Season of the Witch is a 2011 American supernatural action-adventure film starring Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman, and directed by Dominic Sena.[3] Cage and Perlman star as Teutonic Knights who return from the Crusades to find their homeland devastated by the Black Death. Two church elders accuse a young woman (Claire Foy) of being a witch responsible for the plague. They command the two knights to transport her to a distant monastery so the monks can lift her curse.[4] The film 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.
In 13th century Villach, three women are accused by a priest of witchcraft, and are first hanged before being drowned. The priest performs a ritual on the three women using a book inscribed from the Key of Solomon so they can never return to life, but one of the women takes on a demonic appearance, sets the book on fire, and hangs the priest.
In the 14th century, German Teutonic Knights Sir Behmen von Bleibruck and Sir Felson join the Smyrniote crusades. After witnessing a civilian massacre during the capture of Smyrna, the two abandon their order and return to Austria.
Traveling through Styria, Behmen and Felson encounter people infected with the Black Death. Trying to conceal their identities as deserters, Behmen's sword crest exposes their identities and they are arrested. They're taken to Cardinal D'Ambroise, who is near death from the plague. The Cardinal asks the knights to escort an alleged witch who is suspected of causing the pestilence to a remote monastery where monks can perform a sacred ritual to cancel her powers and stop the plague. Behmen refuses, so D'Ambroise imprisons him and Felson, where they meet the alleged witch, Anna.
Both knights agree under the condition that she be given a fair trial and the charges of desertion against them be dropped. The Cardinal agrees, and they are accompanied by the priest Debelzaq, the altar boy Kay von Wollenbart, Johann, the captain of the Cardinal's Guard, and Hagamar, a well-traveled swindler who will serve as their guide in return for his pardon. Anna shows hatred towards Debelzaq while forming a connection with Behmen.
The group camps for the night, and when Johann decides to give up the mission and to convince the others to do the same, Anna attacks him, grabs his key to her cage, and escapes. The search for her leads the group to a mass grave, where Johann begins having visions of his dead daughter calling to him until he accidentally impales himself on Kay's drawn sword. When Anna is recaptured, she explains that she only ran away for fear of Debelzaq. They cross an old, crumbling suspension bridge, where Anna saves Kay from falling, grabbing him with unnatural strength. The group enters the dark forest, where Hagamar attempts to kill Anna, only to be stopped by the others. Anna appears to summon packs of wolves, which chase the group and kill Hagamar. An enraged Behmen tries to kill her, but is stopped by Debelzaq and Felson, who point to their destination on a nearby summit.
At the monastery, the men discover that all the monks have succumbed to the plague. They locate the ancient Book of Solomon filled with the holy rituals used to defeat evil. Debelzaq begins speaking the ritual used on witches, just as Anna, in a demonic voice, begins recounting Behmen's horror at Crusader cruelties. Realizing that she is not a witch, but has been possessed by a demon, he frantically performs an exorcism. The demon possessing Anna melts the cage's metal and escapes while fighting off the knights. When Debelzaq throws a container of holy water on it, the demon flies away.
As the men search for it, they realize it is not trying to escape, but to destroy the book so that nothing can kill it. They find a room where the monks were making copies for others to use. The demon destroys the copies and possesses the dead monks to use as weapons. The three men fight the monks' possessed corpses, as Debelzaq continues the exorcism ritual. The demon snaps Debelzaq's neck and incinerates Felson. As Kay continues the ritual, weakening it, Behmen fights the demon and is mortally wounded. Kay finishes the exorcism ritual and the demon is consumed by holy fire. Behmen asks Kay to keep Anna safe just before he dies. After their fallen friends are buried, Anna asks Kay to tell her about the men who saved her. They both leave the monastery, with the Book of Solomon safely in Kay's possession.
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.[2] 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.[10] Scenes were filmed at Burg Kreuzenstein and on the Loser mountain. Principal photography was completed by April 2009,[11] but the cast and crew re-gathered a few months later to film additional battle sequences, filming on greenscreen to save on travel.[10]
Cage stars as Behman of Bleibruck, a Teutonic knight who returns from the Crusades to discover the devastation caused by the Black Plague. The actor had worked with director Dominic Sena on Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)[8] and with producer Charles Roven on City of Angels (1998).[10] Cage was interested in the film's fantastical subject matter, also having recently starred in The Sorcerer's Apprentice.[12] He also described Behmen as "the first" conscientious objector, saying, "I admired... the idea of him breaking from whatever religious propaganda was forced upon him, and still finding an even closer connection with his faith and with God. Those iconoclastic elements to the character made him very interesting to me."[10] For the role, Cage learned horseback riding from Camilla Naprous and her team of horse trainers in England. Cage also worked with a fight choreographer to learn sword fighting.[12]
Perlman plays Felson, a knight who is Behmen's best friend and fellow combatant during the Crusades. Perlman said of choosing the role, "I love the character. I'm actually more comfortable being a sidekick, because I don't get blamed if it is a complete disaster. I really liked ... his mindset, I liked his irreverence. In the world of seriousness, he's a guy who thinks it's all bullshit. He's just in it for the whores and the sword fights."[13] Perlman described Felson's religion, "Whereas Behmen has a very well-articulated idea of his relationship to country and church and spirituality and God, Felson has none. He doesn't bother to spend any time thinking about that."[9]
Foy appears in her feature-film debut as the young woman who is accused of being a witch. Known for her titular role in the British miniseries Little Dorrit, she met Sena and sought the role in Season of the Witch. She explained the choice, "It's quite a manipulative role. The character does a lot of manipulating, pitting other people against each other, being quite mischievous... That was something I thought would obviously be good to do".[14] Foy researched witchcraft and demonic possession for the role. She described its appeal, "Playing a character that was making things happen, and mainly in control of an entire group of men. And for once, be the character that is completely in the know about everything. There is nothing that she doesn't know. Nothing is a surprise. And she is able to deal with every single situation that arises the way that she sees fit. And I think that was quite refreshing to be able to play a character that wasn't entirely beholden to everyone else".[15]
For Season of the Witch, Tippett Studio designed the demon that manifests in the film's denouement. The art directors researched woodcuts and other artwork for classic demonic appearances. The filmmakers requested an entity "lithe and feminine", and the visual effects crew designed a demon that had "cloven feet, a dog ankle, and a fawn leg". Designing visual effects for the demon's wings was the biggest challenge since wings tend to get in the way or do not move convincingly. The filmmakers also requested holes in the demon's wings. The crew designed holes that appeared worn instead of ripped, since ripped holes would require an added billowing effect.[16]
The demon was also designed to have dark gray skin, which presented the crew a challenge in the film's dark settings. Tippett's Blair Clark said, "We played the skin like a rotten mummy: nothing too moist, with a lot of wear marks on it". The crew's final visual effects shot was the death of the demon, and they researched previous films and terminology for how demons' deaths have been designed. They drew inspiration from Hellboy (2004), where they focused on the buildup to the demon's death. Clark said, "We built it over a series of shots so it doesn't just happen in one shot. We had little patches on the demon that start to crack and result in a glow that looks like it's burning from within".[16]
Lionsgate scheduled Season of the Witch to be released on March 19, 2010, but five weeks before the date, the studio decided to pull the film from release.[17] Lionsgate originally had an output deal with Relativity Media, but since Relativity had formed its own marketing and distribution arm in 2010, Relativity chose to release the film themselves and in October 2010 the film was pushed back a year from its original release date of March 19, 2010 to January 7, 2011.[18] Season of the Witch was Relativity's first inhouse production.[19]
795a8134c1