The film is based on the animated segment of the same name from the
After being assigned housework, Mickey tries using magic to take care
of the tasks. That leads to a near disaster from an army of brooms.
The idea started when Cage told producer
“He came in the next day and said we should do
‘Sorcerers Apprentice’,” Cage said during an interview earlier this
year at WonderCon.
Cage and his business partner at the time,
came up with a script. It cast Cage as the sorcerer who must teach an
eager young apprentice. Jay Baruchel landed the role of the apprentice.
“
Baruchel was eager to step into the part.
“I will fuse any part I’m playing with physical
comedy. So when I get to do something like pay homage to one of the
great funny sequences in film history, I was kind of chomping at the
bit,” Baruchel said. “I tried my best to give my respect to what Mickey
did while doing my own thing as well.”
Cage picked Turteltaub as the director. The pair had
worked on “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets” and Cage was convinced
Turteltaub could mix special effects, action scenes and humor into the
script.
To turn the animated sequence of less than 15
minutes into a feature-length film, they decided to tell the back story
of the sorcerer, which includes a centuries-long battle with an evil
magician. There’s also a secondary love story for the apprentice.
Turteltaub was inspired by the original
cinematography, which heavily used light and dark to reflect the
emotions of a scene. There are a few other small nods, including a 21st
century version of the classic animated scene featuring dancing mops
and brooms.
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(c) 2010, The Fresno Bee (Fresno, Calif.).
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