WonderCon 2012: ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER Panel Recap; Timur Bekmambetov and Benjamin Walker Screen Special Footage

In addition to showing off their footage (and a new trailer!) for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, 20th Century Fox also premiered some new footage for producer Tim Burton and director Timur Bekmambetov’s (Wanted) Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Part of the new footage was this recently released trailer (Mr. Lincoln, you had me at “gun-axe”). But they also showed an extended section of a big action set piece that featured all the principal cast, Bekmambetov’s signature action style and a helluva good fight. Unfortunately, Burton could not be present because he was gravely ill, but did check-in via satellite in a delightfully Burtonesque clip. Details after the jump.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, starring Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell, and Anthony Mackie opens in 3D on June 22nd. Hit the jump for more from the presentation.

The panel kicked off with a very bizarre clip featuring a dessicated (and obviously fake) corpse speaking from a hospital bed. Apparently, this was meant to be a very ill Tim Burton, who was presided over by two attractive nurses and a doctor who preached holistic medicine. After a very strange sequence of events which tried to revive Mr. Burton (and failed), we got on with the show. Author/screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith moderated the panel which included Bekmambetov and Walker. While the previous trailers hadn’t entirely convinced me to see the film, the following action sequence definitely did, but skip the next paragraph if you’d like to avoid spoilers.

The big action sequence in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter follows our titular hero (Walker) and Will Johnson (Mackie) as they’re defending a speeding train from attacking vampires. Any fan of Bekmambetov’s Night Watch and/or Wanted will instantly recognize the director’s signature style as there is a lot of it on display in this sequence. There is also a lot of axe-play (yes, axe-play) in this scene as not only Lincoln uses it to dispatch the undead, but Johnson does as well. The duo works together to put down vamp after vamp until the big bad shows up: Adam (Sewell), Chief of the Vampires. As the train is steaming towards a bridge set ablaze, Adam appears to be too much for our heroes, who jump from the falling train.

Yeah, that definitely made me want to go see this flick, which is promising to be heavy on action and axe-play. Walker looks completely badass when he’s swinging the two-hander around, lopping off undead heads left and right. It makes me want to see a revisionist write-up of American history with this Lincoln in place of the historically accurate one. Although, as the lights come back up and the panel discussion begins, Walker and Grahame-Smith do comment on the surprising accuracy of the film. I’ve outlined their responses below:

When asked about how Grahame-Smith, who wrote the source novel, came up with the idea of combining Abraham Lincoln and vampire hunting, he commented that he just gets really drunk by himself and throws darts at a wall until he hits two words that are completely unrelated. In actuality, he said that the idea came from a book tour he was on for his novel, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” Since it was during Lincoln’s 200th birthday, book stores had Lincoln biographies on display…right next to displays of the Twilight novels. This led him to research Lincoln and discovered the man’s actual “superheroic” origins.Walker commented on the Gothic tone of the film, which was strangely historically accurate (mentioning the unexplained death of Lincoln’s mother), calling it a “period Lincoln movie that just happens to have vampires in it.” In a great quote from Walker regarding playing Lincoln, he called it “badass; it’s an honor as an American. I want to know that my leaders are strong and can make tough decisions…and cut some heads off.”Bekmambetov, Grahame-Smith and Walker all talked about Burton’s support in wanting to take an aggressive, all-out approach on the film. Bekmambetov also said that while they changed some things from the book, the tone of the novel and the structure around Lincoln’s life is still present.Grahame-Smith did extensive research into Lincoln’s life and a lot of his book is in the movie. Some things they added were Adam, the Chief of all Vampires (Sewell); William Johnson (Mackie), who was an actual aide of Lincoln’s who traveled with him to Washington, D.C.; and the kick-ass train sequence mentioned above.On vampire comparisons, Grahame-Smith said the following: “I’m not a Twilight-hater, but I’ll say this…our vampires don’t sparkle.” He also guaranteed that Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter will be the only movie this summer to feature a president killing vampires.Bekmambetov also joked that it’s important to note they’re releasing this movie on the shortest night of the year. They worked hard to ground the vampires in reality, noting that the vampires could be seen outside since sunscreen was invented in the 19th century.When asked if President Obama would make a good vampire slayer, Grahame-Smith responded coyly that “he’s tall, he’s athletic” and could be okay. Walker had the best answer when asked what Obama’s weapon of choice against vampires would be: “Diplomacy. Maybe email.”

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter looks like an awesome action movie with a Gothic horror slant and a touch of history thrown in. Walker looks absolutely imposing as our 16th president and is entirely believable in the fight sequences. While it’s important not to take this movie too seriously (obviously), it could easily be the biggest surprise of the summer. I’ll say it again: gun-axe.

Here’s the official synopsis for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter:

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter explores the secret life of our greatest President, and the untold story that shaped our nation. Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted) bring a fresh and visceral voice to the blood-thirsty lore of the vampire, imagining Lincoln as history’s greatest hunter of the undead.

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WonderCon 2012: SOUND OF MY VOICE Panel Recap; Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling Screen the First 12 Minutes of the Film, Recruit Us Into Their Cult

Outside of the Sundance Film Festival, you may not have heard of Sound of My Voice, the cult drama from writers Brit Marling (Another Earth) and Zal Batmanglij. Directed by Batmanglij and starring Marling, Sound of My Voice follows a journalist (Christopher Denham) and his girlfriend (Nicole Vicius) as they investigate a cult lead by a supposed time-traveler and end up drinking the Kool-Aid. In the lead-off presentation at WonderCon today, the filmmakers screened the first 12 minutes of the movie. Much like the actors on screen themselves, I found myself being pulled into the mystery of it while wanting to take a step back to due the film’s thinly veiled sense of menace. After watching a screening of the new trailer, it’s clear that the menace is not only present throughout Sound of My Voice, it escalates dramatically.

Sound of My Voice, also starring Richard Wharton and Christy Meyers, opens April 27th. Hit the jump to check out our recap of the panel.

If you’ve watched the first 12 minutes of Sound of My Voice before, you won’t be surprised to learn that the cult leader, Maggie (Marling) claims to be a visitor from the future. Specifically, she is from the year 2054, denoted by an anchor tattoo with the number 54 that is found on her ankle. In a discussion with the filmmakers, they chose to use the symbol of the anchor to represent time travelers because they use water as a medium, while the number simply marked the year they were from. Before we get into the Q&A with Batmanglij and Marling, cult-members Klaus (Wharton) and Mel (Meyers) came on stage to explain a little bit about their group and invite us like-minded individuals to join them. You can check out their message over at the film’s viral site.

An exclusive WonderCon trailer was then screened, which showed both the back story of the investigative couple, Peter and Lorna, from their planning stages, as well as the escalating tension between the two, catalyzed by the manipulative Maggie. The feeling of dread mounts as Maggie gathers more and more devoted followers, makes plans to move them out of the basement to more of a permanent campsite and starts asking them to do increasingly questionable things. At the risk of ruining any more of the story, I’ll stop there, as I’ve been told that this is definitely a film to see knowing as little as possible going into it.

After that, Batmanglij and Marling took the stage to field questions about Sound of My Voice. I’ve listed their responses in bullet points below:

The idea for the film came from an interest in the number of fringe groups in and around Los Angeles. Sound of My Voice started from the idea of a group (they didn’t want to call them cults) that was led by a time-traveler who couldn’t leave her basement (due to our time’s microorganisms that affected her immune system.)They wanted to explore the dichotomy between an actual legitimate time traveler  who was unable to relate or exist comfortably in our time versus a skilled con-artist who could convince people that her story was true. Marling played on the fact that her character Maggie both chain-smoked and took lots of vitamins habitually.For the project, they researched historical cults (like Jonestown) and their leaders, many of whom were predominantly former actors or preachers. They also wanted to explore how a female cult leader would act. Marling’s “Maggie” was a combination of maternal presence as well as a seductress.When asked about what would make people want to join a cult like this, Batmanglij responded that “we’re all looking for meaning in our lives, the promise of something extraordinary.”As far as the cast and budget for Sound of My Voice, nearly everyone worked for free to make the film, which was shot on two 7D series SLRs, mostly out of Marling’s apartment. There was a great story about having to film a scene on a plane, so they purchased a $25 flight to San Francisco, shot the scenes in the air, grabbed some french fries when they landed and finished the shoot on the way back. As they were filming, a flight attendant asked if they wanted her to take the picture so that director Batmanglij could be in the shot.When asked about finding substantial and meaningful roles in Hollywood as a young actress, Marling confessed that she turned to writing in order to create those types of roles for herself.Following up on the exclusive cut of the trailer, Marling revealed Maggie as “kind, gentle and sympathetic, but also vicious, snake-like and possessing scorpion energy.” Marling herself commented that a friend of hers didn’t realize she possessed such “capacity for cruelty.” When asked about what goes down in the basement, Batmanglij replied, “Shit happens in that basement,” referring to the escalation of menace.

While the film has already screened at a previous Sundance festival, it definitely looks like one to check out if it happens to be playing a theater near you when it releases on April 27th. Check out the official synopsis and poster below:

Synopsis:

Following much preparation, Peter and Lorna are given an address. In the dead of night, they pull off the lonely road and await further instructions. Soon they part with their clothes and belongings. After they shower and clean themselves thoroughly, they are blindfolded and whisked to an undisclosed location, where they descend into a basement. Once downstairs, they perform the complicated handshake and are able to gain entry into the group. With that, the young couple, who have been posing as believers, successfully infiltrate the cult’s inner sanctum and meet enigmatic leader Maggie, portrayed by the promising Brit Marling (also cowriter and producer). What follows is a delicately paced and riveting plunge into a psychological maelstrom of uncertainty and danger. Filmmaker Zal Batmanglij’s feature debut crackles with a mesmerizing command of form, offering no easy answers to the elusive search for truth.

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