Fresh off her sci-fi adventure with Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko now plans on stepping into YA-franchise territory. “Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters” is the first of a six-novel series all written by Richelle Mead, and Kurylenko will play Kirova, the Academy’s head mistress. She joins a cast that so far includes Zoey Deutch (“Beautiful Creatures“), Australian newcomer Lucy Fry, and Russian star Danila Kozlovski. The Weinstein Company is distributing the movie, hoping the film series can be as successful as the novels, which altogether have sold over 8 million copies worldwide.
The series tells the story of Rose Hathaway (Deutch), a 17-year-old girl who has a mental and spiritual bond with her vampire best friend Lissa (Fry). The two girls attend a special school for vampires who struggle to retain some humanity while other vampires become more feral. Rose, who is a Dhampir (half-human/half-vampire), is training to be a bodyguard for Lissa (a Moroi). While training, she falls for her instructor Dmitri (played by Kozlovski) as she learns how to defeat the bloodthirsty vampires, the Strigoi. “Blood Sisters” was adapted by Daniel Waters (“Heathers,” “Batman Returns”) and will be directed by his brother Mark Waters (“Mean Girls”).
As for Kurylenko, her role appears to be relatively minor compared to the rest of the cast. Perhaps Daniel Waters fleshed out the character a bit more in his adaptation. Production is set to begin in late May. [deadline]
