CHUD interview with Perry Moore
NarniaWebber Dooby has informed us of a fantastic interview conducted by Devin Faraci of CHUD.com. He had the opportunity to sit down with producer Perry Moore at the recent Comic Con, and they talked about what obtaining the rights for “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” meant to Moore. The following are excerpts from that interview.
Moore sat at our roundtable and started off by introducing himself…
Moore: I’m the guy who went after the rights about five years ago and convinced the CS Lewis estate and the studio to take it on. They also asked me to write the official making of the movie book, and I had the good sense to let each of the gentlemen in this room [the heads of the FX departments] write their own chapter about what they do because I feel the fans deserve a bit more. Usually a journalist gets to go down to the set for two weeks and they get to observe and they do the best with what they have, so it was special to write that book.
Q: It’s a very short book. How did you flesh it out?
Moore: You asked the right question! Andrew reread it after we met with him and he wanted to do the movie and he was shocked by how thin parts of the book were, particularly – and he talks about this in our book – particularly the battle scene. It’s just a page and a half, and it’s just a retelling of what the battle was. Andrew wanted to do this big, blown up battle where the movie builds up to this crescendo. The other thing was that the kids are just pretty much thin caricatures. Susan’s barely in the book. Casting some great kids and having a director who’s great with kids and working hard with the script to have them be characters and not this sort of thin, cartoonish people made a difference. It’s a real challenge. It’s not a no-brainer.
Q: As great as you can get Aslan as a CG character, it’s all about the voice. What were the challenges with getting that voice?
Moore: You’re going to hear a big announcement that Liam Neeson is going to be the voice of Aslan. Liam Neeson was actually the last voice that we cast on this movie because it’s really tricky – Aslan has to be this all-powerful being that can be a terrifying and brutal warrior but also has to be this warm hearted, inspirational figure who can make you want to be the best you can be. That’s a tough show to fill for an actor with just a voice.
To tell you a little more about the other roles – Andrew knew even before we shot who he wanted to be Mr. & Mrs. Beaver, Ray Winstone and Dawn French. Rupert Everett – great story – at Cannes he cornered Andrew. In Shrek 2 he’s Prince Charming and he knew about this movie so he cornered Andrew at the party and wouldn’t let him leave until he hired him as the fox! Andrew’s so good with these. The actors who aren’t just voices – Tilda Swinton and James McAvoy as Tumnus? I don’t know if people are prepared to see… When I tell you we did the movie right, wait until you see Tilda. Wait until you see James. He’s going to skyrocket after this.
