The upcoming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter explores the secret life of the USA’s 16th president, and the untold story that shaped our nation. Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov bring a fresh look to vampires (since recent movies have totally screwed the hell out of them), imagining Lincoln as history’s greatest hunter of the undead and quite possibly, the USA’s first superhero. Sorry, Captain America.
‘Lincoln’s entire life mirrors the classic comic book superhero mythology. It’s a duality: during the day he’s the president of the United States; at night, a vampire hunter,’ says producer Tim Burton. That separation is the core of the Lincoln that we meet in the film. ‘He was ordinary and extraordinary at the same time,’ says director Timur Bekmambetov, whose work includes ‘Wanted”=’,‘Night Watch’ and ‘Day Watch’.
‘Lincoln’s life story is an archetypal superhero origin story. He’s as close to an actual superhero as this country’s ever seen. Forget about vampires. Lincoln had neither a family name nor money. His mother died when he was a youngster. In fact, everybody he loved had died. With no education, and armed with just his mind, he became president and saved the nation,’ says screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith, who adapted his best-selling novel of the same name to the big screen.
Grahame-Smith notes that his idea for his book Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter came from an observation he made during a 2009 tour to promote his previous Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The thing that we like the most about Grahame-Smith’s vampires is that they are exactly what they’re supposed to be, paying proper respect to the classic tradition of movie vampires. ‘The vampires in our movie aren’t romantic or funny, and they certainly don’t sparkle,’ says Grahame-Smith. ‘Our vampires are bloodthirsty and cunning – and most frightening of all, they’ve become a part of the fabric of everyday life, working as blacksmiths, pharmacists, and bankers.’
The movie’s story covers 45 years of Abraham Lincoln’s life, from 1820 to 1865, and is set in Kentucky, Illinois, and Louisiana and the nation’s capital. The next question was who is going to be the lucky actor to the iconic leader and fearless vampire slayer? The answer came in the form of actor Benjamin Walker. Walker, a 6’3” Juilliard-trained actor most certainly had the physical stature to play the lanky Lincoln. Walker looked the part, but could he ACT the part? The only way to find out was for Bekmambetov, Burton and Lemley to put Walker to the test – a screen test, in which the actor put on prosthetics that aged him to 55, and he then delivered one of the most renowned speeches in history, the Gettysburg Address. Walker more than impressed the filmmakers. ‘My reaction was, ‘Oh my god, it’s Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address!’ Lemley exclaims.
In the weeks leading up to production, stunt coordinator Mic Rodgers (Mr & Mrs Smith, Wanted, The Fast and the Furious) and fight coordinator Don Lee (‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’) worked with Walker to transform the actor into a battle-hardened, axe-wielding hunter of the undead. Walker’s gruelling regimen included kicking, stretching, yoga, boxing, and endless hours of training with Lincoln’s vampire-slaying weapon of choice: a specially tweaked axe.
The axe and many of the other props were the work of property master Guillaume DeLouche, who put together his own facility and specializes in the historically correct manufacturing of axes, knives, guns and rifles. All the film’s weapons were built using methods identical to the ones used in the 19th century.
Abraham’s axe itself is a display of engineering badassery, mainly because it can transform into a gun. It was hand-forged by a gunsmith and bladesmith, and custom-made with a hickory handle. ‘We took everyday objects of that era and gave them a twist,’ says Tim Burton. ‘Everyone is familiar with muskets, bayonets and axes, but nobody had thought of turning them into a single weapon.’
Speaking of weapons training, the film’s action/fight/stunt scenes were choreographed in Kazakhstan, home to fight choreographer Igor Tsay and his Acting School of Fighting Kun-Do. There, Tsay and his team storyboarded the elaborate action sequences, which were pre-visualized and further developed in Moscow. And when we saw the trailer, the only thing we could think was, WOW.
The movie has a lineup of amazing actors, including Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Marton Csokas, Erin Wasson, and Rufus Sewell.
From what we can tell, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is going to reboot the awesomeness of vampires, while making us see one of the nation’s most iconic leaders in a whole new light. The film opens 22 June 2012, and we absolutely can’t wait.
Photos are courtesy Twentieth Century Fox.
