The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Short description
In present-day Manhattan, a sorcerer named Balthazar Blake has spent a very long time guarding his city against his old rival Maxim Horvath. Unable to face the threat by himself, Balthazar selects an ordinary young man, Dave Stutler, as his apprentice. Dave has no appetite for the fight and shows little natural control, yet he carries potential that Balthazar recognizes. Their connection stretches back years: as a boy, Dave wandered into Balthazar's shop and accidentally released Horvath from a long imprisonment. Now a college student preoccupied with his studies and with Becky, a classmate he hopes to date, Dave must accept a hurried course in magic as the conflict with Horvath resumes. Nicolas Cage plays Balthazar, Jay Baruchel is Dave, Alfred Molina is Horvath, and Teresa Palmer is Becky.
Jon Turteltaub directed, working from a screenplay by Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal and Matt Lopez, with Jerry Bruckheimer producing. The film sits between Turteltaub's two National Treasure movies and his later comedies and thrillers in a directing career that began with 3 Ninjas.
Released in July 2010, the film runs 109 minutes. Made for about 150 million dollars, it took in roughly 215 million worldwide. Ratings place it near the middle of the scale: on IMDb it holds 6.1 out of 10 from 176,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.1 out of 10 from 5,387 votes. A film critics' score of 5.3 out of 10 from 171 reviews sits close to those audience figures.
What's left behind the scenes
- Balthazar Blake's (Nicolas Cage) car is a very rare vehicle, a 1935 Rolls-Royce Phantom.
- The enormous iron gargoyle was created in two forms: one – a full-size creature equipped with a motor device, the movements of which could be controlled by a computer, developed by Oscar winner John Frazier. And the second, generated by computer coordinator John Nelson.
- Colorful scenes from the Chinese carnival, where the dragon parade comes to life, were filmed over two weeks on Eldridge Street, in the heart of New York's Chinatown. 2,000 people from local Chinese communities responded to the casting call, but only 500 were needed.
- The Encantus, a book of spells, weighs almost 75 pounds (about 34 kg). However, duplicates were also created, one weighing around 10 pounds, as well as a waterproof version.
- Each page of the Encantus had to be aged – for this, the filmmakers turned to experts in medieval books, who treated each page with sand and soaked it with tea.
- Costume designer Michael Kaplan and his team created 10 copies of Baltazar Blake's (Nicolas Cage) long leather cloak. The rings worn by Baltazar were also custom-made.
- Bowling Green, where the large-scale battle of wizards takes place, was the first American public park. It opened in 1733 for “green” bowling. On July 9, 1776, colonists melted down a 4,000-pound statue of King George III, which was located in this park, into military supplies.
- The skirt of Sana Lok’s sorcerer (Gregory Wu) was made of small pieces of leather, painstakingly assembled by hand, row upon row.
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