The Dark Knight star, who played a bloodsucking member of the undead in 1992's Dracula, and Urbanski were approached to write a book about their working relationship, but producer/actor Urbanski was not interested. Instead the pair are working on a story about a cursed man fleeing from an abandoned town.

"Back in 2009 when Gary was filming Book of Eli, we came up with this story that had to do with vampires," Urbanski told Deadline.com. "Whether it might be a film, a series of books or a TV show, we didn’t pigeonhole it, but we got buzzed by the idea.

"We met several times in my kitchen, mapped out the story and where it would go, reinventing the rules and realities of vampires and sex and the power of love. There were rabbit trails that went nowhere, but we concluded that we had landed on something we hadn’t seen done before."

Urbanski, who often appears in his famous client's films, adds, "We’d always been fascinated in the area of cowboys and the gold rush. (Literary agent David) Vigliano came to visit to try again on the other book, saw the pile of notes on the kitchen table and I said, 'Weirdly enough, we were working on something that might work as a book'.

"While in New York on the Planet of the Apes junket, we met with five publishers and got four offers. Now, we’re finishing the manuscript and feeling wonderful about seeing the characters come to life."

Blood Riders is slated for release next year (16).