FILMINK Previews Clips From the Film
In their October 15 issue, FILMINK Magazine will have an article about the The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe film, along with an analysis of three scenes: Dinner at the Beavers, Edmund and the Turkish delight, and the stone table!
Here is a transcript of the article:
OUT OF THE CLOSET
With J.R.R. Tolkien done and dusted for movie adaptations, it’s time for another much loved author to get their big screen revamp. C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series has sold over 85 million copies, suggesting the film should be a sure-fire success. In short, get ready for the new Lord of the Rings.
In may be the middle of summer in London, but holed up in an editing suite in Soha is a decidedly pale Andrew Adamson, the Kiwi director of both Shrek films, who is in the middle of editing his first film with real-life actors. FILMINK has been invited round to view some work-in-progress footage of the New Zealand-shot film, which still needs a CGI polish to finish off the creatures in the settings of Narnia.
One condition of Adamson taking the reigns of the project was making sure that the film was going to be a literal adaptations of the book. “The books were very important to me as a child,” he says. “I was worried they’d try to modernize it, so my first feelbug was didn’t want to do it.” Legend has it that Paramount Studios had once pushed aroud the idea of modernizing it, and setting it in Los Angeles, with the White Witch using hamburgers instead of Turkish delight to seduce the kids. “When I finally agreed to meet them, they said they wanted to be really faithful, too,” recalls the director. “So I was stuck doing it!”
On the evidence of what FILMINK is seeing, Adamson seems to have nailed the book’s spirit. The first scene instantly replicates your childhood memories, as the Pevensie children discover the secret wardrobe and its portal to the mystical world of Narnia.
In the next clip, we hear the distinctive voice of Ray Winstone, adding a cockney edge to the character of Mr. Beaver, describing the Christ-like Lion, Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson), to the kids: “Well, he’s only the kind of the whole woods, the top geezer, the real king of Narnia!”
Then we see the evil White Witch herself, played by Tilda Swinton – a resplendent in her ice crown, tied-back dreaded hair and white fur scarf – tempt young Edmund Pevensie to the dark site, followed by what should be the money-scene of the film – the heart-wrenching self-sacrifice of Aslan at the hand of the dagger-wielding witch.
A quick sneak peek at Narnia’s final battle between good and evil – featuring an assortment of 60 different creatures (including centaurs, minotaurs, dwarves, giants and unicorns) and combined armies of 20,000 – suggests that Adamson’s efforts are far from Lord of the Rings’ lite.
As author C.S. Lewis was a friend of J.R.R. Tolkien, so Adamson is a friend of fellow Kiwi, and Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson. Adamson admits to feeling the pressure of expectations of Narnia fans, but believes Peter Jackson has smoothed the path considerably. “Peter helped make this possible. He showed there’s an audience for a faithful adaptation to an English classical fantasy.”
FILMINK Magazine (www.filmink.au) is available in Australia and New Zealand. A new issue is released on the 15th of every month.
