He'll be playing the villain role: Rayne's evil vampire papa.
Oscar-winner Sir Ben Kingsley to play Kagan, King of the Vampires in film adaptation of BloodRayne Video Game
Thesp joins T3 star Kristanna Loken Boll KG and Brightlight Pictures to begin shooting late August
(Vancouver, BC) – Sir Ben Kingsley, best known for his Academy Award winning role in Ghandi, and most recently for his Oscar nominated performance in House of Sand and Fog, has signed on to play the villain in the film adaptation of one of the most popular action-horror video games in years, BloodRayne. Kingsley joins "Terminator 3" star Kristanna Loken, who will play the film's heroine, BloodRayne.
The film is set in 18 th century Romania, where the film will actually begin principal photography later this month. The beautiful Rayne has a human mother and a vampire father, giving her superhuman strength, yet at the same time, allowing a softer, more vulnerable side to her personality. Still, she is driven by vengeance to overthrow her vampire father, who turns out to be the powerful and evil Kagan, King of the Vampires, who will be played by Kingsley. Kagan wants nothing to do with his daughter and is intent on bringing her to doom. On her journey, Rayne is befriended by two vampire hunters. Together, the three must combat the great Kagan before he manipulates the earth into darkness, with vampires ruling forever.
BloodRayne is written by Guinevere Turner ("American Psycho") and will be directed by Uwe Boll. Boll has recently raised $47 million through German film fund Boll KG 4, and this financing will be used for BloodRayne as well as other forthcoming videogame screen adaptations. The filmmaker most recently directed "House of the Dead," based on the Sega videogame, and "Alone in the Dark," starring Christian Slater, Tara Reid and Stephen Dorff, based on the Atari game. The first film was acquired by Artisan Entertainment; the latter has no domestic distributor as of yet.
The producers of BloodRayne are Shawn Williamson and Dan Clarke. Williamson is a principal at the Vancouver-based Brightlight Pictures which recently co-produced with Gold Circle Films "White Noise," starring Michael Keaton, which Universal Pictures will release in 2005, and line produced "Edison" for Millennium Films and Emmett/Furla Films, starring Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, LL Cool J and Justin Timberlake.
Of Kingsley's casting, Williamson said, "It is an incredible honor to have an actor of Sir Kingsley's caliber involved in our film. His talent and strength as an actor will help us create an outstanding cinematic experience." Kingsley's more than 75 film and television credits include "Schindler's List," "Sexy Beast" and "The Diary of Anne Frank."
