Amanda Jiang Leads Contemporary Vampire Reimagining ‘Dracula: The Crimson Code’
A new take on Dracula is heading into production with Amanda Jiang leading a contemporary, female-centered reimagining of the vampire mythology.
According to Variety, Jiang will star alongside Joey Phillips (Outlander), Richard Brake (Barbarian, Game of Thrones) and Shayne Ward (The Good Ship Murder, Coronation Street) in Dracula: The Crimson Code, a gothic romance and supernatural thriller that has begun filming.
Andrea M. Catinella directs from a screenplay by Enrico Tessarin, with the story moving the mythology into present-day London and the English countryside.
Jiang stars as Countess Isolde Dragomir, a centuries-old vampire aristocrat who operates within some of London’s most exclusive social circles. Behind that public life are the Crimson Code soirées, glamorous gatherings concealing a longstanding conflict between two vampire bloodlines: the Dragomirs and the Howes.
At the center of Isolde’s story is a desire for revenge against the man responsible for murdering the great love of her life centuries earlier. After Isolde kills the son of her longtime enemy, she succeeds in drawing him back into her world.
Her plans become more complicated with the arrival of Theo Mercer.
Isolde believes Theo is the reincarnation of Adrian, the lover she lost centuries ago. The resemblance, however, does not mean Theo exists simply to resume a relationship from another lifetime. He has his own identity, forcing Isolde to confront the difference between reclaiming the past and accepting the possibility of a different future.
That conflict places romance alongside the film’s vampire mythology, with The Crimson Code using its contemporary setting to explore a story built around revenge, loss and an inability to let go.
“I have always been drawn to gothic atmosphere, the theatricality of it and the way those worlds can create a sense of mystery, danger and desire,” Jiang said in a statement.
The actress said those interests previously influenced City of Masks and provided an opportunity to explore a larger gothic world with The Crimson Code.
“With Dracula, we have the opportunity to take that love of gothic storytelling into a much larger world,” Jiang said. “Isolde is powerful, dangerous and deeply vulnerable, and at the heart of the film is a story about love, revenge and the possibility of choosing a different future.”
Jiang, Catinella, Tessarin and Carla Fuschillo are producing Dracula: The Crimson Code for Starmist Films.
The project follows the company’s first feature, City of Masks, which is scheduled to hold its world premiere in London on Oct. 29.
While Bram Stoker’s Dracula has been reinterpreted repeatedly across film and television, The Crimson Code is approaching that mythology through a new central vampire rather than another direct retelling of the familiar Count Dracula story. Its competing bloodlines, contemporary London setting and reincarnation romance provide the framework for expanding the mythology in a different direction.
Additional details regarding Phillips, Brake and Ward’s characters have not yet been announced.
Dracula: The Crimson Code is currently filming. Release plans have not been revealed.
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