After years of inter-changing stars, directors, and simple hopes of ever seeing this thing come together, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is about to take off. All seemed right back on track when Neil Marshall was handed directing reigns last month — for this project, the fact that he’s still attached is a good-enough sign — and the newest onscreen developments are coming in from BloodyDisgusting.

The latest and, I’d say, most interesting update concerns Viggo Mortensen, who Millennium Films are (reportedly) now seeking to play a character named Henry Clemens. (Don’t ask for the specifics, buddy.) It’s not unlikely this offer gets turned down and is, accordingly, passed to another talent — when it comes to choosing roles, this actor’s a picky sort of fellow — although I’d kind of love to see this come together. The confirmation will just have to wait, I guess.

And even if Mortensen does, in fact, say no, BloodyDisgusting have heard the oft-mentioned Ben Kingsley has yet to vacate his role as a captain, nor is Noomi Rapace necessarily out of playing Anna Billington. As a matter of fact, her involvement is apparently dependent upon scheduling, something that is, as pointed out, not solid for a movie that’s encountered such rampant delays.

Lowell Cauffiel recently rewrote a screenplay from Bragi Schut, both of which provide a gorier account of what happened when Dracula was transported from Transylvania to England — a simple chapter in Bram Stoker‘s original novel. (Hint: It’s not a ship you’d want to be on.) I’d love to see just where this goes — despite the obvious, possibly troublesome similarities to Alien — so much so, in fact, that Marshall‘s directorial input is something I’m starting to overlook. If he can get all three on the same doomed vessel, the final results of Demeter might render years of production problems moot.

Would you like to see Mortensen come aboard? Is there a fair shot of it happening?