Hey folks, Harry here... So far things have been pretty quiet coming out of Prague regarding Stephen Sommers' VAN HELSING, nobody that I trust has seen a script, but so far... well, so far the casting has been pretty darn interesting. Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing is an interesting angle for the character to take. There have been 36 times that a Van Helsing of some manner has taken to battling the forces of evil. I believe the most enigmatic Van Helsing. The one that truly owns the role is Peter Cushing. His Van Helsing completely reinvented the character in the eyes of many. He lept into action, still, I feel no greater moment in Van Helsing history than when having been bitten by a vampire in BRIDES OF DRACULA, he takes that red hot branding iron, pressing it against his own neck before dousing the searing flesh with holy water. THAT WILL ALWAYS BE MY VAN HELSING. However, having said that... I love Edward Van Sloane's original performance opposite Lugosi. Watching him trick Bela into looking at his own reflection... ahhh, delicious. Those are probably the best two known performances. The young and the old. Traditionally, Van Helsing has been played older by distinguished elder actors like Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Laurence Olivier and Anthony Hopkins. Personally, seeing Van Helsing being cast as a more dynamic character again... well, Hugh Jackman could be wonderful fun in the part.

As Van Helsing's arch nemesis... Count Dracula... A very interesting casting choice has been made. Richard Roxburgh. Personally, I can't for a second imagine the Duke from MOULIN ROUGE playing Count Dracula, but then that was such a broadly played theatrical role of exaggeration that I fully believe that he's capable of performing more understated roles. I'm actually curious to hear how Richard's Sherlock Holmes was in that BBC HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES -- and of course he'll be playing Holmes' smarter brother in LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN this summer. It'll be interesting to see if Roxburgh's Dracula will be the romantic lead like Lugosi, Oldman or Langella... or the 3 step leaping dashingly dynamic Dracula of Christopher Lee... or something else entirely.

For the typical... Brides of Dracula... we have the angelic vamp from SEXO Y LUCIA - Elena Anaya, whom anyone that saw that film will attest to being utterly smitten by her. Then there is Josie Maran, a model of striking allure - who no doubt will be quite intoxicating upon the screen. To me, in history the most amazing 'bride of dracula' was Sadie Frost's vampiric Lucy... However, in BRIDES OF DRACULA - those wondrous vamps... they rule a special place in my heart.

Now because VAN HELSING is a bit of a take on the ensemble Universal Horror films like HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF DRACULA, etc... There's that whole run of 'Universal style' monsters... the Wolf Man, Frankenstein, etc... The Wolf Man is to be played by Will Kemp. The Frankenstein Monster by big ol Shuler Hensley. Igor by Kevin J O'Connor (a regular of ol Sommers) Then there's the odd roles out of Carl and Anna played by David Wenham and Kate Beckinsale.

The following scooper below tells us that Samuel West will be joining such greats as Colin Clive, Peter Cushing, Basil Rathbone and Udo Kier as Dr Frankenstein. I hear that the work ILM is doing on this is actually quite remarkable. Personally, I can't wait to read the script on this one to get an idea of the tone of what Sommers is doing. Will it be the same tone as the MUMMY films, or will it take a more serious note? Hmmm.... here ya go...

Nothing to earth shattering here but a little tid biton Steven Sommers upcoming Van Helsing film. I attended a concert last night at The Kennedy Center. It was one of a series Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra are conduting this week exploring music and film, soundtracks etc. Last night the theme was notable European composers who contributed to Film Music. The second half of the show was an hour long concert suite of William Walton's great score to Olivier's legendary Henry V. British actor Samuel West was the narrator for the piece, recreating some of the great Shakespeare dialogue along with the orchestra.

After the show they had a sit down Q+ A with the remaing audience and West mentioned that he was about to start work on Van Helsing in a small but juicy role as Dr. Frankenstein. He says it was a few days work for him in Hollywood (a first for him) but that his character dies and is not on screen for very long. He said it was exciting though because it could possibly be the most expensive film ever made (in his words).Not sure what he bases this on but he is a very well regarded actor and his enthusiasm for the film and script made me think that it could be something pretty good. Hopefully better than Mummy 2 at least.

Regards