Michael Apted Voices Concern Over Narnia’s Future
Michael Apted made a statement which is sure to prove controversial amongst Narnia fans. He says:
“I would be surprised if they did all seven books. I suppose the fourth one might work better now after the changes we made in the third… but after that it goes haywire.
“With a franchise, the continuity of characters is actually quite crucial and I don’t know how they are going get beyond book four. I think it is a problem.”
(The full interview is available here)
On one hand, I understand where he’s coming from. Unlike Harry Potter, Twilight, Lord of the Rings, and essentially every other popular book series out there except Narnia, there is a common set of characters that is carried throughout the whole story. That doesn’t happen with Narnia. In every book, there are different characters. Even from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to The Silver Chair, while a few main characters carry over, almost all of the secondary characters are new.
I would suspect from a movie marketing standpoint this is a nightmare to have to remind people who aren’t familiar with the series that “Hey! This is Narnia again!” And I suspect that’s why we keep seeing the White Witch, Peter, and Susan popping up on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ads.
That being said, in this Narnia fan’s opinion the uniqueness of each book is precisely one of the strengths of the series and sets it apart from any other franchise. Sure we say goodbye to the Pevensies for a while, but we get Jill Pole and Puddleglum, Shasta and Aravis, Digory and Polly, Tirian and Jewel!
I would like to offer one piece of advice to the filmmakers (not that I have any sort of credentials in which to do so). Do not look at The Chronicles of Narnia as a series or franchise per se because then you will spend all of your time trying to come up with ways to tie them together. Rather, look at them as seven individual chronicles that just happen to take place in the same world, and embrace each story for their individual strengths! No other fantasy series out there that I know of can do that.
Thanks to Kate and aslanismyman for the link!
UPDATE: The link above now has the full story instead of highlights. Thanks Sammie!
Several of the books after The Silver Chair are the best in the series and would be wonderful as movies. If VoDT does well there is hope!
And besides, they HAVE to do The Horse And His Boy for all of us horse-crazy girls out there! A talking horse – how can you lose?!
:`-(
There were many footholes for the rest of the series in VDT, and there's likely to be more in SC. So I reckon Apted is rambling on for publicity.
…but not losing hope. I can always go back to acting it out in my backyard.
Anybody else ever do that?
As a Narnia-crazed 9-year-old I made an entire suit of armor out of cardboard emblazoned with the red Lion, fitted a car antennae out as a sword, and enacted all the Narnia battles with a neighbor boy. Now I have a real sword so I can really go at it!
"It all goes haywire"?
*shakes head*
There they go again, throwing the uncinematic concept at us. If this series pitfalls, then it's because the filmmakers made stupid choices, NOT because flaws of the books themselves.
On another note, Fantasia, it's "per *se*." 😉 😀
If I owned Fox and was Douglas Gresham (and ruler of the world while I'm at it), this is what I would do:
1. Let VoDT succeed or fail.
2. Make Silver Chair anyway (VoDT Part 2; "green mist" continuation in "green lady")
3. Make Magician's Nephew as a new beginning
4. Make another VoDT-style "character-building" Horse & His Boy (with original Pevensies)
5. Finish the series with Last Battle (and be done with it, but having successfully made them all!)
Hoo boy: "He admitted he landed in hot water with the author's estate for changing huge swathes of the story's plot for the latest film." Did they learn nothing from the disaster of Prince Caspian's horrible adaptation??
Unless they realize that the true principal characters of the books are Aslan and Narnia, they can't go on…
Yeah, I understand what he means, but I disagree that it'll be that hard to attract people to HHB and MN. After all, the movies aren't supposed to be about the Pevensies, but about the adventures these kids take and the spiritual themes that tie the books together. May the next directors understand this to the maximum so that we'll see all of the books made into (hopefully well adapted) movies! 😉
I second that. 😀
Well said. I don't know if they 'can't' go on, but they won't go on in the true spirit of the books.
Thanks for your thoughts, Fantasia_kitty.
I totally agree with you! Narnia is so fun because you can read each one separately and enjoy it that way. It's not like LOTR or others where if you miss one book you're totally lost.
I think the Chronicles brings out "unity in diversity." And I think that unity is Aslan, and his effect on Narnia and all the children. If only the movie people would see that's really the amazing thing to see–not the battles and strife and the "white witch" (although they have a part). All the books hinge on Aslan, and without proper focus on that aspect, I think the books don't have much tie to each other or any really strong appeal.
I was scrolling down the page, waiting to write : They have to realize narnia itself, and Aslan are the main characters: but you beat me to it !
One of 2 possibilities, I think:
Either the series will continue with the rest of the movies more or less as good as VDT ( with VDT being 3/4 of the way as popular as LWW–which would be quite decent, after all…
Or the buget will get smaller, with straight-to-dvd movies with the rest of the series with cheaper everything.
BUT
I am sure that within the next 20, 25 years, somone is going to look back with passion on these movies and say: OK, lets try this again !
This Time, the White Witch's face will be white, Aslan will truly invoke numinous awe ( with ground shaking voice, the smell of all sweet smelling things, and and touching forehead with tongue )
The Dryads will not be practically ignored ( seriously !) And Peter will be the kind of guy all boys want to be like.
In the meantime, I think we have it pretty good with VDT, and I am looking forward to the movie.
ummm… ASLAN ties them all together?? As would the history had they bothered to keep that in instead of trying to make them all something they weren't. Sorry… the purist in me popping in for a sec…
If Fox fails to pick up another film, they could always make more of them for DVD, and be as "haywire" as they want to be. Of course, I would rather they released more movies theatrically, because the production value is always better but hey, I'll take what I can get.
Perhaps the financiers of Christian themed movies like "Fireproof" or "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry" (i.e. TBN) could finance it.
Don’t they see that Narnia has already been successful for decades as books without following the same rule in continuality that Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Lord of the Rings follow? When I first read the books I was a little put off with how all the books were new stories and had new characters (mostly because I wanted to see more of the Pevensies). But now that I have reread them I love all the books for their own unique charm. Sure I would have liked to have seen more of the Pevensies, but I would never trade that for getting introduced to all the new characters like Jill, Eustace, Puddleglum, Tirian, Digory, Polly, Sharta, and Aravis while getting hear about their adventures. I think instead of focusing on why the lack of continuality is a hard to market, the film makers should focus on what does work about this. Unlike with other franchises it is less confusing to new comers. If you go see Harry Potter 7 you’re not going to have a clue what’s going on without having seen the other six, unlike Narnia that can be read out of order. Also, a common problem with most sequels is they become more of the same thing.
I definitely agree with the idea
[the individuality concept, NOT Apted's comments!].
Doesn't Douglas Gresham really want The Magician's Nephew to be made? The logical next movie [after VDT] would be The Silver Chair, and they would have to finish with The Last Battle even if it's ten years from now. If so, I would really hope they continued after at least MN and do The Horse and His Boy.
Sorry if that was confusing, I'm tired, ha ha. 🙂
Yes! What girl wouldn't watch it?!
I know! That's WHY this series is so worth making!! you don't have to worry too much about what happen in the previous stories to enjoy whatever one your watching.
Think outside the box please, Mr. Apted.
Apted has a point. From his perspective, everything does go haywire after The Silver Chair from a purely commercial standpoint. With the economy the way it is, the last thing Hollywood wants to do is take chances and Fox will have to realize that taking on the future of Narnia is a risk because of the the new main characters, new time periods and the new settings in almost every story from here on out. But sometimes those risks can turn out to be fresh products and that's exactly what Hollywood needs right now, something to stand out from all the tired sequels, prequels, and remakes. If only the filmmakers had the courage to show the audience a more pure form of Narnia where the source material could really shine. So far, we haven't really seen that happen. Here's hoping.
Translation: "Making the series more like HP and LotR is going to become more and more difficult, so it may be hard for the films to get made."
The series will forever be licking the crumbs of greater franchises. Shame. Narnia deserves better.
Even if you agree with Apted, which I don't at least not entirely, it should be simple enough to tie the remaining films into the earlier ones. The silver chair has Eustace in & I lay odds Tilda will play some role in it, eve if she doesn't play the Lady of the Green Kirtle. The horse & his boy will increase the roles of the Pevensies. The magicians nephew will probably be a story told by the professor to the other friends of Narnia, with or without Susan & the last battle will again increase the roles of all of the friends of Narnia, not just Jill & Eustace. Finally I can see the witch becoming the Goddess of Calormene rather than Tash. This will mean the whole series can be seen as a batle between Aslan & the Witch. I don't necessarily agree with this, but I think something like it may happen. I say this as someone who loves the books from childhood, but doesn't agree with most of the religious themes in them, I'm an atheist
Yes, I also disagree that it would be hard to attract people to HHB and MN. There are tie-ins from both of these books to the rest of the series just reading the books. Jadis' story is in MN, along with the Professor from LWW, and it explains much about Narnia, including prophesies about the coming of Lucy and her siblings. That is only in the book.
At the end of SC, Rilian is whistling a song about Corin Thunderfist and at a feast at Cair Paravel, Jill and Eustace hear about 'The Horse and His Boy'. That again is 'only' in the book. And in HHB, we get to see both Susan and Edmund, even Lucy briefly.
So how are the books so independent of each other?
after the vdt i dont think i'll be really interested in the rest of the films because i've gotten really used to just the 4 pevensies being focused on and with them gone it just won't be the same. and i think it'll be hard to advertise these films for the ppl who've never read the books considering the characters are always different and don't appeal to everyone
I don't think it's a problem.
Prince Caspian broke the mold, & while not 'totally' perfect but still totally great, as well as it's mis-judged marketing it wasn't far off internationally what LW&W was.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader is both a work in it's own right as well as being un-unmistakably the 3rd Chronicle of Narnia film, and i'm sure will be well liked as well as renewing interest in the previous two films for newbies & oldies alike as well as engaging Narnia fans in it's run at the cinema.
So audiences of both types will not be expecting the replication of one artistic representation to be able to enjoy the films and this will only give the films more longevity for people as the chronicles mount up:)
As of now, personally….i would do 'magicians nephew' more in style of VOTDT, Silver Chair more in style of LW&W, Horse & His Boy(my favourite story) more in style of PC with Andrew Adamson at helm, and 'The Last Battle' i don't know!
kate i agree with your last paragraph, I so want to see horse and his boy, i will cry if they don't make that one.
THe horse and his boy got all 4 the pevensie's in it! (Except Peter, but I'm sure they'll put him in the movie somehow if they'd do that one). It even got characters like Tumnus! The last Battle got aaaall the maincharacters in it (except Susan). There's only one book where there are totally different characters and we even got Jadis in that one.
I Understand what he's saying, but I think they're original enough to do the movies..
Calling talking animals characters 'silly' and disbelieving the franchise as a whole is not exactly what you expect from a Narnia director, but I'll be saving my comments for later. Taking all my friends and enemies to watch the film. I want Silver Chair to be made.
Amen, fantasia_kitty!! Look at the success of the FIRST (LWW) in the series!! It didn't have any previous movie foundation!! So tackle the remaining three (after Silver Chair) a if they are NEW but IN Narnia. HOLLYWOOD: If you are listening: WE WILL PAY MONEY TO SEE YOUR MOVIES IF YOU MAKE GOOD MOVIES!! CS Lewis has provided you with FANTASTIC material. Don't screw it up and we will support you!! The series does NOT have fit your mold to be successful! (Look at The Passion of the Christ!) A Horse and His Boy is a FANTASTIC story with great characters AND familiar faces. Just DO it and stop worrying about US! Put the books to film and we'll do the rest!!!
Its been clear to me for a while that it will be impossible to make Magicians Nephew or the Horse and his boy, as they're too much stand alone stories with little to connect them (from a non Narnia fan point of view) to the central narrative. They'll attempt to make Silver Chair and The Last Battle next, possibly either fitting in elements of Magicians Nephew into the last battle (like a prologue or flashbacks) or more likely simply doing away with any of the references to the Magicians Nephew in the Last Battle.
So I think thats the most optimistic scenario, but the more likely one is that Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be the final film as I severely doubt it will make enough money to justify Silver Chair and it does kind of round up the story, being as it is the last Pevensie adventure, and Aslan's speech does offer some resolution and finality.
And there's battle and adventure for the boys, too. You just can't go wrong with it! It would make such a cool movie!
Yeah, I think HHB would actually fit very well into the series. And it's such a good story anyway. I think it would be to their disadvantage not to make it (that is, if it was done right).
As I said yesterday, the film makers are ruining Narnia for what it is. No wonder they brought Peter and Susan back to the film.
yeah, I agree at least that keeping the same set of characters helps in a series. That might be why Chornicles doesn't do as well. 🙁 I'm sorry though. They're awesome books. They'd make awesome movies. Well… maybe we'll get Silver Chair at least :/ And *maybe* Last Battle…
But from a writer's point of view, I *do* understand how keeping the same set of characters works and is needed. I hadn't thought of it that way before. Not that I want these movies to be LotR/HP cop-outs. But people devout themselves to certain characters and when they're not in the next ones, it doesn't feel the same. They want those characters back.
don't say that, maybe the silver chair may not be a hit when it is in films, but after the silver chair, the last 3 books in a movie, will be awesome, because the last 3 books have amazing stories.
I meant the last 3 books turned into movies will be will be awesome, because the last 3 books have amazing stories
Ick. Please no. Those weren't good movies. The creators had passion though, for God I mean. They didn't seem to know much about making good movies.
I don't know if the links I submit in spy reports don't get through or something. Maybe it's my connection.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101207/film_nm/us_narnia_5
Besides this controversial statements (which I an understand but with which I also disagree), Apted also said he's willing to direct a fourth film and he tells us what it was he took from "Silver Chair" for "Dawn Treader".
My suggestion would be though it counts for almost nothing to go ahead and make horse and boy next they could go a little more in depth with the pevensie story with susan's story (and every one has always liked horse and boy) if you don't do that I think you have to go ahead and make silver chair but if they do Eustace will have to be an extremely strong character….
~ Magnificent King
I agree with you, PD, although I almost think that having 'new' characters throughout the series adds a uniqueness and emotion to the whole story. Film-wise I guess it isn't so great =P
Well, the best thing to do is hope 🙂 Might as well be optimistic…
Yep! My little sisters and I used to do that. We had pretend swords and bow & arrows (They kind of worked, even though they were made out of sticks :)) and we'd run around in the woods fighting each other 😀
Did I read that right? They had a script that was a pure adaption of the book and didn't go with that one?…. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! D:
So they decided to go more commercial and take from the fourth book? Boo!
They could have done less drastic changes to the story and it still would have worked. <_<
Oh well. It would be nice to see all 7 books made into films. It's never been more possible with the technology we have now. And I believe there is enough continuity in all the books that it could work. The Pevensies are in HHB. And everyone is in Last Battle. Jadis and Aslan are in MN. And SC is the obvious choice for the next film, since they are setting everything up in VDT for it.
We'll see. This is just Apted's opinion about the franchise. Maybe he's not the best director to be part of any more films in this series. If he really looks down on the series that much, I say give him the boot and let someone with a real passion and understanding of the books direct!
I'm sorry to say it, but film makers never seem to realize that the closest adaptions please more fans and make more money :/
Moonwood, I got goosebumps reading your post. Someday, the true magic of it all will be better captured! (:
"Magician's Nephew" should be next.
It has three key characters from the first story.
1. Aslan
2. Jadis
3. Digory Kirke (who grows up to be the professor and later builds the iconic wardrobe–nice tie in to the first film)
We're getting between 20 to 50 spy reports a day, I could have very easily missed it. At any rate, I have added the link to the story. Thanks for posting it!
The books are popular. So if they make the movies true to the books, then the movies will be popular as well. The only thing that will cause the series to go haywire is straying from the books.
If I had any sort of power over these films, I would do exactly as you, except with all of the unnecessary changes and green mist. 😛
This is about the WORST suggestion I've ever heard. Ooof.
The was my first thought too.
Ha. That was my thought too. Give us that version!
:'-( :'-( :'-(
If they don't do the whole series, I'll be so upset.
Like someone else already mentioned here, LWW had great success without any preceding movies. I so hope they do the rest!! And if Michael Apted doesn't, I hope someone else will pick it up… *crosses fingers*
Michael Apted knows better than to think so conventionally. Directors are supposed to be creative and take chances with new ideas. I mean, everyone thought George Lucas was crazy when he wanted to make a prequel trilogy(instead of a sequel)to Star Wars, but it mades loads of money because he did something different.
And I feel like it was very rude of him to call the series "haywire". I dare him to come up with as much order and thought as Lewis put into his books, while still connecting all of them together in some way.
Not everything has to be big explosions and and typical Hollywood gimmicks Michael 🙁
Sounds like they're getting ready to drop the ball after "The Silver Chair."
I will be CRUSHED if they never make "The Magician's Nephew." Tilda would totally be awesome in that movie! And it's never been made into a film before. They ALL deserve to be made into films though.
Yep!
Hey, you may be onto something there. Maybe direct-to-dvd sequels after SC might not be the worst thing ever. I think we'd all rather have them released through the movie theater, but it would be better than not having any more movies at all. The effects wouldn't be THAT bad if they played their cards right; I mean, look at the tv movie "Princess", that was a very low-buget fantasy film per my understanding and it was still highly enjoyable and had SOME sgi. Like they had a baby dragon that was really cute (actually he looks, to me, like a littler version of Eustace Dragon in upcoming VDT judging by what I've seen on the trailers). That could be nice, if Fox is stupid and decides to drop the franise after only one or two movies (just like Disney), if a tv station could pick it up. Or maybe whomever did the Britsh movies with limited release (Example: Ballet shoes, Secret of Moonacre) coud do something at least with MN or the horse and his boy…just a thought.