After about a decade of fits and starts, some good news emerged on The Last Voyage of the Demeter back in May when Neil Marshall(The Descent) was attached to direct. For those who may have lost track, the film tells the story of the Russian ship and crew that carried Dracula's tomb from Transylvania to England, only to be massacred along the way with only one survivor by the voyage's end. And he's pretty damn insane by the end of it. Bragi Schut(Season of the Witch) wrote the script, which has been lauded for years.
BloodyDisgusting has learned that Ben Kingsley and Noomi Rapace, who have long been attached to the film but presumed to have dropped out, may actually still be on board. Kingsley would play the ship's captain, with Rapace as someone named Anna Billington. They also say that Viggo Mortensen has been offered the lead role of Henry Clemens. The site doesn't note their sources, but they seem pretty confident in that latter point.
Since production is basically starting from scratch, we may still be a ways off from seeing this ever get completed. Crime novelist Lowell Cauffiel wrote the latest draft of the script, and to the best of my knowledge no start date has been set just yet. For a film that has had so many problems getting moving, adding Kingsley, Rapace, and Mortensen would go a long way in moving things forward. The story has always been an intriguing one, and Marshall is probably the perfect director for what is bound to be a very violent and atmospheric film.
