Gresham Update: Why “The Silver Chair” is Next
In the latest video update, Douglas Gresham (co-producer, C.S. Lewis’ stepson) talks about the thinking that drove the order the films are being made. View the video. Here’s a transcript:
“The order in which the movies are being made is pretty simple, I think. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe sort of had to come first because it’s the one everyone knows about. Everyone knows The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It’s the book that was published first and written first, and has probably outsold all the others too. So, if you want to look for a book to start a Narnia series, that’s the obvious one. And of course in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, we have the four Pevensie children.
So, we moved on next to Prince Caspian in which we have the same four Pevensie children. And we sort of had to shoot that one fairly soon because children have a habit of changing rather rapidly. And when you can consider it may take up to 5 years to make a movie, 3 -4 in most cases or 2-3 depending on the film depending on the film… We didn’t want the kids to get too old to play their original roles before we shot the next movie, so straight on to the next one with all four of them in it which is Prince Caspian.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader still has Queen Lucy and King Edmund in it. Plus, newcomers as well. And actually we cheated a little bit in that movie because we wrote in a couple of cameo roles for Anna Popplewell and Will Moseley who are Queen Susan and King Peter. We sort of wanted them to be in this one. So, we wrote a little cameo role for each of them in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Moving on from that, it seems to make perfect sense to have the next movie contain at least one of the same characters, which is Eustace. And of course, he comes back in this movie, The Silver Chair, which we’re making at the moment. So that’s pretty much why the movies are made in the order they’re made.”
“The order in which the movies are being made is pretty simple, I think. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe sort of had to come first because it’s the one everyone knows about. Everyone knows The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It’s the book that was published first and written first, and has probably outsold all the others too. So, if you want to look for a book to start a Narnia series, that’s the obvious one. And of course in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, we have the four Pevensie children.For more information on the characters’ ages throughout the series, checkout this page.
Narnia.com intends to post updates like this every few weeks, so stay tuned!
No release date for The Silver Chair has been announced.
So… is there a little bitty itsy bitsy bit of hope that they're at least considering not recasting Eustace? 😛 Or are we talking purely from a character standpoint, here?
They gotta recast. I'd like to see 10-12 year old Eustace.
Eustace can't be played by a tall man over 20! He is supposed to be only a few months older than in VDT. Will Poulter is not able to play a boy now.
I'd prefer Will Poulter. Casting Eustace as a 12 year old isn't a requirement. He still resembles his younger self and it falls in line with about how old Peter looked in Prince Caspian (a teenager).
Will Poulter is too old to play Eustace. I don't like re-casting in general, but it's necessary now.
That same thought crossed my mind, Wolfy. The way he framed his answer seemed to hint at that possibility, but I really doubt that Will Poulter can pull off the role at this point. He's 6'2" and burly; it really messes up the visual of the two children and their tall, thin companion trekking through a lonely, frozen wasteland. On the other hand, maybe the filmmakers don't *want* to cast children in the roles: maybe they feel that the "complete this quest or die in the attempt" command is too dark when given to children. I don't know, we'll see. =/
Questions about who will play Eustace aside — could we gather from this that the next film following SC will likely be The Last Battle?
Will Poulter can return as Eustace. I know he can. You guys will find out how soon enough.
They don't have to recast. Nor should they.
OMG I LOVE THE NARNIA MOVIES SO MUCH
Will there be a new movie
Agreed – there are ways of making it work. It's not like he's 40 trying to pull it off. And even with the challenges, the continuity is still closer with the same actor. His acting ability, dress, hair, makeup, etc. can definitely make it workable.
I am sure hoping that Will Poulter will come back. A perfect blend of his acting prowess and the magic of makeup/CGI would be able to make it believable. After all, look at what cinema has done with Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Mockingjay and Paul Walker in Fast and Furious. If making a convincing, exact digital replica of an actor is possible, then I am sure that something can be done to make Will look younger.
I'm curious on their timeline for film preproduction, because these videos were recorded in one interview and they are being released one at a time over what seems like it could be a long period. So they want to build and or retain an audience so they must be fairly certain that production will start soon.
It's promising.
The issue there is one of cost. Yes it is possible, but it is still very costly. I'm kind of doubting this film will have the budget of the last three, but we shall see.
I agree. It is very promising.
Whether or not they need to recast depends on who they are trying to make the movie for. If they wanted to "age-up" the movie, they could keep Will Poulter.
However, if the movie is going to be anything like the book, it will be a children's story. And children are very good at telling if someone is older than they are. Plus, by the time the movie is in theaters, it will be at least 2017; that is a long gap since people have seen DT and the general movie attendee will likely not remember which actors played which roles.
It would be very good if they could have Will Poulter play another role. He is a good actor and I think we would all appreciate seeing him (or at least hearing him) on the big screen again.
Also, it's very good to get another update from Douglas Gresham!
I'd like Will to come back. The other movies had the same actors even though they were older. Plus I've always preferred an older actor than a recasted one….
Slight possibility for Will??? Yay!
Will is such a great actor that I'm sure he could play a teenager
Doubly agreed. I don't personally feel he is too old. A young adult playing a teenager is not unheard of at all. How many films have high school characters played by fully grown adults? A lot. And in The Nutcracker, to give a ballet example, Clara is a little girl commonly played by an adult dancer. I know that's different, because a child can't be expected to dance the same way as an adult, but there are versions where she is played by a child and doesn't dance as much. I don't prefer those versions. I would rather have her played by an adult if I can have more depth to the dancing. Similarly, I would rather have Eustace played by his original actor who embodied the character well. I can suspend my disbelief on more things than this.
I pray to God that they bring Will Poulter back, I don't give a crap if he's "too old" or anything like that, there is no one who can replace him and make me laugh like I did with him as Eustace. They have to bring him back.
they should be able to improvise his 'age and size' with make-up and digital engineering, like the hobbits in the Lord of the Rings.
If they could hire Peter Jackson to direct the SC, an 80% of efforts for making the film good will be certain. A good director is what Narnia needs, not good producers or good script writers – those are only secondary.
Come on Narnia-lovers!
We've gotta make this movie sell well so that there can be more movies made later on. I can't wait to watch The Silver Chair in the cinema from the front row at its premiere, I'm so excited!!
I wish they would make the Horse and His Boy now; the original Penvinse actors are the perfect ages.
I quiet agree with Jillian. I have always loved The Horse and His Boy and think that it is mostly overlooked for some reason. It is an excellent adventure story. It could stand alone as a kind of mid-sieries reboot. I would dearly like to see "The Horse and His Boy" made into a movie by this team. This team has consistently produced results bryond my expectations. It is my hope that they continue to do so.
Their decision to the Silver Chair instead of the Magician's Nephew is a great choice. Honestly, i think they should recast Will Poulter because he did such a good job in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Plus, it would be unjust not to give him a second chance to be in the Narnia movies. All the others were able to. I would also love to see them do The Horse and His Boy. As long as they stuck marginally well to the book, it would be amazing!.