The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and all the stories from the Chronicles of Narina are some of the most beloved children’s stories and the movies have recently become major motion pictures and blockbuster hits. The movies’ producer and Lewis’ step-son Douglas Gresham visited FOX 35 to talk about how Lewis has influenced his life, both through his writings and as an adopted member of Lewis family. He also mentions that he’s just come from the set of the Lone Islands from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in Australia, and that he hopes to make all seven books into films.
The producer of the widely popular “Narnia” films is joining forces with the author of “The Shack” – a modern day classic and New York Times bestseller with more than seven million copies in print – to celebrate the life and legacy of legendary Christian apologist and beloved author C.S. Lewis.
“The Chronicles of C.S. Lewis Conference,” which will be held Aug. 14-15 at Northland, A Church Distributed, Longwood, Fla., will give unique insights into the mind of C.S. Lewis that won’t be found anywhere else. They would like questions for Douglas Gresham, so if you have any you would like asked, please post them in the comments, or contact us, prior to August 14th.
This week has been flying by. I just remembered that it was Thursday, and that I hadn’t written this week’s mailbag. So I’m spending lunch time writing this week’s installment. I spent Tuesday riding roller coasters at Cedar Point, and around that day there were some really huge things happening in the world of Narnia. The third film started shooting, and we’ve gotten some great photos of the Dawn Treader nearing completion. I’ve got a couple of e-mails to answer this week, but before I do, I just wanted to give a status update on the secret project. I’m currently working on speed issues on it, but it’s moving forward. I have guests up from Florida so it’s going to take me a little longer than I had initially anticipated, but I hope that it’s worth the wait.
And a quick update on Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man that just came in from a woman named Barbara: “C.S. Lewis’s appreciation for Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man in correspondence is well known. Tolkien borrowed the idea for Ents from Chesterton’s The Trees of Pride! I hope these facts were brought to your attention.” Thanks Barbara!
“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” the third in the epic series of films based on the bestselling books by C.S. Lewis, will begin principal photography on location in Queensland, Australia, today – July 27, 2009. The production, a joint venture between Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Walden Media, continues the franchise which commenced with
The spectacular, Oscar®-winning 2005 release, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and its 2008 follow-up, “Prince Caspian,” whose combined global box office gross tops $1.2 billion.
The last two weeks have been some of the busiest weeks I’ve had since re-launching the mailbag. Last week, in fact, was so busy that I didn’t get a chance to do the mailbag. I usually do it on Wednesdays, but there was something important that came up last week. You see, there was a movie that came out that has made nearly a half of a billion dollars worldwide, so far. Being a child of the 80s, I had to see it. Twice. On opening day. Yes, I am a geek, and no, I don’t recommend this movie for children to see. But I won’t be reviewing it entirely unless I am asked to write further on it, the film is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and I loved it. Not every minute, but I thought it was great overall.
The C. S. Lewis Society announces that the spring tour to England is now closed. The Society is very thankful as the response from Narnia fans worldwide has been very positive and encouraging and the tour is moving forward anticipating the trip of a lifetime.
In the Spirit of that anticipation, Douglas Gresham (who will be guiding the Oxford leg of the tour) has been kind enough to share an essay (originally published in Silver Leaves) that provides a refreshing glimpse of the many Inklings he attended with his stepfather, C. S. Lewis. There are many books about the Oxford Inklings (J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams & others) but Douglas’ essay is from a rather unique perspective – sitting around the table with them! Shards of Diamonds can be found at www.oxfordspires.wordpress.com.
Darren Jacobs was kind enough to forward another update on the C.S. Lewis 2009 Tour. The update comes by way of the C.S. Lewis Society.
We have added a new and exciting dimension to our C.S. Lewis Society’s tour, “The Path of C.S. Lewis and British Christianity.” Douglas Gresham, the step-son of C.S. Lewis, will be our special guest for the Oxford portion of our nine-day educational tour of England, May 31st through June 8th, 2009. He will personally accompany us as we visit the colleges at Oxford, tour the Kilns (Lewis’s and Douglas’s home in Oxford,) and enjoy an evening meal at the Trout Inn, where J. R. R. Tolkien ate often with “Jack.” He will travel with us as we visit the Eagle and Child Pub, where Lewis gathered with his Christian soul mates, the “Inklings.” It is an incredible honor for our society to have Mr. Gresham with us, who is co-producer of the two recent Narnia Disney films. It is gracious of him to share with us his personal life-memories of his years with C.S. Lewis.
Jo-Anna wrote in to remind us about Silver Leaves. Our very own Jonathon Svendsen has an article in this issue, and we’re very proud of that:
Tolkien-based journal “Silver Leaves” Issue Two, has released as of Saturday, Jan. 10. The theme is The Inklings and we are very excited about getting it into folks’ hands. It’s a superb issue, with contributors including Douglas Gresham, Colin Duriez, Brian Sibley, and Jef Murray, along with many others. Ordering information is at www.whitetreefund.org.
NarniaFans Staff Member, Jonathon D. Svendsen, is going to be featured in the second issue of Silver Leaves, which is put out by the White Tree Fund, a Tolkien-related publication. The theme for this issue is dedicated to the Inklings. Fans of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien know that the Inklings was the name of the informal literary group that consisted of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams and many others.
Sci-Fi Pulse has finally posted their red carpet interview video for Prince Caspian. In that, Douglas Gresham mentions a bit about what they’re doing with the production order for the Narnia films. From what he says, it looks like the production will continue as the books were published.
This is the smartest way to do it. Narnia purists will tell you that the only way to read the books for the first time is the original publication order. That’s what I tell anyone to do, that has not read them yet to do.
Anyway, on the red carpet in New York, Douglas Gresham says:
We still have five books to do. I’m working right now on pre-production on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and I’m already starting discussions on The Silver Chair; and we’re just toying with the idea of doing The Horse and His Boy after that. So we are thinking ahead.
This doesn’t confirm it solidly, but it does show a bit more of what they’re planning. That’ll just leave The Magician’s Nephew and The Last Battle to close out the series.
The C. S. Lewis Society announces that the spring tour to England is now closed. The Society is very thankful as the response from Narnia fans worldwide has been very positive and encouraging and the tour is moving forward anticipating the trip of a lifetime.
Darren Jacobs was kind enough to forward another update on the C.S. Lewis 2009 Tour. The update comes by way of the C.S. Lewis Society.
Jo-Anna wrote in to remind us about Silver Leaves. Our very own Jonathon Svendsen has an article in this issue, and we’re very proud of that:
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