We were fortunate enough to sit down with Michael Apted, director of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, who was in Los Angeles at the Beverly Center mall as a part of the Narnia-themed Taubman Ice Palace lighting ceremony to commemorate the opening of the Ice Palaces across the country. (For more info on the Narnia Taubman Ice Palaces, please read about it here.)
The first bit is mostly opening pleasantries, but the main interview starts around 0:22, and the total running time is 3:28. Apted was extremely kind and gracious and we had a wonderful time hearing from him. Will Poulter [who plays Eustace Clarence Scrubb] and Georgie Henley [who plays Lucy Pevensie] explained to us in an interview yesterday (see this article) that their beloved director had a characteristically British dry wit, and we could see what they meant in this wonderful interview he gave us! We have posted the audio of the interview here; please click below to download:
There were several things narniafans.com finds interesting in this interview. First, while there has been no official announcement on which book will be next turned into a film, Michael Apted tells us that (unofficially) there has been a decision to make the Silver Chair next. This doesn’t mean that it is the official announcement, but it is a very interesting piece of information for us fans! We think it is safe to say, however, that unless there is some major new unforeseen development, then The Silver Chair will be the next Narnia film! Second, Apted spoke with us regarding his directing philosophy. As Henley and Poulter pointed out in the previously mentioned interview, he is an “actor’s director”, and he explained to us why that is.
Here is the interview in its entirety. Enjoy!
——————-Begin Interview Transcript——————-
Narniafans.com: Can you tell us about when you first read the books, what your background is with the books
Michael Apted: No I didn’t…when they were written, when they came out, I was sort of in my teens. I didn’t grow up with them, the books weren’t written when I was growing up, so they weren’t a big part of my life, even though I had three children, so I really read them when this job came up. I mean I knew C.S. Lewis from his other books, but not these particular books.
NF: Yesterday I was interviewing Will [Poulter, who plays Eustace Clarence Scrubb] and he warmly told me that you were an “actor’s director.” And I just wanted to get your take on what your directing philosophy is.
Apted: Well, I think that’s true. To me, that’s the most important part of my job. You know, you can see circumstances where directors who make great films are more interested in the camera or the visual effects than the actors, than the performers, and I always felt that the success or failure of the sort of films I do depends on the quality of the actors, the qualities of the performances I can get out of them. So you know, I just spent a lot of time with them, not telling them what to do, I don’t mean that, but just making them the center of the whole operation. Not all this stuff and all that, to try and make them think about what they’re doing, to know that in my world, they’re the most important people.
NF: And it seemed like that is exactly what they got from your [directing].
Apted: Yeah, I hope so. I mean, that’s been my biggest interest doing this job in my over 40 years that I’ve been doing it. I think that’s key to it. You can’t have a good film that isn’t well-acted.
NF: I guess sort of more personal one-is there any news regarding directing the next one for you?
Apted: No they have only sort of decided I think to do the Silver Chair, but they haven’t started or hired a writer or anything. This one took a long time from when I was first hired in 2007 and here we are now in 2010.
NF: Speaking of that, can you talk about what some of the hardest challenges for you and your team was?
Apted: Well, it was a hard book to adapt. And then, you know we started perhaps too early when they were still making Caspian. And so everything got a bit jammed. You know and there were the troubles in Hollywood with the writer’s strike and stuff like that. Then Disney pulled out of the film and Fox went into the film, but you know, we had a lot of-it was a bit of a roller coaster frankly and we were sort of worried that we’d ever make the film; but uh, here we are! [laughing]
NF: Outstanding! And we are overjoyed that it is here!
Apted: Good. Well, thank you both very much.
NF: Thanks so much for your time!
Here’s praying that they’ll greenlight the whole series after the #DawnTreader’s [inevitable] success!
here, here, agreed!
the silver chair! cool
i think silver chair cuz it waz published after VDT
Silver Chair HAS to be next-there is a perfectly logical reason!!
If they do MN first-Will will look too old by the time SC comes around. There’s not much time between VODT and SC so it will look weird.
But who will play Jill?? I MIGHT be auditioning…but SC next!!
I’ve seen a video on youtube that says is that girl from “the naked brothers band”.
I hope she looks young enought.
Jill has not been cast yet.And she won’t for a while, even if they do SC next.
Especially since they haven’t even hired a writer yet. 🙂
The Silver Chair is my second favorite book in the series, so bring it on. But for now, I’m ready to take the Voyage!
I once asked Douglas Gresham (C. S. Lewis’s stepson and a major force behind the movies) in a radio interview about the sequence in which the Narnia movies were going to be made. He answered that child actors grow up fast, and that you have to think about sequencing the movies so that key actors don’t look too grown up in the next film. By that logic, THE SILVER CHAIR would seem to be next movie in line, since Eustace appears again as a key character. Also, THE SILVER CHAIR follows VOYAGE in both the original editions of the Chronicles as well as the different ordering in more recent editions.
Excellent. Well, we know that if Gresham has his way, then that will be true, and it looks as if he might be getting his way! 🙂
I’m glad disney gave it to fox, disney isn’t very good at movies, usually.
I just hope they make “The Magician’s Nephew” and “The Last Battle”! The Magician’s Nephew is a prequel to the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and explains where the wardrobe came from to begin with and more. The Last Battle brings it all together – but the “kids” won’t be kids anymore by that time! So maybe (since the four won’t be in the Magician’s Nephew)they should film the Last Battle first,in which all but Susan appears, even if they don’t show it till afterward the MN.
In the horse and his boy they were all older though! I mean remember on PC when Edmund put the huge helmet on! so I would say (sadly) that that should be one of the last ones!
This is so weird to hear Apted say this because the acting in Dawn Treader was so horrible in comparison to the first two. IMHO the best actor was the guy who played Reepicheep. Everyone else was saying stuff that was in plain sight. In the climax *SPOILER* when Dark Island is fading away around the Dawn Treader, Lucy yells “Edmund, Caspian, LOOK!” My reaction: DUH! Their entire surrounding is fading around them, why would Lucy think Edmund and Caspian could possibly miss that? *END SPOILER* It could be a bad script, but the screenwriters for VDT were the same as LWW and PC. The only one left to blame is…Michael Apted.
Wrong. There was a third screenwriter on this one. This one had better performances all around.
Wow, citing one example-when Lucy says “Look”!-is pretty riduculous support for a general and untrue statement: “Everyone else was saying stuff that was in plain sight”. Everyone else universally agrees that Will Poulter who plays Eustace was brilliant-so much so that he’s been nominated for a young British actor’s award for his performance. Michael Apted deserves credit for helping to get this wonderful performance out of him. Also, Georgie and Skandar had fine performances. I’m sorry you failed to appreciate that.
They should make the remaining stories into films even if only direct to DVD. I would loved to see Silver Chair, Magicians Nephew and Last Battle filmed [not so sure about the Horse and His Boy though]
I would like to do movies that are of the chronicles of narnia as soon as possible are the best is an excellent series and want to see what the book says the last battle in film
thanks for reviving c.s lewis
att: David Acevedo P.