When a cherished book becomes a movie, the book fans usually cringe. Yet, three years ago, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe burst onto the screen, satisfying even the most ardent fan of C.S. Lewis’ literary classic.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, comes to the screen this month. Thus, the question in the minds of Lewis fans is, “Can they give us a film that’s faithful to the book again?”
Movieguide® recently chatted with Douglas Gresham. In his eloquent and affable manner, he gave us insight into the upcoming movie.
Considering himself to have a “moral, sacred duty to protect the essential messages of the books,” Gresham has worked hand in hand with director Andrew Adamson to make sure that the spirit of the book will make its way onto the screen. Gresham says that during production of the first movie, he had a steep learning curve due to his ignorance of the filmmaking process. Gresham credits Adamson with being the “world’s best teacher.” This time around, the learning curve has not been as steep for Gresham, but he said they found Prince Caspian presented unique challenges not found in the previous book and movie.
For one thing, the book’s plot is darker, taking place when an evil tyrant rules the land at a time of civil war. The movie then needs to reflect that more somber era in the history of Narnia. The other challenge is the simplicity of the book’s plot.
In Gresham’s words, “The four kids arrive 1,300 years later. Things are different. They rescue a dwarf named Trumpkin, and then, while sitting around the fire, Trumpkin tells them about Prince Caspian. Now, that doesn’t make for a great movie.”
To fully tell the story, more action sequences have been added to make the movie more epic in nature. Gresham believes that this makes Prince Caspian more exciting than the first movie.
Even with these scene changes and additions, he asserts, “The underlying message is what Jack (C.S. Lewis) put in there. Faith, truth, justice, courtesy, chivalry, honor, personal commitment.”
Gresham believes that Lewis most likely would not have worried about minor or even major changes as long as the movie stayed true to the message and spirit of the book.
Gresham’s journey with Hollywood has actually been a very long road. Some of the biggest names in filmmaking have been interested in and even developed scripts for The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. However, in the “wisdom” of Hollywood, changes were made which gutted the spirit of the book, and Gresham kept those scripts from going forward.
Not until Walden Media and Andrew Adamson become involved did Gresham have the confidence that the books would make a faithful transition to the screen. Gresham also sees in hindsight a side benefit of waiting. For only now with sophisticated computer animation can the regal lion Aslan really come to life.
So, if Lewis himself were able to sit next to Gresham at the premiere of Prince Caspian, would Lewis like it?
Gresham is confident that he would.
He further says that Lewis saw the potential of the new, emerging technology of cinema and worried about the potential immoral use of the medium.
Gresham says that both Lewis and he believe that “the enemy of mankind has taken over the cinema. Jack (Lewis) would be overjoyed about taking it back.”
And what of the future? After Prince Caspian, what’s next?
Gresham reports that pre-production has begun on the next book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which also features the character of Prince Caspian. For the book which follows that, The Silver Chair, Gresham is in “initial talks” about it coming to the screen. He sees the day when all the movies will finally make their way to film.
Books such as “The Horse and His Boy” which feature grown-up Pevensie kids will have to wait for the actors to become the right age. The book that technically predates the events of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (in Narnia time anyway) is “The Magician’s Nephew.” Aficionados have often wondered if that book will become a movie. Giving hope to diehard Narnia fans, Gresham considers that book to be his “arch ambition.”
Gresham encourages Movieguide® readers to see the movie. “Take your friends, take your family and even take your enemies!” he prompted.
He is relying on the Movieguide® community to get out the message of the movie, he said. He further added a word for all Movieguide® readers, viewers and listeners, “You’re my kind of people.”
Thank you for those kind words, Mr. Gresham.
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As a complement to the movie, Dr. Ted Baehr has written “Narnia Beckons” available at www.movieguide.org or by calling 1-800-577-6684. It is a fascinating glimpse of the life and ideas of the man behind the beloved children’s book series. While many books have been written to coincide with the movie’s release, “Narnia Beckons” has been featured by a number of reviewers who recognize the book as the cream of the Narnia-commentary crop. Jean Peerenboom of the Green Bay Press-Gazette writes, “If you choose only one of these books, (“Narnia Beckons”) would be the one to go with.”
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Jeff Holder is an editor for MOVIEGUIDE®.
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