THE SEEKER: THE DARK IS RISING

'''The Seeker: The Dark is Rising''', previously known as '''The Dark Is Rising''', is a 2007 film adaptation of the second book in the high fantasy five-book series ''The Dark is Rising'' by Susan Cooper. The film is directed by David Cunningham and stars Ian McShane, Alexander Ludwig, Frances Conroy, Gregory Smith, and Christopher Eccleston. Produced by Walden Media and Twentieth Century Fox as part of their Fox-Walden partnership, ''The Seeker'' is slated for a October 5 2007 release.

Contents

Premise

Cast

Production

Development

Writing

Filming

Release

References

External links

Premise

Will Stanton (Ludwig) is a young man who finds out that he is the last of a group of warriors who have spent their lives fighting against evil. Will travels through time to track down clues that will enable him to confront the evil forces.^[1]

Cast

★ Alexander Ludwig as Will Stanton, a 13-year-old American boy.⁹

★ Ian McShane as Merriman Lyon, Stanton's mentor.^[2]

★ Frances Conroy as Miss Greythorne.⁹

★ Christopher Eccleston as the Rider, the villain.⁹

★ Jonathan Jackson as Walker.⁷

★ Gregory Smith as Max.

★ Amelia Warner.

★ Emma Lockhart.

★ Gary Entin.

★ Edmund Entin.

★ John Benjamin Hickey.

Production

Development

In July 1997, Jim Henson Pictures optioned the rights for the film adaptation of Susan Cooper's novel ''The Dark Is Rising''. The company attached Duncan Kenworthy as producer and Andrew Klavan as screenwriter, with the film's budget estimated to be $20 million. The rights to adapt the book had been pursued by Brian Henson, president and CEO of the company, who considered the literature a favorite of his.^[3]
In May 2005, with production never becoming active under Henson Pictures, the film adaptation rights were purchased by Walden Media, who attached Marc E. Platt to produce the project.^[4] In August 2006, Walden Media announced a joint venture with the studio 20th Century Fox to distribute Walden projects through Fox channels.^[5] The next October, director David Cunningham was hired to helm the film, then titled ''The Dark Is Rising''. Cunningham visited Romania to prepare production for an early 2007 start to target a September 28 2007 release date.^[6]

Writing

''The Seeker: The Dark is Rising'' is based on the second book in Susan Cooper's series ''The Dark is Rising Sequence'', titled ''The Dark is Rising''.^[7] Walden Media hired screenwriter John Hodge in October 2005 to adapt the story for the big screen.^[8] The mythology of Cooper's book was considered to be the plot, and Hodge was tasked to interpret the book into events that could be portrayed in a film.^[9] The story, which took place in the 1960s and 1970s in the book, was rewritten to be contemporary. Vikings were included in the film, based on a reference in the book to an old Viking boat which the protagonist discovers.^[10]
Hodge rewrote the protagonist Will Stanton, portrayed by Alexander Ludwig, to be 13 instead of 11. The screenwriter chose this age, considering 11 to be more of a child's age, and 13 to be an age of transition.¹⁰ Stanton was also written to be American so he would be established as more of an outsider, culturally alien to the story's English setting.⁹ Hodge also wrote new subplots for Ludwig's character in the film, including sibling conflicts, a crush on a young woman (Amelia Warner), and alienation at school.^[11] The character Walker, portrayed by Jonathan Jackson, was also rewritten as a younger person with a new story arc about the loss of his soul. Hodge also shaped the script to include more action sequences while preserving Cooper's narrative.⁹

Filming

Filming began on February 26, 2007 in Romania.^[12] The film was shot on several soundstages at MediaPro Studios in Buftea, Romania.⁹ Several sets built at the soundstages included an English village, the Stanton family's country home, a medieval church, and a mysterious ruin known as the Great Hall.¹¹ Cinematographer Joel Ransom chose to have such sets, including the reconstruction of the 13th century chapel that took four months to construct, built to surround the actors so he could use 360-degree camera sweeps in the locations to represent time travel sequences.^[13]
Director David Cunningham chose to minimize the use of visual effects in ''The Seeker'', only creating around 200 visual effects for the film. Instead, the director pursued practical means to carry out the effects of the film's scenes. A thousand snakes were shipped in from the Czech Republic to be dumped on the actors, real water was used to wipe out a mansion in the film, and real rooks were trained to fly at the actors. Cunningham also hired Viking reenactors to assist with the Viking element in the film.⁷
Costume designer Vin Burnham designed a riding cloak for The Rider (Christopher Eccleston), a black get-up lined with real fur and feathers for an animalistic appearance. Burnham provided eccentric 1960s outfits for the character Miss Greythorne (Frances Conroy), with Celtic symbols incorporated into the outfits. The costume designer also implemented small crystals into the outfits worn by Conroy and Ian McShane to achieve the effect of having the outfits glisten on camera.¹³

Release

Production on ''The Seeker'' began early in 2007 to target a September 28 2007 release date.^[6] The release date was eventually moved three weeks later to Columbus Day weekend.^[15] Up until July 27 2007, the film was titled and marketed only as ''The Dark is Rising''. Fox Walden changed the film title from ''The Dark is Rising'' to ''The Seeker: The Dark is Rising''.^[16]

References

1. The Dark Is Rising - Story
2. McShane rises to 'Dark' challenge
3. Henson Pics options Cooper novel 'Dark'
4. A walk in the 'Dark'
5. On Walden pond
6. Fox finds fantasy man
7. Set Visit: ''The Dark is Rising''
8. Hodge lights up 'Dark'
9. ''Dark'' Rises Differently
10. Set Visit: Writing in ''The Dark''
11. Boy At Center Of ''Dark'' Story
12. 'Dark' falls for Smith, Eccleston
13. Set Visit: ''The Dark Is Rising''
14. Fox finds fantasy man
15. Fox Walden sets schedule
16. ''Dark'' is now ''The Seeker''

External links

★ Official site

★ Interview with Christopher Eccleston

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