My Protagonist : Valten Van Helsingborg

Any Medieval epic needs a central character that looks, sounds and feels like a crusading warrior. The Knight Templar vehicle aside I was more intrigued in creating a character of such loyalty and devotion to his King that he was more like a brother than a servant to King Richard the First. I chose the name VALTEN as it is a strong name, it is an old name and one isn't entirely sure whether it is the name of the Antagonist or the Protagonist. His background had to be uniquely British, indeed he was initially Prince Cameron of Clyde, a Highlander type of figure, a loyal Scot to an English King but it didn't feel quite right. Through Valten's various battles alongside his King meant Valten had accumulated vast swathes of land in England and indeed his own Kingdom. It soon came to pass that if I was going to tell the original story of Vampires I needed the original Vampire slayer in some form. The one and only VAN HELSING. This brought about some unique difficulties, I didn't want to directly have a member of the Van Helsing family but I wanted to go as far back as I could and develop the concept of an ancestor with a similar sounding name. I chose HELSINGBORG, as with history and families over time, parts of names can often be dropped, indeed names do evolve. From blacksmith, to Mr black or Mr Smith. With Helsingborg being Swedish and having the name Van pre - Helsingborg gave it a Dutch origin. As with many points in this fictional narrative I decided not to let the historical or cultural idiosyncrasies become a noose around my neck. This is a fictional tale and some artistic, creative and artistic license is required.
In my mind Valten is an ancestor of the infamous Dr Van Helsing, rather in the same way Hammer films for years had Peter Cushing play variants of Van Helsing as Lord, Mr, Dr and others.
   To mention Peter Cushing is to mention the genius that played such a charismatic version of Van Helsing. indeed Peter Cushing is the definitive Van Helsing and Vampire Slayer. A man who was so iconic, visually striking yet nimble in frame and pose. A delicate man, not a brash, alpha male man of physical strength, rather the opposite. His duels with another icon of mine; Christopher Lee, continues to give me pleasure whenever I come across such classics from Hammer and Amicus starring them two. So Valten is not the muscle head hero, he is and has a strong frame. A white Bruce Lee with a brushed torso and impeccable physique
     From the very first inception I had Aragon from the LOTR trilogy as the visual stimulus for his movement and presence.Vigo Morteson could've been perfect but as the project grew and Vigo aged others stepped into the role.Christian Bale I could see playing Valten, he certainly has the range, charisma and the box office to do the project justice, but he could also be easily suited to playing King Richard?

Recently I have also come across a very dynamic and striking actor called Michael Fassbender. Watching his performance in 'Hunger' gave me the confidence that he has the physical posture and dynamism for the role. Again he is getting bigger as we speak I think he has suitably swayed Hollywood by gaining the role of Magneto in the film of the same name. At the moment Michael has the edge as I want someone who can grow into the role and establish it not only in KOTV but also in the rest of the trilogy