March 3, 2010

Tim Burton to help get 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' made into a movie?

Yes, yes he will. He's planning to produce the adaptation of the book of the same name, written by the author of 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'. Here's the story in The Hollywood Reporter:

Tim Burton and "Wanted" director Timur Bekmambetov are teaming to bring the Seth Grahame-Smith novel "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" to the big screen.

The book was released today by Grand Central Publishing.

Burton and Bekmambetov will produce the adaptation with Jim Lemley. The trio first collaborated to produce the animated fantasy "9" with Focus Features released last fall. Grahame-Smith, who combined zombies and Jane Austen in the best-selling novel "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," will write the screenplay. Hollywood already has its hooks in "Zombies"; the book is set up at Lionsgate with Natalie Portman producing and attached to direct.

"Lincoln" is not set up anywhere but Burton and Bekmambetov, who are not attached to direct, hope to change that soon. One of the factors that cemented the filmmakers' interest was a peek at an in-house trailer for the book, made by Grand Central.

"Lincoln" reimagines one of the great U.S. presidents as an axe-throwing, highly trained vampire assassin, promising to give new context to real historical events such as the Civil War and Lincoln's ascension to the White House. It begins with his mother's murder when he was still a young boy and his vow of revenge.

Burton and Bekmambetov and Grahame-Smith are repped by WME.

-Tim Burton doesn't always do it for me, but I'm very interested to see how his hand in this mix might make the project ultimately turn out...thoughts?

3 comments:

  1. This whole subgenre of books could turn out to be great fodder for film, or awful, we shall see...

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  2. Agreed. I think if done right, both this and a "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" movie could be wonderful fun that could perhaps even inspire a new branch of comedy-horror-alternate history.

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  3. Indeed. It has a lot of potential. Worst case scenario, it's a long SNL skit...

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