EXCLUSIVE: Appian Way Productions, the production company of Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson, has teamed with producers Alex Cutler and Darryl Marshak to develop a Universal Pictures biopic of Bela Lugosi , the Hungarian star of stage and screen who originated the iconic role of Dracula both on Broadway and in the classic 1931 Universal horror film, multiple sources tell Deadline.

Reps for Universal declined comment. While insiders stressed that it’s very early days on this project, the backstory is interesting, as it came into Universal as a pitch around two years ago and quietly has been gestating ever since. The script is by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski , writers of Tim Burton’s Ed Wood , which won Martin Landau an Oscar and other top honors for his

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