Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Short description
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter reimagines the sixteenth American president as a secret warrior against the undead. As a boy in Indiana, Lincoln witnesses his mother's death and comes to understand that a vampire was responsible, a loss that sets him on a lifelong path of vengeance. Trained by the mysterious Henry Sturgess, he becomes an axe-wielding hunter while building a public life in politics, and his private war against vampires becomes entangled with the nation's own conflict over slavery in the years before and during the Civil War. The screenplay was written by Simon Kinberg and Seth Grahame-Smith, adapting Grahame-Smith's novel, and Tim Burton produced alongside Jim Lemley and director Timur Bekmambetov.
Benjamin Walker plays Lincoln, with Dominic Cooper as his mentor, Anthony Mackie as his friend Will Johnson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Mary Todd Lincoln, and Rufus Sewell as the vampire Adam. The film was Bekmambetov's fourth feature as director, following Night Watch, Day Watch and Wanted, and was released in June 2012. Made for about 69 million dollars, it took in roughly 117 million worldwide, a modest return on its budget.
Audiences were lukewarm: 5.9 out of 10 on IMDb from around 168,000 votes, and 5.8 out of 10 on TMDB from a much smaller sample. A critics' rating of 5 out of 10 from 192 reviews places it in similar territory, neither embraced nor dismissed outright.
What's left behind the scenes
- Tom Hardy, initially cast as Lincoln, was forced to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts with "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012). After him, Eric Bana, Timothy Olyphant, Adrien Brody, Josh Lucas, James D'Arcy, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen were considered for the role, but it ultimately went to Benjamin Walker.
- After President Lincoln summons his son Willie for a kiss, and then his friend Will does the same, as Willie leaves the office, Will's glasses are first on him, then disappear, and then reappear.
- The film had its world premiere on the aircraft carrier 'Abraham Lincoln'.
- When Lincoln discovers his watch on the floor in his son's room, there is a close-up of Lincoln opening the watch to read the inscription. Then Lincoln is shown from another angle, and the watch is still closed.
- The film is based on the mashup novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter" (2010).
- Robin McLeavy was originally slated to play Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd, but was ultimately cast as his mother, Nancy.
- At the moment when Will is loading the revolver on the train, he inserts bullets into the cylinder. Revolvers from the Civil War era were loaded from the muzzle and required a percussion cap to ignite the powder charge. The pistol in the frame clearly has chambers for cartridges, not a cap system.
- When Abraham Lincoln delivers his final speech, the wind blows his hat off the table. After his address, he goes to pick up the hat, doing so without even bending over, despite the fact that it should have been lying on the ground.
- At the ball where Lincoln dances with Mary, the music playing is "Estudiantina Waltz," also known as "Band of Students Waltz." This musical arrangement was written in 1883 by Émile Waldteufel and later became his "Opus 191, No. 4." The melody itself was written earlier, in 1881, by composer Paul Lacôme, to the lyrics of J. de Luzignan Lau.
- Several times throughout the film, in close-ups of Abraham Lincoln, it is noticeable that he is wearing contact lenses.
- At the end of the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln realized that the Union was on the verge of defeat. During lunch, he gets the idea to attack vampires with silver weapons. He and his aides gather all the silver in the United States and melt it down into bullets, cannonballs, bayonets, sabers, etc., and pack it up. They then assemble an army of freed slaves, while Lincoln and his friends commandeer a train. The weapons are delivered to the battlefield just in time and save the day. The actual Battle of Gettysburg lasted three days, from July 1st to 3rd, 1863, which is not enough time to carry out this entire plan.
- Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote both the screenplay and the novel the film is based on, told 'Time Magazine' that (contrary to popular belief) the man in the bar at the end of the film (who is texting before [as we assume] Henry hires him to be the next vampire hunter) is not George Bush, Barack Obama, or any other president. Grahame-Smith said: 'That person isn’t meant to be anyone specific, it was done to resolve the prior scene between Henry and Abe.' He also stated that he himself played the man texting.
- Joaquin Phoenix was the first choice for the role of Henry Sturgess, but he declined.
- Negotiations were underway with Trent Reznor for a cameo role in the film, but the news leaked before he made a final decision, and Reznor withdrew from the project as the element of surprise regarding his appearance was lost.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
