After winning over family audiences with his Pirates of the Caribbean and National Treasure franchises, producer Jerry Bruckheimer looks to continue entertaining children with a live-action Sorcerer's Apprentice and the animated feature G-Force.Sorcerer's Apprentice updates the animated Mickey Mouse short from Fantasia to a modern-day New York setting. Nicolas Cage plays the Sorcerer, with Jay Baruchel as his apprentice; Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) directs.
"Disney came to us, and they had been developing a screenplay on it," Bruckheimer said in a press conference on Sunday in Beverly Hills, Calif., where he was promoting his latest film, Confessions of a Shopaholic. "We jumped in and loved the concept of it and had been working on it ever since."
It will be Bruckheimer's sixth live-action film with Cage, who has altered his appearance from long-haired, muscular behemoth to mild-mannered scholar. Bruckheimer expects a comparatively normal Cage in Sorcerer.
"Well, it's not a kind of physical thing there, so he always looks good," Bruckheimer said. "He always takes great care of himself."
G-Force will also feature Cage as a voice. It's a family film about a team of special-agent guinea pigs on a government mission to thwart a supervillain. The producer has seen the final cut on that film. "It's really adorable, really cute," he said.
While there was a hint of talking animals in Kangaroo Jack, via dream sequences, Bruckheimer fully enters Babe territory this time. G-Force opens July 24. Sorcerer's Apprentice begins production in March.
