Better late than never, it’s Into the Wardrobe’s bit Comic-Con Report, talking about the Disney presentation and the adventure there at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con. Let’s get to it!

Expect the unexpected: that would be advice to offer someone before they ventured into Narnia, and this was also the case for Comic Con 2007. Yet, in meeting other Narnia fans I’ve talked to online was like coming home, despite the number of strange people surrounding us all day. I flew in to San Diego Thursday and stayed with the wonderful TDL/NW member, Ninaruth. First thing Friday, I was whisked off to Comic Con by Jen, and met up with Kristi from thelionscall.com immediately. We headed straight for the Disney booth, dodging people in strange costumes all the way, and we noticed a wall on part of the booth dedicated to Prince Caspian. The display had the concept art picture of Caspian on Destrier, a large screen TV playing director, Andrew Adamson’s original blog entry and the trailer for the Prince Caspian video game. Disney was also giving away Prince Caspian gift bags with the Telmarine Castle on the front and back and then more concept art on the sides. It was a wonderful day of spending time with other Narnia fans. Gymfan15 from NarniaWeb joined with us later and we spent the rest of the day scouting out where we would have to go for the Narnia panel on Saturday. By the end of the day you would have thought that we had known each other for years.

Saturday Kristi, Gymfan, Nina, Jen and I all met in Hall H to make sure we’d get a seat for the Narnia panel. With six hours to kill before the Narnia feature would be shown, Kristi, Gymfan and I spent the morning putting together goodie bags for the panel members with items that the admins of thelionscall, narniafans, and narniaweb contributed. We also brainstormed extra questions to ask the Narnia panel. When the panel was about to start, Nina and Jen were planted close to the front to take pictures and notes and Kristi, Gymfan15, and I all went to ask questions and were the first 3 in line. Richard Taylor from WETA led the panel, followed by producer Mark Johnson, creature supervisor Howard Berger, costume designer Isis Mussenden, and producer Dean Wright. Director Andrew Adamson joined via satellite and the surprise of the day, Ben Barnes, joined with Andrew. It was the middle of the night for them, but they got up for the panel anyway. Bless them all! They are still trying to finish the last three weeks of filming on Prince Caspian. At first there were problems with the audio where Andrew could hear us but we couldn’t hear him. Andrew proceeded in mock-sign language gestures till his audio came through, which was only a minute later, but it was funny. When we could hear him, his first plea was to the panel members to come back and all would be forgiven them.

They first showed some pre-viz footage, which is basically animation of what they want the live footage to look like, not all of which will be in the film, seeing as they were paying some tribute to Lord of the Rings, Mission Impossible, and maybe the Matrix. But it gave the gist of what was going to happen. It was of a midnight raid on the Telmarine castle. Gryphons carried everyone in, starting with Edmund. Ed then used his flashlight in some kind of morse code to signal to the others and they were killing off Telmarines all over the place. Lucy came in with her bow ready. Susan was fully armed as were Peter, Caspian, and Trumpkin. Three mice went in the castle as well, one of which I’m sure is Reepicheep. He was lighter than the other two. Their first order of business for the mice was to tie up the yellow tabby cat that looked sort of like Puss in Boots so that they would be unencumbered when fighting Telmarines. Trumpkin started falling off the battlement tower and Susan caught him by the beard which was apparently the Lord of the Rings tribute. The mice were opening doors and dropping from the ceiling with ropes tied around them. Peter and Edmund were in their standard Narnian armor and Caspian’s armor resembled that of the Telmarines for the most part.

The second video was next and it included pre-viz, I think Andrew said some on set footage, and of course movie footage. Several scenes were featured, including the kids exploring Cair Paravel in their school clothes, a boat ride with Trumpkin the dwarf, a dwarf tied up and roughed up(we’re not sure if it’s Trumpkin or Cornelius), a Telmarine charge, battles…and so much more. The kids’ school clothes were like what was seen in spoiler pictures before, but the boys had blue sweaters and the girls had bright red ones. There was a shot of Peter finding a large medallion with Aslan’s face on it. In some battle scenes we see Peter fighting in his old leather jerkin outfit rather than the armor and Susan had a sword and was wailing on the Telmarines. Her bow and arrow were on her back, but it was strange to see Susan fighting like that. The last shot was of the four kids with Lucy in front, Susan to her left and a bit behind, Peter to the right and a bit behind, and then Edmund in the back in Narnian clothes in a darker shot and their expressions said something like, “Don’t mess with me.” In that shot the girls were in dresses, Susan’s was I think purple, and Lucy’s was bright red on the sleeves and collar and then the bodice was gray. It wasn’t a rusty red color at all so I’m not sure if it’s the same dress she was caught riding in months ago or not. Caspian was not seen in the footage that we saw. There was a concept art flash of Reepicheep. He looked white on his tummy, and golden to a brown color on his back and head. Aslan will be bigger in this film. We were in awe when it finished and it was amazing. I tend to be a bit harsh as a critic, but it was incredible. At the end of it Andrew asked if the screams he heard were a positive response which brought him an emphatic yes from Mark.

After this it was time to ask questions. Each person could only ask one. Kristi was first up and she greeted them on behalf of thelionscall.com, then she asked what the most challenging creatures were for them to create and work on. Aslan was the first mentioned, as getting the emotional expressions right for him were difficult. Reepicheep was also mentioned. Also, the scene of the Gryphons carrying the kids was tough to make look realistic. The Telmarines and dwarves were also mentioned by Howard and Isis for their departments. Dean and Howard talked a bit later about how they created the creatures in the last film and have more room to experiment now, they’ll have dwarves, fawns, and centaurs that are young and old, fat and skinny, male and female, different colors. There were between 50 to 100 creature types that had to be created.

I got to ask the next question on behalf of narniafans.com in front of 5,000 people with a camera on me plastering my face on about 10 huge screens…frightening…but I asked, “Now that you’ve done LWW, PC, and have VDT ready to start in January, are you going to do the last four books, what’s the timetable for that, and do you all want to be involved? Andrew replied first, even with the two second delay. He said he did want to be involved in all the films even if not directing. Mark responded to the rest. He said that if they all get the response LWW did, they would proceed to make one a year each May till they were done making all seven! He said that VDT would start filming in late January or early February. Isis talked later about how they all want to be involved and how they’re a close family group.

Gymfan15 got to ask her question on behalf of NarniaWeb and she asked if there were any funny stories or memories from the filming that they had to tell. Andrew replied that they still had 3 weeks left and that they weren’t done yet, but then changed his mind and told stories anyway. He said that greeting the 5-7 Telmar Lords in the morning was interesting, since he had to do it in languages from Spain, Italy, Czech, Kiwi, and French just to name a few. Andrew also talked about filming the scene where Aslan tells Peter and Susan they’re not coming back. Shane Rangi had to stand in for Aslan in an all blue suit that covers the face which Andrew said made him look like “The Tick,” and he was told to talk about what the experience had meant to him and how he would miss everyone..stuff like that. Well, after a little bit Andrew looked over at Shane in the blue suit and saw these dark streaks in it where Shane had been crying too which made the suit look funny. Richard then talked about bringing his 5 year-old son to the set. The little boy didn’t grasp the fact that they were actors. He thought he was going to Narnia for real. He met the Pevensie rulers and he met Prince Caspian. Richard said that Ben never broke character and made it a special day for his little boy and publicly thanked Ben for that. They were all very wonderful and gracious with the child. Isis talked about how the kids were siblings in every sense and said that the last fittings with Will and Anna were emotional ones. They were a family group. All who worked on LWW were invited back for PC. They’ve learned from each movie and expect each to get better as they go along.

Two other people got to ask questions and that was it. The next was about the continuity of the books with the movies and the movies with each other seeing as they’ll have different directors. The panelists said they’d stay true to the books and embellish here and there. They want and are aiming to stay faithful to the stories and have a great love for the stories. The stories are so different from each other, so it won’t be too tough with different directors to keep a Narnian feel to them. The panel was expecting Ben to get a lot of questions and he wasn’t asked anything. But then, no one knew he was coming so they didn’t naturally prepare any. At about that time, Andrew said their signal was going to run out and that they were going to get to bed. Richard piped up and told Andrew that he was going to bed and Ben was going clubbing. He looked at Ben and said, “It’s past Ben’s bedtime.” While Andrew was speaking Ben was sarcastically making gestures to Richard and the rest of us that yeah he was going out clubbing. Andrew replied to Ben with, “But you need your beauty sleep.”

The panel talked about a lot of things after that. It was said that the plan was for Georgie, Skandar, Anna, and Will to play any future roles in HHB or LB when they come up since they’ll be old enough by then. Howard snuck a head of the good satyr, Tyrus, in with him. He plugged the head in and played with the animatronics. When he had Tyrus at the table, there was a point where the bust of Tyrus replaces Isis as far as the screen shot was concerned. It was funny since the bottom of the bust was yellow and Isis was wearing a yellow shirt, they just blended in together. They brought out a Telmarine soldier as well with a sword that I think was bigger than me. The helmet was very conquistador like and there’s a face mask. Dean, Isis,and Howard discussed the 330 person army that they had to outfit. The inspirations for the outfit were from Tibet, Greek Mass, Byzantine, Pirate and other cultures. They made 2500 swords most were water-jet cut and others were hand ground by Richard I think. Miraz’s costume is said to be rich bronze, emblazoned with pictographs telling the history of Telmar. They talked about the kids coming back into Narnia with an overwhelming sense of entitlement. The film is described as darker, more mature, and with more action. The footage we saw lived up to that description. Isis said it is four times the scope of LWW.

Howard closed things out with the act of throwing out t-shirts to fans that only the cast had previously. There was a blue one with a stick figure Prince Caspian on it and then there was a brown one with a 70’s style faun with a huge afro on it. When he did this mass hysteria started and security was going nuts. Gymfan15 caught a blue shirt. When microphones started falling over, they wrapped things up pretty quickly.

We booked it back to the Disney booth where the guys there promised to get the goodie bags to the panel members, and I’m glad that they did receive them. Andrew and Ben will be sent their goodies soon. It was a blast to get to spend time with the members from the various Narnia sites where we could work together and have a common goal, helping each other out. There was no us and them we were one big team. Hwin from NarniaWeb and her family also stopped by the table to say hi as well after the panel. I didn’t expect to make so many new friends or have so much fun with the Narnia panel, considering the insanity surrounding us that was Comic Con. However, I did and was truly blessed.

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Our Dancing Lawn Moderator ‘~Rogue~’ has done it again! She’s gotten an interview with William Moseley, the actor that portrayed Peter Pevensie in the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He’s also signed on for Prince Caspian. Anyway, here’s the exclusive interview:

1.Do you have a religion and if so what is it?
Urm I do believe in God but I’m not very religious, I’m…probably Christianity

2.What is your favourite brand of jeans?
Favourite brand of jeans……probably Sevens.

3.What other films have you auditioned for apart from Narnia?
I auditioned for Prince Harry, I auditioned for a film called Goodbye Mr Chips, I auditioned for a film called Lorna Doone. Lots of different things really

4.If you weren’t acting, what would you be doing now?
Probably be at University now I should imagine. Apart from my exams…I’ll probably stick to acting.

5.Who’s the most insane person in the Narnia cast/crew?
Hmm a cross between Georgie and Skandar.

6.Are you looking forwards to filming Prince Caspian?
Yes I am. I’m really really looking forward to it.

7.Do you think filming LWW will affect your future career as an actor?
Urm, yeah, dramatically but I think it will affect it for the good. Amazingly, amazingly well. I’m really lucky to be a part of it.

8.What was your best/funniest experience on set?
Probably the time, when I told Skandar that sugar-glass was actually edible, he ate it and it turned out that it was silicone. He didn’t like it very much. Quite a good moment.

9.What do you think of Skandar’s Check the Gate song?
It’s not really Skandar’s Check the Gate song, it’s everyone’s check the gate song and I do like it. I think it’s very funny-cracks me up. He [Skandar] tried to steal it but it’s not his song.

10.Have you been offered lots of roles since the release of Narnia?
No actually, not that many. Urm I auditioned for a few things but I haven’t really been offered anything. Well, one part.

11.What’s your favourite band?
Good question. Urm dunno really. I quite like the Bravery. Urm I dunno, there are so many bands I like it’s crazy. I like a bit of the Rolling Stones sometimes. Lots of different types.

12.Do you ever visit any of your fansites?
Sometimes actually, when I want to say thank you to them for doing such an amazing job of keeping up with it, yeah I do then.

13.Who do you think would win in a fight between you and Skandar?
OMG oo that’s a difficult question. Honestly? Or do I have to like lie? Honestly, I could probably beat Skandar with my arms behind my back, blindfolded and with both my feet tied together.

14.What other works of C.S Lewis have you read apart from Narnia?
I’ve read pretty much all of them.

15.If you could play any character from a film, who would it be?
I’d quite like to be Brad Pitt in Fight Club. Quite a good part. Or Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juilet. That would be quite cool.

16.What’s your favourite film?
I quite like a film called Apocalypse Now and another film called Leon.

17.Do you have any pets?
Yeah, I have a cat and two goldfish. One’s called Campden [edit:Louise: I THINK thats what he said but I couldn't hear very well.] and one’s called Stroud which are the areas we got them from. Very inventive.

18.Who’s your best friend?
I have a very good friend called Charles Blanche (sp?). He’s one of my best friends.

19.What shoe size are you?
About an 8 or a 9.

20.Do you REALLY have a Myspace account?
No. I don’t actually have a Myspace.

21.Do you dance?
Yes, I love dancing. I dance terribly but I do like to.

22.What shampoo do you use?
At the moment, I’m using Trésemmé. It’s good stuff.

23.If you could live in any other country, what would it be?
Probably the Carribbean or something like that. Chill out.

24.Do you like Harry Potter?
Yeah I do like the stories. I think it’s good. I do like [the films] but I think I’m getting a bit old for them now. They aimed at like kids a bit younger than me but I can still really appreciate them. (goes into random convo – Will starts questioning me!!)

25.Have you ever met any famous actors other than the ones you worked with?
I met Dawn French which was quite cool.[talking about Liam Neeson] yeah that was really cool. I did meet Liam Neeson. Nice guy. He is an Irish guy.

26.What’s your favourite scene in LWW?
The battle definitely. [to do and to watch]

27.What’s your weirdest fan experience so far?
I dunno, none of it’s really been that weird. I just feel really lucky that people are really nice to me and stuff about it. People do [run around yelling Narnia] which can get quite annoying. Well anyway it’s fun when they run around shouting “Narnia, Narnia” – that’s fine. When they start shouting “Narnia sucks” and derogatory towards Narnia, that’s when I do get upset.

28.Do you sing in the shower?
Yeah, always singing. Any type of water on me, I’m always singing.

29.Do you blow dry your hair or air dry it?
No neither. Just get a towel and whack it on. I should do [use a hairdryer] shouldn’t I? Or that’s probably a bit pouffy if I did that. They’ll just have to accept me for who I am.

30.What’s your favourite subject in school?
I quite like English literature. I have this one really good teacher. She’s really helpful and she has amazing lessons and stimulates my interest for it a little bit.

31.What’s your favourite book?
Probably this one called….I’ve forgotten. I haven’t read it in a while. But it is my favourite book. I quite like Life of Pi [starts discussing with his dad in the background about the book]

32.What’s your favourite chat-up line?
Definitely, “I’m in Narnia”, nah I’m joking. Definitely not, I’d never use that in all my life. I don’t really do chat up lines.

33.What other party tricks besides juggling can you do?
One hand handstands is my other good one. I can do all sorts of stuff and I can do Irish dancing when I get going.

34.How did you feel about your haircut in the last film and would you trust Adamson near it again?
NO! No I would never trust that guy near my hair ever again! It will never happen again. I literally…the first thing in the contract, I’m going to have a choice over my hair!

35.How tall are you?
I am 5”10 ½ ,very precise. Like 5”11.

36.What’s with the leather jacket you always wear?
My sister got it for me, it’s really comfortable and I think it’s cool.

37.Have you heard of the Willianites?
No. What is that? [I go into lengthy discussion of the Willianites and their origins and the autograph he gave to Izzy and Will asks me if I’m a Skandar or Will fan and insults Skandar BADLY – evil Will!]

38.Do you like 70s music and if so which song?
Urm Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkal, Bob Dylan, Supertramp, I like a bit of that. I do like 70s music, I think it’s cool.

39.Do you speak any foreign language?
No, not at all. Terribly. I’m worst certainly in German and stuff like that.

40.Are there any countries that you would like to visit that you haven’t already?
Yeah Germany actually. I’d just like to see it and explore the country.

41.Were you really showing off your electric razor in the make-up tent during filming?
I don’t have an electric razor. Skandar lied.

42.Do you still see any members of the cast?
Yeah as much as I can really. When I get down to London I can but Georgie lives in Yorkshire so she’s a bit…..

44.Is there any sort of role you would refuse to play?
Probably not really. If it was a good script and I liked it, why not?

45.Have you ever Googled yourself?
Yeah actually, just to try and get to those fans, those fansites. That’s probably why I do Google myself to get the fansites up. But I did see what people were saying about me and I was terrified.

46.What’s your general opinion on fangirls?
I like it, I think it’s really nice. I feel kinda honoured actually. Though I don’t know why anyone would want to be a fan of mine but it’s very nice of them and I do appreciate it very much.

47.Do you have any romantic interest in Anna Popplewell?
Uh no, we’re just siblings, I’m afraid, brother and sister, siblings.

48.What’s your favourite TV show?
Quite like The Office but that’s not on anymore. I love The Simpsons. And I really like this show called 24. It’s really really good.

49.Do you play any instruments?
No, I’m afraid not.

50.What’s your favourite colour?
Blue

51.What is your middle name?
Peter. My dad’s called Peter, that’s why. My name’s not Thomas or Robert.

52.Where do you shop?
Dunno really. Kinda like vintage stores and Topshop sometimes if I can, HMV, do a bit of H&M shopping, all those kind of places.

53.What’s the best thing about the USA?
It’s cheaper out there isn’t it? It’s like almost half.

54.What’s your favourite brand of tea and how much sugar do you put in it?
Only half a teaspoon and usually Twinings, well I don’t know actually, Tescos, Lapsang su shong is what we have in the house.

55.What did you do for your birthday?
Oh I’m going to have some friends over this evening (Saturday) and I had a little family thing which was nice.

56.Do you have a cousin called Molly?
No. [Starts talking to parent about tennis]

57.How did your friends treat you when you came back from filming?
Oh totally differently. Yeah, they really hated me, they were really horrible to me, yeah they basically just turned on me. They were fine, they were actually really nice.

58.Do you have a girlfriend still?
I’m afraid I’m not allowed to answer that question, I’m under contract from Mickey Mouse. Yes that’s what he said.

59.What’s your favourite food?
Don’t really have a favourite food. I quite like cereal, Crunchy Nut Cornflakes are my favourite I think.

60.What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?
Hundreds of things I done, millions in fact. There was this really nice woman on the film but she’s quite large and I just said to her “Ahh you’re just like a great big fat cuddly bear” and hugged her. That was quite embarrassing. It wasn’t very good of me. I don’t think she actually knew or paid attention so just turned a blind eye.

61.Have you ever broken any bones?
No, touch wood.

62.What was the last film you saw?
I was watching a bit of Cruel Intentions last night, a bit of Brokeback Mountain last night.

63.Are you getting used to being a heart-throb?
I don’t feel like a heart-throb. I don’t really know how to get used to it. It’s all quite bizarre.

64.Would you consider yourself outgoing like Skandar?
I think I am quite outgoing but I don’t think I’m as outgoing as Skandar in the way that I kinda think a little bit more before I speak.

65.Describe yourself in 3 words.
Charismatic, disorganised, sort of like light hearted, I just take things easily. Easy going.

66. Did you really have a crush on the producer’s niece?
I’m sorry I’m not allowed to answer that question either. Who told you that? Skandar? Yes it was, he’s a little rat. I hate that kid.

67.Do you read and answer ALL of your fan mail or just some of it?
I try to answer all of it but it’s really difficult, it takes me for ever. Cause as you probably know I’ve got exams coming up soon.

And there you have it guys. Another fine interview with another major cast member. This one was really fun.

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Our very own moderator ~Rogue~ arranged an interview with Skandar Keynes, the actor that played the role of Edmund Pevensie in the latest version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He is currently also signed to pick this role back up, when Prince Caspian starts filming toward the end of this year.

1.What is the significance of the necklace you always wear?

Oh that! Tilda Swinton gave me that in New Zealand and it’s a greenstone and it’s got like engravings on it which means strength and overcoming life’s difficulties and challenges. Oh and you can’t buy yourself one, you have to get someone else to get you one so Tilda gave it to me.

2.What’s your favourite band?

Urm Queen, Outkast, lots of soundtracks, I really love soundtracks oh and Red Hot Chili Peppers

3.What’s your favourite colour?

Favourite colour? Urm sometimes blue, yeah sometimes blue, yeah mainly blue!

4.Why were you wearing that purple glove at the Tokyo press conference?

Ah! That glove. (dratted inaudiable bit here – something about chums is all I got). Yeah that conference was the most nerve racking thing I’ve ever done. IF you stand in front of 7,000 people it’s not as bad as that one because there were so many people flashing their cameras and I was like Ahh crap! So yeah….

5.Have you ever met a fangirl and had a personal conversation with her?

Well urm yeh. The last time I spoke to some was like these 3 girls around London. They come and talk to me and I’m always like Ahh and they come over to me and they’re like really cool. And urm yeah they come to my house a lot which is sometimes very odd but yeh, I have conversations with them.

6.Would you like to be an only child or do you prefer to have siblings like you did in Narnia and have in real life?

I prefer siblings….sister..and when you’re like adults and there’s like someone to have other than just being by yourself. And it was quite cool on the set to have like everyone there.

7.When did you get your braces on? And what colours do you usually wear?

Urm well I got my braces on about a year ago on Wednesday and I may be getting them off on Wednesday. I can’t wait. At first I tried colours and then I just didn’t because they attract more attention to your braces. Grey is cool.

8.What did you have written on your hand at the Empire Awards on last Monday?

Urm, hang on I think I’ve still got it on my hand. Urm they’re notes, saying I have Mufti Day and doodling. I’ve actually got my name graffitied on my arm!

9.How many pairs of Converse do you own?

I had the originals, they were my black ones and then they got too old so I spray painted them blue. So I bought another pair and then I’ve got the red pair and then I’ve got these Converse trainers which are kinda like fake Converse and at the moment they’re replacing my normal games kit cos I lost my actual trainers. I always wear the red like never! I’ve worn them twice.

10.What kind of soap do you use?

Soap? I’m just going to have a look. Body shop, my sisters telling me! That’s the bar of soap you find on my sink. I use soap but I’m not like expert on soap. Sorry

11.What’s your favourite type of cheese?

Oo cheese! It’s cool. I like blue cheese, Brie, urm I like cheddar, stilton, yeah Stilton’s good. Oh and with everyone’s name after it you say cheese. So it’s like Nick Cheese and Gordan Cheese and everyone…

12.Do you think Blue M&Ms taste better than the others?

I’m really big on Smarties and Orange smarties they taste the best.

13.When you start shaving, will you use an electric razor or a regular one?

Urm, I actually tried shaving once and used just like a normal razor blade and cut off half my lip and damaged all my skin and it hurt for like 5 days because I didn’t use shaving cream or anything. Won’t be trying that again but I don’t know. Will uses an electric razor, he was like showing off with it in the make-up tent.

14.Boxers or Briefs?

Urm Boxers.

15.What do you think about at 1.20am?

If I’m at a sleepover, I’m probably calculating how much sleep I’m going to have or just thinking things generally, boring things.

16.Do you have any pets?

Yes, I have two cats, kittens, they’re like a year old and ones called Puss and one’s called Boots.

17.What shampoo do you use?

Oh I don’t know what it’s called. It’s like this yellow orangey one. And it’s just there, in the cupboard. Oh here we go, Citrus Shine.

18.Do you use Lynx or anything like that? (actual question, what do you smell like……..)

I did have a bottle but it’s so bad because all of my friends come round and start spraying it all in my room and then I get a lecture and yeah so it always get used up but yeah I have a Lynx thingy.

19.Do you have a middle name?

Yes, can’t remember which way it goes round. Ok it’s Skandar Amin Casper Keynes.

20.Does Anna have Myspace?

Urm I don’t know. I used to have one but I couldn’t get people to leave me alone so I stopped.

21.How do you deal with all the crazy fan girls you have? (from Thomas)

Some else does it not me. Sometimes they come to London and try and see me and my friends are like no it’s not him and sometimes they are like yeah it is him! And shouting.

22.Oh and the inevitable, do you have girlfriend/what’s you love life like?

Urm at this moment and like recently, non existent. But things could change you know but I just like ended something.

23.Why do you hate hugs?

I don’t hate hugs! It’s because Will, when he hugs you, tries to suffocate you. He starts squeezing so hard and it’s like OMG. And Anna, she’s like dead patronising, it’s like urgh. And then Georgie is like ah give me a hug. And it’s like OK! And with Andrew all of his long hair sort of gets in the way.

24.Is it true you sleep with a teddy bear?

No! I don’t have any sort of stuff animals in my room. I have some cool stuff but not animals.

25.What’s your favourite TV show?

Family Guy. Yeah it’s amazing. I have all the series on DVD and they’re making a fourth. Yeah Family Guy and Scrubs. Me and my friends are always quoting Scrubs!

26.Where would be your ideal place to live?

Some really cool place in the Pacific Ocean or the South of France or Spain. Somewhere hot and by a beach. The thing about England is it’s always rainy and cold.

27.Who is your celebrity crush?

Urm, Jessica Alba is pretty cool. I dunno. I don’t obsess about celebrities like some of my friends do.

28.Do you have a religion and if so what is it?

I am an Athiest. I know the films really Christian and everything but it doesn’t really affect me. Oh and you know I’m related to Charles Darwin.

29.What’s your favourite meal?

Nandos! Nandos is like amazing. And Chinese. And then you’ve got pizza! Urm I’m a fan of Indian food but not like an amazingly big fan. Oh and last one fish and chips.

30.Can you give us some prank ideas?

Attacking people from behind when they’re not expecting it! Every time I go to a friends house and if they haven’t realized I was coming, I walk up behind them and it’s all silent and then they will actually jump a mile. Really. They freak out.
Oh and have as much fun as you can in Art with paint. That’s my bit of advice. Just don’t go spreading it on other people’s work. That never really works out too well. It’s fun to chuck it on each other.

31.How tall are you?

I am 5”5 ½, 5”6!

32.Have you worn this T-shirt? everything that she said really in blue

Oh T-shirt woman! What does it mean?! It has something written on it but it’s really confusing I have no idea what it’s on about. Yeah I’ve got and I’ve worn cos you need a white t-shirt.

33. Have you ever been to Finland?

URm no. Sorry. I’ve never been to Finland.

34. Are you going to Memphis next week?

Am I? I should probably check that. I may be now! Don’t think so but it may be a satellite one.

——-
And there you have it. Pretty interesting interview, if only about surface things. Maybe next time, there will be more stories from the set of the movie or something.

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Last night, I was given the opportunity to interview Academy Award winner Howard Berger. He and Tami Lane took home the award for Best Achievement in Make-up for the Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He was the head of the Make-up department, and responsible for prosthetic design and application on the film. I’d like to take this opportunity to formally congratulate him on that award. It really is something, to be recognized by your peers, like that.

It was a pleasure to finally speak with him after all of these years following what they were doing with the film. I just did a little bit more research and found out that they did a lot of the special effects on The X-Files, as well as make-up and effects for the Spy Kids films, as well as many sci-fi and horror films from the past twenty or so years. With that amount of history and skill, it is no wonder that they were selected to do the same for Narnia. (Take a look at their long list of movies that they’ve had a hand in here at IMDb.)

I decided before the interview that I wanted it to be an a-typical interview, so I wrote down some questions that I’ve wanted to know about myself. Once we got going, however, it turned into a great discussion, with a lot of laughter. I wish I had the audio to share with you, but sadly, all I did was take notes on the conversation. Now, I’m going to do my best to relate to you what we talked about. It won’t be word for word, but you’ll get the idea.

The first thing I asked him, was if he had been to this website, to which he said that he has it bookmarked. I am honored and humbled. That wasn’t the first question that I had written, however. The first official question came to mind while I was watching the special features on the DVD.

“What happened if you were in a costume, and you had to use the bathroom?”

Howard Berger immediately responded with a funny story from the first day of the shoot. They had all of these Minotaurs, great big guys in these huge Minotaur costumes, and suddenly a great big minotaur came running at him. Understand, this guy is about 6 and a half feet tall, and tells him that he has to urinate, bad. Mr. Berger asks his assistant if they had put zippers in the front of the costumes for that, and it was a moment of revelation, as they realized that they hadn’t. They had completely overlooked that aspect of the costume. So they took a pair of scissors and, very carefully, cut the front of this guy’s costume so that he could urinate. After that, they took all of the costumes and put zippers in. They had about one hundred fifty huge guys in costumes that were very respectful of the costumes that they had been given. If they had to urinate, they’d remove their gloves and pin them to the costume, and then they’d be able to unzip themselves, and I gotta tell you, “It was quite a sight seeing ten minotaurs lined up, urinating, with their backs to you.” If they had to do anything else, they’d remove the costume.

That’s not all, though, with the costumes being as hot as they were, there was another problem. One that was a near disaster, during the filming of the Stone Table. One of the minotaurs, played by a really large blond haired guy, was wavering on his feet. Before the shoot, Mr. Berger looked at him, and he was sweating a lot and kind of pale, and he was thinking “that guy is gonna go.” Suddenly, the guy’s legs tighten up, and he starts to waver, and Mr. Berger shouts: “Get that guy’s [minotaur] head off!” And just as soon as they removed the minotaur mask, he vomited. It would not have been fun, if the guy had vomited inside of the mechanical minotaur mask.

“Did you have a cameo in the film?”

“Oh, you know what, I almost did. I was going to play a gorilla.” Mr. Berger was all set for one day during the shoot to play a gorilla, but after he was in the suit, he thought, “you know what, I’m too old for this,” and decided not to do it. To which, I must say, next film, go for it. Have fun with it, you’re never too old to be a child again, if only for a little while.

Next thing he started to tell me, was they had a plan to create a huge costume, one that was to be large and green, to use as a prank on the director, but they were really focused on what they were doing and just didn’t have time.

It was the next question on my list, if they had pulled any pranks during the filming. He said that while their weren’t any pranks in general, it was a very laid back set, and they joked like a huge family. They were really a giant seven hundred member family on the set of this movie, and everyone was really nice to each other, and just a joy to be around for so long. I can only imagine what it would be like to be a part of a movie like this, and to have everyone just get along so well, that it’s like hanging out with your best friends from dawn until, well, after dark.

He didn’t rule out the possibility of pulling that prank sometime during the filming of the next one, though. A particularly large green ogre mixed in with an army or appearing where Aslan would be. Classic.

“What was your favorite creature to work on?”

There were two answers to this question, because he said they separated the costuming into two groups, the good guys and the bad guys.

When it comes to the good guys, Mr. Tumnus was his favorite to work on. The character was great and they couldn’t have chosen a better actor to play him. Any other actor might not have been able to pull it off as well as James McAvoy. He was so fun to work with, that it made it easy to work with him for the duration of the shoot. They’d put the make-up on him for a few hours in the morning, and at night, they’d spend a few hours removing it, and in eight hours, be putting it back on him again. Plus, he was so cool about it. Because he did not complain about it, a lot of the pressure and the hardship was gone, and they could just work on the costume and have fun, and it made things go a whole lot smoother. He’s also got some great outtakes that are really hilarious.

When the movie was in post production, Andrew Adamson would come up to Howard Berger and say “Why don’t you come in and see what we’re doing?” and he’d reply that he wanted the first time he saw it to be when it was finished, he didn’t want any of the magic gone when he saw the final product. When he finally saw it, he was sitting in the theater with his kids, and he had not seen Mr. Tumnus yet, all that he had seen was James McAvoy in the green tights. When Mr. Tumnus first walked out, he let out a very loud gasp, and his kids turned to him and shushed him. He was in awe of what he was seeing. Seeing Mr. Tumnus for the first time.

As for the bad guys, General Otmin was his favorite. General Otmin was played by Shane Rangi, who was terrific in the role. He’d use Shane in anything. General Otmin was so cool, though. You’re creating a mythological beast, a minotaur, and bringing it to life, and Shane Rangi didn’t complain, he just went with everything and had fun doing it. You can really tell how much fun he had with the character when you watch the DVD. I suggested that there is a Centaur in Prince Caspian (Glenstorm) and that Shane could play the opposing role in the next one. I’ve also spoken with Shane and he’s a very cool guy and I hope that he does continue to do the Narnia films in one way or another. Howard Berger said that he’d work with Shane Rangi any time.

“What’s next for KNB Creature Shop?”

They’re working on a movie called “Grind House,” which is a couple of horror movies by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, another movie called “Prime Evil,” which he notes is “not for kids.” They’re also working on director Tony Scott’s film “Deja Vu” and Showtime’s second season of “Masters of Horror.” They did the first season of that show, too, and now they’re working on season two. Prince Caspian is a long way down the line, though. Andrew Adamson is working hard on it, getting everything together, but it won’t be gearing up for some time now.

“I do a mean Gollum.”

I mentioned that if they ever needed anyone to do any character work for them, I do great impressions of Gollum and Donald Duck. (I can actually do a lot of characters like Kermit the Frog and Gonzo, and more.) He then related to me a story about his son, who can also do a great impression of Gollum. When Peter Jackson was doing “King Kong,” he was holding auditions for the part of a young tribal person, which in the film was a young girl. (In the film, she holds her hand out. If you’ve seen it, you know the one.) Anyway, Howard Berger’s son was nine at the time, and Peter Jackson told him that he should come down and have his son audition for the part. So he goes there, and after his son auditioned, he started running around doing his Gollum impression, and making everyone laugh. It was really quite something.

“The Movie is really something.”

We brought the conversation back around to the film itself, which I said is head and shoulders above the old BBC version, and I had grown up watching the original animated version. He remembered wondering who it would be that would compose the score for the film, and when he heard it would be Harry Gregson-Williams, thought it was an interesting choice. He listened to the music before he saw the movie, and would wonder what the music would be like in the movie, and really thought it was quite wonderful. It added to the emotion of the movie in a way that wouldn’t have been possible without the music. The last five years have been really great for fantasy films.

“Thank you for taking the time to do this interview!”

So there you have it. We wrapped up the conversation in talking about how people are finally realizing that you’re never too old for a good fantasy story, and that is a very good thing. It’s something that J.M. Barrie knew when he was writing the play “Peter Pan,” and that J.R.R. Tolkien knew when he wrote his novel “The Lord of the Rings.” C.S. Lewis knew it, and fostered that in his Children’s series “The Chronicles of Narnia,” and in writing his science fiction epic “Space Trilogy.” I hope that you enjoyed reading this interview, even though it is just a retelling of the stories that he told me.

[Read our Interview with Shane Rangi]
[Check out information about the DVD and pre-order it! (Our review is coming very soon)]

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Patrick Kake has taken the time to answer some of our questions about the Chronicles of Narnia. He plays the role of General Oreius, the Centaur that leads Aslan’s army. He was also the stunt double of Kevin Sorbo in Hercules.

NarniaFans.com: Have you read the Chronicles, and if so, when did you first read them and what did you think?

Patrick Kake: Yes, I have read six of the Chronicles of Narnia so far and will probably read the last book “The Last Battle” on the plane to the London world premiere. I first read “The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe” after I landed the role of Oreius. I had always known about “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” but I was always more into Marvel action hero comics and wild life books. I think the two books of the six I have read so far that stand out for me are “The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe” and “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” I would love to see “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” made into a film I could see it being a visually stunning movie.

NarniaFans.com: What are your memories of that?

Patrick Kake: Having read these books only 15 months ago my memories of the books are obviously very clear. The Chronicles of Narnia books by C.S. Lewis are very cleverly written. I loved the way he would come into the story like a storyteller that was surrounded by a group of seated children transfixed by his every word, and would briefly explain how something would sound-like or taste-like and then climb back into the character and continue with the story. Though these books were written 50 years ago, I think they still continue to take people who read them on an amazing mythical journey. I’m looking forward to reading “The Last Battle.”

NarniaFans.com: How did you feel when you learned you’d gotten the part of General Oreius?

Patrick Kake: Landing the role of Oreius was just amazing, and it was a nervous wait I can tell you. My agent “Odd management” would give me updates every couple of days sayin “Patrick you’re being put on the short list,” then it would be “It’s down to 5 of you,” then it would be “It’s down to you and another guy from the UK” and then, “Patrick you have been given the role of Oreius!” YEE HAA!!! For any actor to have an opportunity to be part of such a huge film doesn’t present itself every day, and as a child I had always dream’t of being an action hero on the big screen, so to be honest it was too a pretty emotional experience. To have an action figure made out of your character is also pretty cool. (”Some boys never grow up!”)

NarniaFans.com: What experiences did you have on the set and what will you remember most?

Patrick Kake: The time in the Southern Alps of Flock Hill was mind blowing. First there was the heart stopping scenery of the snow capped mountains that would, on some mornings, be coated in a violet/red sunrise as we travelled to work. My first sight of Base Camp Flock Hill was a sight to behold. It looked like a small town that was made of huge tents placed in the middle of a wilderness. There were vehicles of all shapes and sizes coming and going, film equipment for Africa, 5 helicopters ready for action and horse wranglers with a stable of horses and people everywhere. On any one day there would be 600 hundred people for breakfast, and it was always a carnival type atmosphere with extras singing while playing guitars and bongo drums.

One particular day on set, while we were waiting for the snow to clear, we had a doubles Foo’s ball competition. It was funny to see William and Skandar who had teamed up together, taking on the likes of the gaint ogres and easily beating them within about 2 minutes. Needless to say William and Skandar sweeped all comers to be crowned doubles foo’s ball champions.

One nice moment was after we had finished a scene; Georgie [Lucy] walked up to me and said, “Excuse me Patrick could I get a shoot of you and I comparing sword sizes please?” Very sweet. It turns out that the set photographer had taken the same shoot and passed it onto Perry Moore who put it in his movie companion book. That would have to be my favourite photo of all.

With 3 units shooting film at the same time it always exciting. Sometimes I would be standing on top of a hill beside William with a helicoptor shooting over head then it was off to another unit to shoot battle scene footage with Shane Rangi and then finish the day in the green scene theatre shooting centaur galloping scenes.

Other memoriable moments happened off set. There were birthdays, a wedding, Tilda’s famous barbeques, even a traditional Pacific Island feast cooked using white hot stones prepared by Siaosi Fonua who was one of the stuntman. One afternoon Shane Rangi and I were released early from work so we explored an anicent lime stone cave that was situated a couple of km’s down the road from Flockhill Base Camp. It had freezing water gushing through, which over thousands of years had created an interior that looked like the limestone had melted and then solidified and in some places it was 30ft high. It took us about 25 mins to get through to the other side. It was very cool.

All great memories I will never forget.

NarniaFans.com’s glamel: When are you planning to get married?

Patrick Kake: I’m already married.

NarniaFans.com’s glamel: What type of girls do you like?

Patrick Kake: There is one particular girl I like, and that would be my wife.

NarniaFans.com’s glamel: How do you maintain your body?

Patrick Kake: I train 4 to 5 times a week and do alot of weight training, swissball workouts, cycling and kick boxing.

NarniaFans.com’s glamel: How’s the feeling of working with Kevin Sorbo’s double in Hercules?

Patrick Kake: Working as the Hercules double was awesome. It allowed me to learn a huge amount about the film industry not only from a practical perspective but also a theoretical perspective. I actually caught up with Kevin here in New Zealand about 3 months ago. He and his family are very well.

NarniaFans.com’s Rosymole: If you had to combine your real body with an animal, would you choose a horse?

Patrick Kake: Yes, I would choose a horse. I’ve always loved horses. They are such majestic animals.

Thanks again, Patrick Kake, for doing this interview!
[Our Patrick Kake page here at NarniaFans.com]
[Our General Oreius page]
[See also our Exclusive Interview with Shane Rangi, General Otmin]

Shane Rangi, Patrick Kake and Kiran Shah's production house

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If you’re a fan of StarGate SG-1, be sure to watch it, this Monday, November 28th at 9/8C on the SciFi Channel. They have been given an exclusive clip to show, from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. If you catch it, please let us know!

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Shane ‘Sw1′ Rangi has taken the time to answer some of our questions about the Chronicles of Narnia. He plays the role of General Otmin, the Minotaur that leads the White Witch’s army. He also played the role of the Witch King of Angmar in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, as well as many other roles in those films.

NarniaFans.com: Have you read the Chronicles, and if so, when did you first read them?

Shane Rangi: I have to be honest straight off the bat with this one…. “I’m not the reading type.” I’m more of a magazine pictures man. You know the one… Skip through a mag until you see a picture that catches your eye. Read the little caption underneath it and then stare at the picture in a dreamy state making up my own story. But! The one and only book that I have read word for word without skipping any pages was The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe!!
I was 9 years old, living with my Grandparents in the wop wops (out in the sticks or on a farm miles away from civilization surrounded by bush) going to a school with 25 students.

NarniaFans.com: What are your memories of that?

Shane Rangi: I have a couple of memories that are still close to me as if it was only yesterday. The first was the awe and amazement of Narnia. That magical feeling it gave me whenever I picked it up to read. So real that I could feel the cold chill in the air on my skin.

The Sorrow I felt when Aslan sacrificed himself at the stone table.

The disappointment. Yes. Disappointment I suffered for weeks, actually months, after I had finished the book. Not because I had finished the book and totally used up my reading quota for my lifetime but because every time I went to my Grandmothers huge 5m long by 2m deep wardrobe and crawled through all of her coats and dresses hoping this time I would crawl through to Narnia. Instead I would always crawl into the wall. Every time!!

Oh.. and I have to say I love Turkish Delight ) Well the NZ version. Chocolate Covered!! Mmmmm Chocolate.

NarniaFans.com: How did you feel when you learned you’d gotten the part of General Otmin?

Shane Rangi: You know, my Agent ( Gail Cowan ;o) ) was more excited than I was!! She sent me through this great email saying Congratulations you are the first Kiwi cast in LWW!! Then phoned me up to say how proud she was of me. I must admit that I had a bit of a smile and did a little dance but I make it a point not to get excited or believe that it’s true until I’m standing on set. That way when they say ‘Actually Shane… we’ve decided to go with someone else’ it doesn’t hurt as bad.

But this time it hit me when I was on the plane flying up to Auckland for my first costume fitting (I didn’t know it at the time but it was also to be a full show and tell for Andrew and the producers ). I was sitting in my seat, 20 min out of Auckland at an Altitude of about 15000 ft (give or take) looking out my window. When I felt myself being nine years out lying on the mat in our classroom at reading time. Feeling the suns rays warming through my woollen jersey and smelling the scent of spring in the air.

I did get excited then!! Man never in a million years would I have thought I was going to be in a film of the only book I have ever read!!

NarniaFans.com: Does Otmin speak in the film and did you supply his voice, if he does?

Shane Rangi: Yes, Otmin does speak and I did do some ADR in Auckland of the lines I did on set. So hopefully when I go and see the film under all the effects it will be my voice. I haven’t heard other wise )

NarniaFans.com: What experiences did you have on the set and what will you remember most?

Shane Rangi: Man, thats a toughy. I had soooo many!! My very first day on set was pretty special though. For one I was on set. Wahoo… I made it. It’s real and they didn’t go with anyone else!! Then I got to work with Tilda. I hadn’t even met her and here I was standing beside her about to do a scene with her. I was soooo nervous it wasn’t funny. We were very professional and serious those first three scenes, actually I was just really scared. I was lucky I had Kiran (Who I knew from LOTR) in the scene so I had someone to talk to. Then Tilda and I did this scene between The White Witch and Otmin that I hope makes the behind the scenes dvd. That day to me proved that not only was she a fantastic actress but an amazing person.

First Day on the Set

Being one of only four Kiwi’s cast in the Film. Patrick Kake (Orieus, Aslans Head Centaur), Judy McIntosh (The Pevensie’s Mother) and Elizabeth Hawthorne (Mrs.Macready). Ooops Five. Mark Wells (Adult King Edmund) was cast at the end.

Um… Stone Table at night ‘What a sight’

Waking up on a November summer’s morning in Castle Hill to Snow!!

Spending a hard day on the battle field with my nemesis Patrick Kake ( Oreius ) then going home and having dinner with him ( we were house mates along with Kiran).

Working with an amazing cast. Georgie, Anna, Skandar, Will, James, Kiran, Patrick, Tilda and have the honor to have their friendship.

Working with Andrew.

Bet you wish you never asked that question huh. Man I have so many I could just go on and on, but I suppose the one I will remember the most though is being cast in my childhood dream Book. Even if I didn’t get to crawl through the wardrobe into Narnia )

NarniaFans.com: My friend Jaci would like to know what your favorite breakfast cereal is. She thinks you look like a Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes man.

Shane Rangi: Hahahaha. Unfortunately we didn’t start getting Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes here in New Zealand until about 10 years ago and there are only a couple of places that you can get them from. I would have to say in winter, Hot Porridge with milk and brown sugar. And in Summer, Kellogg’s Just Right.

Shane Rangi, Patrick Kake and Kiran Shah's production house

Our Shane Rangi page here at NarniaFans.com
Our General Otmin page

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We’ve got an interview with Kevin Eslinger, Master Replicas’ Product Designer for the Disney division. He created the Chronicles of Narnia replicas, found here at NarniaFans.com.

NarniaFans.com: How did you land a job like this and what excited you about this career?

I was actually happily working at McFarlane Toys when I found out about the job at Master Replicas. At first I did not take the interview that serious but as soon as I visited the Walnut Creek office I knew Master Replicas was the place I wanted to work next. I only hoped they wanted me as well. I was actually at Toronto Film Festival (my brother is a director and the world premier of his first movie was showing) when the VP of Product Development called me up with the job offer.

As for what excites me about this career. I have always been into toys. Most of my youth was consumed with Action Figures and Comic Books. My first job was at Toy R Us. In college I worked for Gentle Giant. After college worked as a freelance illustrator and then for McFarlane Toys.

As for how. Well it only takes an HB Pencil, some Strathmore Paper 12″x18″, an Illustration Major from Art Center College of Design, and a stinkload of dumb luck.

NF: How did you get involved in making these pieces for Narnia?

At the time I only worked for the Disney Division of Master Replicas. Narnia is Disney’s major movie release for this Christmas. It kind of fell into my lap.

NF: Were you given actual film props to base these on?

I worked directly with Weta to obtain props from the movie. It was cool because they were actually filming during the time I was ordering the props. So the props I got came directly from the same studio in New Zealand where they were making the props for the movie. We ordered a Peter’s Sword and White Witch’s Wand. Sadly I believe the White Witch Wand got destroyed in China in order to make the molds for our production.

NF: Can you give us any information on how you went about creating these replicas for anyone aspiring to get into this field themselves?

It is actually pretty simple once you have the right people and vendors in place. However, a magician never gives away his secrets.

What I will say that someone with a good Product Design or Illustration Major could walk into Master Replicas and take over my job.

NF: Which piece was the most difficult to make? -Question from Spook

Oddly enough, the Peter’s Sword Letter Opener was the most difficult Narnia product to make. The issue of scaling is always difficult when it comes to replicas.

NF: How long did it take to make them? -Question from Aslan the Wise One

I started the project in November of 2004. By February 2005 I had the props from Weta just in time for Toy Fair. The first samples from the overseas vendors came back in May-June. I just came back from India and China last week to see the product leave the factories.

NF: Will there be any more replicas from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe released as time goes on?

Where is the fun in telling you that? I will say there are so many cool props that we could do. There are some characters in the White Witch’s Army that have amazing body armor, shields, and swords.

NF: Will there be any full size versions of the weapons?

We are currently making full size weapons used by the main good character and the main evil character; Peter and the White Witch. The Peter’s Sword Prop Replicas is an actual high carbon steel sword. The White Witch Wand is a mixture of clear resin to simulate ice with a metal handle.

NF: Will you be involved if there are sequels? -Question from Princess Rosario

Master Replicas is going to be long term partners with Disney. If there are more Narnia movies (BTW Disney is being very tight lipped about sequels) you can be certain that Master Replicas will be involved. I will certainly want to be involved!

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