Empire Posts Interview with Ben Barnes, Michael Apted

Empire has posted the transcript of an interview with Ben Barnes and Michael Apted from Movie-Con III. Here’s an excerpt:

Q: Dawn Treader marks a bit of a tonal shift in the series. Is that something that you’ll express in the film?

Apted: “I think what they were looking for with the Dawn Treader was to go back into more of the magical world of Lion and the Witch. Caspian was a very political film, and they were looking to go back a bit to the magic and fun of Lion and the Witch. There’s quite a lot of humour in that. So I was asked to revitalise that aspect of the franchise.”

You can read the full interview here (scroll down about half way), including an interesting comment about Peter and Susan’s appearance in the film.

Michael Apted and Ben Barnes appear to talk us through it.

This was my favourite book, says our Dan Jolin. This is the Sinbad one – is that what you’ve gone for?
Apted: “Yes, it is a journey, it is an adventure. They aren’t in Narnia at all. The whole film is a voyage, which is a tough thing to pull off, to keep the energy going from island to island.

Barnes: “It was my favourite book too because it has that voyage element to it, like Sinbad or Jason And the Argonauts. We’ve gone slightly bigger than those films though. It’s not a papier mache dragon this time – although there was a very large papier mache rock at one point.

Apted: “Don’t tell them everything!”

The film changed studio after you joined, Michael – how did it change?
Apted: “It’s been a long journey; we deliver the film in December but I’ll have been on it by then for three and a half years. I was hired while Andrew Adamson was stil making the second one, so he couldn’t have done it, because it’s not like Potter; each is a different world so you can’t do them back to back. We then faced a world of economic problems and we thought we were dead in the water, but Fox came aboard and then we started. We shot in Australia and now we’re finishing here.

Wasn’t there a bit involving a Mexican drug war?
Apted: “We did land up at Rosarita Studios, which was built at Titanic. We were set up there and doing nicely, and then these terrifying drug wars started and there were thousands of people killed every weekend, headless bodies in the streets. And we were trying to make a family movie. We would have had to stay in compounds with gun placements around them. We had to leave.

Barnes: Our producer told us we’d need 24 hour bodyguards if we were to do that. It was that or Surfer’s Paradise in Australia without a bodyguard, so we went for that.

How was it returning to play Caspian, Ben?
Barnes: “While it was very frustrating for everyone else, it was quite nice for me to have a break between the first and this and do other things, and then come back to it with my favourite story, a fresh studio and a fresh director. And playing a king this time, someone who’s been in authority for several years – which is very different to playing someone who’s running away ALL THE TIME. I think when you’re dealing with books based on children’s literature, you have to deal with nostalgia and so on, which is why people balk at remakes and so on, but when you have a new director you can reimagine parts of it as you see fit, which is nice.”

How easy was the transition between Disney and Fox?
Apted: “Well, it had to be a smooth transition because we were either going to make the film or we weren’t, and Fox took it on as a package. Most of the work and casting was done. It really wasn’t a studio coming in and starting over – too much money had been spent. We brought in another writer and the script went through another couple of drafts, which worked very well for us. We had concept art that they had to sign off on.

Barnes: “And you were stuck with me. But even sticking close to the book you can have a completely different structure.”

A non-Narnia question for Michael; would you ever return to Bond?
Apted: “No, I’d do it again. I had a very good time, but it was very good practice for doing this, which is very much bigger and more complex.

Barnes: “Who would you get to play Bond if you did it again?”
Apted: “I’m open my friend, I’m open.”

Dawn Treader marks a bit of a tonal shift in the series. Is that something that you’ll express in the film?
Apted: “I think what they were looking for with the Dawn Treader was to go back into more of the magical world of Lion and the Witch. Caspian was a very political film, and they were looking to go back a bit to the magic and fun of Lion and the Witch. There’s quite a lot of humour in that. So I was asked to revitalise that aspect of the franchise.”

When Prince Caspian was on the boat, and you met the people, did you ask what their names were?
Barnes: “Well, in the new film, it’s Caspian’s ship so he knows everyone’s name, and he already remembers the Pevensie kids. But he doesn’t ask Eustace’s name because he’s a pain and he doesn’t want to know him. Does that answer the question?”

No! (This question was asked by a 7 year-old) Prince Caspian is obviously a children’s book. Are you getting recognised a lot by little kids and how does that work with doing adult roles?
Barnes: “I’ve been very lucky in that most people have probably only seen me in one or two things – maybe that says something about some of the other things – and I think people recognising you comes from seeing you in magazines or on TV every week. Between cutting my hair or not, and shaving or not, and not being in the country, my privacy has mostly remained intact. But it’s teens and people in their 20s rather than little kids, because it’s been a few years since Caspian.”

In the trailer, there are people in the film who don’t feature in the book. Is that the case? Peter and Susan aren’t in the book.
Apted: “That’s a nice little surprise for you in the film. It doesn’t go against the book but it’s a nifty little idea in the film. They came back for a couple of days, and it doesn’t really impinge on the story but it’s a nice little grace note.”

Are you still involved in the 42 Up series, and…
Apted: “I’ll be involved in 56 Up next year, so I’ll have been doing that for nearly 50 years. That was a first job I did and every seven years it comes back again, and 2012 is the next fence, so it’s a huge part of my working life.”

Ben, in Dorian Gray the film was different from the book, and from the earlier film. The atmosphere felt completely different. What was the production justification for that?
Barnes: “In terms of atmosphere and story? Well, I think there were a couple of storyline changes to bring the character of Emily near the end in. I think people are used to watching films with a potential for hope or redemption at the end, otherwise it’s like watching someone jump off a cliff. Structurally it was changed because film is such a visual medium; he goes off for months at a time in the book. We decided to send him away for 25 years and come back because that makes the return more visceral. I think Henry and Dorian change depending on how people see him in the book, and the same goes for all the characters… You didn’t like it, did you?”

Would the Magician’s Nephew ever get made?
Apted: “I can’t answer that – Mark can.

Barnes: “He says they thought they’d start with the best known one since that would sell the most tickets…”

Mark: “We thought we’d start with the four Pevensie children. The question now is, for the fourth film, do we go to the Silver Chair or go back to The Magician’s Nephew?”

Barnes: “Am I in either of those?”

Mark: “In the Silver Chair briefly, as a very old man.

Would you be back for that, Michael?
Apted: “I’d want a break, but sure. Each of these has a very different feel, it’s like Bond. There’s a set of rules for each one, but the difference between each is vast. For a director, this is a much more challenging franchise than even the Potters. There, it’s the same people getting older, so you don’t feel you’ll be repeating yourself.

Ben, would you go back?
Barnes: “Yes, but I want a crack at playing him at 70, that’d be fun. Unless it’s 3 hours every day in make-up. But they were three and a half years, so they do encompass a lot of your world and they mean a lot to you.

Was this a hard one for you?
Barnes: “In the first film I spent a lot of time learning to horse ride and then spent a lot of time on a horse, which is one of the most difficult things to do on a film set. But personally I had more action training on this one, and more sequences to learn, because they’re cut down so heavily. So while this isn’t so full of conflict, there was a lot more to learn for me, but I really enjoyed that part of it.”

You didn’t shoot on water, did you?
Apted: “When I got the job, I made a point of talking to directors who’d done big water films, Peter Weir and Gore Verbinski, and they all said “Don’t go on the water.” So we didn’t, we were on a peninsula. The boat was a hundred tonne boat, so it was a big old beast, on a gimble.”

One of the things I liked about this was the way they get to Narnia, as opposed to the old BBC version. But did you get any inspiration from those?
Apted: “In all fairness, not really. They were great little things, but they were very cheaply done. You couldn’t even begin to get away with that now.”

Barnes: “I was 8 when those came out, and I remember watching them with pant-wetting anticipation every week, but you go back and look at them and it’s so disappointing. It’s like when you watch He-Man again, and you realise how often they repeat the same shot. It’s distressing!”

24 Comments

  1. This was very informative (and quite funny to read, too 🙂 It’s good to know that Peter and Susan’s appearances are very minor. And before anyone starts panicking about the couple of days comment, I’m pretty sure Michael Apted was talking about the amount of time it took to shoot the sequence; I’m pretty sure the characters didn’t spend two days on the ship in the movie. Overall, very comforting and my confidence in the production has grown.

    P.S. It would be real funny if Ben actually had to spend a lengthy amount of time in the make-up chair in the Silver Chair.

    • There also is a part in the Silver Chair – at the very end – when Caspian becomes young again in Aslan’s country, and travels back with Jill & Eustace to punish the bullies at the children’s school in England. So, Ben would get to play both old AND young! 🙂

  2. interesting… I was thinking they were making it MORE magical!!! (especially with the snow!) Humor is VERY good, thats one of the reasons I loved PC so much! Family movie (hint hint) PG (hint hint). Peter and Susan a grace note! lol. Prince caspian old?! that makes me sad! haha I guess the BBC version was pretty let’s just say LOW-Buget… I LOVED how they did that scene where they were going into the picture! it was EXACTLY how it was in the book! (in the NEW VOTDT)

    Patrick, aka ahyperdude

  3. Great interview! I can’t wait for this movie! I’m planning to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader as many times as I can in the theater before it leaves! I want this film to do well so they make all the books into films. If they do the Silver Chair, Caspian is very old but become young again and gets to see our world briefly, so that would be so cool to see Ben Barns gets to do that.

  4. Someone explain to me why in PC they made a BIG POINT that Peter and Susan WEREN’T coming back, and now in this movie…they came back. “It doesn’t go against the book but it’s a nifty little idea in the film. They came back for a couple of days, and it doesn’t really impinge on the story but it’s a nice little grace note.

    • In Prince Caspian it was stressed in the movie and the books that they weren’t going back to Narnia. However, they are mentioned in Dawn Treader in regards to what they are doing in England, and Susan is briefly in the scene with Lucy and the Magicians book (in regards to the spell of beauty).
      What Apted was saying was that they are a grace note (a nod to Pete and Su to remind us that they are there) and is assuring us that Susan and Peter aren’t going to show up to help Eustace on Dragon Island or to fight in the battle on Lone Islad or have Susan become best friends with Liliandil, like someone’s version of bad fanfiction.
      They will come as a nice “addition” to blend the movies together and give us a bit of nostalgia.
      Don’t worry! I’m very sure that he was referring to Anna and William filming for two days on set, not that Su and Pete were actually in Narnia for two days. 🙂

    • Hey dood, I’ve been thinking the same things! but I got answers!

      1. Q. in PC they made a BIG POINT that Peter and Susan WEREN’T coming back. A. Disney was making it, now Fox is and I keep hearing people say they aren’t REALLY coming back to narnia (which is getting on my nerves!) so they aren’t in narnia… and I’ve been thinking it’s a flashback but I came up with a logical answer thanks to “LadyEm” It got me thinking and I’m thinking they are in the magicians book! just a thought…

      and people keep telling me this. DON’T GET STRESSED ABOUT IT!
      there are logical answer for everything! just think about it.

    • I think “A couple of days” refers to the actors and filming, not the characters in the movie.

  5. books and movies are two different animals, lets not get too excited until we se what they did with it. Often Purists = snobs

  6. maybe they have a flashback to the time period of the horse and his boy and that’s why peter and susan are there???

    • haha! yes!!!!! you figured it out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That makes SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much sense!

    • I don’t think so, because for one thing, all the Pevensies are older, like around their 20s, and secondly, Peter was never truly in Horse and His Boy, he was off in the north fighting Giants.

      What would make more sense, well at least for me, is if it’s Caspian having a flashback of when they all came to help him defeat Miraz in PC. As if he’s explaining what happened back then to the crew or to Eustace. But that’s just my personal opinion.

        • *goes to check* ahh!!! That’s true! well, then…. this is what i get for trying to make sense. xD ah well..

  7. they might have changed it up a little. i mean prince caspian was pretty different from the book. it COULD be a flashback from the hores and his boy. or maybe just some time period in the golden age???? but i guess we’ll have to wait untill December 10th!

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