The Voyage Back to a Very Different ‘Narnia’ 

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is much grittier and more intense than the first film.

By: Matt Mueller *

 

Is Disney really planning to film all seven of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books?

That question has been asked by fans and media pundits since well before the premiere of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (2005). That film went on to do nearly $300 million at the domestic box office, so Disney greenlit two more installments, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”
With the release of “Prince Caspian” only weeks away, however, the question is being raised again. Now, though, it may finally have been answered.
“As you know, we started with ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,’ not ‘The Magician’s Nephew,”’ producer Mark Johnson says at the recent New York Comic Con, referring to the first published novel and to the one which takes place first chronologically, “and so, once we’d established the four Pevensie children, the logical movie to do next is ‘Prince Caspian,’ because all four appear in it. Without giving a huge plot point, two of them are told that they won’t return to Narnia after ‘Prince Caspian.’
“In ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ there are only two of the Pevensie kids and Caspian and Trumpkin,” Johnson continues. “One of the beauties of the film franchise is that, while it’s all connected in terms of Narnia and Narnians, thematically it’s not like other franchises in that it’s not set in a specific place or set with the same characters every time, so the Narnia of ‘Prince Caspian’ looks completely different from the Narnia of ‘Lion/Witch.’ And ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,’ for those of you who haven’t read it, takes place at sea. The Dawn Treader is a ship that goes from island to island, where there are different adventures.
“It’s hard to think much beyond that,” he says to the crowd. “There are seven books and, with your support, if these films continue to do well artistically and commercially, then we’ll keep making them. Right now we have no plans to go beyond ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,’ but, if we continue to be successful, I’d love to do ‘The Silver Chair’ next after that.”
“The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” is definitely underway, however. Veteran director Michael Apted is at the helm, replacing Andrew Adamson, who directed the first two films and continues as a producer, and shooting will begin in Mexico before year’s end.
“We’re going to start shooting ‘Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ in October,” Johnson says. “It’s scheduled for release in May 2010, two years from when ‘Prince Caspian’ opens.”
Mexico was chosen as the location for the bulk of the film, the producer says, because most of the story takes place at sea.
“Two-thirds of the movie we’re going to shoot in Rosarito, Mexico, because they have a huge water tank there, which is where they shot ‘Titanic’ (1997) and ‘Master and Commander’ (2003),” he says. “We know we’re going to shoot two-thirds there but, when we start production, it could be back in New Zealand, it could be in Argentina, it could be other places. The tank is unlike any other in the world. Fox built it for ‘Titanic,’ and they were holding it for Jim Cameron, to maybe do another movie.”
Joining Johnson at Comic Con were three of the principal actors in “Prince Caspian”: Ben Barnes plays the title character, an exiled king of Narnia, while William Moseley returns as boy hero Peter Pevensie. Peter Dinklage plays Trumpkin, a dwarf who is on the side of the good guys.
Despite the presence of the three actors, there is very little talk of the film’s actual story, but English newcomer Ben Barnes does briefly talk about the rivalry between the movie’s lead characters and how their relationship plays out in the film.
“I think the rivalry in the story comes from a difference of opinion, a different value system, what each character thinks is the next best move in any given situation,” Barnes says. “It’s not a conflict of character, necessarily. But it makes for more interesting, antiheroic characters, rather than these guys who always win. I think that keeps the tension all the way through the movie. You’re never quite sure if the moves they’re making are the right ones.”
In tone and style, Moseley says, “Prince Caspian” is much grittier and more intense than the first film.
“Narnia is very, very different,” says the actor, now 21. “The first Narnia was very pastoral. It was kind of a fantasyland. This one we’re about to see is much more raw, much more adult and, I think, a lot scarier as well. But I think it’s going to be, in all, a much better film. A lot more adventure, which certainly I like.”
As for the Pevensie kids, things are a little different there as well.
“In the first one Peter was the reluctant hero,” Moseley says. “In this one he’s the hero who really has no idea what he’s doing. He’s so set on his own ego, his own mind, his own stubbornness, that it really causes a humiliating act -- and here’s an important lesson for everyone: Put your ego out of the way and do what’s best for the group. He doesn’t, and it’s a really sad, sad moment, and I think, once he’s learned that lesson, he moves on as a character, as a person, and he becomes the leader.”
He spent three-and-a-half months working with an acting coach, Moseley adds, “because Andrew said, ‘We’re going to completely change your character,’ and I wanted to do the best job I possibly could.”
Dinklage defends the filmmakers’ decision to change certain aspects of the book’s story which they thought would get in the way of making a film that could stand on its own merits.
“I actually think the greatest film adaptations of books are very different from the books,” Dinklage says. “I think, when things are too faithful to the book, it’s like ‘Why even make the movie? Why not just go read the book?’ But what I like about this is that they do tweak things here and there, and change things around a little bit. I think they expanded my character a bit.”
For Dinklage, a veteran of the independent-film scene who is best known for low-budget films such as “The Station Agent” (2003), “Tiptoes” (2003) and “Penelope” (2008), the experience of making a blockbuster was an eye-opener.
“It was a nine-month shoot,” he says. “Sometimes you go and do movies for a few weeks or a month and then you’re out, you’re on to the next thing and you’re back to your own life. This becomes your life. Nine months is most of a year, and so I saw these guys more than my wife. It just becomes your family.”
Johnson concedes that the demanding pace of filming a movie such as “Prince Caspian” isn’t easy on anyone involved.
“Our last three reels are being worked on as we speak in London, so we really won’t be finished until the end of next week,” he says. “Shortly thereafter, these (actors) will actually see it. I’ve produced a lot of movies over the years, but I’d never done anything like ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,’ which I thought was the biggest movie I was ever going to do -- and then, as soon as it came out and was a success, the studio said ‘OK, where’s the next one? Hurry up!’
“Andrew Adamson, who wrote and directed the first one and ‘Prince Caspian’ also, called me up out of the blue and said, ‘Do you really want to do another one of these?’
“We were so exhausted!”

* Matt Mueller is a contributing writer for Premiere.com.