Many big and popular names have been thrown at Timur Bekmambetov’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.   Many entertainment sites (including IMDB) had it assigned to Tom Hardy. Adrien Brody was in the running. Josh Lucas. Liam Neeson. Daniel Day-Lewis.

Oh wait, those two were on the other Lincoln movie.  The Spielberg one. Never mind.  Liam Neeson was who we wanted to take over Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter because it would be meta, funny, and befit his years of research.

Well, they all lost.   Benjamin Walker has walked off with the stovepipe hat and the stake, according to Deadline Hollywood Daily.  It’s Walker’s second shot at a geeky franchise, as he was originally playing Hank McCoy in X-Men: First Class but left to continue his role as Andrew Jackson in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

I’ve heard great things about Walker in Jackson. (I’m nowhere near theater, so you’ll have to tell me.) Fox clearly has a lot of faith in him, or has great confidence that the combination of Bekmambetov, Tim Burton (as producer) and Seth Grahame-Smith is enough to carry the film at the box office.   Vampires are popular and all, but I’m not sure that the same reason True Blood and Twilight are popular will get butts in the seats for this.

We have a long time to theorize about that, as the release date is June 22, 2012.  Oh hell, let’s face it, that might as well be tomorrow.