Narnia Fans » Regina Spektor

NarniaFans Mailbag #44: Filming Order, Regina Spektor and Invisible Army

Paul Martin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:35:44 +0000

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!

Q: Currently, the Chronicles of Narnia are being filmed in the order that corresponds to their publication order. However, Douglas Gresham has expressed interest in filming “The Magician’s Nephew” before “The Horse and His Boy“, instead of vice-versa. What is your opinion on this?

-Skulblaka_Shur’tugal

Paul: This is a great question! I am of the opinion that, when you first read the Chronicles, you always read them in the original publication order. As far as the filming goes, however, wherever they end up shooting The Horse and His Boy, it is the one story that doesn’t really seem to matter when they shoot it. It takes place during the reign of the Pevensie children in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They could easily shoot it prior to The Magician’s Nephew, but shooting it after could afford them some story things that carry over, giving it more weight in the Narnia film series. This series is made up of books that all take place in the same world, but they are very different from one another in substance. The filmmakers are likely to, as we have seen, invent things that provide more continuity for the sake of the audience. If they did, in fact, shoot them in that order, it would give them an opportunity to introduce something in The Magician’s Nephew that has great weight in The Last Battle and, perhaps, have the Pevensie’s part in the story during The Horse and His Boy revolve around that particular thing, in some way. It would help to make that more of a trilogy, in some ways, and when the films would eventually be viewed in chronological order by super fans like us, we might notice some through lines to the overarching story of Narnia.

But who knows, this is all conjecture that I’m thinking about only seconds before I’m typing it. A stream of consciousness about Narnia filming, I suppose. It’s really quite intriguing to think about the possibilities.

Q: Hi! Somewhere I heard that The Call was nominated for an award. When will we find out if it won it – or do we already know??? Thanks.

-Dyanthius

Paul: I could not find information about this. Does anybody know if The Call by Regina Spektor was nominated for an award? I deserved to be. It was one of the best songs on the soundtrack, if not the best. If you know more information about this, please comment below!

Q: Hey, I was just wondering if you could give me a quick rundown or if you knew any links for a brief overview of what the Invisible Army is about? I’m doing extras work on it and I’d love to know what to expect in August.

-Dee

Paul: Wow, Dee! That’s fantastic that you’re doing some extras work on the film! It’s one of my dreams that you’re fulfilling. Best of luck to you on the film, and I hope that it goes well for you. If you would like to get a great look at what Invisible Army is all about, pick up the book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader or a copy of the audio book. I believe that the audio version is about 3 hours in length. The book itself is not that long and can be read fairly quickly. I will tell you, though: it’s an epic adventure on the high seas, with many locations and troubles along the way. I don’t want to say too much about it, though you can likely find plot synopses all over the web, and you can find chapter summaries here on NarniaFans.com if you look in the book section of the site.

And that’s it for this week’s mailbag! Be sure to send in your questions by using the contact form listed on the menu.

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Three Narnia Songs Featured on Compilation Album

Jonathon Svendsen — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:28:43 +0000

I was up at Barnes and Noble today, doing some writing and decided to take a stretch break and browse through the music and see if anything caught my fancy. Right in front on the Disney movie music section was a compilation album, Disney Box Office Hits. The CD features not one, not two but THREE songs from the Chronicles of Narnia films.

The songs included were “Can’t Take It In” by Imogene Heap from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and “The Call”by Regina Spektor and ” This is Home” by Switchfoot from Prince Caspian. Other artists featured include Jamie Cullum, Five For Fighting, Peter Gabriel, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, John Travolta and singer/songwriter legend, James Taylor.

As this is a pop-complaition album, it gears more towards adult co-pop music and features no highlights from some of the film scores. The only instrumental songs included on the album are techno remixes of the theme from The Incredibles, and “Jack’s Suite” from Pirates of the Caribbean.For fans of motion picture scores this may be one to pass on, especially if they already own the soundtracks for the Narnia films.

However, for adults looking for a quick CD to pop in the car on those car rides, especially parents with children, this may be one to consider as it can provide a nice respite from the usual mind numbingly vapid children’s music they are forced to endure. Best of all ,since it features songs from a good number or recent Disney films, that means there is something for every one to listen to. Provided of course you can stomach a trans-techno remix of a great music score, and tolerate one minuscule ( but well written) Miley Cyrus song to make it worth it.

The track list is below:

1: Ever,Ever After ( Enchanted)-Carrie Underwood

2:Down To Earth ( Wall-E)- Peter Gabriel

3: Real Gone ( Cars)- Sheryl Crow

4:Little Wonders ( Meet the Robinsons)- Rob Thomas

5: This Is Home( The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian)- Switchfoot

6: Breakaway ( Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagment)- Kelly Clarkson

7: Cant’ Take It In ( The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe)- Imogen Heap

8: I Thought I’d Lost YOu ( Bolt)- Miley Cyrus and John Travolta

9: Our Town (Cars)- James Taylor

10: All I Know ( Chicken Little)-Five For Fighting

11: The Call ( The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian)-Regina Spektor

12: Where is Your Heart At? (Meet the Robinsons)- Jamie Cullum

13:Le Festin ( Ratatouilli)-Camille

14: Jack’s Suite ( Pirates of the Carribbean)- Paul Okenfield.

15: Unkle Reconstruction ( UNKLE)-The Incredibles

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Regina Spektor’s The Call could win Oscar Nomination

Paul Martin — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:24:22 +0000

Regina Spektor "The Call"

Regina Spektor is among those eligible for a Best Original Song Oscar nomination. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, there are 49 songs from films in 2008 that are eligible.

“The Call” was the song that played at the end of the film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which sums up the feelings that the characters were going through at the end of the adventure quite well.

There is, however, pretty stiff competition in the field. Beyonce Knowles co-wrote the song “Once in a Lifetime” for Cadillac Records this year, and Miley Cyrus co-wrote “I Thought I Lost You” for Bolt. Peter Gabriel could also earn a nomination for “Down to Earth” from Wall-E, and Bruce Springsteen for his song “The Wrestler” which he wrote for a film of the same name.

Nominations will be announced on or around January 22, 2009. Let’s keep our hopes up for that possible nomination! Hopefully the Academy loves the song as much as we do!

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Regina Spektor talks about Prince Caspian

Paul Martin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:03:00 +0000

Regina Spektor is the songwriter whose music was heard over the final moments of Prince Caspian. I had the opportunity to meet her at the premiere, and she told me, then, what she wrote here. That she was shaking when the movie was ending. She wrote in her MySpace Blog about her experiences writing for Prince Caspian:

i had an amazing spring last spring. i got called up and asked if i wanted to see an unfinished Disney movie called “Narnia: Prince Caspian”. I said of course, i love movies. So me and my manager went to a movie theater all by ourselves, and were shown the movie by Monica (who ended up being my Disney fairy godmother, but i didn’t know it at the time) and it was incredible on all kinds of levels… actually some of its magic was from being unfinished- one minute there’s an animal, the next it’s just a pencil drawing… all the centaurs were just guys pacing around in funny pants… i loved everything about it, but then it was over, and i was supposed to have drinks with my very good friends. Who canceled on me. So i went home. And wrote a song for the movie, and i was sure no one would let it actually be in the movie. But they did. And 3 days later i was in London, at Abbey Road studios, listening to Harry Gregson Williams, the composer of the score, and very talented and lovely human, record an 80 person choir… and i was meeting Andrew Adamson the wonderful director, and all the amazing people who work on movies, and then going into Studio B, the one and only, and recording “The Call” into Beatles gear… in their room… with Strings and a horn and a harp… yes, i know. it sounds like my own Disney movie… but it was real, and it was awesome, and i still can’t believe it happened… at the premier i had to hold it together when i heard the song come on, for the next 15 minutes my knees were shaking… movies are intense… i’m so happy i had this experience…

Prince Caspian Original Soundtrack to be released May 13

Paul Martin — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:18:00 +0000

Walt Disney Records will release the original soundtrack for Walt Disney Pictures/Walden Media’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian on May 13, 2008. The recording features score written by award-winning composer Harry Gregson-Williams and songs performed by Switchfoot (”This Is Home”), Regina Spektor (”The Call”), Oren Lavie (”A Dance ‘Round The Memory Tree”), and Hanne Hukkelberg (”Lucy”).

In 1950, the scholar, critic and writer C.S. Lewis published The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of his seven-volume series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and established a modern legend. Adults and children alike fell in love with his stirring, action-packed adventure that was set in the middle of World War II bombing raids yet transported readers into an alternate and far more enchanted universe of mythological creatures waging an epic battle between good and evil.

Harry Gregson-Williams reunites with director Andrew Adamson for the 5th time after composing the scores for his Academy Award®-winning Shrek (co-composed with John Powell), the hit sequels Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, for which he collected Golden Globe and Grammy nominations for his score. He is one of Hollywood’s most sought after composers, working on a variety of high-profile projects, both animated and live-action.

Over the last several years, Gregson-Williams has composed such notable scores for Shrek the Third,Gone Baby Gone, Chicken Run, Man on Fire, Flushed Away, Domino, Spy Game, Déjà vu, Phone Booth, Veronica Guerin, Smilla’s Sense Of Snow, The Replacement Killers, Bridget Jones: The Age of Reason, Enemy of the State, Antz and Kingdom of Heaven, among others.

The multi-platinum selling rock band Switchfoot has written and recorded the original song “This Is Home,” which is heard in the body of the film and over the end title credits. They shot a video for the song with director Brandon Dickerson, who filmed their most recent video for “Awakening.”

“We are so honored to be a part of the Prince Caspian film with ‘This Is Home,’” says Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman. “The Narnia stories have a really special place in my brother Tim and my lives. Our dad used to read these to us at bedtime when we were boys. Our imaginations were shaped on these amazing novels.”

The characters of C.S. Lewis’ timeless fantasy come to life once again in this newest installment of the Chronicles of Narnia series, in which the Pevensie siblings are magically transported back from England to the world of Narnia, where a thrilling, perilous new adventure and an even greater test of their faith and courage awaits them.

“As [the film's director] Andrew Adamson and I began early discussions about the musical possibilities for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” composer Harry Gregson-Williams said, “it became clear that the movie could take a score with plenty of edge and bite to it this time around, supporting the fast moving action and adventure that quickly unfolds.”

One year after the incredible events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Kings and Queens of Narnia find themselves back in that faraway wondrous realm, only to discover that more than 1300 years have passed in Narnian time. During their absence, the Golden Age of Narnia has become extinct, Narnia has been conquered by the Telmarines and is now under the control of the evil King Miraz, who rules the land without mercy.

The fast forward 1300 years in the future allowed Gregson-Williams to re-address themes from the first film as well as creating new ones. Director Andrew Adamson described, “For Prince Caspian, Harry drew not only on the beloved themes of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but also developed original, sympathetic themes for Caspian and the Telmarines. Harry has threaded these themes with the same beauty and originality as he has woven all the notes that form his wonderful scores.”

The four Pevensie children will soon meet an intriguing new character: Narnia’s rightful heir to the throne, the young Prince Caspian, who has been forced into hiding as his uncle Miraz plots to kill him in order to place his own newborn son on the throne.

Gregson-Williams embraced the challenge of composing for these new characters. He described, “The early introduction of a fearful Prince Caspian fleeing for his life from the dangerous Lord Miraz gave me a wonderful opportunity to introduce this new and somewhat darker musical landscape right from the opening.”

Also drawing inspiration from C.S. Lewis was Switchfoot. “‘This Is Home’ was inspired by the book after re-reading it for the opportunity to write for the film,” continues the band’s frontman, Foreman. “I am always taken by [C. S.] Lewis’ ability to write about the bittersweet beauty in this world; this home we aren’t really made for but is the place we work out our humanity in the midst of our longing for our true home.”

Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media present The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in theaters on May 16, 2008. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Original Soundtrack will be in stores on May 13, 2008.

Prince Caspian Soundtrack Listing

Paul Martin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:13:00 +0000

Amazon.com has listed a possible track list for the Prince Caspian soundtrack. This is the first time that we’ve heard about artists such as Regina Spektor, Oren Lavie and Hanne Hukkelberg being on the soundtrack.

Of note is the lack of Lisbeth Scott’s name, which leads me to believe that she has not written an individual song for Narnia this time around, but is instead the featured vocalist on the score. Remember, she appeared on the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe score in the “Evacuating London” track.

1. The Call Performed by Regina Spektor
2. A Dance ‘Round the Memory Tree Performed by Oren Lavie
3. This Is Home Performed by Switchfoot
4. Lucy* Performed by Hanne Hukkelberg
5. Prince Caspian Flees Score
6. The Kings and Queens of Old Score
7. Journey to the How Score
8. Arrival at Aslan’s How Score
9. Raid on the Castle Score
10. Miraz Crowned Score
11. Sorcery and Sudden Vengeance Score
12. The Duel Score
13. The Armies Assemble Score
14. Battle at Aslan’s How Score
15. Return of the Lion Score
16. The Door in the Air Score

* Not Featured in Film

You can pre-order the soundtrack at Amazon.com!

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Narnia Fans » Regina Spektor

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