Timur Bekmambetov’s upcoming adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is one of the hottest projects in development right now. With a script penned by Smith himself (who also adapted his novel Pride & Prejudice & Zombies), Tim Burton on board to produce and Bekmambetov gaining recognition stateside for his debut American film Wanted, casting has been abuzz over who would play the 16th U.S. President.
While nobody has been cast in the part yet, Deadline is reporting the field is getting narrowed down with screen tests currently taking place and that the following actors are up for the part: Adrien Brody (King Kong), Timothy Olyphant (Hitman) and Josh Lucas (A Beautiful Mind) being three of the bigger names with little known Benjamin Walker, James D'Arcy and Oliver Jackson-Cohen also up for the part. No word on if the previously rumored Eric Bana is still in contention.
Whoever gets picked can’t be a stranger to physical stunts, as Lincoln (in this story at least) is prone to throwing down axes with a number of vampires, searching for the one that killed his mother when he was a child. Bekmambetov may be tempting fate doing a (violent) period piece with only a $70 million budget but news of an actor cast in the part may signal what direction the project is headed: either really cool or really awful (hoping for the former).
