The New York Times has our very first official look at just how accurate director Timur Bekmambetov is aiming for in his adaptation of the alternate history action/horror, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

In the image, which can be seen above (click to go a little larger; no high-quality version has been released yet), you’ll see star Benjamin Walker (X-Men: First Class) in full Abraham Lincoln costume making a speech. Walker, who’s not even 30 years of age yet, appears to make a decent Lincoln (from a distance), indicating some strong makeup work on the film.

For the longest time, Liam Neeson was attached to play Abraham Lincoln in the Steven Spielberg film titled Lincoln. Back in August, however, it was revealed that Neeson had decided to step away from the movie because he felt he was a little too old and that he was “past my sell-by date” for the role. At the time the news was pretty disappointing due to how perfect Neeson felt for the part, but now a new actor has been chosen and he should be considered pretty universally adequate for the job.

According to Deadline, two-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis has signed on to play President Lincoln in the movie. Lewis has won Oscars for 1989’s My Left Foot and more recently for his role as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. Many believe he was also robbed of the award for his work as Bill the Butcher in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.

For the past five years or so, Liam Neeson has been locked on to play President Abraham Lincoln for Steven Spielberg in his planned biopic, Lincoln. It’s pretty clear that Neeson is the perfect actor for the job, so all made sense and everyone was just waiting to get it going.

Now comes word via The Digital Spy that Neeson, while speaking to GMTV, is saying he won’t be playing the towering president anymore. Neeson says “I’m not actually playing Lincoln now. I was attached to it for a while, but it’s now…I’m past my sell-by date,” insinuating that he’s too old to take part anymore.

Being born and raised in New Hampshire, I can tell you in all honesty that very little happens here. Peace and quiet you shall find. Beautiful locations and scenery; four seasons and mountains, oceans, and cities all within a short drive are all here to be had, without a doubt. But when it comes to situations and events that grab the attention of the news…well, you probably took a wrong turn somewhere in Massachusetts.

That all being said, something very cool was discovered here a few years back, and it’s now making headlines.

While cleaning out an old barn in Nelson, New Hampshire that was being prepared for demolition, a man named Peter Massie discovered an old silent film projector and seven reels of nitrate films hidden in the shadows of a corner of the barn. Among these old reels was a 30-minute 1913 short film titled When Lincoln Paid.

Continue on over for more and to see two short video clips from this lost film courtesy of Keene State College.

Seth Grahame-Smith has been busy on another book since releasing his popular Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and it takes the historical figure of President Abraham Lincoln and adds a few vampires. The book is titled Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and as you may have guessed, a new movie is being developed with none other than Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov attached as producers.

Grahame-Smith has been making quite a name for himself with his work taking classic literature and adding horrific spins to them. After Smith wrote Zombies, which of course took Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice and, well…added zombies, a whole new genre in literature has basically been created. Since that title’s release, many different authors have written their own takes on classic literature and characters with zombies and aliens and all sorts of fun and nasty beasties.

Click on over to the other side to check out a trailer that was made specially Grand Central Publishing for the release of the new book.