While we still wait to find out what is going on with his presumed next effort, Hellfest, Neil Marshall is making sure that his follow-up is ready to set sail. The Last Voyage of the Demeter has begun casting and it seems Neil is going for a higher paid crowd this time ’round.
Ben Kingsley remains on board as ship captain and now word is coming through that Viggo Mortensen is in talks for the lead, Henry Clemens. If I’m remembering correctly from past announcements involving Demeter (and there have been PLENTY), the lead character is supposed to be the ship’s first mate.
Partially based on the Stoker novel, the film will involve the ship’s passengers and crew being picked off one by one at the hands of Dracula on his trip from Transylvania to London. Basically, it’s a redressed slasher film with the Count as the unstoppable killer. Noomi Rapace was previously attached alongside Kingsley to play a character named Anna Billington, but there’s no word about her current involvement. One has to wonder if the similarities between this and Alien/Prometheus will cause her to move on to other pastures.
As I’ve said before, this sounds like a winner in the hands of Marshall and I hope it comes to pass. This property hasn’t had the best of luck making it to the silver screen over the past decade, after all. If Viggo does sign on*, this would likely film after he finishes up work on Hossein Amini’s The Two Faces of January and David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises sequel. That would set it up for a mid-2013 shoot, giving them plenty of time to continue to building a wonderful ensemble cast**. It also allows for Marshall to still shoot Hellfest before hand, assuming the current rewrite has turned out well.
Once again, who would you like to see as ol’ Alucard in this tale of terror?
Source | Bloody-Disgusting
* – And there is no guarantee that he will. The man has flirted with quite a few mainstream properties recently (Man of Steel, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Counselor, etc.) and ultimately passed on all of them. That said, at least this gives us a strong idea of where Marshall’s head is at.
** – I’ll be shocked if Sean Pertwee and Liam Cunningham aren’t on board this vessel somewhere.
16 comments
They should just give Liam Cunningham the First Mate role and let him own this flick.
I heartily dig both Neil and Viggo but am I the only one seeing a problem in the “being picked off” angle while aboard a ship that can only be so big?
I completely agree and I suspect that we’ll be getting some pre and post journey stuff. I’m also wondering if the studio is hoping this will do well enough to warrant a sequel, thereby allowing them to chuck out a new adaptation of Stoker’s novel.
No arguments here!
If it follows the current vampire movie tropes, no it makes no sense. If it follows Stoker’s novel, in which victims weaken and die as if from disease over several nightly feedings, then it could be nicely tense and workable. But will modern audiences tolerate the slow burn? 30 Days of Night says otherwise. Why go to all that trouble to hole up in a town of perpetual night and then kill everyone the first hour you’re there?
Will Marshall go for a slow burn? Probably. Will audiences tolerate it? I hope so.
I would. I tolerate any movie by Marshall.
Any idea who in the running to play Dracula? I would love to see Michael Fassbender in the role.
No word on Dracula (or Renfield) at this time, but I get the impression that it will be a role mostly relegated to the shadows and probably behind make-up FX if they go the shapeshifting route. That said, I’ll be surprised if they don’t cast someone recognizable.
They should make the Count a known passenger on board, maybe only revealing him as the killer of the crew in the third act. Even though the audience will surely know the entire time.
Maybe the first few killed makes it seem like rabid dogs are loose on ship, then things start to get weird, and the crew begins to realize one of them is the killer.
Sounds like a fantastic idea. Someone get Marshall on the horn…
I actually think Viggo would’ve made a great Dracula in this; he’s always struck me as someone who would make a good Dracula. Maybe they’ll just remake Drac yet again and cast him. And Liam Neeson can play Van Helsing. And I can applaud.
I’m sure you’d like to see Michael Fassbender in anything.
Viggo has been already one of the best cinematic Satans. Dracula is a demotion. But he’d still be awesome.
He could grab his head in agony and walk around naked for 90 minutes and I’d watch. Oh wait…
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