i've heard this is in the making with a hugh budget attached. can't find much online about it tho. anyone anyone?
Release Date: December, 2005 (tentative) (wide)
Director: Andrew Adamson (codirector of Shrek)
Screenwriter: Ann Peacock (she's making her feature film debut with Country of My Skull)
Premise: Four children (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie) who are sent to live with an old professor in the country during World War II air raids on England, and soon discover that they can walk into a strong wardrobe closet and find themselves in a strange fantasy land called Narnia filled with a wide variety of magical and fantastic people and creatures. With Narnia frozen over by a winter that never stops, the children are enlisted to help Aslan (the Great Lion who founded Narnia hundreds of years ago) defeat the evil White Witch, break her evil spell, and free the people and magical beasts of Narnia.
Filming: Production is scheduled to start in July, 2004 at the Hobsonville Airbase in Auckland, New Zealand, and wrap up in December, 2004
I remember reading that the director wanted a real lion and wouldn't have it any other way.
Quote from: SlobhI remember reading that the director wanted a real lion and wouldn't have it any other way.
According to IGN FilmForce: On the subject of special effects, it's important to note that the production company plans on using a real, live lion for King Atlan (though I suspect they will probably use some sort of effects/CGI to move his mouth when he talks).
Quote from: MacGuffin
According to IGN FilmForce: On the subject of special effects, it's important to note that the production company plans on using a real, live lion for King Atlan (though I suspect they will probably use some sort of effects/CGI to move his mouth when he talks).
I read that they plan on just using peanut butter to make him talk
Quote from: RegularKarateI read that they plan on just using peanut butter to make him talk
that's got to be my favourite 2060th post ever.
nice. Macguffins still the king i see.
Quote from: jtmnice. Macguffins still the king i see.
yeah, but he's not a lion.
Quote from: Pedro the Wombatyeah, but he's not a lion.
But I do use peanut butter to talk.
So... despite the Shrek connection, this will be live action?
I loved, loved, LOVED this book as a child. A formative influence, I'd call it. I'm a tad trepidatious about a movie version. The animated feature from a long while back is pretty blah.
Quote from: godardianSo... despite the Shrek connection, this will be live action?
yes, and according to imdb, Weta digital is doing the cgi (the guys that did LOTR)...so it should atleast look good if nothing else.
I read this story on Salon.com last week. I thought it was a very interesting look at both Tolkein, Lewis and their interaction that led to the works of "Lord of the Rings" and the "Chronicles of Narnia." Seemed to be a good place to post it as LOTR has obviously led the way for CoN to be filmed. It's long, but you have to subscribe to read it otherwise.
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On a warm September night in 1931, three men went for an after-dinner walk on the grounds of Magdalen College, part of Oxford University. They took a stroll on Addison's Walk, a beautiful tree-shaded path along the River Cherwell, and got into an argument that lasted into the wee hours of the morning -- and left a lasting mark on world literature.
At the time, only one of the men had any kind of reputation: Henry Victor Dyson, a bon vivant scholar who had shared tables and bandied words with the likes of T.E. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf and Bertrand Russell. His two companions were little-known Oxford academics with a shared taste for Icelandic sagas, Anglo-Saxon verse and the austere cultural mystique of "the North." Few people remember Dyson now, while millions celebrate the names of his companions: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Yet the works that made their reputations -- "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" for Tolkien, "The Chronicles of Narnia" for Lewis -- were profoundly shaped by that night-long argument and the bond it cemented. It's possible that Tolkien's Middle-earth would have remained entirely a private obsession, and quite likely that Lewis would never have found the gateway to Narnia.
"Lovers seek for privacy," Lewis wrote in "The Four Loves" (1960). "Friends find this solitude about them, this barrier between them and the herd, whether they want it or not." Lewis and Tolkien quickly found this cozy solitude after they met in 1926, during a gathering of the English faculty at Merton College. Both men had fought in World War I, and come back scarred by its industrial savagery. They had seen the worst the 20th century had to offer -- up to that point, anyway -- and took paradoxical comfort in studying blood-soaked Viking Age stories of ambiguous heroes and gods battling monsters and the outer darkness, tales short on the milk of human kindness but long on sardonic humor. ("Broad spears are becoming fashionable nowadays," a character remarks in "Grettir's Saga," just after being pierced with one.)
In the pitiless Old Norse universe, gods and their human allies face inevitable defeat, but there is no thought of surrender or negotiation with the monsters besieging them. The brave and the cowardly all come to the same end -- what then must we do? "It is the strength of the northern mythological imagination," Tolkien explained in his famous 1936 lecture on "Beowulf," "that it faced this problem, put the monsters in the center, gave them victory but no honor, and found a potent but terrible solution in naked will and courage." In the struggle against evil, there is no shame in defeat -- only in not fighting.
The solution seems to have made a bigger impact on Tolkien's writing than on Lewis'. There is an unmistakable Icelandic chill in the air when Aragorn, faced with a catastrophic loss in "The Lord of the Rings," asks what hope is left, then answers his own question: "We must do without hope. At least we may yet be avenged."
Lewis approached "the North" from the literary side, while Tolkien was a philologist immersed in the sound and history of languages. He could be spiky and opinionated: After their initial meeting, Lewis called him "a smooth, pale fluent little chap -- no harm in him: only needs a smack or so." But by the next year, Tolkien had invited him to join a group known as the Coalbiters, who were devoted to reading the Icelandic sagas in the original Old Norse. (The name was a play on "kolbitars," an old Icelandic term for tale-swappers who sat so close to the communal fire that they were almost literally biting the coals.)
Every Thursday evening the friends would gather by the fireplace, slippers on their feet and drinks at their elbows, to hear "The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki" or "The Saga of the Volsungs" or whatever epic was under study. The Coalbiters faded in the early 1930s, to be replaced by the Inklings, an informal group that lasted over the next three decades, with Tolkien and Lewis as its key members. (Much more about them can be found in such books as Humphrey Carpenter's "J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography" and Colin Duriez's new "Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Story of a Friendship.")
At the time of their meeting, both men were uneasy about their literary prospects. Tolkien's curriculum vitae consisted of a 1925 translation of the important Middle English poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," along with a 1929 essay on "Ancrene Wisse," a 13th century manuscript offering advice for "anchoresses," or female monks, and "Hali Meidhad," a medieval tract praising virginity. His mind was awash in anxiety over half-completed and languishing projects; "Leaf by Niggle," his 1939 tale of a painter who can never find time to complete an ambitious work, is accepted by Tolkien scholars as a byproduct of these worries.
Lewis, for his part, had published two books of the type automatically described as "slim volumes of verse" -- no further explanation necessary. He had yet to find his voice as a writer, let alone anything worthwhile to say with it. "From the age of 16 onwards," he wrote in a letter to his boyhood friend Arthur Greeves, "I had one single ambition, in which I never wavered, in the prosecution of which I spent every ounce I could, on which I really and deliberately staked my whole contentment; and I recognise myself as having unmistakeably failed in it."
When he got his first look at Tolkien's fiction -- an early run at the love story of Beren and Luthien, a cornerstone of Middle-earth's invented mythology and and a tale with tremendous personal associations for Tolkien -- Lewis recognized a man who could spend long years grinding away at a single story, but who also had his own voice and used many of the pagan source materials Lewis loved. To his lasting credit, Lewis reacted to this discovery not with envy or jealousy, but with spontaneous and generous delight.
On that fateful night in 1931, Lewis was in the midst of a fretful return to religious faith. Raised as an Irish Protestant, he had become an agnostic as a teenager. Though he came back to accepting the idea of a divine presence in 1929, he continued to resist Christianity. It remained for Dyson, a High Anglican, and Tolkien, a devout Roman Catholic, to push him over the threshold -- though it literally took them all night. As they marched back and forth along Addison's Walk, Tolkien argued for the literal and mythological truth of the Resurrection of Christ.
By all accounts, the key moment came when Lewis declared that myths are lies, albeit "lies breathed through silver." Tolkien replied, "No, they are not," and demanded to know why Lewis could accept Icelandic sagas as vehicles of truth while demanding that the Gospels meet some higher standard. Hours past midnight, Tolkien finally went home to bed, leaving Dyson to carry on the campaign. Tolkien's argument -- that the Resurrection was the truest of all stories, with God as its poet -- may not sound particularly convincing to nonbelievers (nor indeed to some Christians), but to a man committed to the idea of myth as the only way to express higher truths, it was irresistible. Two weeks later, Lewis told a friend he had once again fully embraced Christianity: "My long night talk with Dyson and Tolkien had a good deal to do with it."
The effect on Lewis was explosive. Beginning in 1933 with "The Pilgrim's Regress," Lewis produced a torrent of books, essays, novels and radio talks, all works of Christian apologetics or stories with obvious spiritual preoccupations. Even as he churned out these works, Lewis prodded Tolkien to pull together and complete his stories of Middle-earth -- the private universe that had preoccupied him for most of his life. Thanks to that ceaseless, friendly prodding, Tolkien published "The Hobbit" to great acclaim in 1937. The prodding continued during the long, fitful gestation of its outsized sequel, "The Lord of the Rings," which finally saw the light of print in the mid-1950s. "The unpayable debt that I owe to [Lewis] was not 'influence' as it is ordinarily understood but sheer encouragement," Tolkien recalled. "He was for long my only audience. Only from him did I ever get the idea that my 'stuff' could be more than a private hobby."
But the debt did not end there. Lewis quickly built a reputation as an explainer of Christianity, but he would hardly be remembered today if his fame rested solely on books like "The Problem of Pain" (1940), with their bullying style and legalistic method of argument. The man who had returned to faith through myth and poetry seemed to think he could lawyer his readers through the gates of heaven. This point was not lost on Lewis' critics, particularly those within the faith. "The problem of pain is bad enough," one clergyman groused, "without Mr. Lewis making it worse."
Lewis is at his most charming and approachable in his stories, and his journey into fiction -- like his return to faith -- was in large part guided by Tolkien. In 1937, on the eve of publication for "The Hobbit," the friends found themselves deploring the state of contemporary writing. "Tollers," Lewis said, "there is too little of that we really like in stories. I am afraid we shall have to try and write some ourselves."
Tolkien's response, a time-travel story called "The Lost Road," was never finished. But Lewis completed his story, an H.G. Wells-style science fiction adventure called "Out of the Silent Planet." It was published the next year, thanks to the support of Tolkien, who was enjoying commercial success with "The Hobbit" and had a bit of clout with publishers.
"Out of the Silent Planet" was widely praised, but it was Lewis' second foray into fiction that made him a household name. "The Screwtape Letters," in which a senior demon advises his infernal student on how to achieve a human's downfall, was published in 1942 (with a dedication to Tolkien) and has apparently never been out of print since. This is all to the good, since "Screwtape" contains some of Lewis' most waspishly elegant writing. (Some years ago there was an audiobook version, narrated by John Cleese, that needs to be reissued immediately.) Less persuasive, but still successful, were the second and third volumes of the Space Trilogy: "Perelandra" (1943) and "That Hideous Strength" (1945). Tolkien approved of all but "That Hideous Strength," about which he wrote, "A bit tripish, I'm afraid." But he actively detested what was to come next.
If many of Lewis' books remain in print, it is largely as a byproduct of the continued success of "The Chronicles of Narnia," the seven-volume cycle that began in 1950 with "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and continued at more or less yearly intervals until "The Last Battle" appeared in 1956. Though the Christian themes are out in the open, the sheer charm of the books seems to disarm all readers -- all except Tolkien, who saw them as heavy-handed and inconsistent.
Some of Tolkien's attitude may have been grounded in chagrin. The Narnia books marched out of Lewis' brain and into bookstores with assembly-line efficiency; "The Lord of the Rings," meanwhile, wallowed for over a decade in dithering and endless rewrites. Lewis was unswervingly supportive of Tolkien during the long gestation, but the other Inklings could be brutal: Dyson, for one, was known to snarl, "Oh fuck, not another elf!" as Tolkien read another section of the epic in his usual rapid-fire mumble.
Tolkien's chief objections, however, were those of a craftsman. He considered "The Lord of the Rings" a Christian work, but its religious themes were carefully buried in the story. (Even die-hard Lewis fans may be tempted to groan when, in the first Narnia book, Aslan sacrifices himself to redeem the human children.) Tolkien presented Middle-earth as a sort of prehistoric Europe, employing elements from the Icelandic sagas, "Beowulf" and the Finnish "Kalevala" as though they were half-understood memories of the events described in "The Lord of the Rings." But Tolkien's systematic approach used folklore from northern Europe. The Narnia book, in which the Germanic figure of Santa Claus rubbed elbows with Greco-Roman divinities, struck him as simply lazy and undisciplined.
This drove something of a wedge into Tolkien and Lewis' friendship, and they were not nearly as close in their later years. But when "The Lord of the Rings" was finally ready for publication in three hefty volumes, Lewis understood that it was a major work. He put any sense of personal injury aside and placed his considerable reputation on the line to sing its praises. The mutual support that began with that argument on Addison's Walk was still going strong (at least on one side of the equation).
It was only natural that literary gamesmanship would crop up in each man's work. Lewis made the first move by using Tolkien as the model for John Ransom, the philologist hero of the Space Trilogy. Tolkien steadfastly denied any connection with Ransom beyond choice of profession and "some of my opinions and ideas Lewisified." In this he has backup from Lewis biographer A.N. Wilson, who calls the hero "fairly unlike" Tolkien. Readers may want to take these denials with a few grains of salt.
In "Out of the Silent Planet," Ransom finds himself confronted by terrifying monsters on the red planet Malacandra (aka Mars), but immediately lays plans for a grammar as soon as he discovers the creatures use language. "If you are not yourself a philologist," Lewis explains, "I'm afraid you must take on trust the prodigious emotional consequences of this realization on Ransom's mind ... The love of knowledge is a kind of madness." In "That Hideous Strength," the final book of the Space Trilogy, Lewis gives Ransom a speech that might have been lifted whole from one of Tolkien's letters:
"However far you went you would find the machines, the crowded cities, the empty thrones, the false writings, the barren books: men maddened with false promises and soured with true miseries, worshipping the iron works of their own hands, cut off from Earth their mother and the Father in Heaven. You might go East so far that East became West and returned to Britain across the great ocean, but even so you would not have come out anywhere into the light. The shadow of one dark wing is over all."
Tolkien repaid the favor in "The Lord of the Rings" by giving some of Lewis' mannerisms to Treebeard, the ligneous leader of the tree-like Ents -- chiefly his booming voice and constant throat-clearing. And it's not too far a stretch to find a faint dig at Lewis' nonstop literary productivity when Tolkien has Treebeard describe Entish as "a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it unless it is worth taking a long time to say."
Shortly after Lewis died, in November 1963, Tolkien wrote to his daughter: "So far I have felt the normal feelings of a man my age -- like an old tree that is losing all its leaves one by one: this feels like an axe-blow near the roots." By then, both men had definitively answered any self-doubts about their ability to succeed as writers. Tolkien, in fact, was about to become an international celebrity as the paperback edition of "The Lord of the Rings" caught on with college students. When he died in 1973, the Oxford don was a campus favorite alongside Hermann Hesse and Carlos Castaneda. It hardly needs to be pointed out that his epic has only grown in popularity over the decades, withstanding the sneers of critics, the songwriting of Led Zeppelin, the kitsch-sodden calendar art of the Brothers Hildebrandt, the rise of legions of subpar imitators, and animated films from Ralph Bakshi and Rankin-Bass that can still astonish viewers with their sheer awfulness.
The long-overdue arrival of a proper film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings," courtesy of Peter Jackson, gives this story a fitting coda. A film version of the first of the Narnia books, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," will soon go into production in New Zealand. The enterprise was finally able to go forward because of the huge success of Jackson's "Lord of the Rings," and will use some of the same production and design people, including the Weta special-effects shop that helped bring Middle-earth to earth.
The repercussions of that 1931 conversation along the River Cherwell are still being felt. Even now, it seems, Tolkien and Lewis are helping each other out.
C.S. Lewis is a great hero, inspiration, and spiritual leader of mine.
I hope the movie does him justice.
Maybe Aslan can be played by Jim Caviezel...
I have the four BBC productions (Lion, Witch, Wardrobe; Caspian and Dawn Treader; Silver Chair) on DVD. Loved watching them when I was younger, and still do. Here's hoping these new films will spruce things up a bit and make the film as captivating as the books were. The BBC ones, though adequate, did leave a bit to be desired as they could drag in places. At least they were faithful to the books, though. Here's hoping they do all seven eventually. A Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew, The Last Battle would all be a dream to see fully realized.
I really enjoyed reading that article, too. I devoured the Lewis "Narnia" books, liked The Hobbit, and could never get into Lord of the Rings (by the time I tried, I was already leaving the fantasy behind for Margaret Atwood and John Cheever).
Those who like Lewis gotta pick up The Four Loves (I was sooooo happy to see it mentioned in that article), and if they have the time, Pilgrim's Regress, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and even some of his essay-collections...
Lion, Witch and Wardrobe a Go for Early 2004
Another major fantasy film production is on its way to New Zealand, and again it will be directed by a local.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on the popular book of the same name, will be made in New Zealand, Industry Development Minister Jim Anderton said in a statement today.
The film will be directed by Andrew Adamson, a New Zealander best known as the co-director of the Oscar-winning computer-animated feature Shrek.
The movie is expected to start preparations, including obtaining stage space and personnel, in Auckland early in 2004.
"We are extremely happy and excited to be starting work on the film in New Zealand," Adamson said.
Mr. Anderton, the leader of the Progressive Coalition, said the decision was "a vote of confidence in our country as a location for film and screen production".
"This is very positive news because it means more opportunities for New Zealanders to learn new skills and find employment in an exciting and creative industry," he said.
The film is one of the first beneficiaries of the Large Budget Screen Production Grant (LBSPG) scheme announced in June.
The scheme is designed to remove some of the financial disadvantages New Zealand faces in attracting investment in screen production and film compared with other locations, including Australia.
"The LBSPG scheme is designed to encourage valuable investment in New Zealand – the type of investment that creates opportunities for employment and the learning of new skills for individuals, with the added advantage of raising the whole country's visibility on the world stage," Mr. Anderton said.
The production in New Zealand of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a significant proportion of which is expected to be filmed in the South Island, is expected to qualify for expense grants under the LBSPG scheme.
that's cool, but what about possible cast member news/rumours?
Westie shoot has warrior's okay but no White Witch
Source: New Zealand Herald
With his lanky blond locks, black stovepipe jeans and black zipper jacket, ex-pat director Andrew Adamson was destined to shoot movies in West Auckland.
Yesterday the director of the Shrek films brought about 200 crew from his big-budget The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to Glen Eden to be greeted by a warrior, a mayor and a powhiri.
The Walt Disney-Walden production reportedly boasts a budget of between $150 million and $230 million, making the project the biggest single money earner to hit Auckland since the America's Cup.
The powhiri, held at the Hoani Waititi Marae, received a slice of the huge international contingent behind the film. In keeping with the wintry vibe of the classic CS Lewis tale, it was accompanied by a chilling breeze and intermittent rain.
Despite the chill, Adamson said the warmth of the welcome equalled only that offered by his family at Auckland International Airport.
"And I am so proud and happy to bring some the wonderful, creative people I have met in the United States back with me to New Zealand. It is easy to see that this is a magical land, filled with magical people."
The former Blockhouse Bay resident said New Zealand had become an ideal location for filming, where he could draw on an industry that had spent six years during the The Lord of the Rings series learning how to meet Hollywood expectations.
On the downside, filming in New Zealand meant The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was competing with Peter Jackson's King Kong remake for crew members.
"A lot of those guys have come through the Battle of Britain with Peter Jackson so obviously they have their own loyalties," said Adamson.
But he estimated his crew would still be up to 90 per cent New Zealanders.
Locations will be scattered around Auckland, Christchurch and Queenstown. Some background scenes have been shot in the Czech Republic.
While filming was scheduled to begin in late June or early July, Adamson said casting was far from completed.
Executive producer Philip Steuer, who most recently worked on The Alamo, said an 18-month global search had been made for the movie's young lead actors "and we are closing in on someone for the White Witch". Early rumours linked the role with Nicole Kidman.
Mr Steuer said New Zealand was known throughout the industry for its exceptional locations and a welcoming attitude, and he expected a steady stream of projects to travel south.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe will be released in December next year.
i've read the Screwtape Letters and the first two books of the Space Trilogy. i really really liked the Space Trilogy.
how long are the books in the Narnia series and/or have you read any of the Space Trilogy?
I haven't read the Space Trilogy, but I have read Screwtape Letters and some of his nonfiction works, and of course the Narnia books -- The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe is the first book I ever read, back in the kindergarten days. They're easy to read, obviously, but there is no loss of appeal for adult audiences with a mind towards literate fantasy (and/or Christian metaphor). Lewis, of course, was a contemporary of Tolkien, and their respective fantasy series are of a like mind.
Swinton Confirmed as the White Witch in Narnia
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Tilda Swinton (Adaptation.) will star as the evil White Witch in Disney's and Walden Media's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Director Andrew Adamson (Shrek 2) confirmed at Cannes that Swinton has landed the role.
The project is the first in a series of films to be based on the best-selling novels by C.S. Lewis. It concerns a war between good and evil, pitting the magnificent lion Aslan against the forces of darkness in the magical world of Narnia. The White Witch has used her dark powers to keep Narnia in winter for 100 years, but it is foretold that four humans will be able to help Aslan break the spell. When the Pevensie siblings -- Lucy, Susan, Edmund, and Peter -- discover the magic of Narnia by entering the enchanted world through a wardrobe, the stage is set for a classic battle of epic proportions.
Budgeted at more than $100 million, the film is scheduled to begin shooting in the summer in Adamson's native New Zealand.
I'm chuffed that Swinton's in. I think she's much greater than her skimpy level of fame would seem to indicate. Hopefully this will cataupult her. I think she's a great match for the role.
I was fairly obsessed with the Narnia books (in addition to Roald Dahl and Lewis Carroll, hence my lifelong Anglophilia for the feisty and witty kind of Brit) and I'm actually looking forward to the film.
Andrew Adamson on The Chronicles of Narnia
Source: The New Zealand Herald Tuesday, June 15, 2004
The New Zealand Herald spoke to director Andrew Adamson about his big screen version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lions, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He says that filming will begin very soon.
"It's going very well. We are days away from shooting or weeks away from shooting, so it's a train that is coming at me definitely. But it's going great. We have a great cast assembled now so it's really coming together. It's exciting. It's terrifying and exciting."
He adds that the book's author C.S. Lewis is someone who paints a picture and lets you imagine the rest. "To me it's about making a movie which lives up to my memory of my book rather than specifically the book itself."
"And it needs to live up to everyone else's memories and that is what my challenge is - to make it accessible and real. You read it and it's a 1940s children's book. I want it to feel real and for kids today to actually relate to the children."
"So I've really tried to make the story about a family which is disenfranchised and disempowered in World War II, that on entering Narnia, through their unity as a family become empowered at the end of the story. It's really bringing the humanity of the characters into what is effectively a symbolic story."
WETA Featurette right here. (http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/the_chronicles_of_narnia.html)
oh i'm excited as all hell.
tilda swinton as the white witch was all i needed to get me in the theater. and the fact that i love these books. are they going to do the whole series or are they waiting to see how well this one does until they start making the others?
I hear she does some tasteful nude scenes as well :wink:
Quote from: Small Town LonerI hear she does some tasteful nude scenes as well :wink:
There are some deleted scenes with Aslan that I'm sure will make you go :shock:.
...
Anyway, yes, I'm looking forward to this greatly, too. A couple weeks ago I rewatched the BBC adaptations of the first four books, from the late 80s/early 90s. The special effects were pretty bad, the acting decent, but the feel true Narnia. It's a shame they weren't able to finish them. The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle will look excellent on screen (not a knock on The Magician's Nephew, either), and I can't wait to see them all. It's so hard to pick a favorite, really. They all have individual elements that make them great in their own right.
Narnia Expert Keeps Film on Course
Few know Lewis's work like Douglas Gresham.
There's a wonderful interview with Douglas Gresham, a co-producer on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, up at Narniaweb.com (//www.narniaweb.com). Gresham is not actually a filmmaker per se, but rather an expert on C.S. Lewis and his writing who's been made a consultant and decision-maker on the Narnia project. In fact, the 59-year-old Gresham was the late British author's step-son and has remained close to the Lewis family.
How does one convert a written narrative into an action-adventure movie without losing its essence? How does one add or change details without betraying the spirit of the original? Those are tough questions Gresham must answer as he guides the direction of Andrew Adamson.
"I know that Jack [a nickname Lewis went by] would want to protect the integrity of each of the books, and preserve very carefully the messages that each is intended to convey. I also know that Jack was not enamored of film as a medium of communication because he felt that too little care was taken about what was being said in the movies that he had seen. Also, one of the hardest things to do is to preserve the literary integrity of a book when adapting it to either stage or film, and it is probably far more difficult with film. I think though that Jack would be amazed and fascinated with the wonderful technology that has been developed recently but perhaps less than delighted with the uses to which it has been put. I hope we address that failing to some extent with LWW.
"I suppose I represent Jack himself as a sort of creative ambassador. The aim of this is to use my abilities, knowledge and experience to make this movie as good as we can possibly make it."
So when Gresham is asked to approve or disapprove an element of the movie, how does he approach it?
"I put together all my memory and love of Jack himself and also of Warnie and my mother (great fans of Narnia not surprisingly), everything that they taught me, my understanding of and love for the book, my understanding of the necessities of the film medium and the needs of modern human society worldwide, and I pray a lot. Once all those and other factors have come together and been thoroughly examined in the light of whatever decision is to be made, I then decide what to say.
"Obviously a lot of what Jack could do with narrative, we have had to translate into action. Jack could tell about it, we have to make it happen. Also, for reasons of character development, balance and pacing, there will be things in the movie that do not appear in the book. I think and hope that we have added more value to it than we have taken from it... However, as a Narnian purist, I feel that any and every change from the original book is bad and thus have to contend with my emotional attachment to the book warring with my intellectual faculties and understanding of filmmaking. I have probably been a pain in the neck at times to my colleagues in the production."
Pain in the neck or not, fans are sure to be pleased by the devotion to Lewis's story that Gresham has brought to the production.
Gresham also expressed his hope that Walden Media would go on to make the other six books into films, without skipping or combining any of them. Be sure to check out the full interview! The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe opens this December.
Cox Out of Narnia
Aslan actor drops fantasy flick.
Major news from the land of Narnia... Actor Brian Cox (X2, The Bourne Supremacy), who had been cast in the C. S. Lewis adaptation as the voice of Aslan, has dropped out of the production. News of Cox's departure broke at the recent Biola Media Conference. Cox's publicist says he left the project because of scheduling conflicts.
No replacement has been signed yet, but rumor has it that Jason Issacs, Timothy Dalton, Sean Bean, Gerard Butler, Ian McKellen and Ralph Fiennes have all tested.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a live-action portrayal of the first installment in C.S. Lewis' classic fantasy series. It tells the story of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, a group of siblings from London who are separated from their parents during WWII and sent to live in the safety of the English countryside. There the children discover a magical wardrobe that leads them into the mysterious world of Narnia.
Kiwi helmer Andrew Adamson (Shrek) directed a cast including Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy, Rupert Everett, Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, Dawn French and Jim Broadbent.
The Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures production opens on December 9th.
Teaser Trailer (http://progressive.stream.aol.com/aol/us/moviefone/movies/2005/chroniclesofnarniathelionthewitchandthewardrobethe_019417/chroniclesofnarniathelionthewitchandthewardrobethe_trlr_01_dl.mov)
You might need to shorten the name of the file to play it.
Looks pretty charmless to me. Too epicy.
i like the real world scenes more than the fantasy ones. it looks okay but i will echo sentiments expressed on AICN when i say i hope this film has its own identity because a few of those shots seem REAALLY lotr.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4347226.stm
Pullman attacks Narnia film plans
Author Philip Pullman has attacked plans to turn The Chronicles of Narnia into a movie series, calling CS Lewis' books "racist" and "misogynistic".
The first film in the series - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - is due to be released in December.
His Dark Materials author Pullman said the 1950s stories were "reactionary".
"If the Disney corporation wants to market this film as a great Christian story, they'll just have to tell lies about it," he told The Observer.
Successful adaptations
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is the second and best-known novel in the seven-part Narnia book series.
The £62m movie version is expected to be the first of five films, following the success of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and ongoing Harry Potter film adaptations.
Evangelical Christian groups in the US have backed the movie, seeing parallels between CS Lewis' tales and Bible stories.
"We believe that God will speak the gospel of Jesus Christ through this film," Lon Allison, director of Illinois' Billy Graham Centre, told the newspaper.
But Pullman said the Narnia books contained "a peevish blend of racist, misogynistic and reactionary prejudice" and "not a trace" of Christian charity.
"It's not the presence of Christian doctrine I object to so much as the absence of Christian virtue," he added.
"The highest virtue - we have on the authority of the New Testament itself - is love, and yet you find not a trace of that in the books."
Pullman's acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy tells of a battle against the church and a fight to overthrow God.
Attacked by some Christian teachers and Catholic press as blasphemous, Pullman's trilogy is also being made into a series of movies.
Sounds to me as if he hasn't even read them. The whol series, especially The Last Battle, just ooze Christianity.
did you read it?
he's not saying it's full of christian ideas, he says it's racist and it's not very "christian" to be racist.
But it's not racist. In fact, it's very matter-of-fact about race. Just because a book may happen to portray situations of race and class differences doesn't mean it supports them. It's just a reflection of a certain reality.
It no longer looks good. (http://pdl.stream.aol.com/aol/us/moviefone/movies/2005/chroniclesofnarniathelionthewitchandthewardrobethe_019417/chroniclesofnarnia_trlr_02_dl.mov)
It looks like a Xena/Babe hybrid.
Maybe the CGI just isn't finished.
:yabbse-thumbdown:
Does anyone else cringe when they see another trailer featuring British accents and swords?
Not that this can't be good, but this had better be awesome.
It won't be awesome.
I never thought this looked good.
Now this trailer makes me think it will suck less. Now it looks like it has a kind of shitty Neverending Story feel to it.
Saw it this morning.
THE GOOD: the kids that play Lucy and Edmond, the beavers, most of the animals in the battle scene
THE BAD: the talking wolves, the pacing, Aslan (he's a complete non-entity)
THE WINNER: Tilda Swinton
It made me want to go back and read the books, though.
I've started reading the books again and am reading A Horse and His Boy now.
Not much Aslan?
He's in it about as much as he is in the book, but the film is so much more epic in scope that his character doesn't really have a chance to come into its own. He's not as grand and majestic as he should be.
I just saw this and thought I'd post to encourage others to go.
I was fairly skeptical about this in light of the trailers emphasis on the 'epicness' of it all, which is not something that I associated with this story. But 5 minutes in and all my doubts were pretty much put to rest.
The pacing of it all is exactly right, allowing the story to draw you in rather than put you on some rollercoaster ride. In fact most of the time I was wishing it would go slower, genuinely not wanting to leave Narnia. Now this is a kids film, there really arent any adult central characters, but thankfuly the film never winks at the older audience members.
The effects are actually quite brilliant. Okay, the creatures arent photorealistic but the way they're placed in their surroundings is so convincing that I had no problem in taking them seriously as characters in the story. CG wolves have got a bad reputation (The Day After Tomorrow, Brothers Grimm) but some of their shots in this film were extremely convincing.
Furthermore, unlike Lucas's ridiculous overcrowding of the backgrounds in Episode III, the "supporting creatures" are so well intergrated into shots (some, where it would have been easier to leave them out) that they have a truly immersive effect - rather than being distracting. It surprises me but this unlikely film really puts Star Wars to shame. It manages to incorporate modern technology whilst also telling an exciting story, with child actors that outperform even Ewan McGreggor. Now thats not really much of a recommendation but if you feel let down in the escapsim department this year then you should give this film a chance, I'd hate to see it buried by Kong.
Oh and Neverending Story this is not!
And if I ever hear anyone ponsing around talking about this film being a christian allegory I'll punch them in the face.
Quote from: ®edlum on December 08, 2005, 10:08:05 AMAnd if I ever hear anyone ponsing around talking about this film being a christian allegory I'll punch them in the face.
XIXAXER ARRESTED FOR ASSAULTING DEAD AUTHOR'S CORPSEhttp://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17458198%255E16947,00.html
Narnia a Christian chronicleDecember 05, 2005
LONDON: An unpublished letter from the novelist C.S. Lewis has provided conclusive proof of the Christian message in his Narnia children's books.
In the letter, sent to a child fan in 1961, Lewis writes: "The whole Narnian story is about Christ." It has been found by Walter Hooper, literary adviser to the Lewis estate.
It emerged ahead of this week's release of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The film, starring Tilda Swinton, cost $174million and has been at the centre of a row between Christians and secularists.
Brian Sibley, author of Shadowlands, the book which describes Lewis's marriage to Joy Gresham, said: "This is the most specific explanation of Narnia I have heard."
The film depicts one of the seven novels in Lewis's series, which tell the story of four children journeying through a wardrobe into Narnia, a world of talking animals that is plunged into endless winter by a witch. The children and animals rally to Aslan, a noble lion.
On one side church groups, backed by the film's producer, Disney, are promoting the story's message as Christian, with Jesus represented by Aslan saving a world fallen into sin.
Others say it is just an adventure story that draws on a variety of religious and folklore sources.
Douglas Gresham, Lewis's stepson, said recently: "Churches in Britain and America are promoting the film as a Christian film, but it's not ... and the Narnia books aren't Christian novels."
The letter, written from Magdalene College, Cambridge, where Lewis was a don, contradicts this. "Supposing there really was a world like Narnia ... and supposing Christ wanted to go into that world and save it (as He did ours) what might have happened?" he wrote.
"The stories are my answer. Since Narnia is a world of talking beasts, I thought he would become a talking beast there as he became a man here. I pictured him becoming a lion there because a) the lion is supposed to be the king of beasts; b) Christ is called 'the lion of Judah' in the Bible."
The text is contained in a volume of Lewis letters to be published next year.
:yabbse-smiley:
I'm not arguing with the theory (or Lewis's intentions) but it just bores me. I hate the idea of someone sitting in the cinema analysing every moment and comparing it to the bible, and the same goes for reading the books. And its presnece in the film (actual or interpretted) can in no way be considered subversive or harmful. A positive message is a positive message. Kids will just see some talking beavers etc.
saw this tonite. it was okay. never really pulled me into the story. i remember loving the mini-series when i was a kid but maybe it wasnt better than this and my imagination just filled in the gaps then. maybe that was better, i dont know. there was nothing bad about it but there was nothing great either. it felt long and yet not long enough for this story if that makes any sense.
i don't know...i thought there were some good moments, i suppose, and the little girl who plays lucy was absolutely awesome, loved her, but as a whole this film just felt kind of unconvincing. it wasnt the cgi, that looked fine. i think most of my problems had to do with peter. his transformation into hero just felt so unconvincing and rushed, and it made him seem like a worse actor than he did in the beginning of the movie. the other problem was with the centaur sargeant or whatever he was. when he says "to the death" it's just laughable. how long has he known peter, five minutes? i get there's a prophesy and "deep magic" but this is all so undercooked it just doesn't play on screen. i love the books and get the feeling this is one of those cases where the story works far, far better on the page.
Quote from: modage on December 10, 2005, 12:20:25 AM
saw this tonite. it was okay. never really pulled me into the story. i remember loving the mini-series when i was a kid but maybe it wasnt better than this and my imagination just filled in the gaps then. maybe that was better, i dont know
I was really excited for this and I walked away disappointed. I agree that I was never engaged in the story as much as I should have. It just kind of all felt like it was going through the motions. I think that for Aslan, the CGI was quite impressive at times. The rest of the CGI just looked awful and really out of place. I never really felt excitement or anything during the action sequences, it just all seemed rather dull. I just didn't care for the kids, and that is a big problem.
As for the Christ allegory, it is ridiculously obvious.
what did everyone think of the additions from the book?
i just don't see the reasoning behind adding things just to inflate your budget (most of the added things must have cost a ton...cgi war planes/battle, ice river sequence, overwhelming presence of wolves, etc).
Rumor Has It Prince Caspian Is a Go
LWW enjoys a strong premiere weekend.
Aslan and The Chronicles of Narnia roared into theaters in North America and numerous international markets last week, enjoying the year's third-largest opening-weekend box office haul. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe pulled in $65 million ($107 million worldwide) – an excellent start towards recouping the $180 million that Disney and Walden Media spent on the film. The movie also fared well among critics, earning a 76% approval rating among professional film reviewers, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
There's no doubt that the studios will go ahead with the next film in the series if LWW continues its strong run. In fact, NarniaWeb already has a source claiming that Prince Caspian, the logical next book to adapt, has been greenlit for production.
It's a good bet that Andrew Adamson will return to direct the second one, although this is not confirmed. Since much of the complicated technical preparations – such as the work put into Aslan – is already done, filming could get underway as early as this summer. Children grow up fast, so there's always a bit of a rush in youth-driven franchises like Narnia and Harry Potter.
A movie based on Prince Caspian would return all four Pevensie children back to Narnia in another age, and another time of need. Narnia is under the rule of the neighboring Telmarines, and the Pevensies can help Caspian, rightful heir to the throne, lead a revolt for Narnian independence.
An official announcement on Prince Caspian could come at any time during the next month or so.
When the BBC did it, they lumped Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader together, which, I think, is a wise choice considering how sparse Prince Caspian is. That, and the issue of how fast kids grow should both add to the decision. One other thing to consider is The Last Battle. If they're really thinking ahead, they'll have set to work on scripts for that, and for A Horse and His Boy. It'll be interesting to see how they handle these discrepancies in light of the time it takes for each production, and, if they're not thinking ahead, what their other options will be. For those familiar with all of the books, they'll understand the difficulties this entails.
i'm reading Prince Caspian now and the children are supposed to be one year older than Wardrobe.
i know Horse and His Boy has them older and they're not even in Magician's Nephew.
i haven't read from Dawn Treader on.
other than that, Aslan is the only constant character, and he's just a voice (in acting terms). the kids are through it, but they would be played by different, older actors, right?
You realize the published order is: LionWitchWardrobe, Caspian, DawnTreader, SilverChair, HorseBoy, MagNeph, LastBattle, right? The way they are printed nowadays is chronological, which is silly for history's sake, but makes sense in one weird way. Point is, DawnTreader is third, so how'd you know about HorseBoy and MagNeph? Splitting hairs, so it's kinda beside the point, but still important to note.
My point is, they should lump Caspian and Dawn Treader together to take advantage of the ages of Edmund and Lucy. And really, SilverChair should be ready to go soon after so Eustace won't get too much older, although that's not too much of a worry.
MagNeph & LastBattle spoils? It's been too long since I've read MagNeph, but it seems to me as if there's glimmers of characters from the other books in MagNeph, and I know for sure they're in Last Battle, which is why these filmmakers should be thinking ahead more than they are. At this rate, it'll be Caspian (2006), DawnTreader (2007), SilverChair (2008), HorseBoy (2009), MagNeph (2010) and LastBattle (2011). If they're smart, they'll shoot footage for LastBattle during Caspian's production. Kids that age age so quickly in four years. Harry Potter is prime example.
yeah, i knew they weren't written in the order they are in, but i'm reading them in the numerical order.
woah, i thought i was in the World of Warcraft thread for a second..
The last hour was pretty good, I hated the witch (in a good way) and the Aslam sacrifice was cool. The battle scene was great I tought. Lucy is awesome, totally awesome. But :
-I HATE HATE HATE it when characters try to resist the story for too long. The first half-hour, even 40 minutes was just making me mad as hell. Why the hell don't they go in the wardrobe straight up when Lucy tells them about it, OR THE SECOND TIME. We know you're gonna go. Jesus.
Quote from: Pas Rap on December 15, 2005, 07:45:30 AM
-I HATE HATE HATE it when characters try to resist the story for too long.
see: amelie.
Quote from: hacksparrow on December 08, 2005, 11:27:40 AM
Quote from: ®edlum on December 08, 2005, 10:08:05 AMAnd if I ever hear anyone ponsing around talking about this film being a christian allegory I'll punch them in the face.
XIXAXER ARRESTED FOR ASSAULTING DEAD AUTHOR'S CORPSE
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17458198%255E16947,00.html
Narnia a Christian chronicle
Well, I mean, yeah... I kinda figured EVERYONE knew that... it was never up for debate. CS is like THE Christian allegorist of the post-war. I hope Redlum was being sarcastic...
:saywhat:
The fact that the allegory is such a 'given' is partly the reason why I'd like to punch the people who try to pass this off as an original interpretation. The other reason is that intellectuals cant seem to get past this fact and moan about it, despite it being perfectly possible to enjoy the stories without overeacting and claiming to be being 'brainwashed' like they do.
Ah, good. So it kinda was sarcasm then. Agreed, agreed, and agreed.
This movie was Aiiight. I think I have some golden memories of the TV version. It all felt very rushed. Georgie Henley is this years Freddie Highmore from Finding Neverland, sans that urge to cry. Children and lovers of Animal Planet should love this.
This is possibly the worst movie of the year.
My god... What a boring, predictable, self important fiasco... I still cannot believe what I've seen... Just a disaster.
Prince Caspian is Moving Ahead
Source: Variety January 10, 2006
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe has already earned $530 million worldwide -- nearly $70 million ahead of King Kong -- which is spurring plans for a sequel based on the next title, "Prince Caspian".
Variety says Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media are currently working on a script and are expected to tap a director within a few weeks. Andrew Adamson directed the first film, but it's not confirmed he'll return for "Prince Caspian".
The trade published a quote from Walden CEO Cary Granat, who said, "We're planning on starting production by the fourth quarter of next year." It's unclear when this interview took place. If it was before New Year's, "Prince Caspian" would start filming later this year. If not, "Narnia" fans have a long wait ahead of them.
Title: Chronicles of Narnia
Released: 4th April 2006
SRP: Prices TBC
Further Details:
Disney Home Video has made available artwork for single and double-disc editions of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe which stars Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell and Tilda Swinton. Both DVD's will be available to own from the 4th April this year. I'm afraid Disney has yet to reveal the disc specs for these, but we'll bring you the full details, just as soon as the final announcement is made. Stay tuned. For now though, here's the official package artwork:
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xixax.com%2Fimages%2Fdvd%2Fnarnia1.jpg&hash=1904ff098066ba4ddb6992cc5a3eeda2c9089f75) (https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xixax.com%2Fimages%2Fdvd%2Fnarnia2.jpg&hash=bf05203fe5929892e3ad35e54d01e196c7f0e67a)
this trend to release seperate editions to charge more for what in the past handful of years has been a standard 2 disc thing really pisses me off. if you want to put out a crappy one and a good one, and charge a bunch more for the better one, you'd better make sure it has like 4 fucking discs. cause '2 disc' just aint worth it assholes. plus you know they're going to put out a better one someday anyway.
Another Narnia Confirmed
Studio sets Prince Caspian for next year.
Disney has confirmed that pre-production has commenced on the second installment in The Chronicles of Narnia film franchise. Prince Caspian, based on the second tale in C.S. Lewis' classic fantasy series, is tentatively set for a 2007 release courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media.
Chronologically, in "Narnia time," Caspian is the fourth overall. The story takes the four Pevensie children back to Narnia, summoned by Queen Susan's horn centuries after Narnia was freed from the White Witch's spell. Narnia is now under the rule of the neighboring Telmarines, and the Pevensies can help Caspian, rightful heir to the throne, lead a revolt for Narnian independence.
Director Andrew Adamson is expected to return for the sequel, as are the young actors that portrayed the Pevensie kids in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
According to the most recent estimates The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has grossed nearly $635 million worldwide since it hit the big screen in December.
Buena Vista has finally (officially) announced the DVD release of Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for 4/4. The single-disc version (SRP $29.99) will be available in either full frame or anamorphic widescreen, and will include audio commentary with director Andrew Adamson, production designer Roger Ford and producer Mark Johnson, a second commentary with Adamson and the film's child stars (Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley and Anna Popplewell), a text trivia track option, and bloopers. The 2-disc Special Collector's Edition version will include anamorphic widescreen video, and all of the special features from the single-disc version. Additional extras will include the Chronicle of a Director video diary, The Children's Magical Journey set tour, 8 different Cinematic Storytellers video diaries, 3 behind-the-scenes featurettes (including Anatomy of a Scene: The Melting River, C.S. Lewis: From One Man's Mind and the interactive Creating Creatures), Creatures of the World biographies, an interactive 3D Narnia map and the Legends in Time timeline. Audio for both editions will be available in a Dolby Digital 5.1 "Home Theater Mix" and DTS 5.1. Note that the studio is releasing a UMD version for the PSP on 4/4 as well (SRP $29.99) which will include bloopers.
The pace was kind of fast, I felt. Some shots were very colorful, but the whole thing felt rushed and I laughed so hard at the "Well, logically speaking, if she's the only one who saw it and he said she's lying, then maybe she is." "Well, logically speaking, if she's not mad and not a liar, then she must be right!" Wonderful.
SPOILERS!!!!!!
I think Aslan is Jesus.
i laughed so hard that tears were streaming down my face when the little troll dude was shot with the arrow, and by then even the munchies had subsided.
i can't wait to get a .gif of that.