Vin Diesel’s voice helped to breathe life into Groot – one of the more beloved characters from Marvel Studios’ latest hit Guardians of the Galaxy – but next year, he’ll be back on the big screen in person as Dominic Toretto in Fast & Furious 7. It looks as though that might not be the only Diesel-starring film to hit theaters in 2015 either, as his fantasy adventure The Last Witch Hunter (a project that’s been slowly developing for some 3-4 years now) recently started production.
Last Witch Hunter will star Diesel as an immortal, well, witch hunter – who, in the present, teams up with a witch played by Rose Leslie (a.k.a. Ygritte on Game of Thrones) to stop a coven based in New York City from unleashing a plague upon humanity. Diesel’s been attached to the project for a while, but Leslie only joined a couple months back – as did most of the other cast members, like Elijah Wood (Wilfred), Michael Caine (Interstellar), and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (A Walk Among the Tombstones).
Diesel, per his custom, has kept his Facebook followers up-to-speed on development of Last Witch Hunter; he posted conceptual art for the movie earlier this year, and today revealed that filming is underway – by putting up a photo of himself in costume for the film (see below), with the comment “13th century Kaulder… The Last Witch Hunter begins…” Based on that, one presumes the following image doesn’t reveal how Diesel’s character will be dressed during sequences of Last Witch Hunter that are set in modern times. (Then again, in a place like NYC, a guy who looks like this might not even get a second glance from most of the locals that pass him on the street, so who knows…)
Director Breck Eisner (Sahara, The Crazies) is calling the shots on Last Witch Hunter, while drawing from a script that was penned by Cory Goodman (Priest) and subsequently revised by Oscar-nominated scribe Melisa Wallack (Dallas Buyers Club). Combine that with an action-driven storyline that involves Riddick and Ygritte battling witches, and it seems fair to say – Last Witch Hunter might not be a home run, but it has the potential to be a solid piece of popcorn entertainment nonetheless.
As for when Last Witch Hunter will hit theaters – Summer 2015 is pretty full (even August), but a September or maybe even October launch next year – to tie in with the Halloween season – might be on the books for the film. Admittedly, competition is lighter in September 2015 right now, as Universal’s survival thriller Everest is the only movie aimed at a similar crowd as Last Witch Hunter – and the Diesel-led Riddick did alright during the same frame last year too – but best to wait and see on that one.
We’ll let you know when The Last Witch Hunter gets an official release date.
