Interview with Gael, Arabella Morton, on Dawn Treader

We had a chance to interview a number of the supporting cast, and the next one is Arabella Morton, who played Gael in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  I had the chance to meet her when I was on the set, and have previously stated that she is a total sweetheart.  I really appreciate that she and her mum took the time to answer my questions. Take a look at this interview, I think that you’ll enjoy it!

NarniaFans.com: Tell us about yourself, who are you, what role, or roles, did you play in the film?

Arabella Morton: My name is Arabella Morton, I am 10 years old and live in SE Queensland, Australia. I will be in grade 5 at school next year and my favourite pets are my cat ‘Edward’ & my tortoise ‘Bindi’. I love spending time with my family and friends and enjoy singing and piano also.

I play ‘Gael’ in Narnia VDT which was an introduced role and as most fans know by now, not in the book. During the filming of the movie I became known as the ‘MLG’ Mysterious Little Girl, because nobody knew who I was, why I was there and why I was on set dressed in Narnian clothes. It was hard to keep this secret for so long! 🙂 I was introduced for ‘Lucy’s’ sake and to be the common thread through the movie; it gave the Voyage another and more family orientated purpose. ‘Gael’ was a little different from me; I am a little more outgoing but I really enjoyed creating her and bringing some of my personality into hers. ‘I thought ‘Gael’ was very brave to stow away by herself on the Dawn Treader – however, ‘Gael’ was only doing what her Mummy asked her to when she was taken away… ‘Stay with Daddy’!!

NarniaFans.com: Is Bindi named after Bindi Irwin?

Arabella’s Mother: Wow! I’m impressed Paul and yes ‘Bindi’ is named after Bindi Irwan. Bindi is someone Arabella very much admires. We, as most Aussies, were devastated by the untimely and tragic death of her father, Steve. A great loss.

NarniaFans.com: How did you come to be involved with this Chronicles of Narnia movie? Take us through the process for how you learned of the film and casting.

Arabella Morton: My Mum didn’t tell me I was auditioning for ‘Narnia’ – at this stage of the casting it had another name – ‘The Invisible Army’ due to confidentiality. It was only when I was inside the Audition room that they told me and I was SOOO excited I yelled out with excitement when I left the audition. My Mum & Agent didn’t want me to have additional pressure of knowing the name of the movie. There were so many other girls there and they were all so beautiful and talented … I already loved the 1st 2 Narnia movies and always related well to ‘Lucy’. Just knowing I was in the running to meet her and perhaps meet the other cast members was pretty cool – I thought would be a dream come true!

We received a phone call from my Agent, Natalie Hall about a week or so later, I had not forgotten about Narnia, far from it, but I didn’t want to get my hopes too high! Afterwards, Mummy said that Natalie was very confident that I may have the role, but she didn’t tell me this before the 2nd audition. I went for the 2nd Audition with Michael Apted and Cort; I didn’t realise I was the ONLY one to do this… guess this meant I was pretty high on the list! Michael was so lovely, very kind to me and funny. On this day I also met Steve Rooke (Nausus the faun) and Rachel Blakely (‘Gael’s’ mum, ‘Helaine’). Rachel helped us by playing ‘Lucy’ during the audition with me. I was staying with Nanna & Grandad during the school holidays, when Mummy arrived out of the blue one day, soon after the 2nd audition; she walked in the door, handed me the phone and Natalie told me (very loudly) that I had secured the role of ‘Gael’ – it was one of the happiest days of my life… I screamed very loudly and jumped up and down a lot, my brother Charlie was hugging me and we had a little ‘happy cry’. I then became a little nervous… I was going to meet some of my favourite people, spend 6 months on set and life was about to get a little bit crazy! I was 8 years old and going for a magical voyage in Narnia!!!

NarniaFans.com: How did you prepare for your role?

Arabella Morton: I had been in quite a few television commercials, which helped me understand what was needed on set; though nothing could prepare me for the size of the Narnia sets, the amount of people there and intensity of a big budget movie. I had my own trailer, tutor and acting/dialect coach. (Helen Howard) ‘Gael’ was to speak with an English accent, so most of my preparation was dialect training. We spoke a lot about who ‘Gael’ was and how she would feel and behave, being a peasant girl in ‘Narrowhaven’ and having to watch both her parents taken from her. I thought a lot about ‘Gael’ and how to bring her to life. We were given the script, so Mum and sometimes Charlie helped me practice my lines and we also read the whole script a few times, so we knew the whole story. There was nothing in the C.S. Lewis book about who ‘Gael’ was, so I had to invent her!

NarniaFans.com: What does having a role like this one entail? Were you given the entire script, or just pages at a time?

Arabella Morton: We were given the whole script at the 1st read through. This was the day I met the entire cast for the 1st time, I was so overwhelmed and excited – not only did I meet Georgie Henley, I sat right next to her and she helped me when I lost my place a couple of times. Georgie is one of the nicest people I know and always helped and supported me. The read through was very fast!! I also met the people who would play ‘Gael’s’ Mum & Dad as well as Ben Barnes, Will Poulter and Skandar Keynes. Ben sat opposite me and sometimes winked or pulled a funny face… I think he was trying to relax me … and it worked! I liked him straight away! We got along very well throughout the shoot! He was so much fun!

During the filming we were given additional pages of script which were usually minor changes; the first script was one colour and all the changes were different colours, so the final and entire script was like a rainbow at the end! It has all my little notes in the margins and Helen Highlighted the places where ‘Gael’ had lines.

My favourite line of ‘Gael’s’ in the movie, is “When I grow up, I want to be just like you!” – said to ‘Lucy’. I really love ‘Lucy’s’ response too. It is a very powerful message to all young people. “When you grow up, be just like you!”

NarniaFans.com: We know that they cut a lot of stuff from the final film, stuff that was shot. Can you tell us about scenes that your character had that were deleted?

Arabella Morton: I was really happy when I realised that most of my scenes stayed in the movie. I only realised this at the Premiere in London, where I first saw the finished film. A couple of lines were cut from the Dawn Treader scene; when they find ‘Gael’ – ‘Gael’ originally said a couple of things to her dad, but when I saw the movie, there was no need for the words, it was pretty clear that although ‘Rhince’ was surprised to see her, he was also a bit glad and relieved when ‘Drinian’ accepted that ‘Gael’ was now part of the Voyage. The one very short scene of ‘Gael’s’ that was cut, was perhaps the one that I think should have stayed the most. At the end when ‘Gael’ jumps into the sea and swims to her Mum, she is pulled into the boat and then waves goodbye to ‘Lucy’ and all her new friends on the Dawn Treader. This doesn’t happen in the movie and I wish that it had been left… I feel ‘Gael’ was the type of girl who would have waved goodbye to ‘Lucy’ and said thank you for looking after her.

NarniaFans.com: Can you tell us anything else that might have been deleted from the film, based on the final shooting script?

Arabella Morton: There was a Mutiny scene between the sailors, that I think would have been good in the movie, because it would have shown how frustrated they were that evil was at this point gaining the ‘upper hand’. ‘Coriakin’ had warned them about this. Apart from that, I think the final movie was great! I hope we get a chance to see the ‘Director’s cut’ on the DVD.

NarniaFans.com: What was life like on the set? Give us a good ‘day in the life’ type of thing.

Arabella Morton: A day in the life of me on set: I spent five months filming and one month in preparation/costume/make-up before shooting. I would spend either the whole week on set or a minimum of three days during some weeks, depending on the scenes that were being shot on the day. (this would change pretty often too, depending on weather etc.) As I am a child, I was only allowed to work for a certain amount of hours per day – 8 plus a lunch break. I had two doubles and a stunt double (who was a boy and son of one of the sailors – another stunt man, John). I had a really nice tutor, Maddie, a trailer of my own with ‘Gael’s’ name on it and an acting/dialect coach, Helen Howard. Helen was so, so lovely and we became very close. Helen always made me feel good and taught me to see the world through ‘Gael’s eyes. When I was in costume and stepped onto the set, Arabella stayed off set with Mummy and ‘Gael’ was ‘on’! This really helped me. Mummy always said when we got home, ‘be you, stay you’! This also helped me leave ‘Gael’ in Narnia.

I would spend 1 hour in ‘hair/make-up’ every morning and then get driven to the sound stage we were working in, on that day. When we were working on location it was the same. Our trailers and all the crew would come with us, so it was just like being at WB Movie World. Sometimes we would have trouble remembering where the trailer was on the 1st day of a new location! There is a lot of waiting around, but when your time came to be on set, it was quick and then you had to focus on what you had to do or say. If I wasn’t on set after my hair/make-up, I would go to the tutor room (all ready to go) and this was hard. I really wanted to be ‘Gael’ but I had to do school work as Arabella. It was sometimes hard to concentrate on Math or my other school subjects when I was trying to remember my lines or what I had to do next in Narnia.

Some of the best times were in the catering tent, we all were together, chatting and laughing, sharing the best food I have ever tasted. It was like ‘Aslan’s table’ every day!!! A few people put on a little too much weight because the meals were so yummy! This did not make the costume ladies very happy!

NarniaFans.com: Can you tell us about any pranks that were pulled while filming the movie?

Arabella Morton: One of the funniest pranks happened to me… I didn’t think it was that funny at the time, but now I can laugh, especially when I watch the movie: On Gold Water Island, when they first realise ‘Eustace’ is the dragon and ‘King Caspian’ says they will stay on the Island for the night, ‘Rhince’ says they have no way of staying warm… ‘Eustace’ then roars a huge flame towards a bush and sets it alight! Watch me in the background next time!! During filming, they couldn’t get the reaction they wanted, because there was no flame, we had to imagine it! They then (without anyone but the safety people and crew knowing) organised for the gas pipe to be set on the highest setting and on cue for the most massive flame to be charged up. When it did happen, it scared the living daylights out of me, I nearly fell over and everyone else on set got a scare too, I think; the reaction to the flame and laughing afterwards was very real in the movie… when Michael yelled ‘cut’ he was also laughing and came and gave me a little hug to make sure I was OK! They then showed me on the monitor what I looked like and all laughed; when ever I walked past anyone that night, they all smiled or gave me a little hug. We found out afterwards that they had placed fire extinguishers and safety people all around the set as they didn’t really know exactly how we would react or if we would fall over etc. It must have been very funny for all the people who knew what was about to happen! Now I think it is really funny too!!! 🙂

NarniaFans.com: What does it mean to you, to be a part of a production that so many will cherish for years to come?

Arabella Morton: Not quite real sometimes. I am now a Narnian. This is a special feeling, I feel it is a great honour. It is overwhelming to think that I am on film forever now and I would love nothing more than to go back to Narnia; I hope they can find a way for ‘Gael’ to be in the next one… It is a very special feeling to have shared this adventure with everyone else too! I was lucky enough to share Georgie’s/’Lucy’s’ very last scene in Narnia with her; it was such a privilege to be there with her, it was very emotional for me, so I can only imagine how this must have been for her. Everyone on set gave us both a big clap and thanked us for our hard work.

NarniaFans.com: What are you doing next?

Arabella Morton: Since wrapping in Narnia VDT, I have had a couple of auditions and had a speaking role in a TV Commercial during the Australian Junior Master Chef series. We are currently putting together a actor ‘show reel’ and will be now looking for some more movie roles. I would love to do more films as this is the industry I want to be in; I love making movies and creating characters, this is what I see myself doing in my life. I feel very blessed to have been given this wonderful opportunity and will always be grateful to Michael Apted for helping me realise my dream and start my career in such a wonderful way.

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