Michael Apted on “The Book C.S. Lewis Didn’t Write”
SFX Magazine has a very interesting quote from Director Micheal Apted about the storyline of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Here’s a clip:
“We were able to steal, really, from the book CS Lewis didn’t write, which is the one that would have gone between The Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair. He starts The Silver Chair with the witches building up an army underground to attack the above world, and Caspian, having married The Blue Star of is an old man with a son, and he married the Blue Star of Ramandu. In other words, a lot of things had happened between the books.”
Read the entire quote here
What does Apted mean by “the witches building up an underground army”? In the Silver Chair book, there is only one witch: The Lady of the Green Kirtle.
Let the speculation begin. Thanks to Icarus for the link.
I agree completly with Samuel the Magnificent. And don't you remember when Price Rilian said that a "king" had written the poem "though under earth and stone now I be, yet while I lived all earth was under me," In the giant city Ruinous? Can't you imagine Jadis saying something like that? And while she was alive, she was the ruler over Narnia. In charge of all the creatures, I mean. I jolly well think it was her who was the LOTGK. But then again that's just my opinion.
Seriously, Brisa. I mean, really? That's stupid.
I'll sign your petition! And I bet many others would too!
well put… you must be a writer 🙂 lol
it means what we all know: the white witch will play a role until the end of everything hahahaha!
I agree. If all the villains are the White Witch, where does she show up in HHB, for example? This is such a silly theory. Lewis' villains were literal beings, not metaphorical manifestations of one great "evil."
This is probably yet another result of people thinking that the Chronicles are allegories. Fail.
Oh gee… Michael Apted should NOT direct the Silver Chair
Yes 🙂
That's what I always thought too. Then again, I was like, eight when I first read The Silver Chair. But that's what I thought then, and it's kind of what I think now. to be honest, I don't care that much!
I'm wondering now if Apted did not say "witches," but "witch's." Possessive, not plural. Knowing today's standards of spelling, I think we could give a little leeway here.
THey are going to have both the ww and LOTGK in the sc?
Well, it wouldn't be the first time they did something…odd…like that…
But I am beginning to think that whoever is in charge hasn't read the books…
I think Tilda as the White Witch should NOT return for the role of the Lady of the Green Kirtle. It's not the White Witch in the Silver Chair, its the LADY OF THE GREEN KIRTLE. TOTALLY different people! If C. S. Lewis wanted Jadis to come back, then he would have said so. The Lady of the Green Kirtle is NOT the White Witch. Never has been, never will be.
If you think I sound rude or harsh, then keep your comments to yourself and don't comment on this, please. I don't want people bashing everything everybody says just so they can have more comments than everyone else.
I really hope they wouldn't cast Tilda as the LotGK. Then I'd think this was going a bit far and she's has come back one to many times
Somehow I completely missed that the first time I read the quote. So not only has Ramandu been cut, his name has been assigned as some sort of title to his daughter. Lovely.
How would making the LotGK=WW make the story anymore interesting? And for the nth time, the book states they are not the same person. Write a fanfiction if you're that attached to the idea.
Lys, didn't you know? Jadis came back to life and hung out in Caloremene disguised as the Tisroc for a couple of years. 😛
Considering the sheer amount of movies made about exploration, your argument is basically invalid.
Pfft, at this rate Tash will be Tilda in a vulture skull headdress.
I read the whole quote..
Now I am super mad!
He's saying there was no reason for the journey..
The reason was to see all the lords! Sheesh, it was important too. I can understand changing it for the film but saying the book had no reason?
Thanks. But how to start an online petition I will have to figure out. 🙂
Bookwyrm, you can still respect people without agreeing to what they are saying. and i think that sgk474 still respects lewis, but he (or she) isnt being as negative as some people are being.
maybe he should RE-read the book!
Does anyone else notice how poorly transcribed the quote is? "Witches" could easily have been written instead of "witch's". I'm a writing tutor…trust me, it's a common mistake.
About the story's motivation: I love Dawn Treader dearly, but it DOES lack continuity in its motivation. We go from two (or three if you count Magician's Nephew) books of "Save Narnia!" to…"let's go find some lords because we can and I said I would". That's the essential plot, and it doesn't compare to the others in terms of urgency, which is what makes films interesting. It works on paper, not necessarily on screen. VDT's plot IS less than cinematic. It's thought oriented, not action oriented (by which I do not mean battle scenes, I mean character action), and as a director myself I know that watching people think is the most boring thing to see. All Apted says in this quote is that they're going to make VDT and SC connect better in terms of character arcs (NOT plot arcs). How is that a bad thing in any way? They are making the INTERNAL journeys of the characters EXTERNAL so that we can see them on the screen, since we don't get to hear their thoughts like we do in the book. From where I see it, that's a good change.
And in what way does this article "confirm" that Tilda will play LoGK? In fact, it doesn't mention her or WW at all. It's likely that she could play her, and Apted wouldn't be the first to do it. She's a solid actress, and while I would like to see someone else do it, none of us is the casting director. The BBC miniseries, which seems to be touted as more accurate and "better", did it as well while still maintaining LoGK as a separate being from WW. Just because the actress is the same does not mean the characters will be.
Everyone gets so whiny over every little change made! And yes, I do mean whiny. As soon as something you don't like comes along, everyone's up in arms about "I'll boycott the movie if the do this!" or "They're ruining everything!". Learn to take the books and the films as separate. The film is Apted's (and the studio executives') *interpretation* of VDT, not a line-by-line reproduction. It's fine not to like a change, but at least try to understand why it was done before flying off the handle.
finally! someone who isnt freaking out!
I think that as long as I seperate the movie from the book I'll be ok. Think of them as two seperate entities. The book is fantastic (one of my favorites), but the movie might also be fantastic. As far as movies go anyway. Just don't think of them as telling the same story. Similar, yes. But not the same.
The main reason why the WW cant be the GL is because it clearly states in SC that she is NOT. She is of the same kind – as in witches are akin to one another. But her backstory is totally differrent. That said, I don't think Michael Apted is going to that direction based on what he said. It's more of filling the gap, not making things up.
The least likely incident that could occur is they re-cast Tilda to play the GL forgoing any link her 'likeness' might have on the WW.
So relax, everyone, there's two months left until we find out the truth!
This idea takes nothing away from the original story, it only allows for a more uniform transition between movies, and a more intriguing plot.
But the BETTER not remove a lot from the original story!!
I am definitely signing that petition! You should seriously do that!
This bugs me. A lot. I managed to accept the White Witch coming back in Prince Caspian, and even seeing her in the preview for VoDT I have gotten over. After all, the idea that Aslan killed her body but her evil still persists is there, and I think Lewis would be OK with that, even if it's not accurate to the book. What I AM worried about, is that in the VoDT trailer, there is a green mist rather than white or blue-ish, and if you look closely, her eyes are green.
I would call this a fore-shadowing. My problem with this is that the Lady of the Green Kirtle was a witch in actual human form, and the whole importance of Aslan having killed the Witch would be incredibly diminished.
And the whole 'untold/unwritten story' part – I think Lewis intended for us to keep thinking the Narnia stories. I think he would like the fact that there is Narnia fanfiction, and I believe he even wrote to somebody that there are plenty of unfinished stories in his books that we can finish (not least of which is Susan's story).
I can't say I like what they're doing. My first and final reaction to all these changes is that I'm hoping they don't get to 'the Last Battle' with the way they're going!
Personally, I think Johnny Depp should act as Puddleglum and Helena Bonham Carter as the Lady of the Green Kirtle.
I totally get what you mean 🙂 I was just defending Tilda. I know that there should be a new actress for that role, but I was just saying that she could have pulled it off. Except for the seduction part, we need someone a little bit younger.
My first thought when reading that was "PLEASE tell me they aren't replacing the earth men with witches!" I hope "witches" is a typo. Another thing…has Apted read The Silver Chair? It starts with Jill behind the gym, hiding from the bullies. No mention of the witch until the Parliament of Owls.
Excuse me, but you also seem to not understand The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It's not a journey of them running around trying to find seven lords because they're curious. Those men were loyal to Caspian's father. I expect he would feel kind of grateful that they stood up to Miraz for his father, whom Miraz murdered. That meant that they were also standing up for him. Another reason for their journey was to find the end of the world. That's sounds like a pretty exciting thing to me! And not only that, but they have ADVENTURES on the way. It's not like they just go from island to island, looking for the lost lords. "OK, they're not here. On to the next." They have ADVENTURES. There is a storm at sea; before the children get there, there is a short skirmish with pirates; they encounter a huge sea serpent; Eustace is turned into a dragon; etc. It's people like you who encourage the movie makers to go on ruining the storyline, and distorting the story that we love. Yes, we have the books. We've been told that a hundred thousand times. "If you don't like the movies, then just stick with the books." Well, we'd like to see a semi-faithful movie version of it. We also don't like the fact that those who haven't read the books are getting a dumbed down, action oriented, badly written version (or is it distortion) of the books. Michael Apted is taking liberties that he should not, and Douglas Gresham should stand up to him, if he admires his stepfather as much as he's always saying he does. Well, it's too late for him to do that, but he should have stood up to him already. Anyways…
lol that's a good one…
Ramandu’s daughter is not even a star. She is a half-star.
I agree, I want all seven books to be made into movies too. And I really am trying to optimistic about this. But I would rather wait years to see a Narnia movie done right than see a watered-down version of Narnia. I’m not saying that’s what this film is because I haven’t seen it to know. Also, if they do make the movie and it’s not a good adaptation it will keep other studios from being able to shoot a fateful adaptation because everybody will be saying they already made that movie.
Uhhhhhhhh. If WW is LotGK, I wouldnt know what to think… What is he thinking! This Story has a BIG reason for the journey. I don't which director I would want back. cuz I HAVENT Seen THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!! Oh Please Micheal apted make this a Wonderful movie…
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rilian I REALLY hope you're wrong!
Are they saying that C.S. Lewis doesn't know what he's doing? Are they saying he's STUPID!? C.S LEWIS KNOWS WHAT HE'S WRITING PEOPLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >:(
Are they saying that C.S. Lewis doesn't know what he's doing? Are they saying he's STUPID!? C.S LEWIS KNOWS WHAT HE'S WRITING PEOPLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >:(
THERE IS A PERFECT MEANING TO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Makes the TWO of us QueenLucy12
actually, that's the part that bums me out, i miss the pevensies and the other books didn"t quite interest me as much without them –
i think because the stories are told in a more sparse, fairytale form they need to be fleshed out more for a 2 hr. movie. unlike HP, which needed to be cut down for time.
I disagree with most of you, depending on what you think. I don't think that LotGK is the WW. "Of the same ilk" does not mean the same person. I think they're both evil witches from the North whose objective is to try to control Narnia, but that certainly doesn't mean that they're the same. Have you ever considered the absence of the wand in SC? Or that LotGK can turn into a snake? The WW can't do that.
Just because someone is immortal does not mean that they do not die in battle. It means that they do not die of old age. Since the WW was unmistakeably defeated and killed by Aslan in LWW, the only "living" form she could take on is that of a ghost or spirit of some sort, as was referenced in PC.
So, in my mind, LotGK is a different person than WW.
Thus, if production cast Tilda Swinton as LotGK, I will scream and complain and become a very nasty person for a few hours. I don't know if I'll boycott the series, but I certainly might.
agreed, i'd rather have movies with embellishments than no movies at all. course i;m and adult who never read the books, then saw LWW and was enchanted. purposely didnt read PC before seeing the movie so as not to be disturbed by changes. ( i even enjoyed Suspian- alot!)
I;m sure they felt the need so as to link the movies together-its hard to create a movie series with non continuing characters- why do you think no ones gone on to make all the books into movies/tv until now? even though they could have made them animated to get around special effects limitations of the past-
Very nice last line, Pattertwig's Pal. 🙂
really? i found it totally boring- hope it doesnt kill off the movie series cause i'd love to see the last battle and also the creation of narnia onscreen, that could be pretty psychedelic!
there is a need when you are trying to build a film series. remember there are millions of dollars involved.
i think they could have made the series more true to the books and more "literary style" instead of "american blockbuster movie style" if they had made them for PBS or remade them for the BBC. with the movie business the way it is you have to sell action movies to teen boys to get any box office these days. that's why they keep pumping them up with action and big endings.
lewis discusses elsewhere that that is the classic fairytale writing form.
WELL PUT!
PEOPLE CALM DOWN.
C.S. Lewis actually FULLY SUPPORTED PEOPLE "FILLING IN THE GAPS" so-to-speak. Seriously, HE ACTUALLY WROTE THAT TO A FAN IN ONE OF HIS LETTERS. I AM NOT KIDDING. He KNEW details had been left out, and in the one letter it was like he was egging people on to come up with their own ways to find ways to fill in what he didn't explicitly say.
And, he NEVER SAID THAT TILDA WAS GOING TO BE LOTGK. PEOPLE, WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF HE'S DIRECTING THE NEXT MOVIE!!! I don't know WHERE that rumor came from, but it's the first I've heard it. Besides, they haven't even STARTED PRE-PRODUCTION on SC yet, so how in the world do you expect them to have actually casted anybody besides Eustace, Caspian, and Trumpkin?
And, the whole thing about the article saying "witches" instead of "witch"…HAS ANYONE EVER HEARD OF TYPOS?! BECAUSE IT HONESTLY LOOKED LIKE A GRAMMATICAL ERROR TO ME.
GOODNESS. STOP FREAKING OUT.
And WHY is EVERYONE assuming that just because of ONE MEASLY LITTLE PARAGRAPH ON SOME WEBSITE, that Apted has explicitly said that WW = LotGK?!
HE NEVER SAID THAT DARN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP PUTTING WORDS IN HIS MOUTH?! It seems to me that people get all these whirlwind ideas and then think that they actually came from the powers that be themselves, when the ideas DIDN'T AT ALL.
HE. NEVER. SAID. THAT. JADIS. WAS. LOTGK. NEVER DID HE SAY IT EXPLICITLY, SO STOP SAYING THAT HE DID!
very perceptive of you! i didnt read the books before seeing the movies and you are spot on.! now i am a narniafanatic, but read the books after the movies. remember moviemakers are under great pressure from studios and dont always have the freedom they want.
I actually liked the green "foreshadowing." We got from the newest trailer that the witch isn't actually still "alive," per-se (b/c Coriakin says that the "evil" isn't a witch). (I really don't get why EVERYONE IS FORGETTING THAT OBVIOUSLY JADIS WOULD BE EDMUND'S WORST NIGHTMARE AND THAT'S PROBABLY WHY HE "SEES" HER IN THE FOG. IF YOU READ THE BOOKS THIS SHOULD MAKE PERFECT SENSE TO YOU).
Anyway, back to the green…my guess is that they're trying to find some way to connect Jadis to LotGK more than just mention it in passing like it's done at the beginning of the book in SC. I AM NOT SAYING THAT THEY ARE MAKING HER THE SAME PERSON. What I AM saying is that since in SC, it was mentioned that the LotGK was "of the same sort" as Jadis, then they're trying to have some tangible way to connect the "evil" that they both spring from, if that makes any sense at all. Basically, that they're not the same person, but they come from the same source.
I hope that made some sense…
here's a REAL sneak peek for ya- the REAL Tash is in a high political office in america right now!! guess who?
I'm pretty sure it's a typo.
Really, people are freaking out over the one word and it's driving me nuts. Do you guys know how many typos people make daily? Probably millions…