Not lacking for potential projects — “Wanted 2,” “Black Lightning,” “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea,” “Moby Dick” and Disney’s “Jungle Cruise” have all been mentioned in the past few months — it looks like Timur Bekmambetov has finally settled on “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” for his next directing gig.
Announced back in March solely as a production job he was taking alongside Tim Burton, the film is based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith (“Pride And Prejudice And Zombies”) and spins the familiar history of Abraham Lincoln, but casts him as a ruthless vampire killer. Speaking with Empire, Bekmambetov reveals his plans for the movie which may even include sequels: “[‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’] I’m prepping to direct myself. It is not a comedy at all – it is a very entertaining, epic history lesson for millions and millions of teenagers. If you remember ‘Nightwatch,’ it is maybe in the vein of that kind of movie. We are keeping the traditional look of Lincoln – the big hat and the beard. He has to be historically correct, but with a few special weapons. There is only one book, but there will be many opportunities to develop and explore this world if we get to do sequels. I hope we will start this winter. We are shooting in America.”
As for “Wanted 2,” which had rumors circling earlier this year that Kristen Stewart wanted to take over the lead role, he says it’s still being kicked around but won’t happen for a while yet: “We are discussing ‘Wanted 2’ every month. We are working on it now, but I think it will be after Lincoln because James (McAvoy) is working on the ‘X-Men: First Class’… It’s why I decided to develop Lincoln without a studio, to keep control. It’s a big movie but independent too.”
But most intriguing is “Red Asphalt,” picked up by Lionsgate back in April and based on a pitch made way back in 2008. Details have been scarce on the project except that the script is by Andrew Baldwin who earned some Black List buzz with a Depression-era drama called “The West Is Dead.” Well, Bekmambetov has spilled the beans on the project a bit and it sounds completely terrible/awesome: “I am working on that with Lionsgate. It’s a movie about drunk driving… in 3D! 3D is the only way to recreate what you feel when you drink and drive. It’s my original idea – I wrote the treatment. Everyone drinks and drives once, and I want to make a horror movie about it. It’s one big car chase. People will feel what it’s like when you’re drunk and driving, and it’s really scary. The world is not exactly the same.” So it’s like an after school special with cool special effects? Color us confused.
Bekmambetov kind of talks about every single movie he’s been attached to ever with Empire, and you can read more over here.
