Narnia Fans » Weta Digital

Weta Cast is a brilliant podcast created by the folks at Weta.  This episode features a pair of interviews with a couple of guys you may have heard of: Richard Taylor and Shane Rangi.

Richard Taylor is behind the weapons and armor you see in both The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Shane Rangi is a great friend to NarniaFans.com, and he played at least seven roles in Prince Caspian as well as a couple in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe including both major Minotaurs: Asterius and Otmin.

Download and listen to Weta Cast here

Thanks to Magnus for writing us about it!

The Crafting Of Narnia won Kids Choice at The NZ Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults! Weta has a limited supply of books signed by Paul Tobin and Daniel Falconer!

Written and designed by the artists of Weta and published by HarperCollins, this book chronicles the stunning concept drawings, designs and props that helped shape the world of Narnia in cinematic glory.

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Walden Media, Beacon Pictures and Revolution Studios are teaming to produce a “Narnia”-scale film based on children’s fantasy novel The Water Horse, by British author Dick King-Smith.

Variety says Robert Nelson Jacobs will write the live-action/CGI movie and Jay Russell will direct. “My Dog Skip” helmer Jay Rusell will work on a script from Robert Nelson Jacob (Chocolate), for Walden to co-produce with Beacon Pictures and Revolution Studios. No cast announced yet, but expect the project to firmly aim at its share of the Christmas market. Production is expected to begin in May in New Zealand.

The Ecosse Films production will be the last film Revolution will make under its current term agreement with Sony.

The Water Horse tells the story of a lonely boy in Scotland who finds a mysterious egg from which hatches a “water horse” — a mythical sea monster of Scottish legend.

Russell, who has been pursuing this project for five years, said that the tone and look of the film will be more realistic than fantastical.

Producing are Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae, Barrie Osborne and Charlie Lyons.

The special effects will be done by Weta Digital and Weta Workshop, which most recently created the visual effects in King Kong. Weta also worked on Walden’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, which was produced in association with Disney.

New Zealand Television News Show Holmes featured an article on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which is set to filmed in Hobsonville, Auckland.

New Zealand Director Andrew Adamson of Shrek fame will be filming almost all of the film at the Hobsonville Airbase and the Defence Quarters located there. The South Island will give up its identity of Middle Earth, as it will be the new star of Narnia.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will feature a largely American cast and production is to start sometime next year, with a December 2005 release for the USA and New Zealand. Surprisingly enough, Peter Jackson’s King Kong will be released in cinemas also in December 2005 – so there will be two New Zealand epics battling off!

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will be the second US film to qualify for the New Zealand government’s new film grants scheme. The first film to qualify was Boogeyman, a horror movie from the producer of Spider-Man, Sam Raimi.

Special Effects Studio WETA, who have done all effects for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy will do effects for both King Kong and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.