For anyone who is interested in the life of this celebrated author. Ronald K. Brind has combined his own life-long interest with extensive research to produce a comprehensive guide of the Oxford area, taking in all the sites of significance in the story of C. S. Lewis. The guide can be used in isolation or as a companion publication to the C. S. Lewis Tours run by this author.

This account of C. S. Lewis’ life is both detailed and intensely personal. Ronald K. Brind was a boyhood friend of one of Lewis’ step-sons, Dougie, and was a regular visitor to the Lewis household. Indeed, this makes the feeling of the author all the more acute that the lifetime surroundings of this great literary figure should be valued and afforded more respect and attention than is currently the case.

Release date expected end of August 2005.

Please go to www.picturesofengland.com/cslewis to reserve your signed copy.

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Richard Taylor, who supervised the designs of armor and weapons for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the upcoming film adaptation of Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, said that although both stories were adapted from British novels of the same period, the styles of the films have significant differences. “Trying to find the world [of Narnia] was really quite hard,” Taylor said in an interview. “It’s a different audience. It has to play for a similar audience, but it’s the story of four children and it’s a very unique story. [Narnia author] C.S. Lewis and [Rings author J.R.R.] Tolkien actually debated it themselves. They were close friends, but they had a fervent debate about how Tolkien liked to write his world and how C.S. Lewis wrote his world. And that was challenging at a technical level.”

Taylor, who works for the New Zealand-based special-effects house Weta Workshop, said that Narnia director Andrew Adamson had a more particular vision than Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings films, but he was just as concerned about faithfully interpreting the novel on the big screen. “From the very first meeting ever in a cafe just down the road from Disney x number of years ago, and now, Andrew said it’s all about the book, which was very pleasing for us, because that’s what we’d done on our previous films,” Taylor said. “Thankfully, I knew the books very intimately. Actually, more intimately than I knew the world of Tolkien when we started Lord of the Rings, because I wasn’t the best reader as a kid, and as we all know, the world of Narnia you can enter very easily. But it was a much more complex film to design because basically you’re stepping into a childhood dream. And C.S. Lewis created this world that was a huge spread of mythological Greek and European myth. And that made for a very complex job. [There] wasn’t a great deal of descriptive writing within the book that we could use, so we had to extrapolate out from that, using Andrew’s inspiration and trying to find the place that felt like the reality of Narnia.

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When the New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today write major features on the Christian marketplace without the snide remarks that used to accompany such articles, you know that the Christian media marketplace has hit the Big Time.

At the Christian Booksellers’ Convention held recently in Denver, Colo., the major entertainment companies made an expensive, significant push to reach Christian audiences. Time Warner had a big booth. Disney, in conjunction with Zondervan, held a reception for “The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.” Fox screened two movies exclusively for the Christian members of the Christian Booksellers’ Association, and all this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Christian producers who have long labored on the fringes of the entertainment industry now have three-, four-, and five-picture deals with major movie studios. Not to be outdone, Christian publishers are releasing a flood of products tied to movies from major companies.

The biggest movie at the convention was, of course, “The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.” Every publisher had a C.S. Lewis or “Chronicles Of Narnia” tie-in – 167 books in all. One C.S. Lewis society ranked these books and said that Broadman-Holman’s were at the top of the list. Their four, coming out in November, include my book, “Narnia Beckons.”

Of course, there were also books tied in to “Harry Potter” and even “The Da Vinci Code.” The New York Times pointed out that one of the major Christian marketing companies has been hired to promote “The Da Vinci Code” movie to the church. Even our friends at Christianity Today are doing a whole issue about Christian history as it relates to “The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.”

This is big business. As the newspaper articles note, Christians buy books, music and movies, and, whereas some people steal music and movies, most Christians seek to honor the commandment “Thou shalt not steal.” Therefore, while most of the publishing industry is going soft, USA Today points out that Christian publishing is strong, with “Wal-Mart and other big bookstore chains covering the top titles.”

Read the rest at the Source

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I was sent this by Jason: I work a theater in Massachusetts. As I was walked through the lobby on Tuesday afternoon I saw a big box that said TLTWTW on it. On the other side: “Open box by July 29.” So I picked it up and opened the box and it was a new standee of the movie.

So there is the pic of the finished standee:

(Note: If anyone has a color picture of this, please send it our way)

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To start, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe splits between 15 chapters, each of which will take the average player about 45 minutes to finish, according to Buena Vista. Each of these chapters boasts two clips from the film, one as an introduction to the chapter and the other as a debriefing of sorts.

Since the game mirrors the plot of the film, level progression is linear and there’s no hub system or open-ended aspect. Instead, players will play through a series of chapters highlighting key aspects in the story. The first two chapters, for example, take place in London during a bombing raid and also within the professor’s mansion, which holds the titular wardrobe.

The third chapter finds the four young siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, stumbling into the wardrobe and into the frozen land of Narnia. In case you’re a little rusty on the story, it focuses on the aforementioned siblings as they travel through Narnia, a frozen fantasyland filled with talking animals, giants and other mythical beings. These creatures split between two opposing camps, one led by the evil White Witch who keeps Narnia in everlasting winter (without Christmas). The other camp follows Aslan, a noble lion and the true ruler of Narnia. Only problem being no one has seen Aslan in years. When the story begins, Narnia is abuzz with rumors of Aslan’s imminent return.

Like most action-adventure games, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe blends various play styles. Players will encounter a number of puzzles and action sequences as well as strategy and stealth elements. Heck, the game even packs in two driving sequences. That may sound like a funky distribution, but Buena Vista admits most of the game falls under the combat and puzzle categories, with puzzle solving generally taking a backseat to all-out action. The game is rated “T” for teen, which also implies The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a combat-heavy title.

Each character in the game boasts different abilities and a player can switch dynamically between them. Peter, as the oldest, has the strongest physical attacks and is the first in the game to learn how to use a sword. Susan, the second oldest, can use a bow and arrow. Her little sister, Lucy, can ride certain animals and heal her siblings; where Edmund, the middle child, can climb obstacles and use a torch. Plus, every character can use nine power moves, each set unique to the character. One of Peter’s power movies, called Lion’s Leap, lets him crush enemies with a swing from his sword, while one of Lucy’s power moves let’s her use special healing potion she receives from Father Christmas.

Each level is designed to exploit each character in one way or another, so there’s a constant need to switch between fighter and healer, torchbearer and archer. One sequence, for example, requires a player to use the youngest (and therefore lightest) sibling, Lucy, to find a path across a frozen pond. Attempting to do so with any other character results in prompt hypothermia. Another section, where players run into a darkened cave, requires Edmund to light a path using a torch.

In yet another example, players will need to use Susan’s bow and arrow to ward off enemies at a distance while the other characters try to achieve an objective. And yes, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe features two-player co-op play. A second player can jump in at any point in the game and control any sibling not in use by the primary player.

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Attention Educators: Walden Media has designed a web site as a professional resource for educators. “We hope that you will use our carefully crafted educational materials and share your own on our discussion boards to deepen students’ appreciation of this epic adventure.”

Walden Media’s educational team has drawn upon the vision of C.S. Lewis and the film’s world-class creative team to develop an array of educational programs and materials that we believe will engage and inspire your students.

Check it out at www.walden.com/narnia

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The latest in the Behind the Magic series features our first look at The Professor, Tea with Mr. Tumnus and Aslan’s training camp, as was reportedly seen at the San Diego Comic-Con last weekend.

It is available for viewing on Moviefone at the source link above, and we have added links to quicktime and windows media versions of it to our Previews page.

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Post-production work on New Zealand director Andrew Adamson’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is under way in London. Adult actors including Tilda Swinton, Dawn French, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Everett and all the children have been in and out of an edit suite laying down additional voice tracks on the movie, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reports. The four children are relatively unknown British child actors – Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell and Skandar Keynes.

Irish actor Liam Neeson is voicing the role of leading lion Aslan, despite reports that New Zealand-born actor Russell Crowe was initially in negotiations to play the heroic lion in the Disney-Walden production.

Adamson has said the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will be very different from other children’s movies such as Harry Potter. “It is a story about a family and the fact that it happens in a fantasy world on epic proportions is really just an expansion of what is going on for them.”

The battle scenes were shot on the open plains and glaciers near Flock Hill, Christchurch, and scenes featuring Aslan the lion’s camp and training grounds were shot near Oamaru. Production then moved to the Czech Republic and Poland to film snow scenes because the snow in New Zealand was not deep enough.

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The panel featured Howard Berger (the B of KNB EFX), Dean Wright (visual effects designer), Richard Taylor and Ben Wootten (Weta peeps) live and in person and later featured director Andrew Adamson and all four of the kids from the movie via satellite. They were in London doing ADR (Addition Dialog Recording) for the film, but took the time to sit in on the panel discussion. The over-lapping discussion and odd flow of the panel thanks to the 10 second delay was classic.

-It was revealed that at one point the studio wanted to adapt THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, but set it modern day… in LA… just after the Earthquake. They wanted to replace Turkish Delight with Hot Dogs. Thank God that didn’t happen.

-There are about 1300 VFX shots left to finish before the December 9th release date.

-The director thought having Tilda Swinton as the White Witch would bring a certain sophistication to her evil, a good counter to Aslan’s sophisticated good. They’re really pleased with her.

-Andrew Adamson was asked about the voice of Aslan… and he announced/confirmed what “some internet sites have already guessed.” Liam Neeson is the voice of Aslan. He has recorded and they were blown away by his performance.

-They were all asked about the religious aspect of CS Lewis’ story. Adamson commented… He’s making a film that tries to capture his memory of reading it as a kid, not necessarily his critique of it as an adult. He said that some people read it and come away with a good deal of spiritual values, yet others read it and see it as just a grand adventure.

He’s being very faithful to that original material, so if you walked away from the book with a sense of spiritual fulfillment, then you’ll walk away from the movie with that. If you walked away from the book having had a great adventure, then that’s what you’ll walk away with from the movie, he claimed. I like that stance, myself. I’m not Christian, but the parallels in the story doesn’t turn me off of the inherent classic quality of the drama.

CLIPS:

They showed a new “storypod,” a series of behind the scenes documentaries that show on the Narnia website as well as a montage from the flick.

The Storypod didn’t have much interesting in it, besides a look at Jim Broadbent as Professor Digory. He had a bit of a crazy white beard… a little Col. Sanders inspired, but more full.

The montage clip is where it’s at. My criticism of the trailer and poster is that the film didn’t seem to have it’s own identity, but the look and tone of other fantasy films. I want the movie to be as great is the material promises it could be, so I keep looking for something to grasp onto. Today I saw some footage that gave me more hope for a stand out flick.

In the clip we see the kids having tea with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. The beavers were completely CG and not totally photorealistic, but a lot less cartoony than I was expecting them to be. The effects are done on them, either, so I don’t have any worries when it comes to these guys. They tell the kids of the prophecy of the 4 sons of Adam and daughters of Eve taking over Narnia and that the White Witch will stop them at all costs because if the prophecy is fulfilled then she will lose her power.

The sequence show that really got my juices cooking was a bit about 40 seconds long that had Aslan walking through the creatures of the black up to the stone table. Those who have read the book know where this is headed. A bat-like creature taunts him as he nears the steps leading up to the stone table. He doesn’t growl or roar at it, but his stare stops the taunt and sends the creature retreating.

The look on Aslan’s face is 90% sadness and 10% humiliation. It was heartbreaking.

I’m hoping for the best with this one. It looks like they’re really nailing Aslan and his role in the story. That’s half their battle right there. I gots my fingers crossed for this one.

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The amazing array of movie presentations at Comic-Con International in San Diego wrapped-up with some very special surprises and announcements during the panel for Walt Disney Pictures’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, based on the series of books from C.S. Lewis. Those who decided to skip out on the convention after Saturday’s full day certainly missed out on a great preview of what to expect from the film.

After showing the recent trailer, the film’s executive producer Perry Moore came out to tell the rapt audience why he was so excited to finally be able to make a movie that was true to the books he loved as a child. He then introduced the panel’s very special surprise guest, live via satellite from London, director Andrew Adamson and producer Mark Johnson, who were working with the actors who play the children to do looping and ADR work on the film. “You know, this delay thing really sucks,” Adamson said after a bunch of bizarre crosstalk during the panel.

Moore was then joined on stage by make up effects supervisor Howard Berger from K.N.B. and Weta Workshop’s Richard Taylor and Ben Wootten, who designed and created all of the creatures from the film, as well as visual effects supervisor Dean Wright, who dealt with assembling all the computer-generated and practical effects for the film. Taylor, a two-time Oscar winner for his work on “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, was received warmly by his many fans in the audience, who he had made from his previous Comic-Con appearances for those films.

Richard and Ben talked about the design of the creatures, while showing slides of paintings, concept sketches and maquettes of some of the creatures, including the satyrs, a sprite, centaurs, a maugrim and a mermaid, as well as a few pictures of Aslan and Ron Perlman as a minotaur. They also showed some of the detail of the armor, shields and swords wielded by the four Pevensie children.

After each of the specialists talked a bit about their involvement with bringing Narnia to life, Adamson announced that he had his own surprise guests and the camera panned over to the four young actors that play the Pevensie kids, the heroes of “Narnia”: William Moseley (Peter), Anna Popplewell (Susan), Skandar Keynes (Edmund) and Georgie Henley (Lucy).

Adamson closed the panel by making it official that actor Liam Neeson will indeed be providing the voice for the lion king Aslan and that his parts have already been recorded.

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