Channing Tatum Eyed To Play ‘Van Helsing’ In Universal’s Dark Universe
By Ben Pearson/July 21, 2017 11:30 am EST
In an article about how many film studios are rethinking their approach to franchise filmmaking in the wake of some financial disappointments, The Hollywood Reporter touches on Universal’s attempt to tie their classic monsters into a cohesive shared cinematic universe and casually mentions that the studio is “polishing the script for Van Helsing, aimed for Channing Tatum.” That’s the first we’re hearing about the erstwhile Magic Mike possibly suiting up as the famed vampire hunter.
Professor Van Helsing is the nemesis of Dracula, and has been played by many different people over the years: Peter Cushing in the classic Hammer horror movies, Laurence Olivier in 1979’s Dracula, Anthony Hopkins in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Hugh Jackman in the ill-fated 2004 movie Van Helsing, just to name a few.
While I’m still slowly making my way through the catalogue of Universal classics (I’ve seen Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man), our own Jacob Hall is a big fan of the classic Universal monster movies, and he offered some thoughts on this potential casting: “If they’re going to sexy up Van Helsing, I’d rather they go the ‘hot scholar’ route and just cast Dan Stevens. I miss this character being an intellectual.” As much as I enjoy Tatum as a performer, I can’t really see him playing a character who’s a worthy mental adversary equal of Dracula…unless Universal casts somebody like Mark Wahlberg as Dracula. (Damn it, now I actually want to see that happen!)
A new Van Helsing movie has been rumbling along for a while, and the character would almost certainly cross over into other movies in this series. THR says that in the wake of The Mummy’s lackluster performance, Universal is still moving forward with the Dark Universe but “slowly, to allow for more script development.” Hey, at least they have some self-awareness. They also confirms that Universal is “prepping an offer to Angelina Jolie for Bride of Frankenstein,” which is set to hit theaters on February 14, 2019. (We’ve known that they’ve wanted her for that role for years.) Van Helsing doesn’t have an official release date in place yet.
