Warner Bros. has released the first images from their upcoming fantasy-adventure film, Seventh Son.  The plot follows mystical knight Father Gregory (Jeff Bridges) and his apprentice Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) and their fight to defeat the evil witch, Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore) and her followers.  The title comes Ward’s character who is the “seventh son of a seventh son” and thus has special “chosen one” powers.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film also stars Olivia Williams, Djimon Hounsou, Kit Harington, Antje Traue, and Alicia Vikander.  Seventh Son opens October 18, 2013.

Generally speaking, I try and keep the Top 5 opening paragraph as topical as possible (i.e. films, television, posters, etc.). This week that protocol is easier than ever to follow as I recently got my first chance to check out director Gareth Evans‘ The Raid. Keeping this short and sweet, if you’ve yet to partake in The Raid and have ever derived any joy from watching action fare, martial arts, and the like, then you have a giant favor to do for yourself. Quickly find a way to check out this actioner and try to keep a smile from forming across your face while watching.

Movie recommendations aside, this weekend brings you a recap of all of our 2012 Toronto International Film Festival thus far, the first trailer and poster for Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, video interviews with the cast and director of Bachelorette, the inaugural installment of our Hollywood! Adapt This feature spotlighting Disney’s Gargoyles, and The Words video interviews with Bradley Cooper, co-writer/co-director Brian Klugman, and more. A brief recap and link to each awaits on the other side.

In The Words, Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) has the most unenviable task of playing the younger version of Jeremy Irons’ character. Irons, beyond versatile, commands each scene he’s in with nary more than a look. Emulating that type of presence is no easy feat.  Add onto that – most of Barnes’ performance is physical with little to no dialogue (Irons narrates over) and that he’s playing a period World War Two Vet.  It’s like Barnes’ took up the trifecta of acting challenges.  But Barnes handles himself nicely here – more than matching Iron’s ferocious presence and doing more with a glance than a page monologue would elicit.

In the following interview with Barnes, he talks studying Irons mannerisms, working with no dialogue and the differences acting for film and theater.  For the full interview, hit the jump.

A new trailer for the drama The Words has been released.  For those unfamiliar with the film, it’s three stories nested inside each other with the central story focusing on an aspiring writer (Bradley Cooper) who plagiarizes a manuscript he finds in an old briefcase.  He becomes an overnight success when the book is published, but then he encounters the manuscript’s true author (Jeremy Irons).  This trailer plays like a truncated version of the first trailer, with a few bits of new footage thrown in towards the end.  The premise has the basis for a great story, and I really like what we’ve seen so far.  Matt caught the pic at Sundance and was a big fan (read his review here), so here’s hoping it delivers.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.  Written and directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, the film also stars Dennis Quaid, Ben Barnes, Olivia Wilde, and Zoe Saldana.  The Words opens on September 7th.

The first trailer and poster for the ensemble romantic comedy The Big Wedding have been released.  The film centers on a divorced couple (Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton) who are forced to pretend like they’re still married when their adopted son’s (Ben Barnes) deeply religious biological mother comes to town for his wedding.  Zaniness ensues.  Though the involvement of Katherine Heigl puts this one immediately on iffy ground, the highlight of the trailer is the chemistry between De Niro and Keaton. If the film focuses mainly on their relationship, we might be in for a fairly amusing rom-com.  That said, the clip definitely plays up the farcical tone and “wacky antics” that occur when everything goes awry, so I’m not exactly holding my breath.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  Directed by Justin Zackham, the film also stars Amanda Seyfried, Susan Sarandon, Topher Grace, and Robin Williams.  The Big Wedding opens on October 26th.

A new featurette for The Words has gone online.  For those unfamiliar with the film, it’s three stories nested inside each other with the central story focusing on an aspiring writer (Bradley Cooper) who plagiarizes a manuscript he finds in an old briefcase.  He becomes an overnight success when the book is published, but then he encounters the manuscript’s true author (Jeremy Irons).   I was quite taken with the movie when I saw it at Sundance (the featurette pulls quotes from my review), and this featurette does a slightly better job than the trailer of breaking down the plot and selling the picture.

Hit the jump to check out the featurette.  The film also stars Dennis Quaid, Ben Barnes, Olivia Wilde, and Zoe Saldana.  The Words opens September 7th.

Two new posters have arrived for a pair of September releases that I’m really looking forward to. First up is a new poster for The Words, a romantic drama from debut directors Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal that stars Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana and Jeremy Irons. Cooper plays a young writer who passes off another author’s work as his own and deals with the consequences that inevitably arise. The Words opens September 7th. 

A second poster comes to us today for director Jake Schreier’s Robot and Frank.  The buddy comedy stars Frank Langella as a retired jewel thief who seeks to resume his criminal ways with the help of a companion robot, voiced by Peter Sarsgaard.  Robot and Frank opens August 24th.  Hit the jump to check out the new posters.

The first trailer for The Words has gone online.  I really dug the film when I saw it at Sundance, but this trailer doesn’t do a good job of getting to the drama of the central conflict, which is about a writer (Bradley Cooper) who becomes famous off a plagiarized manuscript, and then has to face his actions when he meets the original author (Jeremy Irons).

Hit the jump to check out the trailer, and try not to be turned off from the use of the horrible song at the end (it isn’t in the movie, in case you were wondering).  The film also stars Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Zoe Saldana, and Ben Barnes (who should have gotten a credit in the trailer since he plays a major character).  The Words opens September 21st.

We’ve got some shuffling of release dates for two Warner Bros. distributions and a new release date for one of our favorite films from this year’s Sundance.  Here’s a glance:

• Warner Bros. pushes back The Seventh Son from February 15th, 2013 to October 18th, 2013.
• Another Warner Bros. film, Beautiful Creatures, has taken Seventh Son’s place by moving back two weeks to open on February 15th, 2013.
• Starring Frank Langella, James Marsden, Liv Tyler, Susan Sarandon and a robot (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard), Robot and Frank will open on August 24th of this year.

Hit the jump for more on each film.

Earlier this week, we brought you word that production had begun on Sergey Bodrov’s (Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan) fantasy adventure, Seventh Son. Now we can bring you the first concept art released for the film, something not seen outside of last year’s Comic-Con. While it doesn’t show off an awful lot, you can get a definite sense of setting and scope from the image.

Based on the The Spook’s Apprentice, the first novel in Joseph Delaney‘s young adult book series, The Wardstone Chronicles, Seventh Son follows a knight training a new apprentice to combat an old evil (how’s that for vague? More plot details after the jump.) The film stars Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Kit Harington, Ben Barnes and Olivia Williams. Hit the jump for the official synopsis and a look at the image.

Production has begun on the fantasy action adventure flick Seventh Son, and with that announcement comes an official synopsis.  Briefly: Jeff Bridges plays a knight who had imprisoned an evil witch (Julianne Moore), but then she escapes and plans to do evil witchy things.  The knight is forced to take on an apprentice (Ben Barnes)—the seventh son of a seventh son—and only has until the next full moon to get the kid up to snuff.    The movie is based on The Spook’s Apprentice, the first novel in Joseph Delaney‘s young adult book series, The Wardstone Chronicles, which has franchise potential because of course it does.  Thankfully, it’s got a good cast on board, which also includes Olivia Williams and Kit Harington.

Hit the jump for the press release, which includes the synopsis.  Legendary Pictures made a brief presentation for the film at last year’s Comic-Con so it’s possible we might see another appearance at this year’s Con.  The press release doesn’t include a release date, but Box Office Mojo is listing the film for February 15, 2013.

One of the best films I saw at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was writer-director Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal‘s first feature, The Words. The film stars Bradley Cooper as a writer who, after discovering an extraordinary lost manuscript, passes the work off as his own and receives overwhelming critical acclaim.  Jeremy Irons plays the man who originally wrote the manuscript, and the film weaves multiple narratives to tell the story.  The Words also stars Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Ben Barnes, and JK Simmons.  CBS Films bought the film after its first screening and they plan to release it later this year.  It’s definitely a film you should be excited to see.

Shortly after watching the movie, I got to sit down with Ben Barnes for an exclusive interview.  We talked about what it means to be at Sundance, how he got involved in The Words and who he plays, karaoke, video games, and and he tells a funny story about how Colin Firth kept him laughing on the set of Dorian Gray.  In addition, Barnes talked about his other upcoming projects like The Wedding (which stars Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams), The Seventh Son with Jeff Bridges (which he starts to film next month and says it’ll be PG-13), and reveals that Overdrive with Karl Ubran has fallen apart.  Hit the jump for more.

A few new images and and a synopsis for the drama The Words have been released. The film stars Bradley Cooper as a writer who, after discovering an extraordinary lost manuscript, passes the work off as his own and receives overwhelming critical acclaim.  Jeremy Irons plays the man who originally wrote the manuscript, and the film weaves multiple narratives to tell the story of how “one man’s lost legacy holds the life of another man captive.” The Words was written by, and marks the directorial debut of, Tron: Legacy scribes Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, and features a pretty impressive cast that includes Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Ben Barnes, and JK Simmons. Hit the jump to check out the images as well as the synopsis. The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 19 – 29.

Slated to start production in March, director Roland Emmerich (2012) is looking to cast the male lead for his next sci-fi project, Singularity. Set 40 years in the future, Singularity is not the disaster-fare we’ve come to expect from Emmerich, but something else entirely. He’s not saying much about the project, co-written with Harald Kloser, but it occurs at a time when our technology is so advanced, there is the potential that we lose control of it. The lead of the film will be Adam, a young man composed entirely of a swarm of nanobots which grant him amazing powers.

A number of relative unknowns will meet to read for the role this week, including TV stars Luke Grimes (Brothers and Sisters), Logan Marshall Green (Dark Blue) and Julian Morris (Pretty Little Liars). Hit the jump for more on Singularity.

We’ve all gone to school with friends who have become more successful than ourselves, but Neil McCormick (played by Ben Barnes) had to watch while his friend Paul (Martin McCann) became Bono. While Neil always dreamed of life as a rock star, Bono became one of the most famous rock stars on the planet. No matter how hard they try, Neil and his brother Ivan (Robert Sheehan) never reach the fame and stardom of U2, instead destined to forever live in their shadow.

During a recent phoner to promote Killing Bono, adapted from Neil McCormick’s book I Was Bono’s Doppleganger: A Life in the Shadows of Superstardom, actor Ben Barnes talked to Collider for this exclusive interview about the appeal of a biopic seen through the eyes of someone who just happened to be in the room, getting to live out his own rock star fantasy with this role, how he watched all of the great frontmen and stole the most ridiculous moves from each for his stage persona, the challenge of playing a sympathetic anti-hero, and working with Pete Postlethwaite in what became his last performance. He also talked about his next role as the apprentice of Jeff Bridges’ witch hunter in the fantasy film The Seventh Son. Check out what he had to say after the jump: