Screen Junkies » the seventh son

Step Aside Pettyfer: Sam Claflin Wins Lead In ‘The Seventh Son’

Dave Horwitz — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:25:06 +0000

Sam Clafin, one of the stars of the upcoming Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, has won the tween dreamboat sweepstakes and secured the coveted male lead in the kid-lit adaptation The Seventh Son. The films has gone through several changes, both title and casting included, but this appears to be the the final iteration. The film, at one point called The Last Apprentice, after the popular series of novels it’s based on, was always set to star Jeff Bridges as a Witch Hunter, and at one point Alex Pettyfer, star of the flops I Am Number Four and Beastly, was set to play the titular apprentice. Jennifer Lawrence, among other actresses, was in talks to play the female lead, but now that role has gone to newcomer Alicia Vicander.

Warne Brothers and Legendary Pictures are producing, and acclaimed Russian director Sergei Bodrov (Mongol) will handle behind the camera duties. Congratulations to Clafin and Vicander, and to all the young hopefuls looking to score a little Pattinson/Stewart cache, thanks for playing Who Wants To Be A Tween Idol! (The Playlist)

It’ll Be Moore Vs. Bridges In ‘The Seventh Son’

Dave Horwitz — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:48:37 +0000

We reported a few weeks ago that Jeff Bridges would be starring in the kid-lit adaptation The Seventh Son (formerly known as The Last Apprentice), and now he has another A-lister joining him in what many hope will be a successful new franchise. The description of Moore’s character sounds downright nasty:

Moore will play the principle villain of the piece, Mother Malkin, who sucks the blood out of young women to keep her youth and battles a witch-hunter known as the Spook, and his young apprentice Tom Ward.

Yikes. Sounds pretty grim, but Moore’s a class act who could probably bring humanity and likability to any role, even if it was saddled with a terrible Boston accent (hello, Nancy Donovan from”30 Rock“). This is the first blockbuster role she’s tackled in years, and it should be interesting to see how she handles it. The film itself has gone through title changes, and lead actor changes, as Alex Pettyfer has been removed from the running for the role. It remains to be seen whether this one will be a Narnia or a Golden Compass, but, even if it fails, with actors like Moore and Jeff Bridges, they’ll go down swinging.

This post is dedicated to Alex Pettyfer‘s career Feb 2011- Feb 2011. (The Playlist)

Bridges Totally Down To Exorcise Some Demons

Penn Collins — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 22:10:53 +0000

Jeff Bridges was quick to find a new role to fill the gap in his schedule after Tara Reid didn’t invite him to join the cast of her The Big Lebowski sequel. He decided to take things in a different direction, signing on to play an exorcist in the film The Seventh Son (initially titled The Last Apprentice). Bridges’ character trains the protagonist of the film, Thomas J. Ward, the role of which has been offered to unbiquitous prettyboy Alex Pettyfer, to fight evil in the 1700′s. Sergey Bodrov, the director of Mongol, has long been attached to this helm this project, and an offer is also out to Jennifer Lawrence for the role of a witch, as well.

Taking the role of a sorcerer-y mentor, there is little doubt that this role will require Jeff Bridges to rock a beard, which is good news for moviegoers, as the past decade or so has shown us that Jeff Bridges + beard = cinematic gold. It will be interesting to see how this theory plays with my newer theory that anything + Alex Pettyfer = cinematic drivel. Fortunately, Bridges > Pettyfer, so we should be ok. This concludes today’s Screen Junkies math lesson. (Playlist)