Bald Mountain, according to tradition is the gathering place of Satan and his followers. Here on Walpurgis Night, which is the equivalent of our own Halloween, the creatures of evil gather to worship their master. Thats how composer Deems Taylor introduces A Night on Bald Mountain, one of the eight segments in Disneys classic, third animated feature Fantasia, all of which are set to stirring pieces of classical music. Now, Night on Bald Mountain is being eyed for a live action, alongside recent Disney adaptations like Maleficent and Cinderella.
THR reports writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless will craft a take on Night on Bald Mountain not dissimilar to Maleficent, which told the tale of Sleeping Beauty through the eyes of the witch. Night on Bald Mountain largely transpires as Taylor explains: A dark, winged creature (totally Satan) raises all manner of the dead. They swirl and dance and march through the night until day breaks. Taylor says, Under his spell, they dance furiously until the coming of dawn and sounds of church bells send the infernal armies slinking back into their abodes of darkness.
Sazama and Sharpless have penned Dracula Untold and this Octobers The Last Witch Hunter. No word on the story they might craft around Night on Bald Mountain, but itd certainly be cool if it was simply dark, phantasmagorical spectacle of the dead rising and reveling.
See the original segment, set to Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” below.
