Bill Nighy is in negotiations to play the villain in Stuart Beattie's adaptation of Kevin Grevioux's graphic novel I, Frankenstein.  As we previously reported, Aaron Eckhart is set to play Adam Frankenstein in the modern-day update of Mary Shelley's classic tale, which has Adam "being hunted by demons that want to learn the secret of his creation in order to build an army of reanimated corpse demons."  That's what was missing from Shelley's Frankenstein: Corpse demons. Nighy is in talks to play a demon prince.  Variety also reports that Socratis Otto is in talks to play Nighy's compatriot, "who is tasked with tracking down and capturing Adam."  For those unfamiliar with Otto, he's spent the last two years on Home and Away, a long-running Australian soap opera which also gave us Heath Ledger, Isla Fisher, Guy Pearce, Chris Hemsworth, and other Aussie actors.

Hit the jump for a recap on Nighy and Otto's other projects.  Production on I, Frankenstein is set to begin in January, and the film is slated to open on February 22, 2013.

Otto will next be seen in the thriller Gone starring Amanda Seyfried.  The movie centers on "a kidnap survivor (Seyfried) who attempts to find the same killer whom she believes has abducted her sister."  The film also stars Sebastian Stan, Jennifer Carpenter, Emily Wickersham, and Wes Bentley.  Socratis Otto should rest easy knowing that even if his acting career doesn't pan out, he can always overthrow the Roman emperor.

I, Frankenstein will be a bit of a reunion since Nighy previously starred in the Underworld series, which was co-created by Grevioux.  The British actor will have a busy 2012 as he co-stars in Wrath of the Titans, John Madden's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Killer, and (by far the best of all these roles) as Kuato in the Total Recall remake.  I didn't want a Total Recall remake until I learned Nighy was playing Kuato.