Story Submitted by: Tim Low (SoSF Contributing Fan)
One of the more intriguing films to be brought to my attention is something called “The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising.”
Originally titled “The Dark Is Rising” and adapted from the Susan Cooper series of books, this Newbery award winner follows the story of an eleven year old boy named Will who learns that he is one of the last of the ‘Old Ones’ called Seekers. He is destined to be the one to wield the sword of Light against the hosts of Dark.
Alexander Ludwig (“The Sandlot 3”) stars as the young protagonist Will Stanton with Doctor Who’s Christopher Eccelston portraying the Dark Rider. Deadwood’s Ian McShane plays Merriman Lyon.
Author Susan Cooper adapted her work for the big screen along with Scottish screenwriter John Hodge and David L. Cunningham (“After”) is the director.
“The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising” will be in theaters October 5, 2007.
By following this link you will also get the added thrill of participating in “The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising — Seek the Signs” ARG that was recently launched for the promotion of the film. Like Will Stanton, there are hidden sign sequences embedded in all of the film materials such as the trailer, poster and more, that can be used to unlock truly exclusive content, behind-the-scenes and cast interviews.
The Wall Street Journal has a very good article about this “Seek the Signs” feature.
you might want to change your tense – the film has long been written and is finished shooting. they’re in the editing/vfx stage now.
Good point Chris.
This movie will certainly not be a big hit with fans of the book. Do you have any info on to what degree Cooper contributed to the current script of the movie? From an interview I’ve read, hodge indicated that Cooper had little to do with the adaptation, nor a great deal of support for it.
Agreeing with pbarnes here, most sources indicate that Cooper had very little, if anything, to do with the adapting of this film. Reportedly, either the producer or director (can’t remember which at the moment) never even met her or talked to her and the one who did speak with her, very little.
I’ve seen the trailer twice now. Of course, trailers can be very deceiving, but it looks as though they’ve taken the title and a few plot points and rewritten the story–and not to make it better. *shudder* Too bad–a classic crushed, and what’s worse is that so many of the kids who see it will think that’s what the story is supposed to be.
Hodge never met Susan Cooper. The director, David Cunningham, did once or twice, and told the reporters that Susan Cooper wasn’t in fact pleased with some of the changes they made, but she was a screenwriter, so she understood. Both said this in their interviews.
Cunningham makes it sound almost like a pleasant disagreement, though, whereas they changed more than a few things. The main character and his family are now Americans. Will’s family (except for his little sister Gwen, who was his older sister in the books) mistreats him horribly. They’ve taken out all the Arthurian elements. Just to name some of the few things they’ve changed.
People who know and love these books see very little to “thrill” about anything to do with the forthcoming film.
marked on my calendar… The Dark is Rising movie..
anyone finished answering the the sequence puzzle of the movie??
currently answered 5 sequences.. 2 more to go!!!
there is supposed to be umm….i think 25 sequences by the time the movie begins showing. And on the topic of books V. movies- i know so many people are dissapointed about the way that the movie has started to stray from the book, but that is no reason to automatically hate the movie. it happens with all the books/video games/comics. things change(some more drastic than others) but it doesn’t mean that the change is all bad, it just means the studio is trying to get a return on their investment.
The movie studio invested in the rights to the novel The Dark is Rising; what they created was something very different. As a banal kiddie movie, maybe they’ve done a good job. As a highly anticipated adaptation of Cooper’s novel? They’ve pretty much let everyone down by relying on kiddie sci fi cliches and derivative characterizations — Home Alone meets Harry Potter meets a touch of Spiderman — whoosh! Will the geeky kid get to kiss the girl? Does anyone really care? Will the studio recoup its investment? Well, they’ve stripped the story of anything meaningful and souped it up with a bunch of overused hype — so likely they will.
I just saw the trailer on TV for the first time, with no mention of the name of the book(s). A Cooper fan seeing this trailer cold would be unlikely to conclude that it is based on her books. Sheesh. Significant changes aside, I’m hopeful that at least some of the core remains the same.