Narnia Fans » 2005 » April

Biola University in La Mirada, CA is hosting their annual Media Conference on April 23rd. Christians in the media industry come give speeches and workshops. This year they are premiering exclusive clips from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!

Featuring Rick Dempsey and Ned Lott of Disney Character Voices along with Mark Joseph of MJM Entertainment and special consultant for Walden Media will be hosting the segment The Chronicles of Narnia: The Collaborative Nature of the Filmmaking Process. They will be premiering clips from the film.

CLOSING PANEL
Charting a Course

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Collaborative Nature of the Filmmaking Process

Premiering clips from: The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Find out more information about the conference at http://www.biolamedia.org/

Michael Flaherty, President of Walden Media, was interviewed by CCM in the February edition of CCM magazine. Thanks to fantasia_kitty for the transcript and to Forbe for the article.

CCM: Since the “Chronicles of Narnia” series has such a loyal, even fanatical following, there’s bound to be huge expectations of “Lord of the Rings” proportions for a film like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Flaherty: I know! But I love it because the director, Andrew Adamson (Shrek, Shrek 2), totally “gets it.” As a company we also made a decision that we’d take an approach that would be completely faithful to the book. For example when Holes first came out, we made sure the author was intimately involved in adapting his book to the screenplay.

CCM: It seems that there’s an element of faith in all the films you’ve made with Walden Media.

Flaherty: Throughout human history most of the great events and figures have been motivated by faith. So you’re not a good storyteller if you avoid that aspect. But then, at the same time, if it’s not in the DNA, you can’t apply it like makeup– like “Oh, we’ll put a faith scene here to appeal to the church crowd.” They are a sophisticated audience, and they know when something isn’t genuine and authentic.

CCM: Tell us a little bit about what a day at your job is like for you.

Flaherty: I have a 6-year old daughter. And I have a 4-year old and a soon-to-be-3-year-old, so it always varies in terms of when the day starts. I’m in Los Angeles about a week a month; but when I’m in Boston, things are pretty mellow until about noon. And then once everyone arrives in the Los Angeles office and the studios, things begin to bget very busy; and that pace keeps up until about 6-7 at night. During the day I spend a good part of the time working onthe marketing campaigns for the films, finding new projects, and reviewing scripts.

~ From CCM issue of February 2005.

NarniaWeb had a chance to ask Douglas Gresham some of our burning questions about the upcoming film The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He was very gracious and here’s the interview.

NW: What were your duties as a co-producer on the film?

Douglas Gresham: One of our producers on set one day was introducing me to someone who asked “What does he do on this project?” His reply was “He’s to blame”. (laughs) Actually I am responsible for consultation on all aspects of the production as a sort of in house Narnia expert. This extends to all spin-off materials, like toys, games, books and so forth. I work with the games guys from the companies contracted to Buena Vista, the Merchandising guys from Disney, the Publishing teams at HarperCollins and represent the C.S. Lewis Company as their Creative and Artistic Director. Making the movie has been a dearly held ambition and project for me for about thirty years (my children remember me dreaming, scheming, planning, and talking about it all their lives) so every aspect of it is important to me. I suppose I represent Jack [C.S. Lewis] himself as a sort of creative ambassador. The aim of this is to use my abilities, knowledge and experience to make this movie as good as we can possibly make it.

NW: Knowing C. S. Lewis personally, do you think that he would insist that the books were adapted exactly as he wrote them or that he would be open to the filmmakers’ ideas as long as they did not obscure the meaning of the stories or change anything essential to them?

DG: That’s a tough question. I know that Jack would want to protect the integrity of each of the books, and preserve very carefully the messages that each is intended to convey. I also know that Jack was not enamored of film as a medium of communication because he felt that too little care was taken about what was being said in the movies that he had seen. Also, one of the hardest things to do is to preserve the literary integrity of a book when adapting it to either stage or film, and it is probably far more difficult with film. I think though that Jack would be amazed and fascinated with the wonderful technology that has been developed recently but perhaps less than delighted with the uses to which it has been put. I hope we address that failing to some extent with LWW.

NW: Which character do you think most matches their description in the books?

DG: Hmm, now that is a tough one because I think they all do – that was part of what we set out to achieve. Will just is Peter, Anna is absolutely Susan, Skandar plays Edmund to perfection (we teased him that when he got to the part where Edmund suddenly turns into a good guy, we would have to teach him how to act, as he had just been himself up until then) and Georgie is perfect as Lucy. Tilda plays the White Witch superbly and James is a brilliantly true to character Tumnus.

Coming out Oct. 10, 2005 is “The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy.” Edited by Gregory Bassham and Jerry L. Walls, this is a collection of essays about the Chronicles, with topics ranging from Belief, Doubt and Knowing, to Ethics, Metaphysics, and Religion. It’s another book in the Popular Culture and Philosophy series that includes “The Simpsons and Philosophy,” “Seinfeld and Philosophy,” and “The Matrix and Philosophy,” and recently “Lord of the Rings and Philosophy” and “Harry Potter and Philosophy.” Some of the books are currently in use in University classes.

Art fans will have the opportunity to purchase such memorable pieces from noted Star Wars artists — artwork created exclusively for Celebration III, and available in very limited quantities. Many of the artists at the show will also be available to create custom, one-of-a-kind works for fans by request.

When Star Wars first came out, Jerry Vanderstelt was nine years old. “It was magic!” he says. “Although I saw the movie on a crusty drive-in-movie screen through old AM radio speakers of my parents’ Buick, it had a wonder about it that has had me hooked ever since.” The artist also credits Tolkien and C.S. Lewis with inspiring his work. His current client list includes: Ace, Roc, Pocket and Scholastic books. He has also worked with Lucasfilm Ltd., the Franklin Mint, The Bradford Exchange, Vivendi/Universal Games, and Hasbro, as well as New Line Cinema on various Lord of the Rings projects. For more on Vanderstelt visit www.VandersteltStudio.com.

You can see some Narnia artwork under “Fantasy” on his site!

Brian “glumPuddle” here again. Remember the scans of the “Summer of Narnia” catalog I showed you back in March (link)? Well I just wanted to let you know that, after digging around a litte, I have discovered that the “street date” for the CDs is on or around MAY 31.

Thanks Brian!

“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

“This is what all the fuss is about.

“Published as the first volume of The Chronicles of Narnia, this story introduces us to C. S. Lewis’ wardrobe, a literary device perhaps as well known as Lewis Carroll’s looking glass or Aladdin’s lamp. Certainly the most famous of the Narnian children’s stories, it is also perhaps the most controversial.

“In this month’s edition of the Hollywood Jesus Narnia coverage, we will not only revisit the basic storyline of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but we will also examine some of the more curmudgeonly assessments of the book’s literary merits as well as some of the lesser-analyzed spiritual issues in the text.

“We apologize in advance for not doing fuller justice to the story’s Christ allegory; but plenty has been written on that subject to date, and can be easily located elsewhere!”

Click the link above for the editorial.

Got it right from the German distributer: The NARNIA Trailer will premiere in Germany at Saturday May 7th, 8:14 pm GMT+1 at the German TV Channel PRO7.

Cheers,
Stefan
www.narnia-chroniken.de

New Zealand Post has announced to their customers today in their Annual Stamp calendar that on October 5th, 2005, they will be releasing a set of stamps depicting Peter Jackson’s remake of the 1933 film. Also it has been announced that there will be a set of stamps for the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe directed my Andrew Adamson, which will be released on December 1st, 2005. These release dates are subject to change and are not yet confirmed.

British actor Jim Broadbent is modest about his role in the new movie adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, because the kids are the real stars.

The Iris Oscar winner appears alongside Tilda Swinton, Rupert Everett, Ray Winstone and Brian Cox in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – but he insists he shouldn’t be confused as a star of the film.

Broadbent, 55, says, “I play the character who made the wardrobe.

“It was a pretty easy job. I’m there when the children for into the wardrobe an I’m there to pull them out.”