A new featurette has been released for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
The latest video contains some scenes from the film we haven’t seen yet, which continue to amaze, but more interestingly, we get some bits of interview with the film’s creators, including writer Seth Grahme-Smith and Tim Burton, in which they discuss how they see the film, and what they get out of the story.
I particularly like the comparison to Batman, it allows the whole thing to make more sense in my head. Before I was just taking it at face-value, and thinking that it was kind of a silly concept which was simply being given very nice special effects, but perhaps there is not so little cultural precedent for this kind of story than I was thinking.
In retrospect, I wonder why I didn’t see the comparison myself: A prominent public figure has a secret life as a battler of evil due to a traumatic secret from his childhood which makes him seethe inside. He may not be wearing a cape and cowl, but this is indeed the story of a super hero, and I think the film will appeal to the same audiences, which, lately, seems like just about everyone.
Nevertheless, I think this film needs more exposure if it is to be successful. Its appeal is tremendous, but the title and concept seem flaky on the surface, judging by only the name or even the poster, I wouldn’t think it would be great, but these trailers and clips we’ve seen so far have me really looking forward to it.
I predict a small opening weekend for this film, but an overall good box office as word spreads.
We’ve also got this new international trailer:
No official synopsis has yet been released, but we have this from the book the film is based on:
Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother’s bedside. She’s been stricken with something the old-timers call “Milk Sickness.”
“My baby boy…” she whispers before dying.
Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother’s fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.
When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, “henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose…” Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.
While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.
Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter hits theaters on June 22, 2012.
