The Grey director Joe Carnahan is set to write and direct an adaptation of the graphic novel Undying Love for Warner Bros., the story of which follows an ex-soldier who falls in love with a vampire.
Described as a vampire action film, Undying Love was previously being developed by Alexandre Aja (Piranha). Based on a graphic novel by Tomm Coker and Daniel Freedman, the first draft of the script was written by the duo, and follows “an ex-soldier who falls for a vampire, though in order to be with her, he must take on her creator. And that creator happens to be protected by an army of mobsters in the Hong Kong underworld.”
Deadline broke the news, speaking with Carnahan who talked a bit about his decision to take the job. “I really took to it, and the metric I use is how fast I come up with ideas and an outline, and this brought about a bunch of ideas,” Carnahan said. “It is a little out of my wheelhouse, taking place in China with mysticism and swordplay, but there is a lot of potential here.”
Carnahan has a rather busy slate, so it’s unlikely that Undying Love will be his next project. In fact, he tweeted over the weekend about wanting to re-release screen tests he did with his The Grey star Frank Grillo for Continue, an action film with a Groundhog Day-like twist that is set up at Fox. In addition to Continue, Carnahan is signed on to direct the pilot for Those Who Kill at A&E, based on a series of Danish crime novels by Elsebeth Egholm.
So whether we see Undying Love a little ways down the road, we’ll be interested to see what Carnahan can do with a genre that has already worn out its welcome. Perhaps someone with Carnahan’s talents is in need to bring a fresh spin to vampires.