Everything Greta Gerwig Has Said About
Netflix’s Narnia Movies
Updated: January 4th, 2024
Greta Gerwig is set to adapt The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, serving as writer and director for two Netflix films. This page gathers her insights and reflections on the project, with regular updates to include her latest interviews and remarks.
On Adapting C.S. Lewis
Gerwig has described her feelings about adapting The Chronicles of Narnia as a mix of awe and apprehension. Her “reverence” for the works of C.S. Lewis, both as a childhood favorite and as an adult admirer of his intellect, has fueled her early approach to the project.
Gerwig reveals a goal for her Narnia adaptation and quotes a C.S. Lewis essay, ‘On Three Ways of Writing for Children‘:
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.” (February 2024)
Speaking with BBC Radio 4, Gerwig talks about having a reverence for Narnia and wanting to treat it with extra care:
I’m slightly in the place of terror because I really do have such reverence for Narnia. I loved Narnia so much as a child, [and] as an adult, C.S. Lewis as a thinker and a writer. I’m intimidated by doing this. It’s something that feels like a worthy thing to be intimidated by. As a non-British person, I feel a particular sense of wanting to do it correctly… it’s like when Americans do Shakespeare, there’s a slight feeling of reverence and as if maybe we should treat it with extra care. It is not our countryman.” (January 2024)
During an interview on the Awards Circuit Podcast, Gerwig expressed trepidation about tackling the beloved book series and appreciation of C.S. Lewis:
I’m in whatever part of my process is just like terror, I guess. It’s a series of books that has meant a lot to me in my life. And C.S. Lewis as a writer [was] someone who had a lot of profound things to say” (November 2023)
At Cannes, Gerwig was asked what she is “looking for” in her childhood readings:
… As a writer and a thinker, C.S. Lewis is so rich, and he’s so erudite. He’s written so much about different things that there’s a lot to dig into, and I find myself—it sounds maybe mystical—but it’s like you have a collaborator, and the collaborator is both C.S. Lewis and who I was when I was eight. And so you’re always checking in with your child and this person who you’ve never met and you’re not going to be able to meet.” (May 2024)
On Her Vision for Narnia
Although Gerwig has kept the specifics of her vision under wraps, she has revealed what draws her to the Narnia books and what she aims to capture in her adaptation.
Greta Gerwig reflects on the paradoxes within Lewis’s worldbuilding during Time Magazine’s ‘Women of the Year‘ interview:
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.” (January 2024)
“There’s a euphorically dreamlike quality to Lewis’s writing. It’s connected to the folklore and fairy stories of England, but it’s a combination of different traditions. 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.” (January 2024)
Gerwig talks about finding a guiding theme in her storytelling process, likening it to a North Star or the pull of undertow:
“I think I always try to keep a North Star. My North Star is what do I deeply love, what do I really care about? What’s the story underneath the story? I think with Barbie, the story underneath the story was I loved Barbie [as a child]. I remember going to Toys “R” Us and looking at the Barbies, and I loved their hair and I loved everything about them, and my mom was not sure about it. And I thought, that’s the story. That’s the generational story of like, “I want it,” and then being, you know, suspicious of it. And I think I’m always trying to find those undertows.
Interviewer: Would you care to tell us what that story is for Narnia?
Gerwig: No, no. That’s just for me, right? [laughs] That’s just mine. But I do—I have—I have it. But it’s—um—well, you’ll see!” (March 2024)
On the Creative Process
Gerwig has openly discussed her challenges and fears during the writing process, describing it as both intimidating and exciting.
Gerwig uses imagery from Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew to describe her creative process.
“There’s a thing in one of his books called the Wood Between the Worlds. That’s where I am. I’m in the Wood Between the Worlds. It’s a wood that goes on forever, you can’t see the sky, it’s so dense, you can’t see the end of it. And there are all these pools and at the bottom of each pool is a universe. […] The problem with the Wood Between the Worlds is that you can often forget what you’re doing there. […] That’s what I feel like. I’m very much in that.” (November 2023)
Early comments on her feelings about taking on the Narnia project:
I haven’t even really started wrapping my arms around it, but I’m properly scared of it, which feels like a good place to start. I think when I’m scared, it’s always a good sign. Maybe when I stop being scared, it’ll be like, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t do that one.’ But yeah I’m terrified of it. It’s extraordinary and it’s exciting. I hope to make all different kinds of movies in the course of the time I get to make movies […] and having another big canvas is exciting and also daunting.” (July 2023)
In an interview about her ambitions as a filmmaker, Gerwig shares her passion for creating stories with a sense of adventure, describing it as how she gets her “kicks“. The interviewer noted that Narnia, with its blend of adventure and magic, seemed like the perfect fit for her:
Yes, kicks with a lion! [laughs] Sometimes, because I write and direct, I write things that I genuinely sit back and think, ‘I have no idea how I’m actually going to accomplish that.’ And that’s actually the most exciting feeling. Because then you can gather people—gather your designers, your heads of departments—and everybody kind of figures out something that’s never been done before. And that’s thrilling.” (March 2024)
Gerwig was asked about what is next in her career and for an update on Narnia:
I’m writing and I’m sort of starting to dream and think about what I’m approaching. I would say the land of Narnia is equally exciting and terrifying. I have nothing really to report on it other than it’s something I was actually talking about before I made Barbie. So, that’s been sort of in my unconscious working its way through.” (October 2023)
Gerwig reflects on the challenges of writing during a Q&A:
I’m in the writing process, and it’s hard because I’m having recurring nightmares. Writing is the most painful part [of making a film], it’s a treasure guarded by a dragon. But once you’ve gotten it, it’s so exciting.” (October 2023)
On Narnia’s Resonance Across Generations
Gerwig has reflected on the timeless appeal of Narnia, emphasizing its unique ability to resonate with readers of all ages and spark a deep sense of wonder.
Gerwig shares what she told her 4-year-old son about Narnia in a podcast interview:
I told my son—we haven’t read Narnia yet to him. But it’s amazing to me, these things that are resonant without even knowing what they are. [My son] was asking me, ‘Are there other movies you’re gonna make after Barbie?’ […] And I said, ‘I’m gonna make something about a place called Narnia.’ And instantly his eyes got big and he said, ‘Where is Narnia?’ […] And then he was going to bed and he said, ‘Tell me about Narnia.’ And he remembered the name.
It’s that strange resonance that you don’t know where it’s from, but C.S. Lewis tapped into something. To remember a name like that. He had that kind of lean in. And then I thought, “Well, that’s why it’s great.” (January 2024)
At Cannes, Gerwig was asked about her experiences adapting her childhood favorites:
“When you take a piece of literature that you loved as a child and then reapproach it as an adult, you sort of have a double consciousness. I felt that very strongly with Little Women because I had an experience reading it when I was young, and then when I read it when I was a grown woman, I saw things in the text I had never seen before.” (May 2024)
On Faith and Religion
While not specifically about Narnia, Gerwig’s reflections on faith and religion offer insight into her creative framework. Drawing from her theological background, she frequently weaves religious themes and archetypes into her storytelling.
During an interview with The Washington Post about her film ‘Lady Bird’, Gerwig reflected on the intentional religious themes woven into the story, including the film’s Sacramento Catholic high school setting which mirrors Gerwig’s personal experience:
In other movies that I’ve written and in this one, I always have — and I do think honestly it reflects my four years of theology. I always have some religious story threaded underneath that people can pick up on or not pick up on. I don’t need them to, but it helps me as an organizing principle because even if you don’t believe in the stories, they are very old stories, and they do speak really deeply to people and their psychologies and how they deal with life.” (January 2018)
Gerwig shared that she “hopes” audiences will connect Lady Bird’s rejection of her hometown to Peter’s denial of Jesus and their parallel redemptive arc:
I have always been moved by the story of the denial of Peter. At the Last Supper, Peter fervently tells Jesus that he will die before he disowns him, but Jesus replies that Peter will deny him three times before the rooster crows, which, of course, ended up happening exactly as Jesus predicted. However, after the Resurrection, Jesus appears to Peter and asks Peter three times if he loves him. Peter replies that he does each time. He is given the opportunity to repent through love.
These stories have always informed my writing and my ideas, finding a larger universal truth behind what are so-called ‘small’ lives. Lady Bird denies where she is from, yes, but in the end, she also declares her love. We are granted the opportunity for grace, and we need love to accept it.” (January 2018)
During Barbie’s press tour, an interviewer asked Gerwig about potential religious “influences” in the film:
They’re always there, they’re always around. In the movie, when it starts, she’s in a world where there’s no aging or death or pain or shame or self-consciousness, and then she suddenly becomes self-conscious — that’s a really old story, and we know that story. I think I always go back to those older story forms because I went to Catholic school and I resonate with them.” (July 2023)
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