IGN just debuted a new pair of posters (full versions below) for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the adaptation of the book by Seth Grahame-Smith (the guy who wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and War and Peace and Lesbians or whatever) from Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov (the hardest working Kazakhstani in Hollywood).

Scheduled to hit theaters on June 22, 2012, stars Benjamin Walker [as Lincoln], Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jimmi Simpson, Robin McLeavy, Alan Tudyk and Rufus Sewell. [IGN]

Read the rest of this entry »

All year I’ve been sitting through movies like I Am Number Four, Cowboys and Aliens, Super 8, Monsters, Skyline, Transformers 3, Battleship, Battle: Los Angeles, Green Lantern, Attack the Block, Thor… thinking, “Jeez, when is someone finally going to make a movie about an alien invasion?”

It looks like director Chris Gorak and producer Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) have finally answered my prayers, with The Darkest Hour, from Summit Entertainment, starring Emile Hirsch and Olivia Thirlby (or as I like to call her, OLIVIA THRILLBY!). This time around, the aliens attack Moscow (they’re trying to steal our expensive whores!). The twist is, this time, the aliens are invisible! And they can see us with infrared heat vision! This new wrinkle really turns the idea on its head, doesn’t it? I mean, I’ve never seen something like that before. Except in Predator. Which they remade last year.

“ALIENS! CHICK SCIENTIST! ‘SPLOSIONS! THE MILITARY!” -Every movie for the last five years.

[HD Trailer at Apple]

As we learned from his recent open letter to Vladimir Putin asking for the Russian Prime Minister to support immortality research, Steven Seagal is a great friend to the Russian people, and even “considers himself Russian,” despite being an Irish Jew from Fullerton who wears kimonos. Seagal was recently in neighboring Astana, Kazakhstan to attend a star-studded International Action Film Festival whose other luminaries included poetry superstar Michael Madsen. During the press conference, Seagal brought up his idea for a Genghis Khan epic, which he’s apparently been talking about since 1998. In fairness, if there’s one thing we know about Steven Seagal, it’s that he doesn’t keep track of space and time too well.  Here’s my favorite badly-translated account of the event:

This year such famous Hollywood stars as Steven Seagal and Michael Madsen have become the guests of the festival. Such actors as Sergey Svetlakov, Marat Basharov, Viktor Verzhbitsky, Yekaterina Strizhenova, Yevgeny Stychkin and Dmitry Nagiyev were among the guests. At the festival Dmitry will present the “Two pistols. Evasive brilliant” film, where he is in the lead cast. [CaspioNet]

That movie sounds awesome. Here’s a more coherent account of Seagal discussing his Khan epic.

As Steven Seagal said at a press conference on Saturday in the capital of Kazakhstan, where the 2nd International Action Film Festival ASTANA-2011 is taking place, he would like to play the role of the Mongolian khan.
“I really want to make a movie about Genghis Khan. I get lots of offers, but I want to shoot not just a film, but a big epic. Probably, my friend – the mayor of Astana (Imangali Tasmaganbetov) – will help me” – the actor hopes.
At the same time Steven Seagal admitted that because of the crisis the American film industry is in the doldrums. Therefore he intends to work on the film about Genghis Khan together with Russian and Kazakhstan cinematographers.
“Now I am also in the process of developing joint projects with Russian film directors. We are not only working on the plot, but also settling financial issues. I hope very much for working with Timur Bekmambetov, since I consider him a great and hardworking film director”- he added. [RussiaIC]

“Because of America’s financial issues, I hope to work somewhere where capital is stable, like the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. I would even consider working with Timur Bekmambetov, the most famous person Kazakhstan has ever produced.”  As much as the Seagal jokes are endless here, I fell down a bit of a Kazakhstan rabbit hole while writing this post, and it was just too good not to share.  For instance, would you like to see photos from Kazakhstan’s Fashion Week? (Yes, you would).  Or how about learn more about the traditional Kazakh sport of “Girl Chasing?”

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve mentioned the planned adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith) a few times now, but today’s news is that Fox has “won” a bidding war for the project.  It will be in 3D (duh) with Wanted‘s Timur Bekmambetov directing, Tim Burton producing, and a $69 million budget.  Grahame-Smith will write the script.  So, how did Fox manage to secure this surefire hit?  By colossal tools, apparently.

Fox went all out to win rights to the project, giving a detailed pitch for the film’s production, marketing, and release.  Studio higher-ups didn’t stop there.  When the filmmakers entered the Fox lot, they were greeted by a huge banner, plus parking signs stating, “Parking for Vampire Hunters Only, Park at your own risk.”

A banner and fake, personalized street signs?  Well la di dah.  Suddenly my birthday trip to the county fair when I was six doesn’t seem so hot.

Next there were bloody footprints lining the walkway and steps leading from their cars to the meeting with Fox execs.  Posters lining the hallway of the executive building showed images from the book and lines from the script, while there were silver bullets in a bowl at the check-in desk.

“I see you’ve read enough of my book to make photocopies, yet not enough to know that silver bullets kill werewolves, not vampires.  Very impressive.”

The showmanship continued.  Bloody axes were strewn about and a bugle player with a Confederate uniform played “Taps.”  [Variety]

And as they were about to leave, Fox presented the filmmakers with a scrapbook of their meeting, featuring a polaroid-filled photo album with “Best Friends Forever!” written on the cover in puffy paint.  Christ, this whole article gives me major douche chills. But let’s take a step back.  What exactly did Fox secure the rights to again?

Read the rest of this entry »

Kazakhstani director Timur Blackmambatov (Wanted), who seems like kind of a prick (which might be partially influenced by his resemblance to the notoriously pompous Tibetan Fox), recently gave an interview to Empire magazine to discuss his upcoming projects.  Somehow, he managed to make “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” sound even more ridiculous than the title.

Bekmambetov: “That one 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 [ugh....]. I hope we will start this winter. We are shooting in America.”

Huh, because I just assumed a book called “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” (from the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies guy) would be expressly comedic.  But I confess I haven’t read one of these books.  They seem like they’d just be a kind-of-funny idea stretched to tedious lengths, like Bob Saget’s career. But I do like the idea of a foreigner coming in to adapt a popular book, and making his movie based on a bad Babelfish translation that misses the point completely.  “Da, we make documentary of your president Rambo. He is hero in Kazakhstan.  He rid forest of za chocolate face.”

Read the rest of this entry »