, he had great difficulty breaking out of his typecast mold. He would spend the rest of his life starring mainly in horror films, including 1935’s “The Raven” and 1939’s “Son of Frankenstein.” In the 1940s, his struggles with alcoholism and addiction to morphine and methadone were a major factor in his career’s steep decline.
Lugosi’s late-stage collaborations with the famous schlockmeister Ed Wood (including a small posthumous role in the 1957 so-bad-it’s-good icon “Plan 9 from Outer Space”) were immortalized in Tim Burton’s 1994 biopic “Ed Wood,” in which Lugosi was portrayed in an Academy-Award-winning performance by the late Martin Landau.
A Bela Lugosi Biopic with Some Familiar Scribes
How appropriate, then, that the upcoming Bela Lugosi biopic should be written by none other than Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski – the very screenwriters who penned Tim Burton’s film. It’s unlikely that the director Ed Wood will make any prominent appearance this time around: in contrast with the film of that name, their Bela Lugosi biopic will follow the actor during the 1920s, when he first immigrated to America and became the star of “Dracula” onstage and onscreen.
Then again, the biopic won’t stop there: It will also explore Lugosi’s life during the post-Dracula period, when his career started to flag. Lugosi didn’t meet Wood until 1952, a mere four years before his own death, but since this Bela Lugosi biopic will be at least partly concerned with the actor’s twilight years, it’s possible that Wood will have a late-stage cameo. One could even imagine a prequel-esque ending that might function as “Ed Wood” fan service, concluding with a final scene of these two meeting.
Production Breakdown – What We Know
As the producers of this Bela Lugosi biopic, Michael Hampton, Jennifer Davisson, and Leonardo DiCaprio will represent Appian Way Productions. This company was founded in 2001 by DiCaprio and has previously produced a number of his star vehicles, including “The Revenant” and several Martin Scorsese films. Also producing the film will be Alex Cutler and Darryl Marshak. The biopic is still at a very early stage of development; at this time, no actors, production schedules, or release dates have been named.
