Yes, Vlad the Impaler, a 15th century badass whose penchant for brutality and fighting at night were meant to strike fear in the heart of the Ottoman Empire and give his outnumbered forces an advantage on their home battlefield, was the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. And yes, the Vlad screenplay, written by Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam, will be produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B and Summit Entertainment, the studio behind Twilight. But no, you will not be seeing vampires. In fact, that was a non-negotiable point for Hunnam, who became fascinated with Vlad, a national hero of Romania, when he spent five months traveling the country during downtime filming 2003’s Cold Mountain.
It wasn’t until Hunnam (who’d previously starred in the UK Queer as Folk, 2002’s Nicholas Nickleby, and Fox’s Judd Apatow series Undeclared) became frustrated with the sort of roles he was being offered that he finally sat down three years ago to write his first script. Development has been staggered — interrupted by both the writers’ strike and Hunnam’s casting as Jax on FX’s Anarchy, which just received a third season order — but this week comes news that in-demand music video director Anthony Mandler is in line to helm the film after wowing execs with a reel reminiscent of Zack Snyder’s 300. Here, Hunnam tells us about the film’s plot (he’s the hottest history teacher you’ll ever have) and who he’d love to see cast as Vlad (Colin Farrell or himself?).