Taglines: Not all souls can be saved.
The years of brutal warfare in the name of God have stripped Behmen (Nicolas Cage) of his taste for bloodshed – and his loyalty to the Church. Looking forward to a quiet retirement, Behmen and his comrade-in-arms Felson (Ron Perlman) are bewildered to find their homeland deserted, unaware that Europe has been decimated by the Black Plague.
While searching for food and supplies at the Place at Marburg, the two knights are apprehended and called before the local Cardinal (Christopher Lee) to explain their unscheduled return from the East. They dying Cardinal threatens the pair with prison for desertion, unless they agree to a dangerous mission.
The Cardinal’s dungeon holds a young woman (Claire Foy) accused of being a witch who brings the Plague with her. They can redeem themselves only by accompanying the girl to a distant abbey where she is to stand trial. The girl’s brutal mistreatment in prison and powerlessness against the accusations of church officials move Behman. Convinced she is merely a convenient scapegoat and fearing she will be condemned without a fair hearing, he agrees to escort her on the treacherous journey.
In addition to his loyal companion Felson, he is accompanied by a well-traveled con man who knows the countryside (Stephen Graham), an eager young man who aspires to knighthood (Robert Sheenhan), a bitter knight who has lost his family to the Plague (Ulrich Thomsen) and anave priest (Stephen Campbell Moore).
The route is long and arduous, made even more challenging by increasingly disturbing events, and takes the group through uncharted territory, across sheer-walled gorges and deep into wolf-infested forests. One by one his fellow travelers meet with misfortune, and the embattled Crusader finds himself facing his most terrifying adversary.
Season of the Witch is a 2011 American historical fantasy adventure film starring Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman and directed by Dominic Sena[3] with extensive uncredited reshoots by Brett Ratner.[citation needed] Cage and Perlman star as Teutonic Knights, who return from the Crusades to find their fatherland ruined by the Black Death. Two church elders accuse a girl (Claire Foy) of being a witch responsible for the destruction; they command the two knights to transport the girl to a monastery so the monks can lift her curse from the land. The film draws inspiration from the 1957 film The Seventh Seal. It reunited Sena and Cage who had previously worked together on Gone in 60 Seconds.
Development on the film began in 2000 when the spec script by screenwriter Bragi F. Schut was purchased by MGM. The project moved from MGM to Columbia Pictures to Relativity Media, where the film was finally produced by Charles Roven and Alex Gartner. Filming took place primarily in Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Season of the Witch was released on January 7, 2011 in the United States, Canada and several other territories.
About the Production
Screenwriter Bragi F. Schut wrote Season of the Witch as a spec script that was placed on the open market in 2000. Numerous studios bid on the script, and producers Charles Roven and Alex Gartner collaborated with the studio MGM to place a winning bid. MGM could not find traction to produce the film, and in 2003–2004 the studio “was essentially obtained by a number of concerns”. Columbia Pictures earmarked several properties for themselves, including Season of the Witch.[7] The producers worked with director Dominic Sena to perform location shooting throughout Europe. They sought a 14th-century castle to use as a setting for the story; castles visited in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic could not fit the period.
With the film yet to be produced, the project eventually moved to Relativity Media, and Sena was officially attached to direct. Business and creative discussions led to avoiding too much violence or gore in the film so a broader audience could see it. Actor Nicolas Cage was considered for the starring role but was unavailable during the time of the location shooting. Cage eventually became available in 2008 and was cast in the role.[6] He explained his interest, “I wanted to make movies that celebrated actors like Christopher Lee and Vincent Price, and the great Roger Corman classics that are unafraid to explore the paranormal and the supernatural.”
The crew began production immediately after Cage finished Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009). The film had a budget of approximately US$40 million, and much of the budget was covered by Relativity with pre-sales to distributors outside the United States. Filming took place in Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Most of the principal photography took place in practical locations, with several days committed to filming on greenscreen. Principal photography was completed by April 2009, but the cast and crew re-gathered a few months later to film additional battle sequences, filming on greenscreen to save on travel. The reshoots were directed by Brett Ratner.
Season of the Witch (2011)
Directed by: Dominic Sena
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Robert Sheehan, Claire Foy, Ulrich Thomsen, Christopher Lee
Screenplay by: Bragi Schut Jr.
Production Design by: Uli Hanisch
Cinematography by: Amir Mokri
Film Editing by: Bob Ducsay, Mark Helfrich, Dan Zimmerman
Costume Design by: Carlo Poggioli
Set Decoration by: Monica Rottmeyer
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for Thematic elements, violence and disturbing content.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: December 30, 2010
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