I just finished watching this week’s Wonder Woman animated DVD release, which is actually quite good (review coming later). The use of Alfred Molina, who more notably played Dr. Otto Octavius in Spider-Man 2, was a bit odd, but you have to admit the man knows how to play the villain - a chance the actor is going to get yet again in an upcoming project.
Slashfilm reports that they’ve gotten word that Molina will play an evil sorcerer in a live-action, modern adaptation of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice - yes, the story that stars Mickey Mouse in Disney’s Fantasia.
Molina joins a cast that already includes Jay Baruchel as a young apprentice working for a sorcerer played by Nicholas Cage (no word on whether they’ll maintain Fantasia’s Yen Sid character name). I don’t know - if I was to become an apprentice for a sorcerer, I almost think I would pick Molina over Cage just on general wizardly appearance.
Disney jokes aside, the story of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was a poem before it was turned into one of Mickey’s more memorable adventures. I would hope they’ll look more to that as the source material, although honestly there’s not much more there than the story of a boy who can’t control the brooms he summons. Neither the Disney movie nor the original poem mention anything about an evil sorcerer, so Molina’s inclusion obviously shows us some changes have been made.
