Seeing Prince Caspian in NYC
This past weekend I was given the amazing opportunity to go to New York City and see Prince Caspian, followed by a press junket with the cast and crew the next morning. Hailing from Kansas myself, the idea of traversing Manhattan alone was a bit intimidating, but thanks to my cousin who provided me with a set of maps and a lesson in subways, I did just fine.
Regal E-Walk Cinema in Times Square
I arrived at the Regal E-Walk Cinema in Times Square at 6:00pm and checked in. After sitting down in the theatre, I bumped into Paul Martin (Specter) of NarniaFans. He and I sat there and talked for over an hour, which was great because pretty much everyone else there were from big newspapers or websites that cover all movies, so it was nice to have someone I relate to, as well as someone as star-struck as I was. While we were talking, I looked over to the left and there was Mark Johnson! And a few minutes later, all of the cast filed in with their friends and families and sat two rows right behind us. Major fangirl giddiness moment right there, but thankfully I was able to contain myself.
Andrew Adamson introduced the movie himself and said that he had just finished it two days ago and we were the first audience to see it completed. He also said that this was the first viewing for the cast as well. And then the film began. Disney has specifically requested that I keep all details to myself until the movie comes out, so sorry all of you spoiler-hungry people out there, you’ll just have to wait. What I can tell you is that I liked it very, very much, maybe even more than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, though it’s hard to say as I’ve seen LWW many, many times, and I’ve only seen PC once. I can also add that the film ran 2hr. 27min., including credits. Without credits, it was about 2hr. 17min.
After the movie I gathered all my belongings and wandered down to the front of the theater where Andrew Adamson and Mark Johnson were surrounded by reporters. On one side I saw a face that I thought looked familiar, so I walked up to him and asked “Are you one of the screenwriters?” He laughed, said he was very surprised I recognized him and confirmed that he was Chris Markus. We were able to talk for a couple minutes before they all had to leave. I managed to shake Andrew Adamson’s hand on the way out the door and told him I loved the film. He smiled and replied, “Thanks, you hard-core fans are the hardest to please.”
Costumes from the Movie
The next morning I arrived at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel outside of Central Park, made my way up to the 51st floor and waited for the festivities to begin. They had a sneak peek at the Becker Group’s Narnia Exhibition which was really cool. I didn’t get to stay long though because the interviews were starting shortly.
We were divided into four groups and I was in Group 2. We rotated through the cast and crew interviews and each interview was about 15 minutes. (Interviewees were Georgie Henley and Will Moseley, Andrew Adamson, Chris Markus and Stephen McFeely, Mark Johnson, Ben Barnes, and finally Anna Popplewell and Peter Dinklage.) Once again, the interviews consisted mostly of questions and answers based on the movie so I won’t be able to post them until later. However, two weeks ago at the New York Comic-Con, Mark Johnson made the comment “In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader there are only two of the Pevensie kids and Caspian and Trumpkin“. We’d been speculating about that comment in the Rumors section of the forum, but this weekend, Peter Dinklage confirmed that yes, he will indeed be appearing in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in the role of Trumpkin.
Once the interviews were over, we were given a set of gifts to take home with us that included the Soundtrack and PlayAlongToys’ replica of Peter’s sword. We all laughed wondering if airlines would let us take the sword home with us on the plane.
All in all, the experience was amazing, and I’d just like to say thanks to Disney for the invitation to come and Tirian for sending me! And when the film comes out, I hope you all like it as much as I did! Look for the full report sometime next week.
