This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

The Hollywood vampire looks set for a major makeover as Russell Crowe prepares to play Count Dracula. The brawny Gladiator star is tipped to impersonate Bram Stoker's urbane, bloodsucking European in Harker, a Warner Bros production to be directed by Eli Roth.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Harker will spin Stoker's 1897 novel into a blood-soaked horror-thriller about a Scotland Yard detective's dogged pursuit of the vampire. The script is by Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy and the title role of Jonathan Harker has yet to be cast.

Crowe, 48, and Roth recently worked together on the forthcoming action movie The Man With the Iron Fists. Crowe will next be seen playing the ruthless Inspector Javert in Tom Hooper's big-screen version of Les Misérables.