Alex Proyas talks Dracula Year Zero and sci-fi epic Tripods

Director Alex Proyas – whose film Knowing is set to open March 20th – recently told SCI FI Wire that his upcoming film adaptation of sci-fi book series The Tripods, is the first of an envisioned trilogy of movies.

“We’ve done a draft, we’re basically at the first-draft stage of Tripods, and we’re about to go into our second draft,” Proyas said in an exclusive interview on Monday. “Pretty happy with the script; I think it’s come a long way…We’re only doing the first book, The White Mountains, and the notion is, obviously, that it will hopefully be a trilogy…”

The film is based on the first of three Tripods books by John Christopher (The City of Gold and Lead and The Pool of Fire are the other two), about a post-apocalyptic world ruled by giant three-legged alien machines, who place mind-control helmets on children when they near the age of 14. Proyas is co-writing the film with Stuart Hazeldine, whom he also worked with on the sci-fi thriller Knowing.

The director also told the website that it’s possible Dracula Year Zero could be his next film project.

“We’re still trying to resolve budget and casting and all the stuff that you need to get through before a project becomes real…But the script is at a very good place and I think has a very unique take on the Dracula story.”

The movie will reinvent the vampire legend, and be partly based on Bram Stoker’s classic novel, but with an original take on the tale.