Sam Worthington (Avatar, The Debt) has reportedly been confirmed to star in the Alex Proyas (Knowing, The Crow) directed, Dracula Year Zero. The $100 million production will tell the origin story of Vlad the Impaler, the Romanian royalty who terrorized his nation and inspired Bram Stoker to create the iconic character, Dracula.

Encore reports that Universal Pictures‘ managing director Mike Baard revealed shooting will take place in Australia at the Australian International Movie Convention, which is currently underway.

Earlier this year Proyas told Techland,

“Why I’m so intrigued by this story… is that this script has such an interesting and original take on this character. It’s all about how Vlad of Transylvania became this creature; the choices that he made to make him into this tragic character. It’s so intriguing to me, to approach this as a character study on a huge, epic canvas.”

Dracula Year Zero is slated to hit theaters in 2012.