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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Q: When the list of eligible songs for the “Best Original Song” Academy Award was released, “The Call” was there but “This is Home” and the others weren’t. Can you explain this?

-Skulblaka_Shur’tugal

Paul: Good question.  I’m not sure the rules on this, and even the official site for the Oscars doesn’t have the rules for eligibility posted in this category.  There must have been a reason, but I just can’t find it.  Can anyone else?

Q: I want to say something about the most recent mailbag; Skulbaka had a question about Fox’s handling of Narnia, and mentioned that Eragon was a poor film compared to the book. While I haven’t read Eragon and haven’t seen the film, so I don’t know anything about it, I do know that Fox has handled STar Wars quite well (which I believe you mentioned). HOWEVER, Fox will not be responsible for what’s in the script, am I right? Michael Apted and the screenwriter(s) are responsible for what goes into the script; the studios (Walden and Fox) will handle the distribution, marketing and publicity.

I also wanted to ask a question: since Disney has bailed on the films, do you think there will be better publicity for Voyage of the Dawn treader, like there was for Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?

-Aravis Kenobi

Paul: Good additional points about the Dawn Treader script, and you are correct about that.  I think that there’s a good chance for better publicity than Prince Caspian had.  20th Century Fox wants to make this a franchise and they don’t want to do one Narnia only to see it fail.  Expect to see a lot in the way of publicity, this time around.

Q: Am I the only one who noticed the Narnia flag (rampant lion) on the opening shot of the Disney castle in the movie theater version of Prince Caspian? I was rather disappointed when it didn’t make the DVD.

Kelley

Paul: Now that you mention it, I sort of remember seeing it.  Anyone have verification on this?  I’m not sure I can find it.  It is interesting if it really isn’t on the DVD.  If I wasn’t watching the Ocean’s trilogy at the moment, I’d check the Blu-ray.

Q: Any idea on when we’ll hear casting announcements?
Do you think/know if TCF/Walden will market VDT to faith groups?

Mike

Paul: Casting announcements, if filming indeed starts in late July, some time this month.  Keep your eyes on NarniaFans.com for these!  I think that that Walden will market VDT to faith groups again, and hopefully with as much stress as they did LWW.  The biggest problem is that the rest of the Narnia films don’t have as public a symbolic reference to Christ.  Nor the name recognition.  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe could have been released under that name alone.  Calling it The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was pure marketing so that when future films in the series were released, people could see the name Narnia and remember the last film on the weight of that name alone.

And that’s it for this week’s mailbag. Keep sending us e-mails, and we’ll keep answering.  If you have any answers, feel free to comment below, or send us an e-mail and we’ll post it in future mailbags.

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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 "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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