EXCLUSIVE
Hollywood may be looking to continue to outsource the role of Abraham Lincoln.
British Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis was recently set to play the 16th President in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," and now another foreign import is being eyed to play Honest Abe.
Australian actor Eric Bana is circling the title role in 20th Century Fox's big screen adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's novel "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" TheWrap has learned.
While Bana hasn't landed the coveted role yet, he's scheduled to meet with director Timur Bekmambetov soon, and is certainly in contention for the part.
The casting would make sense, as there's a bit of a physical resemblance between the two. At 6' 4", Lincoln is the tallest American president, while Bana is the rare leading man who stands at 6' 3".
The epistolary-style book is written as a biography of Lincoln based on "secret diaries" he kept that were given to the author by a vampire named Henry Sturges, who saved Lincoln's life when he battled a vampire as a teenager. The two develop a friendship and Sturges teaches Lincoln how to hunt and kill vampires.
Tim Burton is producing "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," which is scheduled for release on June 22, 2012.
Bana has a solid track record at the box office when it comes to big-budget blockbusters. "Black Hawk Down," "Hulk" and "Troy" all grossed over $100 million at the domestic box office, while "Star Trek" took in more than $257 million stateside during the ultra-competitive summer of 2009.
The actor next stars alongside Cate Blanchett and Saorise Ronan in Joe Wright's teenage assassin tale "Hanna." He's also attached to star in Sheldon Turner's directorial debut, the revenge thriller "By Virtue Fall."
Bana is represented by WME and Lauren Bergman Management.