Legendary put out the following tweet and picture today in promotion of their new movie Seventh Son, due out in theaters January 17 of next year:
Meet Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges)&Tom Ward (Ben Barnes).New #SeventhSon trailer tmrw on @omgInsider @iTunesTrailers! pic.twitter.com/qbp0J6rN3s
— Legendary (@Legendary) July 9, 2013
As noted, that’s Jeff Bridges as Master Gregory, also known as The Spook, for all intents and purposes a magical demon hunter to whom young Tom Ward (Ben Barnes, Dorian Gray, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) is apprenticed. Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son, and as a result of his magically significant station, can see the sorts of ghosts and boggarts most cannot. Barnes plays a Ward that’s significantly aged up from the Ward of The Spook’s Apprentice, the young adult novel by Joseph Delaney on which the movie is based. Delaney’s Ward is just 13, and while Barnes will almost certainly be playing younger than his actual 31, it’s still quite the change.
The change in title is also a point of interest. Seventh Son doesn’t appear as a title in any of the thirteen books in Delaney’s series; rather, it’s the title of the first book in Orson Scott Card’s series about a boy in an alternate history late-18th century America, he also the seventh son of a seventh son endowed with a particular affinity for the supernatural. Though more obscure than Card’s Ender’s Game series, the confusion invited by the change from Delaney’s title is peculiar. The long-awaited movie adaptation of Ender’s Game, of course, is out later this year.
As for the movie, it’s set in the 18th century as well, though across the pond in the English countryside. The story takes off when a witch called Mother Malkin (played by Julianne Moore) escapes confinement while Master Gregory is away, forcing Tom Ward to confront her himself.
Seventh Son is being directed by Sergei Bodrov (Nomad: The Warrior, Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan) in his first major studio pic (it’s backed by Warner Bros. as part of their partnership with Legendary). Matt Greenberg (1408), Charles Leavitt (The Express, Blood Diamond), and Max Borenstein (the forthcoming Godzilla) all worked on the script. Kit Harrington (Jon Snow in HBO’s Game of Thrones), Antje Traue (Man of Steel), and Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) are among the supporting cast.
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