Whilst Abraham Lincoln will always be remembered as one of America’s defining presidents who died abruptly at the hands of the assassin John Wilkes Booth, a novel by Seth Grahame-Smith paints a decidedly different picture and is now headed to the big screen.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter became a bestseller for its biographical story telling that was a collection of diary entries supposedly given to the author by the Vampire Henry Sturges. He helped saved Lincoln‘s life as a teenager when he was battling a vampire and the two soon developed a friendship with Sturges teaching Lincoln how to hunt and kill vampires.
It’s revealed in the book that the driving force behind his political ambitions and reasons for abolishing slavery is his quest to kill vampires, who are feeding off slaves. Lincoln‘s assassin, John Wilkes Booth is also revealed to be a vampire who does battle with Sturges. In the story’s conclusion it would seem that Lincoln also escaped death.
The deal to adapt the novel was struck in October after a fierce bidding war by the studios with Twentieth Century Fox landing the project after literally rolling out the red carpet for the producers.
The film is being directed by Timur Bekmambetov of Wanted fame with Tim Burton producing from a screenplay to be penned by the author Grahame-Smith. The film has been scheduled for a summer 2012 release and will be shot in 3d with a budget of $69 million with production set to begin in the first half of 2011.
Recently it was reported that Tom Hardy had been offered the role of the Vampire Sturges, now news has come across the wire that Aussie actor Eric Bana will be meeting with the director in coming days to discuss the possibility of playing the vampire hunter, Abraham Lincoln.
His casting seems appropriate as he’s almost the same height as Lincoln who was the tallest American president at 6′ 4, Bana stands at 6′ 3″. The actor would be a great choice for the role which would be physical demanding and require him to be powerful enough to battle supernatural monsters with just his bare hands and a trusty axe.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter will sink its fangs into cinemas June 22, 2012.
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