Georgie Henley: “Narnia Gave Me Everything I Have Now”

The Chronicles of Narnia star George Henley recently gave an interview with WhatsOnStage where she talked about her memories of Narnia, her life after the films, and her newest role and professional stage debut in the Southwark Playhouse play Angry. (Check out the trailer for Angry here.)

When asked about being cast as Lucy Pevensie, Henley says:

“It was my drama teacher at Moorfield School in Bradford who actually started the process. It came out of nowhere, at first I thought I was auditioning for a local pantomime at the Alhambra in Bradford! My parents at one point took me out of the process because they had reservations about the whole experience, they’d heard about how it can corrupt young child actors, but my sisters talked them round.”

She also shares these words about her experiences filming The Chronicles:

“Narnia gave me everything I have now. At the time I really felt like I’d jumped in at the deep end – on my first day I had to be told not to look in the camera. But travelling the world and meeting all those people gave me the hope that I could carry on with acting as a career.”

In talking about dream roles, Henley offers praise for Lucy Pevensie:

“I do find it very difficult to find roles that I as a woman would want to see portrayed – 80 per cent of the roles that I read I just go “really?” I’m lucky that Lucy was a character who was independent, confident and entirely firm in her own convictions. I want to avoid being there as a device, so the lead actor can learn something. I want characters with journeys. That’s the great thing about Angry; I get to take five different characters on their own paths.”

Angry debuted at Southwark Playhouse in London on February 14th and is scheduled to run through March 10th.