Greta Gerwig’s Cinematic Influences for Narnia Revealed?

Do these films represent part of Greta Gerwig’s artistic vision for The Magician’s Nephew?

On every film she has directed so far – Lady Bird, Little Women, and Barbie – Greta Gerwig has compiled a list of films which have inspired her creative choices (click the film titles above to see them). She has also been known to screen these films for her staff during the pre-production phase of each project, and it is our understanding that this has been no different for Narnia.

Following the news therefore that Charli XCX is potentially being eyed for a role in Gerwig’s Narnia – eagle eyed fans have spotted some interesting movie choices on Charli’s Letterboxd account. On March 8th, just a few days after being linked to Narnia, Charli added six classic Hollywood films to her Watchlist, the majority of which are films that Greta Gerwig has specifically mentioned in interviews as being amongst her favorites.

Click the name of each film below to see what Greta Gerwig has said about them in the past:

• Baby Face (1933)
• Ball of Fire (1941)
• Double Idemnity (1944)
• The Lady Eve (1941)
• Young Frankenstein (1974)
• All About Eve (1950)

We also know from Letterboxd that Charli XCX watched Walden Media’s The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe back in December, indicating she has possibly been in talks with Netflix since as early as last year, and potentially even as far back as November when Greta was spotted at one of her concerts in London.

Charli has also added other Gerwig-favourite movies prior to being officially linked with Narnia, such as Naked (1993) which she watched on February 23rd.

It is impossible to say for certain whether any of these films are the exact films that Greta has been screening for the existing production crew right now (though it is a realistic possibility that she might ask new cast and crew members to catch-up with them retrospectively) and even if confirmed, it would be very difficult to say for certain what exact inspiration Greta Gerwig might be looking to gleam from each of these films.

When looking at the picks for her previous films – Ladybird, Little Women and Barbie – many of the inspirations pertain to the smaller details from each film, such as the editing, pacing, acting style, costume design, use of colour, tone, and even specific shot choices, rather than necessarily to the overall thematic content of the films in their entirety.

That said, from initial observations, a few interesting themes do jump out from some of these films:

• Four of the films star Barbara Stanwyck.
• Two of the films feature characters named Eve.
• One of the films features an eccentric scientist doing experiments.

Have you watched any of these films? What, if anything, do you think can be drawn from them with regards to Narnia? Head on over to the forums to discuss further!