Jeff Bridges signs on to play an exorcist in The Seventh Son

Oscar winner Jeff Bridges has signed on to play an exorcist in The Seventh Son , formerly titled The Last Apprentice and The Spook's Apprentice .

Bridges, who'll next be seen on these shores in his Oscar-nominated lead role in the Coen brothers' True Grit , will play Spook, an exorcist who trains up apprentice Thomas (the role earmarked for Pettyfer).

The movie will be based on the first in a series of books (what fantasy film isn't these days?), so expect this to be labelled the new Harry Potter , Twilight , I Am Number Four , etc…

Set in the 1700s, the character of Thomas will be older than he is in the books (where he's 12) to suit Pettyfer, who's still working hard to steal Robert Pattinson's Brit heartthrob crown.

Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence ( Winter's Bone ) is said to be circling the role of a suspected witch.

The Seventh Son will be directed by Sergey Bodrov ( Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan ).

Bridges is following in the footsteps of Anthony Hopkins, who recently played an exorcist trainer in The Rite .

Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.