While down in Aukland, New Zealand (think Vancouver but with
heavier accents), visiting the set of THE
CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
from Disney studios, we flew to the city of Wellington for a couple
of days, to not only visit Richard Taylor’s famous WETA workshops
but to also call on the annual Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo that was
being held there over the weekend. Among the many special guests and
speakers at the event (primarily Star Wars, Star Trek
and Lord of the Rings ne--, um, folk – which naturally
included Sean Astin, who I’m sure will be a staple at these types
of events ‘til the end of time) was a panel for The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe, there to answer any and all questions
from all the rabid and anxious fans who have been awaiting a movie
version of C.S. Lewis’ books for ages.
You know you’ve arrived at a
New Zealand airport when a LOTR character is scaling the goddamn
thing. I also saw Sean Astin there - he was my baggage handler…
The panel included Richard Taylor, head honcho at the
WETA workshops, whose previous works include THE LAST SAMURAI, THE
LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, HELLBOY and many others. He is currently
working on THE LEGEND OF ZORRO, Peter Jackson’s upcoming KING KONG
and of course, Andrew Adamson’s THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. He’s
picked up four Oscar wins for the LOTR films alone (he kindly let us
handle the golden boys the day before at his WETA workshops). He was
joined by Howard Berger of KNB EFX, a makeup and
prosthetic pro and visual effects supervisor, Dean Wright.
The movie is set to wrap in early December after which they’ll
shoot for a few days in the Czech Republic in January. The
post-production will lead them up to the film’s release: Christmas
2005. The film’s unit publicist, Ernie Malik, was also
there to handle questions regarding location, casting and the like.
(left to right): Howard Berger,
Richard Taylor, Dean Wright
Here is a quick summary of the some of the things they
covered during their panel:
- 23
individual species were created for the movie, with numerous
versions of each member of a specific species (i.e. different
variations of fauns, dwarves, centaurs, etc.)
- Casting
is still ongoing for Aslan, the Great Lion’s voice. Expect
99.5% of the lion to be computer-generated, with the rest being
left to the animatronic department. Creating the CG Aslan has
been their biggest challenge so far; they want to avoid him
being boring or cartoonish in any way as it’s essential he
conveys the nobility that many associate with him (as well as
him being the moral center of the story). They’re going to
great lengths to make it look as realistic as possible and to
avoid it looking like one of those “ talking animal movies.”
“Stuffies” of the beavers and lion are often being used on
set to facilitate the children’s performances when acting
opposite the animals. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are said to have the
biggest animal parts on set; they are 100% CG. With all these
beavers in the movie, there’s no WAY this movie will get a PG
rating. Hee, hee…
- In
designing the world of Narnia, the filmmakers referenced all of
the other books for all cultural references and ideas in the
goal of giving Narnia its own special visual presentation
onscreen. They considered many possibilities as to what the land
could have truly been influenced by; from the Edwardian world of
Digory and Polly from The Magician’s Nephew, the
1940’s wartime London period of the Pevensie children, the
Witch’s Charn background all the way to C.S. Lewis’ own
mythological studies. They even considered the possibility that
Narnia is simply a land on its own, created with no particular
correlation to any culture of the past. All this to say
they’ve put some serious thought into creating a Narnian look
unique enough to satisfy the imaginations of all the faithful
followers of the book (which is very detail-light and leaves
much to the mind’s eye).
- When
talk of sequels arose, Ernie stated they would ideally like to
do all 7, but a few of them will most likely be combined. They
have writers presently working on Prince Caspian, which
will be the next book to be adapted.
- The
final battle sequence, which will be expanded tremendously for
the film (it was described in barely a couple of pages in the
book) will be shooting in the South Islands of New Zealand, one
of the few locations Peter Jackson did not shoot the LOTR
trilogy. The opening will be an elongated action sequence that
begins with the bombing of London, and continues on as we see
the children being evacuated to a railway station until finally
being sent off to the countryside to stay with the professor.
The sequence will last approximately10-12 minutes. The
filmmakers thought it vital to make the battle of Britain a very
present and crucial part of the opening, as it is what
ultimately sets things in motion and many in the young audience
nowadays might not recall how tragic and life-altering an event
it really was, if they know about it at all.
Expect set reports, an overview of the WETA workshop visit,
as well as interviews with the cast and crew in the coming weeks and
months...
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