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Here’s a little tidbit for all you prospective actors out there. NarniaWebber Malfhok has written to let us know that ChristianFilmmakers.org has chosen Rilian’s speech to Puddleglum, Jill, and Eustace in The Silver Chair for this month’s male actor monologue entry. You can see the monologue here, and view the entries (or post your own!) here. Thanks Malfhok for the links!

Initially, it was believed that Stephen Markus and Christopher McFeely would write The Voyage of the Dawn Treader script. Then, in May 2008, Steven Knight was announced as the writer. Less than a month ago, the news broke that Richard LaGravanese had been brought in to write it. Last we heard, Fox and Walden were “still working out budget and script issues.”

Now, according to Variety, Michael Petroni is writing the script. Variety writes: Petroni landed the ‘Narnia’ gig based on his recent work for Fox 2000, including a rewrite of the Kevin Lima directing vehicle ‘Afterlife,’ an adaptation of Markus Zusak’s novel ‘The Book Thief’ and a rewrite of the Julia Roberts starrer ‘Daniel Isn’t Talking. Read the full story here.

The reasons for all these new screenwriters being brought in are not clear. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a far more linear story than Prince Caspian but perhaps they are finding it difficult to adapt?

Back in June 2007 during the filming of Prince Caspian, Ben Barnes said, “I can’t wait to see what they’re going to do, because obviously it’s quite an episodic book, The Dawn Treader. But it’s really interesting. It’s not quite as action-packed, but it’s so much more interesting in terms of sort of varied experiences that the crew of the Dawn Treader go through. So I’ll be really excited to see what they do in terms of threading it all together as a kind of two-hour movie.”

UPDATE: Douglas Gresham has confirmed for NarniaWeb that Michael Petroni is indeed signed to help script Dawn Treader.

“Michael Petroni is the latest addition to our team,” said the franchise’s co-producer.

“I have been in extended and very encouraging meetings with him the last two days in Los Angeles. I think Michael is an excellent choice for the task and our time together has been very productive, I like most of his ideas and it seems he even likes some of mine. He is also a very nice guy, and an Aussie of Maltese extraction so he has everything going for him.”

Darren Jacobs from the C.S. Lewis Society writes us: We have added a new and exciting dimension to our C.S. Lewis Society’s tour, “The Path of C.S. Lewis and British Christianity.” Douglas Gresham, the step-son of C.S. Lewis, will be our special guest for the Oxford portion of our nine-day educational tour of England, May 31st through June 8th, 2009. He will personally accompany us as we visit the colleges at Oxford, tour the Kilns (Lewis’s and Douglas’s home in Oxford,) and enjoy an evening meal at the Trout Inn, where J. R. R. Tolkien ate often with “Jack.” He will travel with us as we visit the Eagle and Child Pub, where Lewis gathered with his Christian soul mates, the “Inklings.” It is an incredible honor for our society to have Mr. Gresham with us, who is co-producer of the two recent Narnia Disney films. It is gracious of him to share with us his personal life-memories of his years with C.S. Lewis. Click here for more information on this amazing weekend.

Devin Brown (author of Inside Narnia and Inside Prince Caspian) will be speaking at the upcoming C. S. Lewis & the Inklings Conference at Calvin College, March 26 to 28 at Calvin College. Also joining him will be Peter Schakel from Hope College and the author of a great book The Way Into Narnia. Those attending will also enjoy a special showing of the two Narnia films. Anyone interested in Lewis and the Inklings will be sure to enjoy this conference. Click here for the conference program overview in PDF format.

Monique writes us from Brisbane Australia to let us know that she heard a report about Narnia filming on the radio this afternoon. Apparently the Redland Shire Council (a shire of Queensland) was doing a vote today to decide whether or not they would support filming the movie there. Additionally, Fox is looking at Wellington Point (which is close by) for the flat waters where they would anchor the Dawn Treader. The report was on ABC this afternoon with Richard Fidler.

Here’s a fun story! It turns out that one of our Narnian Queens is going to become real-life royalty! That’s right — Sophie Winkleman, who played the adult Queen Susan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is engaged to Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Congratulations to Sophie on behalf of NarniaWeb! Special thanks to Mark Sommer and icarus for sending this story in.

Prince Caspian may not have been nominated for any Academy Awards, but it did make a brief appearance during a montage of shots from action films in 2008. You can view the video here (Go to 1:32 to see Peter swing his sword during the Single Combat). Thanks to ’Beth’ and ’Eilonwy19.’
UPDATE: The YouTube video has been removed. View it here now (Peter is at the 2:12 mark).

We reported last December on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader production moving from Mexico to Australia due to escalating violence in Mexico. It seems that Walden Media and Australia are close to reaching a deal that would allow Dawn Treader to film in Queensland later this year (according to Screenhub, an Australian movie news website). The story at Screenhub’s website can only be viewed if you have a subscription, but AintitCoolNews posted a short summary on the story.

ScreenHub, doing a lot of heavy lifting this week, has also mentioned that the third NARNIA movie, VOYAGE OF THE DAWNTREADER is very likely to shoot in Queensland this year. Apparently, one of the conditions is that the Gold Coast needs a new processing lab, and Village Roadshow is currently in the process of opening one. NARNIA and GREEN LANTERN both filming in Australia. And you thought our weakened dollar was a bad thing.

Hopefully we’ll be hearing a confirmation about this news very soon!

Thanks to S. Luke for the heads up!

UPDATE: The BrisBane Times has posted some more information. “If they were to come here it would be pretty significant in terms of Queensland crew employment rates,” commission spokeswoman Kylie Rathborne said. “We’re hopeful.” Read the article here.

Thanks to ‘Peanut Brittle.’

Running time: 50:54 For his first time on the NarniaWeb Council, Dr. Elwin Ransom joins Rilian and Gymfan in answering all the mail that’s been sent in.

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Weta, the New Zealand-based company that has done quite a bit of work on the Narnia films, has recently updated its website, including its Narnia section. The official announcement email says that the site is “full of ’never seen in public before’ images from our projects over the last 20 years.” You do need to register for a profile before you can see the Narnia section.