It looks like the future of cinema will have one less Dracula film to look back on. In a surprising move, Blumhouse has pulled the plug on Mina Harker, a modern take on the vampiric mythos from veteran director Karyn Kusama. The movie would have told the story of its famous title character, played by Blindspotting’s Jasmine Cephas Jones, as she encountered Dracula on the streets of Los Angeles. Frequent Kusama collaborators Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi had written the script based on Bram Stoker’s original Dracula story. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film entered a freefall and ultimately met its end after Miramax Films, who had been set to produce, exited the project.
Kusama is a cult favorite genre filmmaker, whose previous work includes sleeper hits like 2005’s Æon Flux and 2009’s Jennifer’s Body. She also regained recognition for her contributions to Showtime’s acclaimed series Yellowjackets. Fans of her work were thrilled when the Dracula concept movie was announced two years ago, and speculation was rampant as to how the creative would adapt such iconic source material. Unfortunately, with the project being killed only weeks before production was et to begin, this will seemingly amount to nothing but an all-time “what if” scenario.
A separate Dracula adaptation from Blumhouse, Renfield starring Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage, has recently completed filming and is still going forward for release. Hopefully, that project can still be allowed to live up to its hype.
Source: THR
