The upcoming film, The Last Witch Hunter, was featured on the main stage at New York Comic Con. In attendance for the panel, which was moderated by MTV’s Josh Horowitz, was Director Breck Eisner and film stars Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie and Elijah Wood.
Those in attendance, which included a few of us here at Fandemonium Network, were able to catch a glimpse of exclusive clips and a full length trailer. To top it off, the panel also consisted of the cast giving us insight as to what they brought to the characters.
At the end of the panel, we were also given the opportunity to ask questions of the cast. Most questions were directed to the man himself, Vin Diesel, and many questioned other roles that he has been rumored to be in such as Hannibal and Riddick.
Overall, the panel was a great success and the movie looks outstanding.
Make sure to get your tickets and see it when it hits theaters on October 23!
Elijah Wood The Last Witch Hunter NYCC 2015
Vin Diesel The Last Witch Hunter NYCC 2015
Rose Leslie The Last Witch Hunter NYCC 2015
Take a look below at the transcript of some of the panel. To hear it in its entirety, click the audio at the end. Also make sure to check out our photo gallery from NYCC 2015!
Josh Horowitz: This is a passion project for you Vin. This goes deep into what you’re all about. Tell us why this is so personal to you, this is so important to you.
Vin Diesel: Well, um, I’ve been waiting for a long time to find something in the fantasy realm. When I first read this script there was something so compelling about playing a character that was a badass before civilization started and a badass in present day NYC. So, I jumped on with reckless abandon and I’m so happy I did. When I saw the movie I can’t tell you how proud I was to be apart.
Horowitz: Let’s talk about this amazing cast that you assembled here. Because, I mean, all coming from amazing ginormous franchises in their own right, bringing them all together, not to mention Sir Michael Caine, I mean an amazing group you’ve assembled. Talk to me a little bit about how tough it is to put a cast like this together. Why is this the right cast. Give me a sense of what you’ve put together here.
Breck Eisner: Sure. This cast was a nightmare. They were so hard to work with, nobody likes them. No, I mean, it’s like really a dream team to me, especially being here at CC. Look it we had representative of amazing actors, amazing film, I was really looking for actors who could really embody the roles more than anything, who could bring these characters to life. You know, I don’t start with looking for who would be really popular at CC, although it doesn’t hurt when you realize that these guys are amazing actors, amazing people and great partners. It was a real dream team and having Michael Caine to round off the top, it was kind of ….
Horowitz: This crowd just saw the trailer, but anybody can see the trailer. I feel like we should let them see a little more.
<<break for clip>>
Horowitz: The film is called the Last Witch Hunter, you’re playing a witch, that would seem to be a precarious situation for you. Can you tell us a little bit about Chloe and the witches role in present day NY.
Rose Leslie: Yes of course. So Chloe she is obviously a modern-day witch, living and working in NYC. And uh, she also a pretty pretty fierce. She is being very self-reliant and we have just seen the bar, she has her own little business which she has set up on her own and it is a memory bar from which witches can come and tap into their past and kind of relive their memories which obviously leads Kaulder straight to her door and hence that’s kind of how it all unfolds.
Horowitz: Elijah, only you have some genre film experience. Talk to me about your character. You’re a part of you’re…. There are a lot of secrets in this film, a lot of mysteries surrounding the brotherhood that your kind of part of here. What’s the background of your character?
Elijah Wood: Yeah, it’s kind of like a secret society. I’m part of the order of the ax and cross. I play Dolan the 37th…. when I try to describe this. So Dolan is a priest in a long line of priests that are tasked with serving Kaulder the Witch Hunter and aiding him in stamping out black magic and keeping humanity safe. (laughing). And so Michael Caine is Dolan the 36th and in this film it represents my first day on the job as I take this new task on . It’s hilarious. It’s hilarious.
Horowitz: It’s dangerous is what it is.
Wood: It sure is.. Okay also the worst first day, ever. My first day on the job all hell breaks loose. There’s plague flies, it’s a real problem.
Horowitz; If it’s a boring day, it’d be a boring movie. It’s good for us that it was so entertaining. Vin, for you, you were into this before, but I told you this yesterday when I saw you yesterday. I love the prologue of this film, it begins centuries back, it spans centuries. The excitement for you playing a character that alternates back and forth, we saw a glimpse there, it must be insanely cool for a character to span centuries and give me a sense as to why this was so attractive to you.
Diesel: Well there are so many reasons as why this film is so attractive to me, the character was so attractive to me. The idea of playing an 800 year old immortal, it’s challenging. We know that I don’t shy away from those kinds of challenges. When Marvel said we want you to play a 3 monosyllabic word character I liked it…. It’s, I guess I’m safe in this room. It’s no secret I love Dungeons and Dragons. If you’ll indulge me, I actually have a character that was a witch hunter. And some of the die-hard, second edition Dungeons and Dragons…, we never saw the witch hunter class. There was a 3rd party set of books called The Arcana, that actually had the class witch hunter and he had the spell classes …. of that mysticism spell table and I played a witch hunter. And the idea that I was able to realize that in a way. If I could go back to that kid, that 17 yr old kid, that was rolling that 20 sided dice and tell him someday you are going to be in this epic film called The Last Witch Hunter, I never would have believed it.
Press play below for audio from the full panel!
