LUKE EVANS has told fans he almost lost an eye while filming sword stunt scenes as Dracula in his up-coming blockbuster Dracula Untold.
Vampire movie fans caught their first glimpse of the star as Dracula when the official trailer was released online by Universal Pictures on Friday, after it was leaked earlier this week.
Luke (pic below), 35, from Aberbargoed, plays Prince Vlad III 'The Impaler' Tepes, the man who went from Romanian royalty to becoming cinema's best-known bloodsucker.
In a question and answer session with his fans on Twitter today, he revealed he almost lost an eye while he was performing his own sword stunt scenes.
The star revealed that he embarked on a seven week training regime to get himself in shape for the part of Dracula, which he said was one of the most difficult roles he had ever played.
He tweeted: "I trained for seven weeks before we started shooting. I have several stunt and sword heavy fight scenes. These are super dangerous if you don't rehearse and get the accuracy every time.
"I almost lost an eye. It can be super dangerous but very exciting."
He told fans about his gruelling 76 day shoot for the vampire flick.
He tweeted: "We shot for 76 days and I worked every day and on the weekends, often trained for the up-coming fights."
Dracula Untold is being hyped as a new take on the well-trodden vampire legend by telling the untold origin story of the creature of the night.
Luke, who is also set to star as The Crow in a reboot of the comic book film, told fans: "I love a good origin story and so to start at the beginning of the life of such a famous literary figure is very exciting."
He revealed he celebrated with a bottle of champagne on a Miami beach when he was told he had landed the role of Dracula.
He tweeted: "I was on the beach in Miami just before Xmas last year. I celebrated with a bottle of Bollinger!"
Having seen the official trailer (watch below), we all agree at The Weekly Clucker, that Dracula Untold seems to take a more action-based slant on the ancient tale rather than being an all-out blood-soaked horror.
Prince Vlad seeks to protect his kingdom from an army of Turkish invaders by sacrificing himself to an ancient vampire played by Charles Dance, setting in motion his tranformation into becoming Dracula.
However, Luke promised there will be blood in the movie, which he dubbed "mainstream" in an interview with Total Film.
He said:"It's incredibly relatable. We're dealing with the human as much as we're dealing with the vampire. What we see in this film is a human transforming into a vampire.
"We see the whole journey, and it's dark. It's very dark and there's blood. I don't think you could shoot a movie about Dracula without there being blood.
"Vlad was a warrior and a fighter, so there's a huge amount of battles as well as special effects and stunts. It was probably the hardest I've worked post The Hobbit."
He said the greatest challenge he faced with the role of Dracula was portraying the bloodsucker as a character that an audience could relate to.
He told Total Film: "A lot of people, when you mention the word "Vlad", they think of this man who impaled people in forests and the very gory nature of his legacy.
"Vlad Tepes also reigned over a peaceful kingdom for a long time in a very turbulent Europe, where smaller countries were contstantly being invaded.
"I wanted to make sure we were telling the full story of a man, who was not only a ruthless warrior and did some very dark ruthless things but who also had a family, and was loved and revered by his people and his enemies, who respected him as a law-giver, a warrior and a leader.
"So I guess that was the challenge, not to allow people just to think of him as a crazy killer and impaler but also as a man who led his people and successfully stopped the Ottoman invasion through his country. So there's a lot to him actually."
Dracula Untold is set to be released in cinemas from October 3.
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