Rufus Sewell plays Uber Nasty Vampire in “ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER”

Seth Grahame-Smith’s historical and mythical fruition “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” adapted into film by acclaimed filmmakers Timur Bekmambetov and Tim Burton introduces Honest Abe (played by Benjamin Walker), America’s 16th president as a vampire slayer who is pitted against Rufus Sewell’s Adam, the movie’s main vampire antagonist.

Adam’s character didn’t appear in the original book but, in the writing of the screenplay, evolved out of a need to create a key focus for Lincoln’s fight. Adam, played by Rufus Sewell, is a creature of almost limitless power. “I see him as a kind of president of the vampires, “adds Sewell.

Author-screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith, who created the character especially for the film, as its central villain, was attracted to the idea of someone who has existed for untold millennia. “I wondered what it would be like to live for hundreds of thousands of years – to have been around since the building of the pyramids,” says Grahame-Smith. “What kind of personality would emerge from that eternal existence?”

Mashup Author SETH GRAHAME-SMITH’S “ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER”

The untold story that shaped America’s nation based on Seth Grahame-Smith’s “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” literary fusion of history and fiction will soon be seen onscreen come July 4 in 3D and 2D cinemas nationwide.


A non-stop mad search for both the hunted and the hunter, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” stars Benjamin Walker who plays the titular role of Abe Lincoln resurrected onscreen as a vampire hunting politico who later became one of the world’s most influential president.

Adapted for movie by highly-regarded genre-bending filmmakers Timur Bekmambetov (directing) and Tim Burton (producing) , the birth of Smith’s pulsating book came about in 2009 Seth Grahame-Smith was on a US book tour to promote a new “mash-up” fiction book, “Pride And Prejudice And Zombies.” As he travelled the nation's bookstores, from state to state, he noticed two things. In the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, every store had a promotional table set up with biographies of the iconic president. And at the height of the popularity of TWILIGHT, every store would stock a range of Young Adult vampire fiction right next to it. He remembers thinking, “if you could combine the two, surely you'd be onto a winner.”
“It began as a cynical observation, to be honest with you,” he admits. When I read about and researched the actual man, I became fascinated and fell in love with him and his trials and tribulations. Throughout his life he had every disadvantage: no wealth and no connections. He was poor as dirt, and surrounded by death. And yet, by the power of his intellect and his determination he was able to not only achieve the impossible of becoming a lawyer, but to become the leader of a nation tearing itself apart. And then he went on to save that nation.”

In fact it was, he suspects, the very first superhero origin story. “I began thinking that in the American psyche there's really no greater superhero than Abraham Lincoln.”

History Reimagined in “ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER”

Based on the bestselling vein-thumping mashup novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, Timur Bekmambetov directs while Tim Burton and Jim Lemley produce “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.”

Dubbed as a revisionist tale of the 16th US President’s life as a politician by day and a vampire hunter by night, it stars Benjamin Walker as the iconic commander-in-chief and Dominic Cooper as his mentor. The film also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Mary Todd Lincoln, Jimmi Simpson as Josh Speed and Anthony Mackie as Will. Alan Tudyk takes on the role of Stephen A. Douglas, while Rufus Sewell is the film’s chief antagonist vampire Adam.

“It was an adventure, like I'm entering a new world I had never been before and I wanted to explore it,” Bekmambetov says of his attraction to the project. “I wanted to meet these unbelievable characters, Abraham Lincoln, his friend, Will, his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, his enemies and his friends. And I wanted to go with him through his journey.”