The popular online community connect2earth.org has launched a new service that links young people directly with the world’s top environmental experts to talk about headline-grabbing topics that they care about such as climate change, the energy crisis, and species loss.

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I was optimistic about her condition, and sadly I was wrong. Aslan’s voice actor Liam Neeson’s wife, actress Natasha Richardson has passed away due to the injuries she suffered while learning how to ski.

It wasn’t but a year ago when I saw her in New York, full of life and I wasn’t really sure what I would have said to her, had I the guts to go up and talk to her.

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There’s a rumor that is about to spread, starting at “My Park Magazine.” That rumor is that James McAvoy, Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is close to signing to play Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro’s The Hobbit.

James McAvoy is set to play Bilbo Baggins in ‘The Hobbit‘.

Film bosses are rumoured to be close to signing McAvoy – who played the faun Mr. Tumnus in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe‘ – to play the fantasy hero in the big screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book.

An insider said: “A number of names have privately been doing the rounds, including Daniel Radcliffe and Jack Black but James is the one the film’s bosses really want. They’re expected to have talks with him soon so hopefully it could be confirmed in the not too distant future.”

Director Guillermo del Toro has refused to comment on the rumours, only saying: “I can tell you it’s down to a few names that we all agree upon. For our first choice we all said the same name, it was completely magical.”

‘The Hobbit‘ is the prequel to the ‘Lord of the Rings‘ trilogy.

In the recent movies directed by Peter Jackson, Baggins was played by Ian Holm.

I’d like to point something out, though. They did not get that quote from del Toro with regards to James McAvoy. In fact, no names have been mentioned yet. Not McAvoy, not Jack Black and most certainly not Radcliffe. Daniel Radcliffe will be too busy filming Harry Potter 7 and 8 for The Hobbit, anyway, I am sure.

No, the quote is from Empire Online, which goes on to say: Obviously the script is yet to be written by Jackson, Del Toro and Philippa Boyens, so there won’t be a name attached to this for some time (despite poking with sticks Del Toro was mum on the identity of the actor, who probably doesn’t know he’s in the frame yet). Del Toro says we can expect “at least a year before we announce any casting”. So, while they have a name in mind, you can count any forthcoming rumours as false, at least until the script is written.

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At first I hardly recognise the elegant little Venus in jeans, with opulent Scarlett Johansson lips. It’s abundantly obvious that Anna Popplewell has done a lot of growing up since she made her name as bossy schoolgirl Susan, one of the four Pevensie children who discover the magic kingdom of Narnia in the Disney film adaptation of C S Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. As Anna puts it, ‘I was 13 when I had my first audition for Susan; 15 when I made the first movie; 16 at the end of the shoot; 17 when it was released; 18 when I filmed the sequel, Prince Caspian, and now I’m 19.’

The comparisons with 18-year-old Emma Watson, who plays Hermione in the Harry Potter films, are irresistible. Both are bright and talented, and both have had to live their adolescence in the glare of the spotlight as the iconic screen heroines of two of the most famous children’s fantasy adventures in the world. Anna’s second Narnian outing, in Prince Caspian, gives Susan a startling change of image as a warlike queen in titanium chain mail and a leather corset. ‘I have a lot more action going on in this movie, which is great,’ she says, delighted to find herself armed with a quiver of arrows, the only female on the battlefield as she helps the disinherited Prince Caspian to regain his Narnian throne. ‘I was quite worried about not being able to keep up with the boys,’ she admits, ‘so, on the quiet, I had twice as many riding lessons as anyone else before we went out to film in Prague. When the battle scene was being choreographed, we started a body count of all the people we had “slain” and I was doing very well,’ she adds with a grin.

As an actress, you can’t hope for a more high-profile film role than an action heroine. And despite having to fit A-level revision into breaks between takes, during 12-hour days in the 40C heat of a Czech summer, Anna enjoyed every perspiring minute of the adrenalin rush. ‘At least I didn’t have to run up and down hills wearing a suit of armour, like the boys,’ she points out. ‘There were 500 people on the battlefield one day and it was so hot and crazy that there were some injuries – but nothing too bad.’

The filming proved to be a particularly poignant time for Anna, because Prince Caspian will mark her swan song as Susan; as all devotees of C S Lewis’s seven chronicles of Narnia know, Susan only appears in two of the novels. Another book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is currently in preproduction, but the two eldest children, Peter and Susan, won’t appear in it, for at the end of Prince Caspian they are told by the lion Aslan that they won’t be coming back to the magic kingdom of Narnia because they are too old. And although Peter makes an appearance in the final Narnia book, The Last Battle, by then Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia because ‘she’s interested in nothing except nylons and lipstick and invitations’.

Mention of the line that left readers in no doubt what Lewis thought of frivolous girls provokes a giggle from this blue-eyed, brown-haired teenager in her hoop earrings and black, high-heeled boots. ‘I’m not totally “nylons and lipstick” orientated like Susan,’ she protests playfully. We’ve met in London’s Soho at her first grown-up fashion shoot, to celebrate her transition from child star to full-time student, and in fact she couldn’t look more contented and happy with what seems to me like a new-found freedom. Her departure from the Narnia series was a genuine case of life imitating art – since Anna, like the fictional Susan, was developing other interests anyway and felt ready for a change (she went to Oxford University to study English two months after finishing the filming). But she admits she will ‘miss the people and the buzz of being on a massive film’, adding, ‘It was quite a bitter-sweet thing to film Susan and Peter’s departure because it was quite true to life. I think it’s sad, but it’s also realistic for Susan at that stage in her life to go back into the real world and forget about Narnia,’ she says.

Read the rest at Daily Mail!

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Young Hollywood had a BLAST hanging out with William Moseley from The Chronicles of Narnia! Be sure to check out their interview with him. No doubt Narnia and Will’s fans will love to see it!

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Georgie Henley and Skander Keynes, better known to us Narnia Fans as Lucy and Edmund Pevensie, now have featured bumpers for the Disney Channel. The videos are certainly worth watching a couple times.

View the videos here:

Yes, Skander and Georgie may not be what we think of when it comes to the “Disney Channel Stars” or even of Disney in general, but the adds themselves do work and it gives the movie more coverage.

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Weekly Reader has posted the questions and answers of fan-produced questions for Anna Popplewell, the actress who portrayed Susan Pevensie in the Chronicles of Narnia films.

1. While filming Prince Caspian, did you have that sense of returning “home” much like your character does in the story?
—Le-Ann, 17

Anna Popplewell: I think a movie set is a bit too crazy to feel like home. It’s a bit more like a traveling circus! It was lovely, though, to be back with lots of good friends and to see lots of familiar faces. All the good memories of making the first movie sort of carried over into this one when we started shooting.

2. Which movie was more fun to film: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Prince Caspian?
—Regan, 10

Anna Popplewell: They were very different. I think Caspian was more difficult – I was working adult hours and I had to take some public exams right in the middle of it. There are more action scenes so it was more physically challenging too. I don’t think I enjoyed it less though—it was an incredibly dynamic set to be on. There was always something going on. They were both great, but I liked the new challenges of Caspian.

3. What is your favorite creature in The Chronicles of Narnia?
—Shawna, 13

Anna Popplewell: I used to think boggles were absolutely terrifying and compelling. I’m excited to see Puddleglum the marshwiggle, although he doesn’t feature in Caspian. Centaurs are always good—yeah, I’ll go with centaurs.

Read the rest at Weekly Reader

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Disney/Walden Media: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Howard Berger – Creature Supervisor

Shooting for Narnia was done in New Zealand and Czech Republic. This story is bigger in scope, with a new look and vision. “Darker and more savage” because of the storyline( the Narnia creatures have been exiled), but still family entertainment. One aspect as a director that returning to Narnia allowed was to change / do over the creatures. Felt that last movie all the creatures were 20 – 25 years old. This time wanted to make younger and older creatures to give a fuller back drop to story.

Showed a 5 minute video presentation of “Prince Caspian.” *Very* rough cut, with many special effects missing. Was funny to see actors with “green” legs, or with partially completed horse bodies. Arrow shots from Susan were blotching and fat. Reepicheep was not complete – very cartoony. Still – looks like its faithful to the story line and full of sword fighting action.

He’s hoping to be able to work on all movies made from the 7 books. They are starting pre-production on “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” right now. He mentioned that his company was one of several originally interviewed for “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.” He was asked why he wanted to do Narnia, when KNB was not known for this genre. He mentioned he wanted to do a film his kids could watch.

The Telmarines armor was influences by Spanish Renaissance armor. To date, his favorite creatures are Mr. Tumnus (McAvoy) and the Minotaurs.

Side note: McAvoy was brought in at the last minute because they could not find an actor they were happy with. They weren’t sure about him because he was so young and they were thinking of an older Tumnus. Obviously he pulled it off.

ComingSoon.net for more WonderCon panel summaries!

From Aint It Cool News:

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN

Howard Berger came out and spoke about NARNIA. Howard’s a great guy and I’ve been fortunate to spend a lot of time with him and the other KNB guys on many of the sets I’ve visited. Disney threw him out by his lonesome to answer fan questions and give a little talk about the flick before starting the footage up.

- He looked at the first film and figured out what he wanted to change… he didn’t put it this way, but I got the impression that CASPIAN was an opportunity for a “do-over” on the creatures. He wanted a difference in age with the creatures… so this one we’ll see young creatures, old creatures and more wild beings, not so “coifed.”

-Weta is doing miniature and VFX work as well as a VFX company in London.

- VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER is already moving forward and they’ll do all 7 books if the Box Office stays strong.

The footage they showed had no dialog, only music over images. There were some really incomplete effects, ranging from animatic Reepicheep slashing bad guys and tying up cats to green-legged centaurs. There was also part of the mano-a-mano sword fight between Peter and King Miraz, the evil ruler of the Telmarines who have taken over Narnia while the Pevensies have been away (one year passes for them and it’s well over a thousand years in Narnia).

I’ll have much more detail on this next week… I was shown at least 45 minutes of the movie, so I’ll be able to spill a bit more then. I’ll just say that I wasn’t that keen on the first NARNIA, but this one has a darkness to it that I quite enjoy. I like that Berger, Andrew Adamson and co. have made the world feel a little more used and lived in.

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Walt Disney Pictures’ epic film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, based on C.S. Lewis’ timeless tale, comes to life through Robert Tonner’s collection of TONNER CHARACTER FIGURES™ (TCF).

The life-like figures are authorized portraits of William Moseley in the role of Peter Pevensie; Anna Popplewell in the role of Susan Pevensie; Skandar Keynes in the role of Edmund Pevensie; and Georgie Henley in the role of Lucy Pevensie.

Robert Tonner, CEO and head designer of the award-winning Tonner Company, is thrilled to re-create the magic and mystery of Narnia through his figures. “I was intrigued when I heard about the movie. When I saw it, I was convinced that I had to do it.”

This project has been one of the most painstaking endeavors for Tonner. “So much of each character is in the presentation that we didn’t want to overlook a single detail,” Tonner admits. “We drew on our strengths to accurately depict those critical elements.”

Ranging from 13″-19″ tall, each perfectly replicated Pevensie sibling comes authentically dressed. The intricate costume details range from to real buttons and lace-up shoes to custom knit sweaters. The kings and queens of Narnia also have separate coronation costumes available which include fine details such as intricately molded crowns, hand-embroidery details and luxurious fabrics.

These wardrobe adventurers are perfectly scaled and composed of fine quality hard-plastic and vinyl. Each TONNER CHARACTER FIGURE™ features hand-painted face details and 14-points of articulation for the most realistic poses.

About Tonner: Headquartered in Hurley, New York, the Tonner Doll Company, Inc. develops and markets high quality collectible dolls like Betsy McCall®, Effanbee® Dolls, and the popular Tyler Wentworth® line of dolls and fashions, as well as other licensed characters, including THE WIZARD OF OZ dolls and HARRY POTTER™ TCFs.

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James McAvoy, the actor who played Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, has been nominated for the “Most Stylish Scotsman” award. The award is given to the man “whose truly inspirational personal style is an important factor in their celebrity.” The award is chosen by a panel of judges and presented at an awards ceremony on October 26.

McAvoy is running against fellow actor Kevin McKidd, goalkeeper Craig Gordon, cultural entrepreneur Mutley, and comic book/screenwriter Grant Morrison.

However, McAvoy is the favourite to win the competition. His citation states, “This 28-year-old Scotstoun-born actor exhibits an admirable sense of distinctive yet effortless style in his downtime. Sharply-suited and booted, however, he cuts an especially dashing figure on any red carpet occasion.”

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