Narnia movie already doomed for failure? Aslan to be female???

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wonderings

Member
Not sure how true this is, but a friend sent me this link:

www.nexuspointnews.com

EXCLUSIVE: Meryl Streep In Talks To Join Greta Gerwig’s ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ Films

Netflix’s highly anticipated The Chronicles of Narnia film franchise is set to kick off with a film adaption of The Magician’s Nephew.
www.nexuspointnews.com www.nexuspointnews.com

To summarize the link, Meryl Streep supposedly in talks to play Aslan. If that is true then the whole thing in my mind is doomed for failure. They did mention Daniel Craig for Uncle Andrew, that is casting I think would be good, I can see him as quick Uncle Andrew. What I cannot see, and what would keep me from watching would be the identity politics and gender swapping that is the Hollywood way these days. I truly hope it is not true and hope that they see wherever else these things have been done they have been wrought with failure. Narnia movies/series will fail if they deviate from the core of what Lewis wrote. And you cannot get more foundational then Aslan. Making him female is just not an option for this story if they care at all about them. Again I really hope this site is unreliable and this proves to be untrue.
 
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I have seen this too, I have had my reservations about Greta Gerwig and this is on par with some of my imagined worst-case scenarios. I was kind of hopeful because Magician's Nephew was the one I didn't think she would screw up too bad
 
Allow me to help alleviate your concerns. I understand them, and when I saw the initial headline I had them too, but being a fearless writer for this site< I did what any good journalist does, and dug a little deeper.

There are a few things about this article that point to it being either someones early April Fools Joke, or a Clickbait article,

1: Nexus Point News is NOT a credible source of information. Up until this story broke I never heard of them. When I did a Google search the first result that came up was a different page that dealt with environmental news. Typically, major casting announcements are reported by either a respected industry insider, like Variety or Deadline, or a respected media outlet like Collider.

2: Nexus Point News does not provide any sources in their reporting, further hinting towards it possibly being clickbait or an April Fools Joke. Variety, Deadline, and Collider all site sources in reporting and none of them are talking about this.

3: Given Streeps age (75), and Netflix looks eager to play "the long game" with the franchise and given the fact it's roughly two to three years between installments of a series ( longer if your Netflix considering the lag time between seasons of Stranger Things....Not to say the kids are getting a little long in the tooth, but it was reaching a point I was certain that one of them would be the spokesperson for Safe Step Walk in Tubs and the other would be reminding me to sign up for Medicare by the time the final season dropped it was taking so long), I doubt they'll want to cast a performer that old in such a pivotal role.

4: Upon further investigation I found that the CS Lewis company has prevented stage productions from casting a female as Aslan. They still have veto power when it comes to casting choices for the production.

5: If true, it would undermine everything that Gerwig has said about how nervous she is about this production and how she wants to respect and honor Lewis and his work.

6: The Netflix exec has talked extensively about how much Lewis's work means to his fans and to Christians and seeking to honor that. Fact is, after the failure of Snow White, I get the impression that for a time studios are going to be a little careful when it comes to adapting beloved IPS if they hope to appeal to actual fans.

7: The film is only in preproduction phase with no roles announced. Traditionally in hybrid productions like this, or the original Narnia series, the voice over roles are the very last to be selected. Last time around Aslan was not only the last one picked, but had o be recast because the original actor, Brian Cox lost weight and his voice changed as a result.

By the time filming starts Aslan will either be an oversized plush Lion from FAO Schwartz standing in for Him...or Wilson the Volleyball from Cast Away.

Also, moderators, can we move this thread to The Narnia on Netflix section? This feels more like it belongs in the rumors and general discussion, than news.
 
Sven-El said:
Allow me to help alleviate your concerns. I understand them, and when I saw the initial headline I had them too, but being a fearless writer for this site< I did what any good journalist does, and dug a little deeper.

There are a few things about this article that point to it being either someones early April Fools Joke, or a Clickbait article,

1: Nexus Point News is NOT a credible source of information. Up until this story broke I never heard of them. When I did a Google search the first result that came up was a different page that dealt with environmental news. Typically, major casting announcements are reported by either a respected industry insider, like Variety or Deadline, or a respected media outlet like Collider.

2: Nexus Point News does not provide any sources in their reporting, further hinting towards it possibly being clickbait or an April Fools Joke. Variety, Deadline, and Collider all site sources in reporting and none of them are talking about this.

3: Given Streeps age (75), and Netflix looks eager to play "the long game" with the franchise and given the fact it's roughly two to three years between installments of a series ( longer if your Netflix considering the lag time between seasons of Stranger Things....Not to say the kids are getting a little long in the tooth, but it was reaching a point I was certain that one of them would be the spokesperson for Safe Step Walk in Tubs and the other would be reminding me to sign up for Medicare by the time the final season dropped it was taking so long), I doubt they'll want to cast a performer that old in such a pivotal role.

4: Upon further investigation I found that the CS Lewis company has prevented stage productions from casting a female as Aslan. They still have veto power when it comes to casting choices for the production.

5: If true, it would undermine everything that Gerwig has said about how nervous she is about this production and how she wants to respect and honor Lewis and his work.

6: The Netflix exec has talked extensively about how much Lewis's work means to his fans and to Christians and seeking to honor that. Fact is, after the failure of Snow White, I get the impression that for a time studios are going to be a little careful when it comes to adapting beloved IPS if they hope to appeal to actual fans.

7: The film is only in preproduction phase with no roles announced. Traditionally in hybrid productions like this, or the original Narnia series, the voice over roles are the very last to be selected. Last time around Aslan was not only the last one picked, but had o be recast because the original actor, Brian Cox lost weight and his voice changed as a result.

By the time filming starts Aslan will either be an oversized plush Lion from FAO Schwartz standing in for Him...or Wilson the Volleyball from Cast Away.

Also, moderators, can we move this thread to The Narnia on Netflix section? This feels more like it belongs in the rumors and general discussion, than news.
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Thank you
 
Sven-El said:
Allow me to help alleviate your concerns. I understand them, and when I saw the initial headline I had them too, but being a fearless writer for this site< I did what any good journalist does, and dug a little deeper.

There are a few things about this article that point to it being either someones early April Fools Joke, or a Clickbait article,

1: Nexus Point News is NOT a credible source of information. Up until this story broke I never heard of them. When I did a Google search the first result that came up was a different page that dealt with environmental news. Typically, major casting announcements are reported by either a respected industry insider, like Variety or Deadline, or a respected media outlet like Collider.

2: Nexus Point News does not provide any sources in their reporting, further hinting towards it possibly being clickbait or an April Fools Joke. Variety, Deadline, and Collider all site sources in reporting and none of them are talking about this.

3: Given Streeps age (75), and Netflix looks eager to play "the long game" with the franchise and given the fact it's roughly two to three years between installments of a series ( longer if your Netflix considering the lag time between seasons of Stranger Things....Not to say the kids are getting a little long in the tooth, but it was reaching a point I was certain that one of them would be the spokesperson for Safe Step Walk in Tubs and the other would be reminding me to sign up for Medicare by the time the final season dropped it was taking so long), I doubt they'll want to cast a performer that old in such a pivotal role.

4: Upon further investigation I found that the CS Lewis company has prevented stage productions from casting a female as Aslan. They still have veto power when it comes to casting choices for the production.

5: If true, it would undermine everything that Gerwig has said about how nervous she is about this production and how she wants to respect and honor Lewis and his work.

6: The Netflix exec has talked extensively about how much Lewis's work means to his fans and to Christians and seeking to honor that. Fact is, after the failure of Snow White, I get the impression that for a time studios are going to be a little careful when it comes to adapting beloved IPS if they hope to appeal to actual fans.

7: The film is only in preproduction phase with no roles announced. Traditionally in hybrid productions like this, or the original Narnia series, the voice over roles are the very last to be selected. Last time around Aslan was not only the last one picked, but had o be recast because the original actor, Brian Cox lost weight and his voice changed as a result.

By the time filming starts Aslan will either be an oversized plush Lion from FAO Schwartz standing in for Him...or Wilson the Volleyball from Cast Away.

Also, moderators, can we move this thread to The Narnia on Netflix section? This feels more like it belongs in the rumors and general discussion, than news.
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I had heard this about the site as well after I posted, though I did not delve too deeply. My fears are not completely elevated that Netflix is going to screw this up. This is what everyone is doing and being faithful to classic works of literature does not have a strong track record. The same verbiage was used for Rings of Power. All the talk of how they are fans of Tolkien and the deep respect for the lore, but then while saying that they produce and praise the utter garbage that would have Tolkien spinning in his grave if he were to see it. Again I so hope I will be wrong on this, but the only streaming service that I would have any faith in adaptation would be Apple right now, and that is purely based on the Silo series which has been incredibly faithful to the books.
 
wonderings said:
I had heard this about the site as well after I posted, though I did not delve too deeply. My fears are not completely elevated that Netflix is going to screw this up. This is what everyone is doing and being faithful to classic works of literature does not have a strong track record. The same verbiage was used for Rings of Power. All the talk of how they are fans of Tolkien and the deep respect for the lore, but then while saying that they produce and praise the utter garbage that would have Tolkien spinning in his grave if he were to see it. Again I so hope I will be wrong on this, but the only streaming service that I would have any faith in adaptation would be Apple right now, and that is purely based on the Silo series which has been incredibly faithful to the books.
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~Lava~ said:
Narniaweb is now saying they can confirm it.
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I saw that report as well.

And I can agree with you, on the RIngs of Power .They said a lot of the right things in interviews but, the proof is in the pudding, as they say and I'll admit that Gerwig did a good job in interviews as well of saying what I hoped she'd say. Esepcailly after teh screenwriters for the film adaptaion of A Wrinkle in Time ahd no problems openly diminising L'Engles Christian beliefs in interveiws and removed them.

Truthfully, I feel what Narnia ( and for that matter L'Engle) needs is it's own Peter Jackson. Fact of the matter is, Jackson went to Hollywood with his pitch for LOTR, no the other way around, and did it as a passion project. Jacskon *cared* about telling the story of Middle-earth and that love was evident, even if there were a few deviations from the text to make it work on screen. Gerwig, like the other directors before her is a studio hire.


To be honest....I don't have a horse in the race. I don't have a Netflix account, and lost access when they cracked down on password sharing as I had it through my sister and brother-in-law, and given the price of a movie ticket, especially Imax, I was on the fence until I heard further. Much to say if true, because keep in mind Streep is only being CONSIDERED, it makes the decision to skip it that much easier for me.

Part of me is hoping this is like the infamous "Arwen at Helms Deep" leak with The Two Towers were in someone on the production leaked what would be a move that would allienate the fans in order to get the studio to relaize that it's a bad idea.

Admittedly even before this, I was almost wishing Angel Studios Animation, the people behind the Wingfeather Saga and the upcoming King of Kings, would take a crack at Narnia.
 
Sven-El said:
I saw that report as well.

And I can agree with you, on the RIngs of Power .They said a lot of the right things in interviews but, the proof is in the pudding, as they say and I'll admit that Gerwig did a good job in interviews as well of saying what I hoped she'd say. Esepcailly after teh screenwriters for the film adaptaion of A Wrinkle in Time ahd no problems openly diminising L'Engles Christian beliefs in interveiws and removed them.

Truthfully, I feel what Narnia ( and for that matter L'Engle) needs is it's own Peter Jackson. Fact of the matter is, Jackson went to Hollywood with his pitch for LOTR, no the other way around, and did it as a passion project. Jacskon *cared* about telling the story of Middle-earth and that love was evident, even if there were a few deviations from the text to make it work on screen. Gerwig, like the other directors before her is a studio hire.


To be honest....I don't have a horse in the race. I don't have a Netflix account, and lost access when they cracked down on password sharing as I had it through my sister and brother-in-law, and given the price of a movie ticket, especially Imax, I was on the fence until I heard further. Much to say if true, because keep in mind Streep is only being CONSIDERED, it makes the decision to skip it that much easier for me.

Part of me is hoping this is like the infamous "Arwen at Helms Deep" leak with The Two Towers were in someone on the production leaked what would be a move that would allienate the fans in order to get the studio to relaize that it's a bad idea.

Admittedly even before this, I was almost wishing Angel Studios Animation, the people behind the Wingfeather Saga and the upcoming King of Kings, would take a crack at Narnia.
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I also don't have Netflix but they were planning on releasing to Theaters and I was going to give it a try despite my general dislike of pretty much everything I have seen by Greta Gerwig thus far. If she had done a good job, a Netflix subscription might have been in my future so I could rewatch it.
I am hoping that the fan pressure will cause a more sensible casting choice. Spec has mentioned Idris Elba and that would be amazing, too bad James Earl Jones is not still around. It worked for Sonic the Hedgehog and to some extent Snow White and several other productions. Maybe this was a red-herring thrown out to gauge how willing fans are to accept major changes and the appropriate backlash will push a faithful rendition. Maybe Meryl Streep has suddenly developed a deeper, less demure voice that will work okay with a male lion.
If things don't change, I don't have much hope for this film series.
 
Yeah, I hope it was leaked early in talks so that they can gauge fan reaction. If they look... it's kind of a mess right now. I would guess about 1/20 people is actually okay with the idea... if that. And that's the people who think this means Aslan will be female in the film. We don't yet know if that's the case.
 
Specter said:
Yeah, I hope it was leaked early in talks so that they can gauge fan reaction. If they look... it's kind of a mess right now. I would guess about 1/20 people is actually okay with the idea... if that. And that's the people who think this means Aslan will be female in the film. We don't yet know if that's the case.
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Studios do not really care about the fans, and so far they have not been learning their lessons as they keep taking flop after flop. Amazon did the same thing with Rings of Power, they even fired their guy they. brought on to consult on lore. Complete disregard for the story and the author. Hundreds of millions wasted and they are still going on and spending more. Fan reaction to the trailers and PR stuff they did before was negative. Same goes for so many more, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, etc. Fans are called toxic, racists and other horrible things for caring about the story that is being perverted and destroyed.

I can see them going with a male lion with a female voice. As we all know gender is a choice, men can get pregnant and give birth and we can't even define what is a woman. So why not have a female voice for Aslan?
 
My choice for Aslan would have been Joel Smallbone of for King & Country. He's a relative unknown, he can sing, he can act ( Journey to Bethlehem and Unsung Hero ), given his Australian he has a British-adjacent accent and his voice has a low, thundery rumble akin to Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth.

Who, incidentally would also be good choices.

I also would have liked either Jim Caviezel ( Passion of the Christ), Jonathan Roumie ( The Chosen), Oscar Isaacs ( King of Kings), as Aslan...for obvious reasons.
 
Sven-El said:
My choice for Aslan would have been Joel Smallbone of for King & Country. He's a relative unknown, he can sing, he can act ( Journey to Bethlehem and Unsung Hero ), given his Australian he has a British-adjacent accent and his voice has a low, thundery rumble akin to Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth.

Who, incidentally would also be good choices.

I also would have liked either Jim Caviezel ( Passion of the Christ), Jonathan Roumie ( The Chosen), Oscar Isaacs ( King of Kings), as Aslan...for obvious reasons.
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Joel Smallbone would be a good one. I love For King and Country. Right now, I would take any deep, rich voiced male they wanted to hire.
 
Sven-El said:
My choice for Aslan would have been Joel Smallbone of for King & Country. He's a relative unknown, he can sing, he can act ( Journey to Bethlehem and Unsung Hero ), given his Australian he has a British-adjacent accent and his voice has a low, thundery rumble akin to Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth.

Who, incidentally would also be good choices.

I also would have liked either Jim Caviezel ( Passion of the Christ), Jonathan Roumie ( The Chosen), Oscar Isaacs ( King of Kings), as Aslan...for obvious reasons.
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I can't imagine Hugh Jackman or Chris Hemsowrth voicing that part at all. Their voices don't elicit the firm and loving tone I imagine Aslan would have. Balancing the power and Kingship over all, while still being compassionate and loving. I don't know the other actors you listed but think Ralph Fiennes would be well suited for the role, and is British so accent is spot on.
 
A fair point. I guess I was going off of what is described in Silver Chair where Jill feels like the voice is low and rumbly like a deep, mighty wind. Honestly, back in the 99 after Prince of Egypt, I felt that if James Earl Jones wasn't Aslan then Val Kilmer ( Moses and the voice of God in PoE would have been a great choice, but sadly he is no longer with us either)

Well, Caviezel, Roumie, and Isaacs have all played and/or voiced Jesus. So, that was my logic.

Which interestingly enough, Fiennes did voice Jesus in a long forgotten TV special The Miracle Maker. And coincidentally he and Neeson have been good friends since filming Schindler's List.
 
Another choice I saw fans suggest was Henry Cavill, Superman from Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, Justice League and Black Adam, as he too is actually British and has a deep, rumbly voice.

But sadly, it's out of our hands, and we are at the mercy of Studio execs with MBAs. As for me, I'm getting off the hype ride until I see something more concrete, and will stick with my book reviews for this site and, while I'm off the ride, I'll enjoy a nice churro.

Any one else need a (digital)churro while I'm up?
 
Sven-El said:
A fair point. I guess I was going off of what is described in Silver Chair where Jill feels like the voice is low and rumbly like a deep, mighty wind. Honestly, back in the 99 after Prince of Egypt, I felt that if James Earl Jones wasn't Aslan then Val Kilmer ( Moses and the voice of God in PoE would have been a great choice, but sadly he is no longer with us either)

Well, Caviezel, Roumie, and Isaacs have all played and/or voiced Jesus. So, that was my logic.

Which interestingly enough, Fiennes did voice Jesus in a long forgotten TV special The Miracle Maker. And coincidentally he and Neeson have been good friends since filming Schindler's List.
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Val Kilmer would have been good I believe, obviously that one is never happening now. James Earl Jones has done this type of voice far to much and think someone would be better suited for it. You hear too many characters with Jones.
 
fair enough.
wonderings said:
Studios do not really care about the fans, and so far they have not been learning their lessons as they keep taking flop after flop. Amazon did the same thing with Rings of Power, they even fired their guy they. brought on to consult on lore. Complete disregard for the story and the author. Hundreds of millions wasted and they are still going on and spending more. Fan reaction to the trailers and PR stuff they did before was negative. Same goes for so many more, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, etc. Fans are called toxic, racists and other horrible things for caring about the story that is being perverted and destroyed.

I can see them going with a male lion with a female voice. As we all know gender is a choice, men can get pregnant and give birth and we can't even define what is a woman. So why not have a female voice for Aslan?
Click to expand...
While they don't care about fans, they do care about two other things: making and losing money. You are right in saying they don't seem to learn the lessons, but at some point a studio can only make so many flops before it can't stay a float. Look at Disney. I saw a headline that they've already hit pause on a number of live action remakes after Snow White, including Tangled.

No one intentionally sets out t make a bad movie that will fail. Well, unless you're Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks The Producers were they set out to make the biggest bomb possible so they can take the tax write off in cancelling the production. Hopefully...this is not a Bialystock and Bloom scenario.
Specter said:
Yeah, I hope it was leaked early in talks so that they can gauge fan reaction. If they look... it's kind of a mess right now. I would guess about 1/20 people is actually okay with the idea... if that. And that's the people who think this means Aslan will be female in the film. We don't yet know if that's the case.
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Its hardly just here on NarniaFans. Narnia Web it's the same thing ( I'd estimate it's even stronger....mods had to censor a comment in the forum). Scowering Screenrant, Deadline, et all, comments on this news are also overwhelmingly negative and not just from fans of the books, but casual movie goers who are tired of arbitrarily swapping characters. This leaves them with at least a stunning 1 % in favor, which is not what you want for a major motion picture.

And the "original source" for the reporting, Nexus Point News? 100% negative comments.

They already are going against the current by choosing Magician's Nephew, a lesser known book in the mythology, with those same casual fans wondering why they are starting there, and now they have this going against it.


Again, we are just spectulating at this point, but, if I were to guess, I would not consider it out of the realm of possibility that someone from the CS Lewis Company leaked it in order to gauge the fan reactions and then go back to, say producers, or casting directors, or even Gerwig and say, "Look, this is a really bad idea. We gauged the fans and they are overwhelmingly opposed to it." Studio execs think in terms of numbers and charts, and thus, it's not always enough for, say The CS Lewis company, to put it's foot down .Sometimes they need some stats o back it up.

Now, why Nexus Point news, and not say, us or Narnia Web? Again, if I were to guess, if I were with the company, I would probably choose a neutral publication as opposed to a Narnia or CS Lewis oriented one. You can already tell which way the fans would go with Narnia and CSL. Some other site can give you a much stronger sampling.

Again, just my theory .We have no idea what is actually going on, and again this is just the "In Talks" phase.
 
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Sven-El said:
fair enough.

While they don't care about fans, they do care about two other things: making and losing money. You are right in saying they don't seem to learn the lessons, but at some point a studio can only make so many flops before it can't stay a float. Look at Disney. I saw a headline that they've already hit pause on a number of live action remakes after Snow White, including Tangled.

No one intentionally sets out t make a bad movie that will fail. Well, unless you're Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks The Producers were they set out to make the biggest bomb possible so they can take the tax write off in cancelling the production. Hopefully...this is not a Bialystock and Bloom scenario.

Its hardly just here on NarniaFans. Narnia Web it's the same thing ( I'd estimate it's even stronger....mods had to censor a comment in the forum). Scowering Screenrant, Deadline, et all, comments on this news are also overwhelmingly negative and not just from fans of the books, but casual movie goers who are tired of arbitrarily swapping characters. This leaves them with at least a stunning 1 % in favor, which is not what you want for a major motion picture.

And the "original source" for the reporting, Nexus Point News? 100% negative comments.

They already are going against the current by choosing Magician's Nephew, a lesser known book in the mythology, with those same casual fans wondering why they are starting there, and now they have this going against it.


Again, we are just spectulating at this point, but, if I were to guess, I would not consider it out of the realm of possibility that someone from the CS Lewis Company leaked it in order to gauge the fan reactions and then go back to, say producers, or casting directors, or even Gerwig and say, "Look, this is a really bad idea. We gauged the fans and they are overwhelmingly opposed to it." Studio execs think in terms of numbers and charts, and thus, it's not always enough for, say The CS Lewis company, to put it's foot down .Sometimes they need some stats o back it up.

Now, why Nexus Point news, and not say, us or Narnia Web? Again, if I were to guess, if I were with the company, I would probably choose a neutral publication as opposed to a Narnia or CS Lewis oriented one. You can already tell which way the fans would go with Narnia and CSL. Some other site can give you a much stronger sampling.

Again, just my theory .We have no idea what is actually going on, and again this is just the "In Talks" phase.
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There is at least a good argument to be made to start at the Chronological beginning of the Chronicles. There is not really a good argument to be made for casting a female to play Aslan whose gender and gendered attributes are important plot points.
 
Why did I feel this was inevitable? We waited 15 years for the next instalment of Narnia. 90% of the audience for a Narnia movie are fans of the books and CS Lewis and Netflix is shutting their primary audience out for one that isn't there. Even though Walden Media didn't stick to the books at least they nailed the characters. I didn't even mind an old Prince Caspian. If we get pass the 3 episodes Gerwig is slated to produce without the series being cancelled it will be a miracle.
 


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