Tilda Swinton wants to return to Narnia in ‘The Magican’s Nephew’

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As we all know, the Mark Gordon Company is currently adapting*The Silver Chair as the fourth Narnia movie. However, someone that was a major part of the first Narnia film, with minor appearances in both of the sequels, wants back in. During an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit, Swinton was asked if...

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She's too old now. By all accounts she is a nice lady, and she was a to-die-for beauty when she was younger, but she is already a decade older now than she was when she starred in "Lion/Witch/Wardrobe," and she'll be still older by the time "The Magician's Nephew" actually goes before a camera.

I'm all for giving older women movie roles, but JADIS is not supposed to LOOK old.
 
I agree. It's a shame that there's been so much time between the movies, but as much as I would like to see her in The Magician's Nephew, I think it would be much better with a younger actress.
 
I take the points about her age, which is a pity as Tilda Swinton played a superb Jadis. Perhaps make-up and a wig could hide her age, so she still looked young and beautiful?
 
I agree she is far too old for the role. She's a decent actress. Jadis in MN however is described as young. Who then, should fill the role (hypothetically speaking that the movie should ever be made)? Someone fair or pale skinned. They've goofed a lot on the films so who knows what they will decide. Tilda was green and gaseous in VDT, so are they in fact going to cast her in SC? Oh...endless blunders! Speaking of which, is there any more news whatsoever on SC??? Has production begun? When will actual filming begin? 2023?
 
That stinks, because she is the white witch and to have someone else play her will be different but sadly necessary. Unless they can somehow make her look as she was in the first movie.
 
WOW, we seem to be a superficial bunch. Ok, you guys make a fair point, but I would have though that there are more important things about how they do the movie besides how young and good looking Jadis is. I say at least give her a chance of a seriously consideration, and see if with some movie magic she can be made to look younger than she is.

And also, it's only fair to add that Polly always said that she couldn't see anything specially beautiful about her...
 
What the heck, Narborg?! Lol. It's not that we're a "superficial bunch." It's simply that we get, if we're lucky, one "news" update per month and this time it happens to be on how highly Tilda Swinton thinks of herself and how she has invited herself to return for a hypothetical prequel. She has already overstayed her welcome, as far as I'm concerned, and while she was a good fit for the role of the White Witch to be honest with time I've actually come to appreciate her meager acting skills a bit less. Or perhaps it could be chalked up to Adamson's directing, but I found her to be (again quite good) however a tad (emphasis on tad) bit off as the White Witch. At any rate, BECAUSE her wanting to be Jadis again is the trending topic, we've of course pointed out the obvious inconsistency that would present, namely her age and appearance in The Magician's Nephew.

There are certainly other important things to discuss, and I believe many of them have over in The Magician's Nephew speculation thread.

In my opinion, the series is still on a (pretty much irreversible) downward spiral. The Silver Chair, whenever (if ever) it is released (with either a too-old or brand-new and less audience-grabbing Eustace and unfamiliar Jill, not to mention lower budget and production quality) will attract even less attention than The Voyage of the Dawn Treador. The series will end again with the same four movies, the other three never having made it to the big screen. Though I still say the classic BBC version, considering their time, are a higher all-around and enduring quality product. Meanwhile, series such as Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Hunger Games continue to thrive as teens and young adults hurl themselves downward into ever darker and disordered worlds. Studios and distributors invest billions into such films, achieving outstanding visual effects and enlisting suberp acting. Meanwhile Lewis' beloved masterpiece is given, if anything, a kiddy cookoo silly funhouse play-play treatment coupled with a healthy dose of modernization.

Yeah I'm bummed but not pessimistic or despairing. For certain, reboot the series. Find a why to eliminate Douglas Gersham and Walden Media, Disney and Fox, from further participation, as all of the above have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they simply cannot be trusted with the material.
 
tirian_son_of_erlian said:
What the heck, Narborg?! Lol. It's not that we're a "superficial bunch." It's simply that we get, if we're lucky, one "news" update per month and this time it happens to be on how highly Tilda Swinton thinks of herself and how she has invited herself to return for a hypothetical prequel. She has already overstayed her welcome, as far as I'm concerned, and while she was a good fit for the role of the White Witch, to be honest with time I've actually come to appreciate her meager acting skills a bit less. Or perhaps it could be chalked up to Adamson's directing, but I found her to be (again quite good) however a tad (emphasis on tad) bit off as the White Witch. At any rate, BECAUSE her wanting to be Jadis again is the trending topic, we've of course pointed out the obvious inconsistency that would present, namely her age and appearance in The Magician's Nephew.

In my opinion, the series is still on a (pretty much irreversible) downward spiral. The Silver Chair, whenever (if ever) it is released (with either a too-old or brand-new and less audience-grabbing Eustace and unfamiliar Jill, not to mention lower budget and production quality) will attract even less attention than The Voyage of the Dawn Treador. The series will end again with the same four movies, the other three never having made it to the big screen. Though I still say the classic BBC version, considering their time, are a higher all-around and enduring quality product. Meanwhile, series such as Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Hunger Games continue to thrive as teens and young adults hurl themselves downward into ever darker and disordered worlds. Studios and distributors invest billions into such films, achieving outstanding visual effects and enlisting superb acting. Meanwhile Lewis' beloved masterpiece is given, if anything, a kiddy cookoo silly funhouse play-play treatment coupled with a healthy dose of modernization.
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I'm with Tirian. I am not a superficial person. I _married_ a woman who was _fifteen_ years older than myself, because the _person_ she was inside was what mattered. (She passed away before Dancing Lawn was created.) But in a production of the _visual_ arts, what is _shown_ to the audience matters. Would you make a movie about Hercules and cast a feeble, disabled 110-pound man as the son of Zeus? Would you want me, at age sixty-two, to appear on camera as a nine-year-old Tom Sawyer?

Now, if some computer-generated trick could _make_ Tilda Swinton really look no more than twenty-five years old, I would go to a "Magician's Nephew" movie with her in it. I have nothing against her as a person. From what I've read, she was a friendly, cooperative, good-attitude person on the production locations for LWW. But since the visual arts require _visual_ quality, I don't want to see a movie in which a woman _looks_ fifty years old but I'm told to _pretend_ she looks young.

Live stage theater is a different proposition; it is more metaphorical, not claiming the same "photographic realism" as the cinema. That's why Debbie Reynolds could still do "Molly Brown" when she was over sixty. But I would never go near a _movie_ with a visibly-old woman playing the _young_ Molly Brown.
 
tirian_son_of_erlian said:
What the heck, Narborg?! Lol. It's not that we're a "superficial bunch." It's simply that we get, if we're lucky, one "news" update per month and this time it happens to be on how highly Tilda Swinton thinks of herself and how she has invited herself to return for a hypothetical prequel.
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That's hardly fair, she was asked the question by someone, she answered it by saying that she hopes that there will be the chance to do it.

I don't recall anything in the book that said that she was young, just beautiful, and I still think its sad that we live in a society where most of us (myself included) feel like theses are one of the same. Maybe they would need someone new to play the part if they get to TMN, but if they do, I hope that there is more to it that simple Swinton is too old. I do think it does still help the franchise if she is involved, so it would be sad if she can't be.

Here is a random idea, when Jadis eats the apple, Lewis describes some sort of physical transformation. What if they had a younger actress player her up to that part, but then, when she eats the apple, show her transformation ( a la king Theoden in LOTR), and having Swinton making a cameo for her last scene(s)? That could also mean that the audience, ( or at least those who don't already know) will not realise up to that point that she is the White Which.
 
Interesting suggestion, for handling a transformation between actresses after the apple, Narborg...
 
That is a brilliant suggestion, as both those who want Tilda Swinton in the film and those who do not can be accommodated.

For my part, I don't believe anyone on TDL is superficial. Although we may disagree with what others say at times, even strongly, I feel we should at all times keep things civil, and never resort to remarks which may be construed as derogatory.
 
I do hope they find a way to include her and keep her as the White Witch. Since we're already accustomed to seeing has the White Witch and seeing someone else would be weird (at least at first). I mean, it would be something to get used to eventually.
 
I think that you are all doing Tilda Swinton a great disservice in dismissing her acting ability. Perhaps its because I`m a bit more familiar with her work outside the Hollywood film industry which, on the whole hasn`t shown her at her best but she is actually a very talented actress, able to carry off a large number of very different complex roles.
So I dont have a problem with her doing "The Magicians Nephew", I think she`s quite capable of doing justice to the role of Jadis again, assuming the movie ever gets made.
I`d not be so keen on her appearing in "The Silver Chair" though, the `Green Witch` should be a seperate character, the most I might be willing to go along with would be having her turn out to be a puppet of Jadis`s spirit.
She shouldnt actually be her though.
 
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