Tilda Swinton Hopes to Appear in a Narnia Prequel
Tilda Swinton (the White Witch) was recently asked about the possibility of returning to Narnia in an AMA on Reddit (Great find, NarniaFans!). Her response:
I have always hoped that there would be the chance to make THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW.. the prequel to THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE – such a fantastic story.. the creation of Narnia and the Witch driving a coach and four horses around Victorian London at breakneck speed.. but no word as yet.. let’s cross our fingers..
Leading up to the release of Fox/Walden’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, it was suggested that the production might produce The Magician’s Nephew as the fourth Narnia film (an idea Douglas Gresham expressed interest in). We now know that The Silver Chair is being developed by The Mark Gordon Company with David Magee writing the screenplay. But what about Narnia 5? Should the filmmakers finally deviate from the original published order? What about The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle? Post a comment below or in the discussion forum!
Speaking of Narnia’s future, we are still accepting e-mails and audio submissions (60-second limit) for the upcoming Silver Chair wishlist podcast. What do you hope to see in the film? Specific scenes, lines, themes? Is there anything you are concerned about? Send your thoughts to podcast@narniaweb.com and Rilian and Glumpuddle might read it in an upcoming episode.
I would love to see The Magicians Nephew, and Tilda as The White Witch! But my favorite Narnia book is The Silver Chair so I'm glad that one's next as well. 🙂
The Pevensies should also be there ! Do they appear in Magicians Nephew ? Pls.
Ofcourse, if there's Magician's Nephew movie, then she really need to came back.
Nope, the MN don't need Pevensies.
Please go read the books!
I want to see Charn. 🙂
I think Tilda's age could really work for the story. It would make sense if she only appeared younger after eating the apple. So let Tilda be Tilda for most of the movie, and then age her down at the end. “It is the apple of youth, the apple of life. I know, for I have tasted it; and I feel already such changes in myself that I know I shall never grow old or die.” So basically… Tilda is now old enough to play a younger version of the character…haha.
Jadis is such an awesome character in MN. So many great lines. Her arrogance makes her so reckless and intimidating, but I also love seeing those moments of vulnerability in the wood between the worlds, and the end when she hears Aslan’s song. In a flash, she goes from arrogant tyrant to terrified schoolgirl.
The Pevensies weren't born yet at the time of The Magician's Nephew. Definitely go read the books; they're even better than the movies. =)
I hadn't thought of that, but it could really work! @Tilda being older for most of MN.
I think the filming order might depend on the ages of the kids who are cast as Jill and Eustace. In the Narnian timeline, there's about seven years in between the events of The Silver Chair and the events of The Last Battle. (Jill and Eustace are both 9 in SC and then 16 in LB.) You could easily fit HHB and MN in between the two. At the moment, I think I'd prefer HHB following SC, then MN before LB, but I'll have to mull over it.
Don’t forget about the Pevensie actors. If they don’t wait too long, maybe the original cast could return to play their older selves as kings and queens. 🙂
she was amazing in the first one.
What exactly is Aslan's country like? Lewis did his best to explain, but i still didn't grasp it. Like when you move further up and further in, does the land itself shift and pull itself in close so you can receive loved ones like a escalator; the whole world being in the Garden and it just keeps entering into another part. What happened to Tash and the Tarkaan? Last Battle still had my questions unanswered.
M.N. had some of the best lines of description in the series: this particular passage when Jadis sees Digory in the garden: "It was the witch, she was standing just a few feet away and threw the core of an apple which she'd eaten.The juice was darker than you'd expect and made a horrid stain around her mouth, digory guessed she must have climbed the wall or vaulted over it and he began to see there must have been some sense in that last line about getting your heart's desire and getting despair along with it for the witch looked stronger and prouder than ever and in a way..triumphant. But her face was Deadly White. White as Salt". That last line gives me chills everytime i read it. Forgive me if its not accurate, im basing it purely from memory.
that's what i thought too. I mean Jadis is old, she's lived a life as a queen, she's fought a war with her sister. she shouldnt look too young. and if they age her down at the end, perfect!
i mean, tilda isnt that old after all, and if they dont let us wait 20 more years for MN, she'll be great for the part.
(but i was really shockt, when i first saw her picture on the news-fed. for a split second i was afraid it was SC news and somebody wanted Tilda to play LoGK!!)
And the dwarves as well.
I just read it this morning; you did a very good job recounting it from memory, Gemthegiant!
There's a thread on NarniaWeb forum in the General Movie Discussion section called "The Last Battle" and Aslan's Country is discussed at length in it. You might want to check it out and post questions there if you like. =)
I say make The Silver Chair, then The Last Battle. Finish the story that has already been started! THEN go back and make A Horse and His Boy and offer it up as "Another Narnian Story" and then finish up with The Magician's Nephew.
See, in The Last Battle, "The Friends of Narnia" group are introduced. Now, use that as a vessel to tell these other two stories and start the movies there with the friends telling the story.
Magician's Nephew can set up the cinematic series as being a parallel story of Narnia alongside the individually different episodes for the movies.
That slowly emerged in the books, & as a back ground thing, but the books got everything right in what they were wanting to be & were not a cinematic series.
A good MN in that sense can introduce this, changing the stakes from the previous movies for the more casual movie goer, & redeeming the movie series for the more hard core fan after the top gear stuck speedwobble of otherwise best PC & then the more blown off the charts VoDT.
I'm glad she is not LOGK! XD
But I'll be happy if she return for MN. 🙂
Publication order only.
"I say make The Silver Chair, then The Last Battle. Finish the story that has already been started! THEN go back and make A Horse and His Boy and offer it up as "Another Narnian Story" and then finish up with The Magician’s Nephew."
——————–
Same thought. 🙂
I don't know, is that not banking on VoDT quite alot for the average movie goer?
PC film, while not as well an executed story as LW&W film, was the better put together Narnian fantasy as a movie. Wasn't PC released at about the same time as new Indiana Jones film also or at least a couple of really big films, was it Iron Man 1 also?
Comparatively on Dvd/etc to LW&W i think i read somewhere it was respectable in numbers & difference, where as there is significant diffs to those for it & VoDT?
PC had flowing on effect for a general audience being interested for VoDT in a way which VoDT may not for SC. If so, a big part of that interest in someway was/is Narnian.
The White Witch/Jadis/Tilda Swinton, the end of a world called Charn & the start of one called Narnia, could be far more Narnian for the average movie goer's interest than just the return of a talking Lion in a random adventure with new characters you have to love.
Tilda Swinton is a dem fine woman, sir, a dem fine woman.
If they were to make MN right after SC, that would be a good move. That saves the films for HHB and LB to develop the Calormenes, who of course act as villains in both stories. It would bring some good continuity to the series.
It's wonderful to see that Tilda would want to return to the role… but for now The Silver Chair!
I was so excited to see something new posted. I danced around my house when I saw it. I laughed really hard when I saw your post Egon Von Sprocket! I hope the Mark Gordon Company make the Silver Chair PG because Narnia is a kids book so it should be a kids movie. However I think they will do a good job on the scene where the witch turns into a snake.
While I appreciate everyone's excitement over the possibility of a fourth movie, the emotion I feel primarily is Concern. It we're brutally honest, they're record right now is 1-2. Loved LWW; PC was okay (a very difficult book to make into a movie, but they managed to gut it of any and all "heart"); VDT was absolutely atrocious.
Are we really that excited to see how they can butcher another one?
I say either do them right, or don't do them at all.
The record seems 2-1 to me on + side.
P.C. is a near miss but more spectacular shot; just has a section from another movie in it holding it up for abit, when the story impetus is set up for something else & left hanging too long.
VDT would be less annoying if it was 'absolutely atrocious' because there's alot of potentially this could of been great stuff about it. Does anyone remember the extras on the dvd with a lady narrator giving a slightly different take on short sections of the film? A slightly re-jigged film being read like a story book with a different narrative being provided could make VoDT quite good if done right.
My younger cousin wanted me to tell you guys that he hates Narnia. What should I do?
Tell him to be careful, because a person never knows when they might find themselves falling through a seascape painting and ending up on the Dawn Treader. 😉
Bring him to slave market! 😛
This is a reply to Winding Arrow.
I hope they make the Silver Chair first and then go do Magicians Nephew or whatever next, as long as The Last Battle is LAST. =)
No offense, but with that attitude you probably won't be happy with much, even if they produced a good movie that MOSTLY went with the book. If you expect a bad movie, it will tend to be a bad movie to you even if it was pretty good.
I for one am cautiously optimistic, but at the same time, half of the fun of Narnia movies is the wait and suspense. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. A major lesson I've learned from Narnia is: There is always hope. =D
They kind of have to do the magicians nephew before they do the horse and his boy simply because they pull references in the book for the horse and his boy from the magicians nephew. In that book the horse who I believe his name was Bree is a direct descendent from the horse in the magicians nephew so they make a reference to that and they need to have a character that viewers can refer back to, basically. As for people who could possibly play certain characters I would absolutely love to see Simon Peg play Puddleglum in the Silverchair
I would love to see all of the Narnia books made into movies. The smartest way to do this is to film them according to the Pevensie/Scrubb/Pole ages – MN and HHB can be made towards the end because MN deals with Professor Kirk when he was a child & in HHB the Pevensies were still reigning, so it is ok for the actors to appear 'our world' older (everyone looks older/mature in Narnia [gotta love the Narnia-effect!]).
I see what you're saying (about the MN reference); however, I do not think it will make that much of a difference if HHB is made before MN because: 1. LB tells of Narnian Rulers that the rest of the Chronicles do not mention and that makes the Chronicles even more enjoyable because it sets up more of the Narnian history for the on-lookers (makes Narnia seem more real to us) and 2. seasoned-Chroniclers will love the 'hidden reference' to another book while at the same time, all of the young-Chroniclers will have their intrest/imagination peaked.
Either way of looking at it works – Narnia is a classic that cannot be tainted (I have loved these books since my aunts sent me their musty smelling paperbacks 😀 ).
OOPS! That was suppose to go to Mer.
I can see Simon Peg as Puddleglum.
What are your thoughts for Rillian?
Do you know if his hatred based on the movies or the books?
If he has only seen the movies, maybe he would be willing to read the books with an open mind (and quite possibly form a new/better opinion of Narnia).
If his hatred is based on the books…well let's just take a lesson from Susan : just because a person 'knows Narnia' does mean that they will 'choose Narnia' – a warning for us all!
>.<
me too, one of my favourite parts of all the books is when they visit charn
they should wait and do the magicians nephew after they make the horse and his boy
I'd say go back to when you shown voyage of the dawn treader to where Peter was studying with the professor. Let the professor tell his story to peter/audience about his time in Narnia which was the Magians Nephew. After that story is told, then Peter tells his story to the professor/audience about his time in Narnia and what happen. Thats when the Horse and His Boy comes in. Then we go back to maybe the Silver Chair followed by the Last Battle??
Clever. I like that.
I don't think they should use the flashback format. That would mess up the entire chronology of the stories, especially for those who will be watching the movies in chronological order. Perhaps, for The Magician's Nephew, they could show the Professor while the wardrobe is being built remembering what happened. The Horse and His Boy should be tied somehow with the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, before it jumps time. What do you guys think?
And then, at the end of the Magician's Nephew, it could show the beginning of World War II, showing the fulfillment of Aslan's prophecy, and the Professor getting a letter telling him he will be receiving four children in his house.
I had the idea a while back of having Professor Kirke tell the story of the Magician's Nephew at the meeting of the Friends of Narnia, and then when he's finished the story, the apparition of Tirian appears, setting the scene for the Last Battle.
Charlie Cox as Rilian.
Christopher Eccleston as Puddleglum
Miranda Richardson as LotGK
I don't recall any references to MN in HHB. Bree is definitely NOT a descendant of Strawberry, as he became Fledge, the father of all winged horses, and Bree is not winged.
Peter wasn't involved in the events of HHB and so wouldn't be the best person to tell the story. Even Edmund, Susan and Lucy are only in a very small part of the story, so you couldn't really tell it from their point of view.
I totally agree with you about VODT. It has many good points, and could have been a much better film with just a few adjustments. But it's ruined by the whole video game quest 'find 7 swords and bring them to the stone table' theme. That's what makes it so frustrating. If it were a totally bad film we could just pretend it hadn't happened (like I do with Star Trek V)
I'm sorry to say it, but Tilda isn't an ideal White Witch or Jadis. She's supposed to be stunningly beautiful, and she … just isn't. I'm not saying anything against her, that's just how I feel. I'd love to see someone with cold, regal beauty play Jadis. Apologies to Tilda, but I don't think she's the right one.
Please understand that in all likelihood, the SC is not coming out. Even today, there are many announcements of movies taking release date slots including Guardians of the Galaxy 2 for July, 2017. Walden was right in thinking making MN since it will be a great reboot of the series. SC is going to also be very expensive to make and so far, none of the studios wants to do it. What has been done in the past 9 months since the announcement? They have a contest to change a name of a character that Lewis didn't want to have a name. If people are complaining about VODT and PC because they went off the storyline, what makes people comfortable with SC as they are already doing that. Why give a character a name that Lewis didn't? Are there massive changes so that she needs a name? It would be best for all to get behind an effort to have the Lewis company and Walden get back together and make MN. It is really the only way to restart the franchise and get new folks to know how it all started.