Despite the festering wound that was “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” the film’s two leads haven’t taken much of a hit as both have landed some big roles.
First up, the vampire-slaying President himself, Benjamin Walker is in talks — aren’t they always — to join Chris Hemsworth and Tom Holland in the Ron Howard-helmed long-brewing adaptation of Nathaniel Philbrick’s “In The Heart Of Sea,” which is based on the true events that inspired Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.” The role Walker is eyeing is that of an “arrogant privileged son of a whaling family who attempts to use his family name to gain captaincy, and who butts heads with” Hemsworth’s character.
Walker’s ‘Vampire Hunter’ co-star Dominic Cooper has a nice part lined up for himself as well, the co-starring role in Universal’s Luke Evans-starring “Dracula” reboot. The new take is said to be more grounded — because of course it is — and “a mix of mythology and history as it follows the story of Prince Vlad,” whose notorious bloodthirsty rule inspired the legend. While Variety makes no mention of Cooper’s character, could it be anyone other than Van Helsing?
Other than last year’s “Side by Side,” Keanu Reeves has been missing from the big screen for a while now. And though he has both “Man of Tai Chi” and “47 Ronin” coming later this year, Reeves has already locked up his next project: the revenge film “John Wick.” Reeves stars as “a former hitman whose killer instincts are reawakened after a thug steals his 1969 Ford Mustang and in the process kills the dog given to him by his late wife. Wick tracks the man to New York, where the thug’s father, a crime boss, puts a bounty on his head.” “Gran Torino” with more action, perhaps? No word on why the studio changed the name from “John Wick Of Mars.”
And finally, Michael Douglas will follow up his role as Liberace in Steven Soderbergh’s “Behind The Candelabra” with the starring role in the thriller “The Reach.” Adapted by Stephen Susco from the Robb White novel “Deathwatch,” the Carré Blanc-helmed film follows Douglas as “an arrogant businessman and big game hunter in pursuit of his ultimate prize who hires a young guide to lead him into the American desert. After Madec (Douglas) shoots and kills an innocent man, a game of cat-and-mouse unfolds when the guide refuses to take part in a cover-up.” Now that Douglas is healthy again, we’re glad to have him back on the big screen and we hope he makes the best of it.