Shooting has started for Dampyr, the live-action movie adaptation of the popular independent comic book franchise. Wade Briggs (Please Like Me) will play Harlan, the Dampyr, in the $12 million fantasy action thriller, which is being helmed by Riccardo Chemello.
Stuart Martin (“Jamestown) has signed on to play Emil Kurjak, and Frida Gustavasson (“Arne Dahl”) plays Tesla. The cast also includes David Morrissey (“Good Omens”) as Gorka, Sebastian Croft (“Game of Thrones”) as Yuri, and Luke Roberts (“300: Rise of an Empire”) as Draka.
The movie is a co-production between Eagle Pictures, Italian comic book giant Sergio Bonelli Editore, and production outfit Brandon Box.
It will be based on the first two comics in the Dampyr series, which runs to 300 issues. Set during the Balkan wars of the early 1990s, it follows Harlan, who is haunted by nightmares as he wanders the countryside making money pretending to be a Dampyr – half human, half vampire – ridding villages of what residents believe are evil monsters. When summoned by soldiers who are under attack by real vampires, Harlan finds out the truth: he is a real Dampyr.
The Dampyr comics were created by Mauro Boselli and Maurizio Colombo and written by Giovanni Masi, Alberto Ostini, and Mauro Uzzeo. The movie will be the first out of the Bonelli Cinematic Universe. Filming will run over 11 weeks in various locations in Romania.
The producers are Roberto Proia for Eagle Pictures, Vincenzo Sarno for Sergio Bonelli Editore and Andrea Sgaravatti for Brandon Box. A seasoned crew includes Giorgio Gregorini, who won the Oscar for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling for “Suicide Squad,” Vladimir Furdik (”Skyfall”) as fight choreographer, Lubomir Misak (“Game of Thrones”) as stunt coordinator, and Giovanni Casalnuovo (“Wanted”) as costume designer.
