Bloody Bloody: "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" In Production

Benjamin Walker as Abraham Lincoln. Photo by Stephen Vaughn

I thought that Seth Grahame-Smith's compulsively readable novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was an enormously entertaining mash-up of the historical fiction and horror genres, with a strong sense of versimilitude. I am not a reader of vampire fiction, so I hope it is high praise for both authors when I say that the novel resonated in my memory with Gore Vidal's literary masterpiece, Lincoln, but pushed it far off-shore into an unexpectedly literate and thoughtful biography of our 16th president, while deliving into realms of metaphor that looked at slavery and the Civil War from a skewed, but not wholly unwelcome,  perspective.

Therefore, it was with equal delight and anticipation that I opened the NY Times this morning to learn that not only is a film on this odd story in the works, but it will feature Benjamin Walker who mostly recently did a star turn as another American president on Broadway in "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" which I thoroughly enjoyed. A sample from his dynamic emo-rockin' performance in "Bloody Bloody..." on Broadway (which won't be reflected in the upcoming film " here

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, being helmed by Timur Bekmambetov, is set for a blockbuster summer release next June. I can't wait.

NY Times article on the forthcoming film in production in Louisiana here

The "book trailer" from Hatchette Book Group which gives a flavor for the concept here