‘Undying Love’: David Leitch to Direct Vampire Movie!!!

Hot off the Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw, David Leitch is looking to direct the vampire movie Undying Love for Jeff Robinov‘s Studio 8, reports Deadline. The trade claims the graphic novel adaptation will be Leitch’s next project, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, as there are several factors to consider.

Based on the graphic novel created by Tomm Coker and Daniel Freedman, Undying Love is set in modern day Hong Kong, where John Sargent finds himself falling for a beautiful Chinese woman named Mei. The only catch? She’s a vampire. While the material definitely seems like a good fit for Leitch, much will depend on how Hobbs & Shaw performs at the box office. If it cracks the billion-dollar mark, Leitch may be offered bigger and better projects than Undying Love or anything else in development at Studio 8. Perhaps his quote will skyrocket? Who knows? The film could also tank since it’s the first outside of the main Vin Diesel-led franchise, although with Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham (hot off The Meg) and Idris Elba aboard, it seems like a pretty safe bet that Leitch will be a hot commodity this summer.

But there’s another thing to consider, and that’s the fact that Leitch has been working seemingly non-stop for the past few years. Think about it, unless it’s Woody Allen, most directors deliver a movie every other year, or every few years. Leitch co-directed 2014’s John Wick, served as second unit director on the mega-blockbusters Jurassic World and Captain America: Civil War in 2015 and 2016, then directed Atomic Blonde in 2017, Deadpool 2 in 2018, and he has Hobbs & Shaw coming out later this year. I know those years simply indicate release dates and not when Leitch was actually working on them, but you get the point. That’s a pretty impressive output by any standard, and it’s possible Leitch may just want a break rather than jumping back into production this fall to likely hit a 2020 release. He has certainly earned one if he needs it, in my opinion.

Interestingly enough, Joe Carnahan and Alexandre Aja were once attached to direct Undying Love, and genre filmmaker Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) wrote the current script. I’m curious as to why Studio 8 didn’t want Wirkola to direct Undying Love himself, since it’s certainly up his alley as well, but I suppose that’s another question for another day. The film will be produced by Kelly McCormick and Stephen L’Heureux, while Robinov will serve as an executive producer. The graphic novel was originally developed by Warner Bros., which won the rights in a heated bidding war.

Leitch, who is also attached to direct the Jake Gyllenhaal–Jessica Chastain movie The Division, is represented by WME and 87Eleven, while Wirkola is repped by CAA. Hobbs & Shaw will break into theaters on Aug. 2.

via Collider