Variety are reporting that British actor Rufus Sewell, protagonist in the ridiculously underrated 90s flick Dark City, has been cast as Adam, the lead vampire, in 20th Century Fox’s 2012 3D summer tentpole Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

The Timur Bekmambetov directed film, his first feature length back in the directors chair since the flashy but lacklustre James McAvoy/Angelina Jolie actioner Wanted, is based on author Seth Grahame Smith’s novel of the same name. It concerns the faux diaries of the president (Benjamin Walker) given to the author by a vampire named Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper). Sturgess saves Lincoln’s life when he battles a vampire as a teenager, and goes on to teach Lincoln about the history of vampirism, readying him to hunt and kill them.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim) playsLincoln’s wife Mary Todd Lincoln, with Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) set to play Will, Lincoln’s best friend. Filming began mid-March in Louisiana, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is scheduled for release on June 22nd 2012.

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News hit the web last week that Trent Reznor, who recently won an Oscar for his music in The Social Network, was being lined up to both score and appear in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Today Reznor confirmed his involvement in the movie, both as a composer and actor, but would prefer it if you forgot about the latter.

From the Nine Inch Nails forum (via STYD):

“I am friends with Timur Bekmambetov. He’s an interesting and very talented director that caught my attention with his film Night Watch (check it out if you haven’t). He asked me if I was interested in scoring his new film he’s doing with Tim Burton entitled “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”. I was familiar with the book, read the script and it felt like an interesting challenge as a composer – very different from the Fincher films. While discussing the film with Timur he started gently pressing me to play a small role in the film. The idea was a cameo-esque role that would be kept under wraps and be a surprise around opening night. I was considering this when I awoke a few days ago to the news I am now STARRING in ALVH (which is obviously not true). F**k. We both apparently forgot the internet existed AND THERE ARE NO SURPRISES anymore. So…do me a favor and act surprised, OK?”

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a 3D re-imagining of Lincoln’s life that depicts the 16th president as an axe-throwing, highly accomplished killer of vampires, an obsession of his since the bloodsuckers supposedly took the life of his mother. Taking revenge, Lincoln wreaks havoc on the vampires and their slave-owning protectors.

Benjamin Walker will play Lincoln, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim) playing his wife Mary Todd Lincoln. Dominic Cooper is set to play vampire Henry Sturgess, who pushes Lincoln into his monster-killing trade, and Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) has been cast as Will, Lincoln’s best friend.

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Update: Variety has confirmed that Walker has closed a deal to play Abe Lincoln. Original post below:

Two weeks ago we heard that a number of actors including Adrien Brody, Timothy Olyphant, Josh Lucas, James D’Arcy, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Benjamin Walker are all screentesting for the role of a young Abraham Lincoln in 20th Century Fox’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Now reports suggest that Walker has emerged as the front-runner, although no offer has been made yet.

From Variety:

Insiders tell Variety that it’s come down to Walker, but caution that no offer has been made and that other thesps are still being considered. Five have screen tested over the last couple of weeks, but the “Kinsey” actor has the inside track.

Walker nearly got his first major role last year when he was up for the role of Beast in X-Men: First Class. The actor had to decide between the movie and his leading role in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson on Broadway. Walker chose the stage, and Nicholas Hoult was cast in the role instead.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter will be directed by Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov and is a 3D re-imagining of Lincoln’s life that depicts the 16th president as an axe-throwing, highly accomplished killer of vampires, an obsession of his since those bloodsuckers supposedly took the life of his mother. Taking revenge, Lincoln wreaks havoc on the vampires and their slave-owning protectors.

The project was hot property earlier this year when Bekmambetov and producer Tim Burton were shopping it to studios, but Fox wanted in on the vampire action so badly that when the filmmakers arrived to pitch it the studio had bloody axes and footprints all over the place. It worked.

Apparently the budget stands at $69 million and a release date of June 22nd 2012 has been set, so filming will begin later this year.

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According to Deadline Adrien Brody, Timothy Olyphant, Josh Lucas, James D’Arcy, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Benjamin Walker are all screentesting for the role of a young Abraham Lincoln in 20th Century Fox’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter .

Brody was last seen in Predators, and Hitman actor Timothy Olyphant will appear in I Am Number Four next month. Josh Lucas is best known for Poseidon and Stealth, while James D’Arcy had roles in Master and Commander and An American Haunting. Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Benjamin Walker are probably the least familiar to many. Cohen was last seen as the “Killer” in Faster and Walker narrowly missed out on playing Beast in X-Men: First Class.

The movie will be directed by Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov and is a 3D re-imagining of Lincoln’s life that depicts the 16th president as an axe-throwing, highly accomplished killer of vampires, an obsession of his since those bloodsuckers supposedly took the life of his mother. Taking revenge, Lincoln wreaks havoc on the vampires and their slave-owning protectors.

The project was hot property earlier this year when Bekmambetov and producer Tim Burton were shopping it to studios, but Fox wanted in on the vampire action so badly that when the filmmakers arrived to pitch it the studio had bloody axes and footprints all over the place. It worked.

Apparently the budget stands at $69 million and a release date of June 22nd 2012 has been set, so filming will begin later this year. Which actor do you want slashing up vampires as Abe Lincoln?

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One of the reasons Wanted made nearly $350 million worldwide in 2008 was due to the presence of Angelina Jolie, so Universal were keen to have her in the sequel (even though she shot herself in the head at the end of the film). However it was announced in February that despite director Timur Bekmambetov finding a way for her character to return, Jolie wouldn’t be.

This was like a bullet to the head of Wanted 2‘s production, causing it to stall, and now James McAvoy has joined the X-Men which means the sequel is unlikely to go ahead anytime soon. While promoting her upcoming film Salt Jolie spoke about why she didn’t return, and it’s a pretty straight forward reason.

From Coming Soon:

“Being dead makes it difficult,” she confirmed. “They were (trying to bring me back) but I kind of feel like if I die in a movie, I should die actually. I’m that way, and that character is not as complex as Salt. It would just be doing the exact same thing in another movie, so it’s not that interesting to me.”

Bringing Angelina Jolie back would have been purely because she is the star, and I doubt it would have worked story-wise.

While she may not be interested in playing an assassin again Jolie has expressed interest in playing Maleficent, the wicked fairy godmother who cast the original spell on Sleeping Beauty and can morph into a fire-breathing dragon.

In March we heard Tim Burton was developing a live-action movie of the Disney character, and in today’s interview Jolie said that while there is no script she has “loved Maleficent since I was a little girl, so when I heard somebody may be doing it, I was the first one to try to (get it). I would love to work with (Tim Burton), it would be a dream to work with him. I think he’s just extraordinary.”

Jolie will be seen in Salt on July 23rd, and in The Tourist alongside Johnny Depp next February.

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Just yesterday we were hearing that Fight Club director David Fincher is to direct a remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for Disney, and now we have word that another 20,000 Leagues movie is in the works. This seems to be another case of studios setting up rival projects which we have seen a lot of over the years. The problem for Disney is that the 20th Century Fox version is further along in production.

From HeatVision:

Now Heat Vision has learned that Fox is prepping its own version of the classic Jules Verne tale with an equally pedigreed filmmaking team. Producers Ridley and Tony Scott and their Scott Free Prods. are developing a “Leagues” project for the studio with a script by “Clash of the Titans” co-writer Travis Beacham. And they’ve been talking with director Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”) about helming the big-budget adaptation, though there’s no deal for Timur yet.

“20,000 Leagues” is in the public domain, so anybody can adapt it. Fox’s project began life quietly after the writers strike. Beacham is said to have approached the Scotts with his take on the literary classic, which Fox then bought. Bekmambetov, notoriously picky about his projects, is interested in directing “Leagues” and has had talks about the project, which insiders say is set in the future (although it follows the novel’s structure). The thinking is that a sci-fi take on the material might be more accessible than a period one.

So which one will surface first? It’s unlikely that whichever project ends up going into production last will continue as it will be seen as the ‘copycat’ and will probably fail at the box office.

Which version do you want to see? David Fincher’s or Timur Bekmambetov’s?

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Earlier today we heard that 20th Century Fox had offered X-Men: First Class to Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn. Now Deadline are reporting that Vaughn may pass, and that Fox are currently in talks with a number of other directors and will make a decision next week.

Some of these names may ring a bell:

Fox continues its search, talking to a strong list of directors that includes Timur Bekmambetov, Louis Leterrier, David Slade, Daniel Espinoza and Carl Erick Rinsch. A decision will be made next week on the director with an eye toward a late summer or early fall start.

Bekmambetov is the director of Wanted, and he is probably looking for new projects seeing as though the sequel is in limbo. James McAvoy would actually make a good young Magneto.

Louis Leterrier recently directed Clash of the Titans (but won’t be returning for the sequel). The film did well at the box office but the reviews weren’t good, so I don’t particularly want him near the X-Men. David Slade is close to finishing work on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and while the recent trailer looked okay I’d prefer Fox to get someone new that will bring the franchise back to X2 levels.

The two interesting names are those we aren’t too familiar with. Daniel Espinosa is a Swedish director whose latest film, Snabba Cash, is being remade by Warner Bros. with Zac Efron. HeatVision say he has been talking with Bryan Singer about directing First Class over recent weeks, however due to his film becoming the talk of the Berlin International Film Festival Universal, Benicio Del Toro and Leonardo DiCaprio are keen to get him to direct their movies. Here’s the trailer for Snabba Cash so you can see what all the buzz is about:

Carl Erick Rinsch is a commercial/music video director who recently directed a short film called The Gift, which we posted a few weeks ago. The short created a buzz among studios and they engaged in a bidding war to develop it into a feature film. I’ve embedded the short below:

After X3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine the X-Men franchise needs a talented upcoming director to make something more than just a popcorn flick. Out of the names mentioned above Carl Erick Rinsch gets my backing because he fits the criteria brilliantly, but I guess we’ll find out next week.

Who do you want to direct?

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In case the upcoming sci-fi Frankenstein, the heroic Frankenstein fighting supernatural creatures, and Guillermo del Toro’s eventual adaptation weren’t enough for you, there’s now another film version in the works. These “trends” in Hollywood are getting disgustingly out of hand.

A twitter post by Production Weekly reveals that Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Day Watch, Wanted) is going to develop a film based on Peter Ackroyd’s novel The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein. Ackroyd is well known for his attention to detail with regards to Victorian London, and I’d hope that Bekmambetov would manage to transfer this atmosphere to the screen. Night Watch or Wanted aren’t exactly going to give us an indication of whether he’ll successfully convey England in the 1800s though…

The plot is the most similar to the original Frankenstein, out of the three we’ve received confirmation of recently (excluding del Toro’s one). Frankenstein becomes obsessed with the notions of creation and life after his religious beliefs are challenged by poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and begins trying to bring bodies back to life – at some point becoming tangled up with a group of resurrectionists who put him in “great danger.” Writers from the period crop up throughout the place, such as Lord Byron and Mary Shelley (author of the original novel).

While I’m not sure how suited Bekmambetov is to the project, this is by far the most exciting out of this, I, Frankenstein, and the Dean Koontz adaptation (despite the fact that the film industry is now officially in a Frankenstein overload). It’s the sort of take I’d rather see, if done right, as opposed to 3D-CG-filled-meaningless-action-stuff. Which is what the other two might well end up being. I’m gonna pray Timur doesn’t turn this into one of those.

And The Hobbit‘s been delayed enough times already – can’t someone free Guillermo and let him get on with cool stuff like this?

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Last week we got the news that Angelina Jolie had decided not reprise her role of Fox in Wanted 2, and that Universal had pulled the plug on the sequel as a result. However, according to The Hollywood Reporter Wanted 2 is still alive, and creator Mark Millar recently told STV that the film “will be certainly going ahead”.

“What I heard was that there’s filming this year for a release at the end of next year, so the plot that they had will have some modifications now. Her character will have to be written out completely. We’ll see what happens, I don’t know, it changes every day. Again, things get so out of your hands with film because 300 people are involved, whereas with comics it’s just you and your artist.”

The following quote from Millar contains Wanted spoilers…

“What was funny was originally ‘Wanted’ was just going to be one movie, and Angelina [Jolie] dies at the end,” related Millar. “The idea was that it was going to be self-contained, but the movie cost $75 million to make and it made $314 million back just theatrically. At the premiere the tracking was really good and everything, and the producer came up and said ‘What are we going to do for ‘Wanted 2?’’ and I was like ‘I don’t have any ideas!’”

“So they put something together, and it was bringing Angelina back from the dead and everything,” continued Millar. “I don’t know, I think that probably just didn’t sit easily with her, because it has to be a really good reason why somebody comes back from the dead.”

“I think it’s actually more authentic if they keep her dead,” added Millar. “She was the star of the movie really, but how cool is it to have the star dead and bring in another cool character for the next one?

Wanted 2 can still be successful without Jolie, but they’ll need to get a few more names onboard as I don’t think James McAvoy can carry the film by himself, especially overseas where the first film made most of its money. I guess they’ll now be busy rewriting the script, so we should hear some stuff on the sequel in the upcoming months if they intend to release it in 2011.

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One of the reasons Wanted made nearly $350 million worldwide in 2008 was due to the presence of Angelina Jolie, so Universal were keen to have her in the sequel (even though she shot herself in the head at the end of the film). Director Timur Bekmambetov said last August that he had written her character into the sequel and recent reports hinted that Jolie would be returning (Mark Miller mentioned the script was re-written to make a few people happy) however according to The Vulture Jolie has decided not to return, which has caused Universal to pull the plug on the sequel.

As for Jolie, we hear she is now intent on starring in Warner Bros.’ Gravity, a space thriller to be directed by Children of Men’s Alfonso Cuarón from a script he wrote with his 28-year-old son, Jonás.

Like Wanted 2, Gravity had previously been set up at Universal, with Jolie set to star. But a few weeks ago, the studio put Gravity into turnaround, possibly because it’s such an artistically challenging project: Jolie would be alone on-screen for much of the movie, playing the sole surviving human member of a space mission, desperately trying to return home to Earth and her daughter. (In that way it’s reminiscent of the brilliant, little-seen Moon with Sam Rockwell. Seriously, why won’t you see it?) Now Warners has snapped it up, and it will be produced by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows producer David Heyman and Legendary Pictures.

I think Universal could have still moved forward with Wanted 2, but I suppose their big star dropping out wasn’t ideal. It’s a shame for James McAvoy. This could have been his action franchise.

As for Gravity, i’m a big fan of Alfonso Cuarón after loving both Children of Men and Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban, and i’ve been waiting to see what his next big project would be. I suppose having Jolie on-screen for most of the film can’t be a bad thing, although I hope it’s not too similar to Moon.

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