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06/20/2012 04:12 PM

"Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter" Takes A Bite Out Of The Upper West Side

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"Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter," a new film produced by Tim Burton that combines historical non-fiction with vampire fiction, got a big premiere on the Upper West Side. NY1's George Whipple filed the following report.

The unlikely combination of history and the vampire genre delighted an Upper West Side audience on Monday night, at the premiere of "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter," a new film produced by Tim Burton.

Benjamin Walker plays the vampire killer, President Abe Lincoln.

"We recognize that, yeah, it's a ridiculous premise. We get it. But that's where the joke ends," says Walker. "We tried to make a period piece about Lincoln that's a thriller but also has some vampires in it."

Rufus Sewell plays the president of the vampires, looking for a national home for his people.

"Well, there's been a lot of kind angsty teen vampire things going on and there's room for everything, but this is, I would say, a return to bad, bad, bad vampires," says Sewell.

Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote the book "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter," is also the screenwriter of the movie.

"The way that we do it is we take this ridiculous concept that is obviously impossible and we do it as if it were the real history," says Grahame-Smith.

The author may say that this is a work of fiction, but the film's director, Timur Bekmambetov, has a different opinion.

"To make the movie, you to believe that it's true. And I really believe that it was true," says Bekmambetov.

Sometimes truth is truly stranger that fiction.