6) Van Helsing – Liam Neeson
The Character: Traditionally, Abraham Van Helsing is the elderly doctor who helps Jonathan Harker and his friends defeat Count Dracula in Bram Stoker’s classic novel. Over the years, however, he’s morphed in Dracula’s nemesis himself. Particularly in Peter Cushing’s heroic take in Hammer’s Dracula movies (starring Christopher Lee as the Count). Modern movie audiences will probably be more familiar with 2004’s Van Helsing, however, which reimagined the character as, well, basically a monster-hunting Wolverine. Complete with memory loss, immortality and the fact he was played by Hugh Jackman.
The Actor: From what we gather, it’s the 2004 version that Universal are looking to reboot. In other words, they’ll be looking for an actor who’s tough enough to take on the dark forces of the world like a gothic James Bond. There are few people who could pull that off, but one who springs to mind is Liam Neeson.
The Irish actor is now known the world over as Taken‘s Bryan Mills, so it would be a lot of fun to see him back as an action hero only this time, fighting monsters. If Universal are looking to go back to the traditional version of the character, though, Christoph Waltz would be a shoe-in for the part.