The actor stars in the first of what could become a supernatural movie franchise based on the bestselling book series that focuses on Casters.
Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich), 17, has had the same recurring dream for months. A mysterious young girl is waiting for him on a Civil War battlefield. Ethan desperately wants to be with her, but there is an unknown danger—and each time a lightning bolt cracks like a gunshot, killing Ethan before he ever reaches the girl. The danger of this strange dream world, however, is preferable to Ethan’s waking existence in Gatlin, South Carolina, a small, conservative Southern town that hasn’t caught up to the 21st century, where nothing ever changes and nothing ever happens.
But Ethan’s mundane world is shaken up with the arrival of Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), the beautiful and enigmatic niece of Macon Ravenwood (Jeremy Irons), the reclusive owner of gothic Ravenwood Manor. Ethan finds himself immediately drawn to Lena, even though destruction seems to inexplicably follow her and it becomes apparent that she is a Caster, with powers beyond her control.
The town, led by conservative Mrs. Lincoln (Emma Thompson), wants her banished. Even Gatlin’s all-knowing librarian, Amma (Viola Davis), is afraid history may repeat itself—a history of family secrets and a curse that looms for Lena as she approaches her 16th birthday, when a Caster is chosen by the forces of either the Light or the Dark. But Lena’s fate may already be sealed by the curse that draws both her and Ethan into a tangled web of spells and peril from which there may be no escape.
The film stars Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune), Oscar nominee Viola Davis (The Help, Doubt), Emmy Rossum, Thomas Mann and Academy Award winner Emma Thompson (Howard’s End, Sense and Sensibility). Rounding out the cast are Eileen Atkins, Margo Martindale, Zoey Deutch, Tiffany Boone, Rachel Brosnahan, Kyle Gallner, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Sam Gilroy. The film was produced by Erwin Stoff, Academy Award nominees Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson (The Blind Side), Molly Mickler Smith and Oscar nominee David Valdes (The Green Mile). Yolanda T. Cochran served as executive producer, with Steven P. Wegner co-producing. Music is by thenewno2.
