Greta Gerwig on C.S. Lewis, Narnia, and Re-Enchanting the World

Greta Gerwig has been named one of Time Magazine’s Women of the Year. The accompanying article and video include several quotes that offer a little insight into the two Chronicles of Narnia movies she is set to write and direct for Netflix.

The article says Gerwig is adapting “the first book” and includes a link to another post about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. NarniaWeb is investigating and seeking clarification.

Here are some highlights from the article and video:

Gerwig Loved Narnia as a Child

In the video (3:20), Gerwig says:

“C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books are something that I’ve loved since I was a child. I would say the two big books of my childhood were Little Women and the Narnia books. So I had that instant excitement, but instant terror that comes from trying to tackle something that has shaped me. […] I want to make it feel like magic.”

Plans for Narnia Before Barbie

Narnia, Gerwig says, had been gestating for a long time; she’d written a draft before ever setting foot on the set of Barbie. “Knowing that I’d laid the groundwork for Narnia and wanted to return to it—that’s probably something I set up for myself psychologically,” she says.

Studying Lewis

After the Oscars, [Gerwig will] be back to work on Narnia, which she’s been studying closely, alongside the other works of C.S. Lewis, as she prepares to write and direct at least two movies set in that world for Netflix.

World Building is “Rooted in Faith”

Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s CEO, calls Gerwig an “incredible visionary” whose take was clear when they first began talking about Narnia. “It won’t be counter to how the audience may have imagined those worlds,” he says, “but it will be bigger and bolder than they thought.” He describes her world building as “rooted in faith,” much like Lewis’ original material.

Narnia’s “Euphorically Dreamlike” Quality

Gerwig is drawn to the “euphorically dreamlike” quality of Lewis’ writing. “It’s connected to the folklore and fairy stories of England, but it’s a combination of different traditions,” she says. “As a child, you accept the whole thing—that you’re in this land of Narnia, there’s fauns, and then Father Christmas shows up. It doesn’t even occur to you that it’s not schematic. I’m interested in embracing the paradox of the worlds that Lewis created, because that’s what’s so compelling about them.”

Re-Enchantment

Near the end of the video (4:00), Gerwig seems to be responding to a question about how she hopes audiences will respond to her Narnia movies:

“C.S. Lewis said that the goal of writing fantasy — you know, something from his imagination — he’d say, let’s say you wrote about an enchanted forest. The goal would be that then every time you walk into a forest after you read it, you’d say to yourself, ‘maybe this is an enchanted forest.’ So that’s a tall order, but I guess re-enchantment of the world.”

Here is everything we know about Netflix’s upcoming Narnia adaptations.