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Russell Mulcahy to direct 'Vampires'


Russell Mulcahy ("Resident Evil: Extinction") will helm "Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires," a project being mobilized by CP Prods. partners Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters.

Capitol Films' David Bergstein will finance and sell the pic, which is based on a novel by Steven-Elliot Altman that's the first in a three-book series.

Protag is turned into a vampire as he and his lover are attacked in lower Manhattan. She dies, and he struggles to overcome his murderous instincts and thirst for blood through Zen meditation. A struggle for his soul ensues between the bloodsuckers and the zen masters.

Altman is writing the script, and CP's Cerenzie and Peters will produce. They are also working together on a game version of "Zen."

Mulcahy said he liked "the pathos of the lead characters and the way it is wrapped in a world of mythology."

Altman recently penned "9Dragons" for Acclaim Games, and CP is developing a movie version of "Joust," a graphic novel Altman is writing.