The Narnia stories, beloved of British, Australian, and to a lesser extent, Malaysian children, are finally coming to the big screen. The only prior adaptations having been made-for-TV movies, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe promises to be a full-blown, CGI-driven spectacle.
Adamson was supposed to grant visiting journalists in Las Vegas an interview but for the timely arrival of his newborn the day before meant we ended up with Plan B: producer Mark Johnson.
“The movies that I liked as a kid were very exotic, with characters you wouldn’t see in your everyday life. For the Narnia stories, C.S. Lewis mixed all these mythological characters,” quipped Johnson (Rain Man,The Notebook) during the press conference at the Renaisance Hotel, Hollywood.
“Adamson reluctantly agreed to direct this film. If he could work on something small like Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, he’d be a very happy man. But he comes from a special effects background, so everybody wants him to do big films like this.”
Narnia is chock-a-block with CGI, from the talking beavers to Aslan the lion and the assortment of creatures in the witch’s army. Computer graphics are being handled by Rhythm & Hues and Sony Imageworks.
“It’s not like we’re doing anything so cool no one’s ever seen before.Lord of the Rings was so well done, and the expectations of the audience are so strong, that anything less that that would be disappointing. But our film works well not because of incredible shots and photoreal animals, but simply because of the emotions of the characters,” Johnson declared.
Initially, Johnson had doubts about translating Lewis’ books to screen. Tolkien’s written work was lush and descriptive, Lewis’, short and succinct, he thought.
“There’s not a lot here from a moviemaking standpoint. I wasn’t quite sure how to approach the film.” Besides, it was also very English, and he worried that it might not appeal to Americans.
Then Harry Potter happened, and suddenly Englishness became acceptable, even hip.
“I think this movie couldn’t have been made without Harry Potter,” confessed the bespectacled producer.
“Years ago, I produced a film called A Little Princess, and Warner Brothers said it had to be set in the US – the book is set in England – because American kids cannot relate to the foreign kids (the movie was ultimately set in New York).
”Anyhow, Narnia was owned years ago by Paramount and the screenplay was set in modern-day Brentwood, California. Then Harry Potter came along and showed everybody that British kids in a British setting can appeal to an American audience.
“And then, with LOTR, it just reminded us how a big, epic fantasy film worked so well for a worldwide audience,” Johnson enthused.
Johnson still had uncertainties about Narnia’s adaptability. It was only upon meeting Adamson that the big picture took shape.
“The first thing he said to me was, ‘I don’t want to do a book based on the book. I want to do a movie based on my recollections of the book.’ For instance, the final battle, which is 20 minutes in the film, is only about 1½ pages in the book,” said Johnson.
That gave them more room to manoeuvre the story. But adapting a beloved children’s book has its pitfalls, and expectations are clearly running high.
When the Auckland Daily published a photograph of the prime minister of New Zealand with the four main cast members on set, it generated a tremendous amount of hits on the Narnia website.
“There were conversations saying, ‘Oh, I thought Lucy would be a little taller than that’ or ‘Mark should have curly hair’. You are not going to completely satisfy everyone,” said Johnson.
The film is rumoured to cost US$100mil (RM380mil), but Johnson wasn’t about to reveal the real sum either. One reporter ventured a figure of US$300mil, and this had Johnson chortling. “That was the movie we didn’t make with Nicole Kidman. No, that’s like double (the actual budget), and that’s crazy.”
Work is already underway on the script of the second film, Prince Caspian, but whether it will be made depends on the success of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Judging from the clips of the work-in-progress, Narnia looks to be rollicking good fun
