Seventh Son is another movie release based on a successful fantasy-based series of books.
The series, by Joseph Delaney, was inspired by various ghost stories that the author learned about his home village of Stalmine.
“I used to teach in Blackpool, and nearest my place of work, my wife and I found a village called Stalmine, where we bought a house,” says the author in the film’s production notes.
“About a week after we moved in, I found out the church at the top of the road once had a boggart called the Stalmine Hall Knocker, a poltergeist. It used to plague the church, pushing over tombstones, rattling the church doors, scaring the parishioners... And so they brought in the priest, who eventually said the right prose and bound the boggart.”
It turns out that this was just one of many ghosts that Delaney would encounter in his storied hamlet.
Drawing upon these myriad folktales, he kept copious notes and eventually – it was many years later – Delaney wrote The Spook’s Apprentice which led to The Wardstone Chronicles series, a series that soon became incredibly popular.
It was not long before US film producers from Thunder Road Pictures discovered the series and realised its cinematic potential and set about bringing it to the big screen.
The series was inspired by various ghost stories that the author learned about his home village of Stalmine
It also offered the producers the chance to work with Russian director Sergei Bodrov, whom they had been chasing for years.
“Sergei is a director that we had always wanted to work with,” says Seventh Son co-producer Erica Lee.
“We’d seen Mongol (Bodrov’s 2007 epic) and were very impressed. We had given him a lot of scripts over the years and were looking for the right fit, so when we heard that he was interested, we were very excited. Visually, Mongol was stunning and we knew that the way Sergei tells a story would translate perfectly to Seventh Son.”
Seventh Son’s story unfolds in a world of enchantments when legends and magic collide.
For centuries, humanity has been protected from creatures of the dark by an ancient order of noble warriors called the Falcon Knights.
Jeff Bridges stars as Master John Gregory, the sole remaining warrior of this mystical order who travels far and wide in search of the legendary last Seventh Son (Ben Barnes), a simple farmhand, unaware of his destiny.
The two embark on an adventure to vanquish the Witch Queen Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore), who, after being betrayed by the man she loved most, is left to rot in prison as her hunger for ven-geance on those who wronged her grows.
The film also stars Olivia Williams, Djimon Hounsou, and rising stars Alicia Vikander and Kit Harington. The film is written by Charles Leavitt and Steven Knight, based on The Spook’s Apprentice by Joseph Delaney.