Despite reports of trouble on the set of World War Z, zombies and vampires are still hot monsters, and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter should make a great hybrid.
The film is based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, who also wrote the screenplay and penned the script for Dark Shadows. Tim Burton is producing the film, while Timur Bekmambetov, the Russian helmer of Night Watch and Wanted, is directing.
Thus far, the trailer footage looks great, and Collider has been all over the film, including an on-set visit. Benjamin Walker, who won the role of Honest Abe, spoke at length to the publication, and he said, “What is going to be surprising is how devoted it is to the history, period accuracy, and the commitment to believing in this world. The structure that the title gives us is the freedom to tell this story. It’s a joke that everyone gets and then it downplays the joke.”
As far as working with director Bekmambetov, Walker said, “It’s like working with a really professional six-year-old-child, only in terms of imagination and fantasy, in that you can walk onto the set thinking it’s going to go one way, and his imagination is so vast and complex that he completely throws you for a loop.”
In getting picked for the role, Walker recalled, “They’d already kind of offered it to somebody else – a big-name movie star. And the fact that they were courting me just seemed like a long shot in my mind. I loved [Timur’s] movies.”
And as far as the onscreen fighting, it was important to make sure that Lincoln’s jacket looked like the real thing, but was also flexible enough for fight scenes.
Onscreen, Walker promises that Lincoln is an uber fighter.
“He can express himself in some way almost like a painter through his axe wielding. There will be levels of heinous gruesome violence and some moments of sheer beauty in the same that we saw in movies like Kill Bill where it’s an absolute slaughter but there is a certain ballet to it,” Walker added.
