I had the chance to interview Douglas Gresham on both The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the potential fourth movie in the series: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair. I asked him a number of things about the films, including questions about the green mist, my perceived connection to the Lady of the Green Kirtle in The Silver Chair and the designs for the various islands that they travel to. I also asked if they would cast a new actress in the role of the Lady of the Green Kirtle. While that isn’t his job on the films, he gives an answer that I think most fans will love. I hope that you enjoy it!
Wow, great interview, Paul. Thanks for posting!
Excellent, I would die if they used Tilda Swinton.
I will say in all fairness that I enjoyed “Dawn Treader” a lot more the second time. I still would like to see an extended cut, because for a movie that focuses on characterization, there are simply too many danglers. “You still don’t have a queen?” That’s obviously a Chekhov’s gun for the end of the movie. Rhince? Chekhov’s gunman (is he meant to do anything or be seen again once he joins the crew?). And this time I got the bit about the stone knife. It was extremely weird. “Look, the stone knife!” (that someone obviously told us about in advance judging by the way it’s referred to, but which is never mentioned before or after).
I did enjoy this movie a great deal more the second time and get a great deal more out of it. You catch little bits like “Everyone is welcome at Aslan’s Table” that are easy to miss.
The chief negative sensation I get on repeat viewings (once I’m resigned to the changes) is how badly edited it is, with 20 to 25% of it obviously cut out. Conversations start and end abruptly; plot and characterization points are begun but never finished. A million little things, like the mermaid telling them to go back (why? afraid for them? evil mist-controlled evil mermaid, since the next thing we hear is how the mist doesn’t want us to go further?). Like Reep mentioning the water is sweet, which you’d miss if you blinked. We get these things because we’re looking for them and know their significance. But for casual viewers, there’s a lot here that doesn’t make any sense because they don’t build up to it or properly discuss it later. My wife, for instance, still doesn’t understand the Dufflepuds. They’re one more thing that blitzes the screen and seems to serve no purpose.
Ironically, in trying to connect the adventures of this movie, they’ve somehow made them more disjointed. I think it comes of making the book something that it’s not. The BBC productions could be faithful because they weren’t trying to be big season blockbusters. A cut budget, with reduced expectations, could ironically be a godsend.
The news about the Green Lady is very good. I’m very sick of Tilda. I noticed this time that we had three or four goes of the same scene with her in Treader, over and over and over.
The one thing that I really, honestly, do not understand (and this isn’t meant as a snark) is the whole green mist thing. Tilda is one example. What exactly was Edmund supposed to do? “Oh, yes, Green Mist! I love you and want to be your king! Just let me jump over the side of the ship and you get the throne ready.” Huh? I really don’t get the “borrowing from the Silver Chair” thing that everyone keeps mentioning (a green villain?). And I really don’t get what it was meant to be about. Why did people sacrifice to it? How did they know to do so? What did the sacrifices achieve? What was the mist trying to achieve? What would have happened if they hadn’t stopped it? The chief problem, especially for those of us who know the books, is that it had what Trekkies call “the ship must be in danger” quality. “We have to stop the mist!” “Why?” “Because it’s evil! It’s tempting people!” “But it’s way out there on that island.” “But it can reach in and tempt people.” “So what?” “It will destroy Narnia.” “How? Why?” “It just will. Let’s stop it.” I really, sincerely, just don’t get it. It was so unlike anything Lewis would have written that it was just too jarring to work. Lewis was a rigorous thinker. Even the White Witch has reasons for what she did. Gresham seems to think that there’s this evil spirit in Narnia that simply keeps taking people over and being evil for evil’s sake.
Seriously, GN, I never know how to respond to your comments. They have become so long, I suggest you go to wordpress.com and start a blog, where you can post all of these thoughts, and try to work it all out. Each story is a place to talk about the story itself, and not the entirety of the film.
Within one paragraph you mentioned not knowing what the Green Mist is for, Gresham’s thoughts on evil in Narnia, and in your line of questioning, asked and answered your own questions, probably without realizing it. Then you claim that Lewis would not have written anything like the green mist with temptation. Ever read The Screwtape Letters? There it is. Lewis wrote something like the green mist. As for the sacrifice, there are many societies over the years that have made sacrifices to various things for various reasons. Do we REALLY need all of the answers, or can there be something mysterious that isn’t spelled out? If something is reaching out and tempting people, isn’t that reason enough to stop it? That is not a GOOD thing. If something is taking all of the Narnians away, what is behind it? And whether you like it or not, Jadis brought evil into Narnia, as did the Telmarines. So yes, evil does incarnate itself in many ways.
that’s a realy good point, thanx paul
I don’t understand. I have read the Screwtape Letters. There isn’t anything there about a Green Mist.
The Green Mist represents temptation, pries on your deepest weaknesses and tries to coax you into doing things that you wouldn’t otherwise do. For instance, when Edmund is standing there, sword in hand, in prime position to take down the serpent, the mist takes the form of Jadis, knowing that Edmund still fears her, though she has been overcome (kind of like being afraid of spiders even though you just killed one, or rollercoasters even though you just rode one). It pries on his want for the power to avoid mockery and laughter from people back home. Why? To allow the mist to overtake the ship, to take the Narnians captive, and never lose the power that it had over the world.
Anyway, in The Screwtape Letters, Wormwood serves the same function. Sure, he’s not visible, but neither is the green mist at times, to those that are being tempted. Lucy doesn’t see it when she’s being influenced into vanity, and Edmund doesn’t see it when he’s being influenced into greed.
Even though Wormwood doesn’t appear as a green mist, he still does the same thing that the mist does.
Especially loved the green mist! Thought it a very clever and accurate visual to interpret how evil appears out of nowhere and can do anywhere. Reminded me of how they portrayed Satan in “The Passion”: as a hooded man creeping quietly through the crowd giving intention eye contact as he meandered through. Good comparison to Screwtape Letters. I loved the visual of it- very effctive. Bravo!
I have to agree with you for the most part gn. I thought the film seemed badly edited and extremely rushed too. If I hadn’t already known the story, I think I would have missed a great deal of it because several important points zipped by so fast. I suspect that Fox might have had a hand to play in this, though, as they seem to like to put out short films.
Hopefully for The Silver Chair, they will be able to find a balance between the excessive length and slowness of Prince Caspian and the excessive shortness and speed of Dawn Treader. Well, I still enjoyed it a lot anyway, but I’d like to see an extended edition too.
I think the film was poorly edited too. On my third veiwing I brought a friend and I had to keep explaining things to her like the Dufflepuds, the sacrificing, sweet water, stone knife, lilies(which none of the characters even mentioned)…
Another thing that was never explained is why the Dufflepuds needed a female to read the spell. They just told Lucy they couldn’t read. If you didn’t read the book, like my friend, and had an eye for detail like that, you would be confused. My friend asked me “Do those things have something agianst girls?”
I hope the Silver Chair will be better.
Loved the interview with Douglas Gresham. Thanks for posting it.
Okay not it is beginning to make a little sense. The one thing I was having trouble grasping is that there was no real solid villain behind the green mist through the film. Now hearing this interview I am finally understanding that the source is yet to be discovered and it will lead to the Lady of the Green Kirtle being the culprit. So they will have to do Silver Chair next. I will see if can go again.
When we take into account that Narnia was a “supposing” of CS Lewis of what would happen if Jesus went into another world to redeem it as he did ours, we can also suppose that the evil spirit in Narnia is the same one at work in our world: Satan himself. And just like in our world, in Narnia he invades many different persons and forms, all with one purpose in mind: to destroy what is good and so come out victorious against God.
Luckily for us, he can’t ever truly win.
Sure Katy,he doesn’t win even when we doubt God and think that Satan will be victorious..
‘I’m lovin life cause I’ve been forgiven’ 😀
great interview! thanks paul!
the only thing i will say is that i personally would love to see tilda swinton as lady of the green kirtle. but i fully understand why they wouldn’t do that. i have always believed she was one and the same with the white witch, but with the direction they are taking here, with her being ‘un-bodied’ so to speak, they would have to find a new actress.
anyway, awesome interview!!!!
Hey Paul. Thank you so MUCH for posting this interview. I would like to say I was so glad he mentioned The Lady of the Green Kirtle would be a different actress instead of Tilda Swinton. Don’t get me wrong, she played AMAZINGLY good as the White Witch so I think since she and The Lady of the Green Kirtle are two COMPLETELY different witches, it would be best to have another actress. I’m glad you told him that alot more fans chose The Silver Chair next instead of The Magician’s Newphew because that may boost the chance of that happening. Anyways, great information and I will keep checking back. BTW, did you know that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has made $160,420,000 WORLDWIDE already!?!? =D
the Dawn Treader still needs to make more money if they are going to assuredly do another movie. One hundred sixty, four hundred and twenty million isn’t much, given the anticipation. It was a pretty weak start, the week it first opened.
Praise God and pass the popcorn – let’s go see it some more! 🙂
i think Tilda Swinton should interpret to Witch green skirt. I think the movie would raise more money.
I love the narnia movies they send a good message I think my favorite narnia creature would be the centaurs I really wanted to try out for jill pole since i heard that they might make the silver chair it is my favorite book but if they do make it where would they hold auditions and do they care if i fake a really good english accent i have been practicing i was also surprise to hear that one of the crew members (i am not sure if he was a director)was a catholic homeschooler just like me (i am 12 years old been homeschooled my whole life)well just to say i really lovede the interview
Oh I really hope they do the Silver Chair too, and I do want to see Dawn Treader again. I hope it’s still available in January as I want to go with friends that I won’t see until then.
I think it does a fine job of capturing the spirit of the book, if not the letter. There is a bit more written on the Dark Island, CS Lewis mentions it somewhere- it had to due with minor changes he made to the American version, I believe.
I do agree that there is a bit of rushing through Dawn Treader and I hope there is an extended version coming on DVD. For instance, why not explain that it was specifically a fight where one grabbed the stone knife, the one used to kill Aslan, that made the lords sleep? Anyway, no need to rush the story quite this much. If Harry Potter can have his final book split into two movies it’s so long, than surely another 20 minutes or half an hour to Dawn Treader wouldn’t hurt.
I plea for an extended edition. I find that extended versions of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as well as Lord of the Rings are wonderful.
As for the White Witch, while it can’t be the same actress, I wonder if they will find another way to tie them together. The Silver Chair suggests they are of the same sort. And the White Witch is in the Magician’s Nephew, so if we get that far, maybe she (and Tilda) will be back!
will will poulter return as eustace in THE SILVER CHAIR????
i think that will poulter will return on silver chair. i did some research and it sounds like he is
does any one know whether they have cast jill yet? im dying 2 no. if u have any idea plz let me know
cool
i saw dawn treader acouple of days ago, and the first impression was good, but (and i no this is going to sound a little repetitive) i pray most ardently that there’ll be an extended version, hopefully a little better edited.
i have now seem the VDT three times an im hopeing to see it a fourth time next week but this time in 2d.
I didn’t realize there were so many technical movie experts out there. I have seen it twice so far, loved it both times, thought it flowed nicely and yes, there probably will be an extended edition like the other two.
I would love to ask Mr. Gresham several questions, like why does he live in Malta now; how old was he when he named Ramandu’s daughter, Lilliandil, which I love.
if anybody knows how or when or if i can audition for jill pole, or polly plummer plz let me know.
loved vdt by the way.
god bless
Is no one aware that they are considering doing Magician’s Newphew before Horse and His Boy? OH MY GOSH!! I was willing to wait for Silver Chair to be done before HHB, but now they want to do MN after?….This is so wrong…with the advent of eastern films like Prince of Persia, it would make sense to make HHB. There is definitely a market for HHB, and it is full of adventure, set in exotic places and exotic people. I am so upset Gresham didn’t mention HHB at all :(….
One of the last lines in the interview was (paraphrased) Take all your friends, see it as many times as you can afford, it all depends on you if we are able to film “The Silver Chair”
I say it all depended on them to make a good movie worthy of generating another sequel. I did NOT like the movie because I adore the books. Any casual Narnia fan may have found it good, and if a die-hard Narnia fan found it good, that’s fine with me. I think if the movie would have been 60 percent like the book, that would be an improvement. It’s almost like someone tossed the book in front of the screen writer’s eyesight and the screenwriter said,”Right, there’s a dragon” and “Right, there’s a dufflepud” and “Right, there’s a sea serpent” and then wrote a movie that had a dragon, a sea serpent and a dufflepud in it.
I personally will NOT buy the DVD and probably will not see “Dawn Treader” in the theaters again. I probably saw “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” about 6 times, loved it.
I agree with you! The movie was a disappointment. I’m fan of Narnia series…i have read the books many times and i wanted to cry when i saw Dawn Treader, coz i was soooooooooo disappointed. 🙁 The only thing that i liked was the last scene with Aslan…very touching and great effect with the waves. But the whole movie was bad. LWW and PC were much much much better and i love them. I hope that they will make “Silver Chair”, but PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Don’t ruin it AGAIN!!!
We are sure have our opinions! I had my loves and disappointments to this recent film of The Dawn Treader. But above all that, this is a powerful series that needs to be done! It speaks truths about humanity and God, holding up real strenth and lovliness- and needs to be out there alongside films that are so full of lies and visual horror with no purpose but to shock. Those who love these stories go with great expectation- I am one of them. But if fans disappear due from disappointment we have sadly missed a spectacular opportunity to be a light in the world of media.Maybe the questions will get them to read the book..and even hunger for faith! Hold on people- being a writer holds great pressure- lets just keep getting these stories out there- spread THE WORD! And I agree the more you watch the more you catch. Enjoy! And please, writers, seize this opportunity while we have the day!
This was the most ambivalent Narnia movie – character plays were pleasing but the adaptation was quite unfaitfull time to time =(. As one critic said: “If a director of an Potter movie had taken such liberties on adaptation the fans would have lynch him/her”.
Hopefully the next movie will be as faitfull as the first one =).
Does anyone here know if the Chronicles of Narnia movie (Silver Chair) are doing castings for the part of Jill Pole, I would very much appreciate it, thank you <3
I think the movie adaptation of VDT was much more faithful to the tone, theme and characters of the book than was the movie adaptation of Prince Caspian. Peter was not stubborn, arrogant and completely dismissive of hope in Aslan in the book as he was in the movie.