by Kimmie Chameleon:
Darkness descended upon my arrival on Saturday, March 17th at WonderCon 2012 in Anaheim, California. Rain pummeled down on me outside, and I sought shelter just in time to secure a spot in the Ballroom to witness two highly anticipated panels for Twentieth Century Fox’s movies, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Prometheus. I was handed two promotional 3D posters for each of the movies, a peculiar Weyland Corporation promotional business card, and a pair of RealD 3D glasses. Oh boy! This means the trailers will be shown in 3D!
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Panel
The panel was moderated by the film’s author-screenwriter, Seth Grahame-Smith. Although producer Tim Burton was not present at the panel, we were treated to a hilarious mock video of an ill Burton (a shriveled corpse donning Burton’s signature eyeglasses) sharing the sofa along side with holistic health guru Dr. Andrew Weil in London. As Burton thanks the cast and crew of the movie, he ultimately flatlines and dies. Guess those attentive and scantily clad nurses that surrounded Burton failed to offer him much more than eye-candy.
Seth Grahame-Smith welcomed director Timur Bekmambetov and actor Benjamin Walker (who plays Abraham Lincoln) to join him onstage. The lights dim and the climax sequence for the film is screened. The action scene takes place on top of a fast moving train crossing a high bridge engulfed with fire, punctuated by the night sky as the background. Abe is fending off vampires and lopping off their heads with the assistance of Will Johnson. They are wielding gun-axes and Abe has an encounter with a powerful vampire played by actor Rufus Sewell. This movie is serious and will not disappoint.
Lights come back on and during the Q and A portion of the panel, Seth Grahame-Smith said that while he was on a book tour promoting Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, he was in many bookstores that were celebrating Abe Lincoln’s birthday. These books were displayed alongside the popular Twilight series. This would be the source of his inspiration for his Abe Lincoln story. He also felt that Lincoln was the first American superhero. He did a lot of research because he wanted the story to have actual historical ties within it. Actor Ben Walker added that in researching his role he found that Lincoln’s life was rather dark, and so it blended with the genre of vampires. Ben tells us that Lincoln was a “bad-ass”.
Grahame-Smith elaborated that making the movie required some adapting. They added the character Adam, played by Rufus Sewell, as king of all vampires. Grahame-Smith hinted that the romance aspect of the book was revised for the script.
A convention audience member announced to the panel that he works at Disneyland’s “Great Moment’s with Mr. Lincoln” attraction and that they have Grahame-Smith’s book on display in there. Seth was absolutely tickled by this.
As the panel concluded, an audience member asked if our current president, Barak Obama, could be a vampire slayer and what would his weapon be. The panel all agreed that Obama would be a bad-ass vampire slayer because he is tall and fit. Obama would probably use “diplomacy” and “the internet and his Blackberry” as his weapons. The panel guests remind us that Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter will be released purposely on June 22, 2012 because that is the longest day of the year. Guess they are looking out for our safety from vampires that seek us out in the dark of night.
Prometheus Panel
Immediately following the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter panel, we were swung straight into the next Twentieth Century Fox panel of Prometheus.
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox
Writer Damon Lindelof came out to moderate and shared about how when he was 7 or 8 years old he snuck into his living room at home to watch Alien on H.B.O., much to his father’s disapproval at such a young age. Lindelof then humbly welcomed the great Sir Ridley Scott to the stage. Scott received a sporadic standing ovation and takes his seat. Scott told us that his return to the Alien story in Prometheus was brought about by the unexplored ideas within the story. Scott then expressed how grateful he is to be able to make these science fiction films, and that he intends on doing more in the future. This is well received news and the audience cheers.
Damon next introduced Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender to the panel. The two actors reflected on how Scott gave them each two hours to read the secret script to see if they were interested in joining the cast. Of course they both accepted.
Working with a large ensemble cast makes for a better performance, according to Scott. He also shot the film in true 3D and reflected on his past experiences working before the time of CGI effects. Scott believes that you can do anything you want with CGI now, but the real problem is coming up with something original…and there is of course, the cost.
A Twitter question was directed to Michael Fassbender regarding the rumor about his character, David, gives birth to mankind. He simply answers, “Absolutely”. This is interesting because the character David is an android in the film. Not sure if there is any truth to his response, but looking forward to the movie’s release date, set for June 8, 2012.
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