The Last Voyage of the Demeter has been kicking around in development for nearly 10 years and has gone through many permutations since it was announced in 2004. Now, famed British horror filmmaker Neil Marshall is at the helm and the film appears to be gaining some traction.
Bloody Disgusting is reporting that Viggo Mortensen is being approached to play the lead role of Henry Clemens in the film, which is a remake of sorts of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The film will focus on the section in the middle of the novel when Dracula travels across the sea to England on the Russian vessel: the Demeter, where he awakes and kills the entire crew.
In previous versions of the Dracula story on screen, this voyage is seen only very briefly. In Francis Ford Coppola‘s Dracula for example it is retained to a couple of shots. With The Last Voyage of the Demeter, screenwriter Lowell Cauffiel plans to structure the film in a similar style to the original Alien, a stripped down hunter vs. the hunted story with plenty of claustrophobia throw in for good measure. Just like Alien was a haunted house film in space, this promises to be a haunted house film on the sea.
In regards to the director, Neil Marshall is the man for the job. His finest hour came with The Descent, which did a brilliant job of creating a claustrophobic and terrifying atmosphere. As for Mortensen, he is a reliable screen presence and a very talented actor who can make any material sound good even if the film around him isn’t as great as he is.
Bloody Disgusting is also saying that Ben Kingsley is still attached as he was originally set to star when David Slade was on board. No word yet on when this will shoot but Mortensen is committed to filming Eastern Promises 2 so it could be a couple of years until this gets before cameras.
