Hall H on Saturday is probably one of the biggest spectacles of Comic-Con. Chris Hardwick begins moderating this panel, and talks about the small town camping outside waiting to get in. We were one of these fools, but Saturday was completely worth it. Chris Hardwick begins with Legendary Pictures, the first film being The Seventh Son. Let the Saturday Hall H panels begin!
We learn that Jeff Bridges stars in this film, The Seventh Son, and he gets a video introduction, after which “The Dude” takes the stage. This is the first I have heard of this film. Chris Hardwick begins asking questions of Jeff Bridges about the movie, and he says the movie is about, “myth”, not elaborating too much on that. Jeff Bridges introduces a clip of the movie, saying to “roll the thing”!
While not the Comic-Con footage, here is a trailer for the new film, if you haven’t heard anything about it. Certainly looks action packed and has its comedic elements!:
The footage is very exciting, following Jeff Bridges’ character, and his disciple, who is the “seventh son of the seventh son”. The movie is fantasy based, with a lot of action, and some good humor thrown in for fun.
After the footage, the rest of the panelists for the movie are brought out. Starting with the director, Sergei Bodrov, and some cast, including Antje Traue (Faora in Man of Steel), Kit Harington (Jon Snow in Game of Thrones), and Ben Barnes (Caspian in Chronicles of Narnia).
Chris Hardwick begins with asking the director Sergei Bodrov about the film. He seems very dodgy, not wanting to reveal plot points. Chris Hardwick moves to Antje, asking about her quick rise to fame. She reveals it’s been a roller coaster ride, and a lot of fun.
Down to Ben, he plays Tom Ward, a farmer. Ben Barnes reveals that his character knows something “bigger” is meant for him, but doesn’t know what. He discusses the bond that develops between Jeff Bridges’ character and his, Tom Ward.
Hardwick moves onto Kit Harington, asking about his role in the film. His character is a friend of Jeff Bridges. Hardwick then asks about his jarring experience when he is done shooting. Kit describes it as a “great experience”.
Hardwick moves on to audience questions. The first question is for Jeff Bridges, and she asks how the physical action was for him, being an older gentlemen. Bridges talks about how acting to him is, “advanced pretend”. He talks about the stunt coordinators teaching them moves. Chris Hardwick and Jeff Bridges discuss the balance of CGI and conventional effects, and how it is important to strike the right balance.
Hardwick then asks Sergei Bordov about the balance. He briefly discusses how to strike an equal balance.
The next audience member asks the challenges of balancing CGI and conventional effects. Bordov describes the CGI as a secondary thing.
The third question asks the most challenging part of filming the movie. Antje Traue says that because her dress was heavy, it was difficult to do action scenes in that outfit. Barnes talks about his action scenes, working with the stunt coordinator. He continues discussing the difficulty of some scenes, where the script describes something, that looks easy “on paper”, but becomes more difficult, such as climbing a chain, as the physical toll will become tiring.
Hardwick then asks Kit Harington about the action parts for him. Kit describes them as difficult, especially when he has to work in a harness in the movie. Jeff Bridges follows up describing the actors of the film as, “story tellers”. Jeff Bridges wants to read a quote that kept him on track for this film:
“If only it were so simple. If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them, but the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being, and who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart.”
A profound quote, indeed, and what Jeff Bridges felt the movie was about. Jeff Bridges continues further discussing human imagination, and how people dream of peace, which is a part of him for film making.
The last audience question talks about the mythology of the seventh son of the seventh son. Sergei Bordov says that the film will follow it closely, but definitely will be taking some liberties. The panel wraps up at this point.
This is just the beginning of the Warner Brothers Panel though, and up next is the infamous Godzilla.
