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Jay Baruchel, from dragon-trainer to wizard-trainee 0

Posted on June 29, 2010 by kankan
Hot off providing the voice of the hero Hiccup in “How to Train Your Dragon,” young actor Jay Baruchel (“Tropic Thunder”) now portrays the nerdy Dave Stutler who suddenly learns he has magical powers in Walt Disney Pictures’ new epic fantasy adventure “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”
Dave is a college student trying to pass physics and get a date with Becky (Teresa Palmer), the girl of his dreams. Dave’s world is turned upside down when the eccentric Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) suddenly enters his life. Balthazar is a sorcerer embroiled in a centuries-long battle which pits the followers of two powerful sorcerers—the good Merlin and the evil Morgana—against each other for either the destruction or salvation of the world. When arch-nemesis and longtime Morganian rival Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) threatens not only Balthazar and Dave but the entire world, Balthazar recruits Dave as his reluctant protégé.
“It’s a story about two quests,” explains producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “Balthazar has been searching the world through the centuries for his apprentice, and Dave then has to discover his true potential as a human being. Dave is a very serious student and doesn’t need or want Balthazar in his life, or to be a sorcerer. But Balthazar is like a fly that keeps buzzing around, tormenting this poor kid until he succumbs to becoming this magical character. But if someone showed up at your door and said that you’re really a sorcerer, you wouldn’t believe them either.”
“I’m a huge, huge nerd,” confesses Baruchel. “I love any movies where guys shoot energy out of their hands, but I’m not usually the go-to guy for stuff like that. And then I read the script, and I was like, ‘wait a second…a guy like me gets to shoot energy out of his hands and stuff? Done! I’m here for the plasma bolts!’”
At the age of 10, Dave experiences a frightening incident when he encounters sorcerer Balthazar Blake after wandering into the bizarre Arcana Cabana curio shop. He’s given a dragon ring that comes to life on his finger, and he’s told that he’ll be a very important sorcerer himself. He then witnesses a furious battle between Balthazar and another sorcerer named Maxim Horvath, which made him want to forget the whole matter…until both Balthazar and Horvath re-enter his life 10 years later, forcing him to confront a destiny he would very much like to ignore!
“Dave is his own worst enemy, the architect of his own misery,” says Baruchel. “He spends his life trying to live down that moment in the Arcana Cabana when he first encountered Balthazar and Horvath. He gravitates towards physics, which is the discipline he gives his life to. When he meets up with Balthazar again, the sorcerer tells Dave that it was no coincidence that he drifted towards physics, because although illusion and magic are different, magic and science are the same thing.”
“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” was inspired by the short segment from the classic Disney film, “Fantasia” where Mickey Mouse played the bumbling apprentice.  Baruchel was challenged and honored by the task at hand, but never intimidated. “It’s a huge honor and a tremendous responsibility to walk in Mickey Mouse’s shoes. Those are pretty big shoes to fill, and I wondered how to do my own thing and make it funny without stepping on or moving away from what made that sequence so iconic in the first place. For me to be in this movie, and be allowed to put my stamp on and at the same time pay homage to one of the most beloved sequences in film history, wasn’t lost on me. It was an absolute treat, incredibly fun.  It was just magical. It was hard not to be a kid in that situation, man. I grew up watching that scene in ‘Fantasia,’ so after getting to do my own version of it, I could retire right now.”
Opening across the Philippines on Thursday, July 15, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.

jay_baruchel01

Hot off providing the voice of the hero Hiccup in “How to Train Your Dragon,” young actor Jay Baruchel (“Tropic Thunder”) now portrays the nerdy Dave Stutler who suddenly learns he has magical powers in Walt Disney Pictures’ new epic fantasy adventure “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”

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Disney launches “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” character posters 0

Posted on June 17, 2010 by kankan
Walt Disney Pictures has just released the character posters of its new, fantasy adventure “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” an innovative and epic adventure about a sorcerer and his hapless apprentice who are swept into the center of an ancient conflict between good and evil.
The new individual posters feature the film’s five leading characters, namely The Sorcerer, The Apprentice, The Wizard, The Villain and The Sorceress.  Below are their character descriptions:
THE SORCERER aka Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) is a student of Merlin.  More than 1,000 years old, Balthazar has been searching the globe until he finds the Prime Merlinean, the descendent of Merlin and inheritor of his great powers.  When Balthazar finally discovers him in 10-year-old Dave Stutler, he finds himself with a very reluctant sorcerer’s apprentice.
THE APPRENTICE aka Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel) is a nerdy NYU physics major, lacking confidence and poise, not very popular with girls or even his fellow students.  At the age of 10, he experiences a frightening incident when he encounters sorcerer Balthazar Blake after wandering into the bizarre Arcana Cabana curio shop. He’s given a dragon ring that comes to life on his finger, and he’s told that he’ll be a very important sorcerer himself.  He then witnesses a furious battle between Balthazar and another sorcerer named Maxim Horvath which made him want to forget the whole matter…until both Balthazar and Horvath re-enter his life 10 years later, forcing him to confront a destiny he would very much like to ignore!
THE SORCERESS aka Veronica (Monica Bellucci) has had the great fortune of being loved by Balthazar Blake—and the misfortune of being loved by Maxim Horvath.
THE VILLAIN aka Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) was, along with Balthazar Blake and Veronica, a disciple of Merlin and a force of good more than a thousand years ago.  But their mutual love for Veronica split the colleagues apart.  He and Balthazar have battled through the ages, finally bringing their conflict to modern-day New York City.
THE WIZARD aka Drake Stone (Toby Kebbell) is a long, lean, punked-out illusionist who is actually a dark sorcerer assisting Maxim Horvath in his battle against Balthazar Blake and Dave Stutler.  He’s a stage performer with an ego to match his popularity, but with no fan bigger than himself.
Opening soon across the Philippines, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.

sa_apprentice

Walt Disney Pictures has just released the character posters of its new, fantasy adventure “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” an innovative and epic adventure about a sorcerer and his hapless apprentice who are swept into the center of an ancient conflict between good and evil.

Read the rest of this entry →

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Magic, adventure abound in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” 0

Posted on June 10, 2010 by kankan
“I love the world of magic, and to be able to bring that to a contemporary audience through `The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ was really appealing to me,” says Jerry Bruckheimer, legendary producer of such blockbuster franchises as “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “National Treasure.”
“I’ve always liked stories that have a magical element, and this film is one of the great magical stories of all time,” he adds.  “We thought it would be tremendously exciting to develop the core of that concept into a brand-new story set in the modern world.”
From Walt Disney Studios, Bruckheimer and director Jon Turteltaub comes “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”—an innovative and epic adventure about a sorcerer and his hapless apprentice who are swept into the center of an ancient conflict between good and evil.
In the film, Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) is a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina). Balthazar can’t do it alone, so he recruits Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel), a seemingly average guy who demonstrates hidden potential, as his reluctant protégé. The sorcerer gives his unwilling accomplice a crash course in the art and science of magic, and together, these unlikely partners pit their powers against those of the fiercest—and most ruthless—practitioners of all time. It’ll take all the courage Dave can muster to survive his training, save the city and get the girl as he becomes `the sorcerer’s apprentice.’
Set in modern-day Manhattan, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” might have some New Yorkers looking over their shoulders.  “The idea is that sorcerers and the ancient art of sorcery are alive and well in present day New York City,” says Turteltaub. “It’s much more entertaining to show audiences the magic in things they recognize than to create something.”  Indeed,  the filmmakers transformed New York into a vortex of science and magic, home to battling sorcerers and playground for their powers.
While the film isn’t a remake of the classic Disney piece from “Fantasia,” “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” pays proper homage to it, a fact that didn’t escape the director.  “’The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ has such a great Disney pedigree to it,” says Turteltaub, “and I knew right away that I’d be dealing with something that had to be excellent, had to be special, had to live up to its important role within Disney and the history of film. That piece from ‘Fantasia’ is as iconic as any eight minutes of film that has ever been created, so to be part of that was really exciting. You think, ‘all right, where do you go with that’—and that’s where all the creativity starts jumping.”
This new sorcerer and his apprentice are a far cry from Mickey and the blue hat.  The live-action film is a contemporary take on the ancient art of sorcery, exploring good versus evil in a city where magic is abound in plain sight. “It’s a story about two quests,” explains Bruckheimer. “Balthazar has been searching the world through the centuries for his apprentice, and Dave then has to discover his true potential as a human being. Dave is a very serious student, and doesn’t need or want Balthazar in his life, or to be a sorcerer. If someone showed up at your door, and said that you’re really a sorcerer, you wouldn’t believe them either. But Balthazar is like a fly that keeps buzzing around, tormenting this poor kid until he succumbs to becoming this magical character, which I think every kid would want to be.”
Opening soon across the Philippines, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.

apprentice

“I love the world of magic, and to be able to bring that to a contemporary audience through `The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ was really appealing to me,” says Jerry Bruckheimer, legendary producer of such blockbuster franchises as “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “National Treasure.”

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“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” – an epic comedy-adventure 0

Posted on June 03, 2010 by kankan

sorcerersadventure01

Walt Disney Studios, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Jon Turteltaub, the creators of the “National Treasure” franchise, bring to the screen “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” — an innovative and epic comedy adventure about a sorcerer and his hapless apprentice who are swept into the center of an ancient conflict between good and evil.

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