I’ve commented before that Timur Bekmambetov, director of Wanted, seems to want to develop hundreds of projects, while never actually getting around to helning any of them. Well now it appears a movie he was originally only supposed to be producing will now be his next directorial outing, although we’ll still have to see whether he actually gets round to shooting it.
In an interview that ranged through everything Bekmambetov is up to, Empire got him to reveal that he’s planning to direct Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, based on the upcoming book by Seth Grahame Smith (Pride & Prejudice & Zombies). Initial reports only had him down as a producer (alongside Tim Burton), but that’s now changed. The story reimagines the American president as an axe-wielding, highly trained vampire hunter.
However Bekmambetov says, ‘That one [Lincoln] Im 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.’
As for the other projects Bekmambetov is working on, he says about Wanted 2 (which at one point looked like it would be his next directing gig), “we are discussing Wanted 2 every month. We are working on it now, but I think it will be after Lincoln because James (McAvoy) is working on the X-Men: First Class. He also suggests that the reason he’s seeking non-studio funding for the Lincoln film, is because of Universal’s interference with the Wanted sequel.
He’s also still developing 20,000 Leagues Under The Seas and Moby Dick, with the hope he’ll direct both, and he’s working as a producer on the likes of The Knights Templar and an English version of the Russian hit, Black Lightning. However while he still hopes a third Daywatch film will happen one day, it seems it’s not a priority, and The Last Witchhunter, which he was attached to a few months, is also now off his radar.