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Posted on 08/18/2006 8:15:08 AM PDT by DaveLoneRanger
The sequel to Disney's movie adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is coming home to Ireland.
A casting call for Prince Caspian, the next in the series of seven Narnia books, is seeking actors in Ireland and New Zealand.
Shooting is expected to start on Prince Caspian in January next year and the producers say the location this time will most likely be "the forests of Europe".
If the sequel to the phenomenally successful The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe is shot in Ireland, it will be a return to the very landscapes that inspired author CS Lewis.
The Belfast-born academic was inspired by many of Ulster's most spectacular landscapes, including the Mountains of Mourne and Dunluce Castle, which is believed to have been recreated in the coastal Narnian castle of Cair Paravel.
The team will begin shooting the third film in the series a year after Prince Caspian finishes.
A casting call has been issued on the subscription www.myentertainmentworld.com website for the film industry, seeking male actors in Ireland and New Zealand under the height of four foot six. Any ethnicity is welcomed.
The actors may be playing the dwarf or half-dwarf characters that play a key role in the story.
The third movie, Voyage Of The Dawn Treader reunites the characters of Edmund and Lucy Pevensie with Prince Caspian, the boy king who lost his throne to his evil usurping uncle. The three will meet once again on board Prince Caspian's ship, the Dawn Treader, as he voyages on a mission to find the seven lords banished by his uncle.
On the way, the travellers encounter sea serpents, dragons and even a star in human form.
The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader introduces Eustace, the less than amiable Pevensie cousin.
Producer Mark Johnson told The Hollywood Reporter that shooting on the movie adaptation of Prince Caspian is most likely to begin in January in the forests of Europe.
Johnson and director Andrew Adamson will return to film The Voyage of the Dawn Treader a year after finishing Prince Caspian, he added.
Ballymena-born star Liam Neeson is already signed-up to reprise his role as the voice of the great lion Aslan in Prince Caspian. The Pevensie children are the stars of four of the seven Narnia novels and it is understood that filming these is a priority before the young actors grow too old for the roles of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe, which was filmed in New Zealand, racked up an Irish Republic box office record when it became the biggest selling movie in the country, taking in €4.8 million (£3.2 million).
That record has since been smashed by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which has taken in more than €5 million.
My major concern is that "The Horse and His Boy" seems to be not in the queue. I'm sure that's related to it's depiction of Islam. A shame. Chronological order is usually considered to be:
1. The Magician's Nephew
2. The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
3. The Horse and His Boy
4. Prince Caspian
5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
6. The Silver Chair
7. The Last Battle
In the Horse and His Boy, the children are all grown. In fact Susan (or Lucy, I forget which) is getting married. It would be stupid to do it next. They should stick to the published order, not the chronological order.
Susan had an offer of marriage from the Calormen prince, IIRC. He isn't very nice, to put it mildly, and they flee back to Narnia.
I was ok with Neeson in Wardrobe, but thought Connery or even Patrick Stewart would have been better. One has to imagine that Lewis thought of Aslan's words with a British accent so it seems natural. Furthermore, Aslan's speech, based on the symbolism of the character, should be replete with the trappings of royalty, and that doesn't come naturally to an American accent; having said that, Heston in his prime would have been perfect.
Lewis was of course thinking of the medieval Crusades (he was heavily involved in them in his day job). No way to get around it.
He was also right, of course.
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