NEW YORK -- At an early age, Disney's Fantasia cast a spell on Nicolas Cage.

"It was my first real introduction to classical music and it was married to these beautiful life-like animated sequences with dinosaurs and ogres and gargoyles. It was totally inspiring to me."

Enough so that the 45-year-old Oscar winner is currently starring in and producing the big-budget fantasy adventure The Sorcerer's Apprentice, based loosely on the 1940 animated classic.

Due out next year, the new film, which re-teams Cage with prolific producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Con Air, National Treasure), is set in modern-day Manhattan and finds Cage's sorcerer seeking a protege to battle looming evil forces.

"It's a big moment for me to be able to play that part."

Canadian Jay Baruchel (Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder) has been cast as the college student Cage's magic man recruits.

"He's fantastic," Cage says. "We're going to have some laughs, I can already feel it."

And while The Sorcerer's Apprentice will be aimed at family audiences, Cage promises his character, although essentially good, will also be "a little mysterious and just a bit scary to look at."

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