As the release of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian draws ever nearer, Rotten Tomatoes has been inviting members of the cast and crew to give readers a glimpse into the new film. A few weeks ago Caspian himself, Ben Barnes, had some words. Today Anna Popplewell and William Moseley, explain why Susan’s and Peter’s [MAJOR SPOILERS – Do NOT proceed unless you’ve read the books] last journey into Narnia shouldn’t be missed…
ANNA POPPLEWELL
I suppose I should be used to it by now, but the scale has upped itself pretty-much proportionately going into this film. It’s still a huge deal. Having another fantasy race of people in the Telmarines, meant that we had hundreds and hundreds of extras playing soldiers on set. That meant bigger cameras and bigger departments and it just meant that everything was upped in terms of the scale.
In the first movie, Susan took on a very motherly role because the children had been evacuated – she feels very responsible for her siblings. In this film, as before, Peter takes charge quite a lot and I think although Susan, being quite a bossy person, would love to take charge if she had the opportunity, she has to put up with some of Peter’s not-so-wise decisions.
I think one of the major developments in this film is the fact that Peter and Susan are told at the end of the movie that they’re not coming back to Narnia. That’s obviously a really big deal and is a mark of the fact that they’ve grown up and learnt a lot. It was a weird and bittersweet moment when we filmed that scene with Aslan because it was pretty-much at the end of filming. It really drove it home! I think there’s a scene in Dawn Treader in which Lucy talks about Susan and they could do a flashback, but I’ve not been talking to them about it at all and I’m not attached to it yet. I think Will and I are going to do a planned visit and storm in and hijack the whole thing! Rewrite it!
WILLIAM MOSELEY
The first film was a children’s Narnia. This film is going to be an adult Narnia, and I say that with every implication, as in we’re fighting adults this time, we’re not fighting mythical creatures anymore. Even Tilda Swinton as an actress is definitely a mythical creature! We’ve got a whole army of humans to fight this time. Narnia’s changed. It’s 1300 years later, it’s not pastoral anymore, or idyllic. It’s dark and nasty and all the creatures we once knew, who roamed the land freely, have been pushed into the forest and the woods and forced to live this closed lifestyle.