NarniaFans Mailbag #31: Screenwriters on the Dawn Treader, Will Poulter, Special Effects and Casting

This week’s mailbag is where we break loose. We’re going to tackle some pretty heavy questions about The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and more! It’s going to be fun. By the way, I just saw Disneynature’s Earth and I highly recommend it. The visuals are unlike anything I’ve seen before, and it was entertaining, funny and sad and everything in between. I’m looking forward, now, to their next Disneynature release: Oceans. That one is due out on Earth Day 2010.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s get started!

Q: I have a question for the mailbag. The question(s) is/are: Do you know how far along they are with the script? Was Michael Petroni brought in to revise LaGravanese’s draft or did he start from scratch? (Is the situation as it was for LWW, with Ann Peacock writing a draft with rewrites by Adamson and Markus & McFeely?)

Mike

Paul: When it comes to the script, they’re as far as they are. 🙂 That’s my way of saying that I don’t know. But what I do know is the following: the current re-write is draft six or seven of the script. This is typical of just about every movie to come out, however. I have never heard of a movie released based on a single draft of a script. Michael Petroni was brought in to revise LaGravanese’s draft.

A bit of history about the Ann Peacock screenplay: It was turned down. Markus and McFeely started from scratch and very little, if anything, was kept from the final draft that Ann Peacock turned in. Did LaGravanese start from scratch? It’s likely that he did, but not very probable. More likely than not, he took the existing script and made the changes that the Lewis Estate and producer Mark Johnson proposed in their presentation to 20th Century Fox. Now Petroni is working clean-up, like a pitcher brought in to close out a win in a baseball game, or a batter ready to clear the bases with a grand slam home-run (Go Tigers!). From what I understand, Petroni is a favorite screenplay finisher at 20th Century Fox at the moment. But, needless to say, I know it’s in good hands.

Q: Do you think that actor from the ‘Son of Rambow‘ movie well qaulified for the part as Eustace? What do you think? I have only heard/seen him on Narnia Movie News. I’m not so sure.

-Bookworm

Paul: I’ve seen Son of Rambow and I do believe that Will Poulter is qualified for Eustace. He’s definitely a great actor for the role and will fit the character well. I suppose that’s all that I can say! Look forward to it. He’ll perform well and fits the cast perfectly.

Q: What are the chances that the series’ changing hands (Disney to Fox) will adversely affect the movie’s effects department capacities?

And what sort of Narnia-related events are available to attend in the southern US right now?

-Lily_of_Archenland

Paul: Question 1: Not much, if at all. Disney didn’t handle any of the effects in the film. They hired effects houses to take care of all of it. And there were even different ones that handled The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe than those that handled Prince Caspian for the most part. In short: the effects should be at least the same level.

Question 2: Narnia Events in the southern U.S. I took a look around, and didn’t really come up with much. However, be sure to keep your eye on the C.S. Lewis Society of California’s event page. They keep things up to date, and you’ll be able to find events all over the world. I’ll try to keep up with that as well, here on NarniaFans.com!

You_are_a_mouse: I have another question- Do you know anything about the Dawn Treader Cast? Apart from our lovely returning cast and Eustace, is there any news, talk, rumours, speculation at all??? I’m desperate to know who Drinian is!

Paul: Nothing yet, but news should start appearing soon, if they are truly to start shooting in three or so months. It’s coming up fast, and that means we’ll soon have casting announcements coming out of our ears!

And that’s it for this week’s mailbag! Keep the e-mails coming! Also, be sure to check out our new Narnia Social Network! There you can blog, chat, and make friends among other fans of Narnia!