C.S. Lewis' "Narnia" series heads to big screen

Variety ^ | 12-7-01 | Matthew M. Ross and Charles Lyons

[What about Bob?]

They'll ruin it. Aslan was a symbolic representation of Jesus Christ. You think Hollyweird will make a movie like that? No way.

[FreeTally]

I read most of the books in the late 80's when I was in school. They are going to make all of them into movies? I hope they don't get already established actors to play the parts(really famous ones, that is). That will kill the entire way I view the stories.

[FreeTally]

They'll ruin it. Aslan was a symbolic representation of Jesus Christ. You think Hollyweird will make a movie like that? No way.

I was thinking that too. They will probably use Bobcat Golweight as the voice of Aslan too.....

[AlGone2001]

I hope they don't get already established actors to play the parts(really famous ones, that is). That will kill the entire way I view the stories.

The characters were all between 10 and 13 I think? That provides some limitations. I also hope that they don't totally secularize the stories.

Aslan was a picture of Jesus, and it needs to be told that way.

[Tree of Liberty]

I understand that the BBC made a live-action film of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I've never seen it myself, though.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"They will probably use Bobcat Golweight as the voice of Aslan too..."

But if they do decide to do it right, I can see John Lithgow doing the voice of Aslan. He's good.

[jrherreid]

It was ok, but rather over-acted. Aslan looked pretty lumpy, kind of like an overused teddy bear.

[FreeTally]

Didn't think of that. Lithgow would be good. I would say Sean Connery, but his voice can not be mistaken, where Lithgow would fool those who did not already know it was him.

[Senator Pardek]

.

[Ward Smythe]

You think Hollyweird will make a movie like that?

I would agree except for the fact that Philip Anschutz and Douglas Gresham are behind this one. While it may not "say" that "Aslan is Jesus" I would think they'll be pretty insistent that the message is clear.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Definitely. When he lowers his voice, he has quite a repetoire. He can add accents and inflections in the lower range that would fool a lot of people.

[Orual]

``We were very fortunate in that the C.S. Lewis Co. saw eye-to-eye with us on exactly how to make this film.''

The kiss of death. The new editions of Narnia have suffered the surgical excision of all spiritual references, in an effort to compete with the Potter books.

[jrherreid]

I thought it was just the "sequels" that are being written that would have the Christian context left out. Are they really editing the originals?

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Anschutz' own firmly held Christian beliefs.

Exxxelent . . .

[Orual]

This is one article on the subject, a few of the others have disappeared from the net.

[Polonius]

I liked the BBC version, even though the special effects were obviously limited by budgetary constraints. Still, a good screen adaptation would be nice, especially if it stayed true to the source material.

[trad_anglican]

I understand that the BBC made a live-action film of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I've never seen it myself, though.

Yes they did. It was somewhat poorly produced but true to the original story. It was shown on PBS some years back. The series also included Prince Caspian, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Silver Chair. They're available on video. If you have kids who are Narnia fans, I'd recommend them.

[jrherreid]

Kind of grim, but it doesn't say that the actual books will be re-edited, just that they will no longer be promoted as being a Christian fantasy.

[billybudd]

Asslan was a golden idol. Down with Asslan!