Robert Burnett, who crafted such special editions as The Usual Suspects, X-Men 1.5 and X2, is currently at work on the future DVD release of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. He also had a hand in the four-disc Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring DVD for New Line Cinema.

He’ll be a part of a panel discussion at the San Diego ComicCon called “DVD Producers 2004.” Also scheduled to participate with this year are producers Charles de Lauzirika (Alien Quadrilogy, Spider-Man 2), J.M. Kenny (Footloose: SE, Troy), David Prior (Panic Room: SE, Master and Commander), and Javier Soto (Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy).

The panel will be held on Thursday, July 22nd from 1:30 to 3:00 PM at the San Diego Convention Center (Room 6AB).

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Brian Sibley, dramatist of BBC radio dramatisations of The Chronicles of Narnia, has launched his official web site with background information of his various projects past and present.

From his site:
I wrote The Land of Narnia with wonderful new colour pictures by the book’s original illustrator, Pauline Baynes. This book was subsequently transmogrified (not entirely happily) into The Treasury of Narnia, written with Alison Sage.

A lifetime ago (or so it seems) I wrote a teleplay that would later become (with a different screenwriter) the TV and stage play and film known as Shadowlands. Notwithstanding this seeming failure, my ‘tie-in’ book (based on my original version of the story of C S Lewis and his love for Joy Davidman), has remained in print – at least in Japan, Germany and the USA, where it goes under the title C S Lewis Through the Shadowlands: The Story of His Life with Joy Davidman.

Alongside writing about Lewis (The Wisdom of CS Lewis and an introduction to Colin Duriez’s new book A Field Guide to Narnia), I have also written about Lewis’ friend, and fellow fantasy-writer, J R R Tolkien. Three books with illustrator John Howe, later one of the conceptual artists on the film trilogy, have celebrated the maps created by Tolkien for The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.

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“In my nearly 25 years at Disney, I’ve never seen the company so energised so early about a film,” Mark Zoradi, the president of Buena Vista International told them. “The film will be visually stunning and emotionally breathtaking.”

Buena Vista is the arm of Disney responsible for foreign distribution. Walden Media, an independent and relatively new studio, is actually making the movie, with production beginning shortly in New Zealand.

With CS Lewis’s Narnia books continuing to sell 6 million per year – more than The Lord of the Rings before the films came out – the Mouse has every reason to be optimistic. In fact, Disney is already looking ahead to the next one. Zoradi said they’ve begun work on a second script – Prince Caspian, perhaps. Now is a good time to get working on screenplays, since if the first Narnia movie is a hit, Disney may want the next two filmed at the same time.

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Four children are about to discover a wardrobe in the corner of a room in their uncle’s house that will open up a whole new world.

The first scene in CS Lewis’s ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ is being shot at the old Hobsonville Air Base.

Kiwi director Andrew Adamson, famous for his work on Shrek 2, has been put in charge of the multi-million dollar production.

Movie publicist, Ernie Malik, says they are holding back on announcing who the four main child actors are until filming is well underway.

But he says they will be involved in shooting the first scenes from the book.

Filming is expected to take six months to complete.

MSN Xtra

One of the biggest movie projects Auckland has ever seen is transforming parts of the city.

The magical land of Narnia has begun springing up as shooting of “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” begins.

But New Zealand director Andrew Adamson has shrouded the project in secrecy.

An attempt to explore Narnia on screen was made by the BBC in 1988. But this time war-time London is in New Zealand.

A set in Hobsonville is just one of many around Auckland to be filled with 300 extras and cast members to shoot sequences for the film.

Filming stays in Auckland until October, then heads to the South Island and the Czech Republic before it is released at the end of next year.

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The New Zealand Herald has announced that Rupert Everett is playing the part of a Fox in The Chronicles of Narnia: FOX VOX: With filming about to start for director Andrew Adamson on his adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, there’s been another star added to the cast – sort of. Colourful British actor Rupert Everett will be the voice of the Fox, one of the CGI-animated characters in the story. Everett’s dulcet tones can, of course, already be heard as the voice of Prince Charming in Adamson’s Shrek 2.

SPOILER: The Fox appears in the Christmas Party in the novel.

Read more about Rupert Everett

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And you’ve got “The Chronicles of Narnia” up next, right?
Yep. I leave here tomorrow night [on June 22, 2004] because we start shooting in five days in New Zealand.

Wait, you start shooting in five days? I’ve only heard about two confirmed cast members. There must be more people onboard now besides Tilda Swinton and James McAvoy.
I’m not talking (laughing). No, do you know what it is? It stars four young unknown British kids so I could give you their names but they won’t mean anything to you.

So they haven’t been in anything else?
No. Maybe little things but nothing that you’d recognize.

What about putting it in the hands of “Shrek” director, Andrew Adamson?
I think the guy is a genius. The first thing he said to me is, “I don’t want to make a movie based on the book. I want to make a movie based on my recollection of the book.” So it’s kind of like his imagination and the underlying material.

How will that play with real fans of the original material?
Oh no, it will still be very much true to it and the C.S. Lewis Estate is assured of that. But there are lot of things when you go back and read it, a lot of stuff is suggested. And this really fills in a good deal.

So the C.S. Lewis Estate is a big supporter of the project?
They are our partners every step of the way. Every change we make, they are involved in.

Will the financial success of the first film determine how many more movies you’ll do?
Hopefully we’ll do all seven. I’m excited about it.

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Who James Cosmo is playing is the question of the hour, the rest of the cast aside. The Chicago Sun-Times dispells the old Nicole Kidman rumor for those still not in the know, and what about the rest of the Chronicles?

Narnian Spy Biznis commented on James Cosmo, saying that “it isn’t a voice that he’s doing, or I don’t think so. It’s simple logic! Why would he be down here filming if he were just offering a voice? So, not “Mr. Beaver,” “Maugrim,” or “Aslan.” That leaves us with “the Professor” and “the Dwarf.” He appears ideal for “the Professor,” and he’s a tad too old to play “the dwarf.” So, must be “the Professor.” When I mentioned that Andy Serkis was on the set playing Gollum throughout the shooting of the Lord of the Rings, he replied “Yes, but Mr. Beaver is too small to have a normal-sized body double-ish thing and Aslan and Maugrim are being played by real animals.” But what we must remember is that Narnia’s Talking Beasts are man sized. The small creatures became larger, and the big creatures became smaller. The mystery goes on.

On the topic of Nicole Kidman, here’s what Bill Zwecker of the Chicago Sun-Times said: **Here’s a bit of rumor control about ”The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe,” the film based on the C. S. Lewis novel being filmed down in New Zealand. There have been reports that Kidman will star as the White Witch or narrate the movie. Fact is, Tilda Swinton will play the White Witch, and the voice of Aslan the lion (a CGI character in the film) has not yet been cast. Andrew Adamson (”Shrek,” “Shrek 2″) directs.

Narnian Spy Biznis pointed out that Christmas 2005 is a Sunday. While that’s true, the film could be released on that day. Christmas is a Holiday that a lot of people visit the Cinema. However, he believes, and we tend to agree, that the film will most likely be released on Wednesday, December 21st.

And although LWW doesn’t start filming until next Monday, the current rumor is that, should LWW be successful at the box office, Disney will most likely want to film the next few Narnia films at the same time. It’d be a way to save money and get more done, quicker. And hopefully release “The Last Battle” by 2011. Warner Brothers did this with The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Newline with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and Disney is planning to do this with Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3. Let’s make the first Narnia film a success, and see to it that we finally get to see all seven Narnia tales come to life!

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The second annual Petoskey Area C.S. Lewis Festival will be held in Northern Michigan this November (www.cslewisfestival.org). Dubbed as “a month-long celebration of the life and works of one of the most beloved authors of the 20th-century,” the festival has received state-wide recognition as a unique collaborative effort between the local arts council, public schools, community college, and ministerial association.

Included among its board members is David Crouse of Crouse Entertainment, a local film producer who co-produced the PBS documentary “The Magic Never Ends: The Life and Works of C.S. Lewis”; as well as Dr. Christopher Mitchell, Director of the Marion E. Wade Center in Wheaton, Illinois. He will be leading a day-long seminar, along with another Lewis scholar, on Saturday, November 6. A Children’s Theater will perform a musical of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” Nov. 12-14.

For more information, visit www.cslewisfestival.org. Local hotels will be doing special packages for Lewis Festival weekends throughout the month, and every weekend is packed with events. To Narnia and the North!

Blessings,
Sarah Arthur,
C.S. Lewis Festival Secretary

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Troy actor James Cosmo was on hand to pick up his Bowmore Scottish Screen best-actor award at the Bowmore Scottish Screen Awards.

Cosmo, who was recently seen battling Orlando Bloom in Troy, gave a menacing performance as a gangster in Man Dancin’ and also appeared in The Four Feathers with Heath Ledger and in One Last Chance with Dougray Scott.

Cosmo, who is going to New Zealand next month to star in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, said that Scottish film-making was doing fantastically well.

“It is a real honour to receive this. It is a very special award as it is voted for by the paying public and they are our masters,” he said.

“Also it is a Scottish award, which means a lot to me,” Cosmo added. “Scotland is in a great position as far as filmmaking goes, and long may it continue.”

What part though? The Professor? Mr. Beaver? Maugrim? The Dwarf?

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IGN has learned that development studio Traveller’s Tales (A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo) will helm the upcoming videogame adaptations of Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

The titles, expected to appear on GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox sometime next year, follow the classic C.S. Lewis fantasy story.

Traveller’s Tales was created as a software developer, and has developed for platforms such as the PC, PlayStation, N64, Snes and Saturn in the past. The company has developed a number of games including Toy Story, Mickey Mania, Sonic 3D, SonicR, Rascal and A Bug’s Life. Traveller’s Tales have produced games for several top publishers such as Disney, Sega, Nintendo, Henson Interactive and Sony-Psygnosis, producing games on both 3D and 2D platforms.

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