Why Mabel Kirke Will Probably Have an Expanded Role in The Magician’s Nephew | Talking Beasts
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Academy Award nominee Carey Mulligan is the latest to join the cast of Greta Gerwig’s upcoming movie adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew. She will play Digory’s mother… who only has a few lines in the book. Should we expect more from this character in the movie? Listen to the discussion and post a comment below!
In the post-show chatter, the podcasters discuss other things in The Magician’s Nephew that will likely be expanded in the movie.
Re-listening to the conversation and I forgot to mention that a adding a scene after Polly and Digory return to London with Jadis (much like the Focus on The Family audio drama where Digory brings grapes to his mum) would be so beneficial to setting up the second half of the story.
I feel the last third of The Magician’s Nephew loses a bit of momentum but a scene with Mable would only strengthen Digory’s character arc and help re-focus the later portion of the book. His search for a cure needs to be top of mind for viewers as Narnia is created.
Excited to see what Mulligan can bring to the role!
Just an aside; I want to give a shoutout to FOTF audio drama for a moment. I think their version of The Magician’s Nephew is one of the best Narnia adaptations! Specifically focusing on the added Digory/Mable scene, a lot of the dialogue was actually just reworked lines from the book from the narrator. I hope Greta Gerwig takes inspiration from that!
Looking forward to reading everyone’s thoughts below 🙂
Yay! A new podcast! I was running out of things to listen to while editing or working with Adobe After Effects, lol.
I think Carey will probably get something similar to Felicity Jones in A Monster Calls,
I think the expansion is necessary to add to the loneliness of Digory and the draw of he choice he maybe inclined to take. I think it’s also fair to remember actors like Issa Rae, Emma McKay, Nichola , Bob Odenkirk had such small parts and so I don’t the core of the story will be changed , it’ll probably be still under 2h.
I think as an adaptation, one of the main challenges is ensuring the final act with journey delivers a cinematic experience, it works on paper but might not provide the same relief on screen if it’s just a straight adaptation
Like it or not there r parallels to the lord of the rings , a journey/ quest where the protagonists must confront their own desires , loneliness to prevent corruption. But the beauty of the decision he makes is that he has complete agency and not the recollection of teachings but an active choice about who he wants to be, so I don’t think it will be Lion King “ Remember “ lol.
I’m also fascinated about how they’ll deal with his father, obviously letters have to read or sent between them as exposition…
Also has has Meryl Streep not done a public engagement in last 4 months in which a journalist can ask the actual question same with Daniel Craig who was at TUDUM 🙂
I’ve been hearing rumors that Timothy Dalton is in talks to voice aslan
Great episode! Even though I’m not a film nerd, what Glumpuddle said about Vista Vision really interested me and helped me kind of imagine the look of this upcoming movie.
I’m not loving the idea of expanding on the character of Mrs. Kirke even though it’s better in theory for her to be a distinct character and not just a generic mom. (Well, I’d argue there was a good reason for her to be a generic mom in the book. It was so any reader who had a good relationship with their mother could identify with Digory but that’s probably more of a book thing.) And when you’ve Carey Mulligan in your movie, of course, you want to make the most of her. My concern is though that there’s no way to do that without completely restructuring the plot of The Magician’s Nephew and I love its existing structure! The only good way to do it that I can imagine would be to have her come to Narnia along with the other characters in the last act. You could argue (though I wouldn’t) that there are already too many characters from England in that section. I mean, Polly and Strawberry go with Digory to get the silver apple but neither of them has any character drama like he has. Does he really need a third sidekick? And if Mabel stays with Frank and Helen, well, that’s not really giving her much more to do than the book does, is it? I’d be interested in expanding on her character if this were a really long miniseries but it’s going to be a movie.
As for ways to give her more personality, the book implies that she’s more fun and childlike than the uptight Letty though the two sisters love each other. Maybe the movie could expand on that.
I’m also nervous about the adaptation having something Digory’s mother told him be the thing to give him the resolve to keep his word to Aslan. As this podcast says, that’d be the predictable thing to do, and the book specifically averts it. When Digory says (“getting the words out with difficulty”) his mother herself wouldn’t want him to take the apple for her, Jadis counters that he wouldn’t have to tell anyone.
On the Narniaweb forum, Cymru had some interesting theories on why they might have a different actor or actress portray Aslan in each movie. Check out what she wrote sometime if you haven’t.
What Glumpuddle said about another LWW adaptation having more leeway than an MN one really resonated with me. In fact, I was about to post in the forum that if a new movie adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe flipped Aslan’s gender or maybe flipped every character’s gender, well, I don’t think that would be a good idea per se, but I could sympathize with the desire to make this retelling stand out from others whereas I feel that with a Magician’s Nephew movie, just adapting that particular story is fresh enough in itself. It doesn’t need any iconoclastic twist.
I am just a no on Meryl Streep. It will just be awful. There is no connection to the mother that works for me. I don’t want to hear the production commenting on them being excited by the change. I am just a no. There might be some silly reason, but it’s a no.
They could start with adult Digory in the “real world” with him looking back and using Mabel as a reason he’s retelling or remembering this journey. This would be a framing device of sorts, which would help connect MN and LWW (and possibly other books if they wanted). Regardless, like you guys said, there’s no way they won’t expand on her character—and truthfully, there’s no good reason NOT to.
I do wonder if Digory’s father will play a factor into the story.
Well, I thought it was kinda obvious:
*Young Indian-British Actor: Digory himself (biracial version of the character, half Indian, half English. His father is currently working/fighting in India, and his mother is bedridden in England)
*Young British Actress: Polly (can of course be played an actress of any ethnicity, but they’ll probably choose a Caucasian girl, because she’s from London 1900, 97% of London kids at that time were English/Caucasian)
*Young British Actor: Uncle Andrew as a child in flashbacks. (as the brother of Digory’s mother – who is played by an Caucasian actress, he’ll very likely be played by a Caucasian-British boy)
End of my rant
“MSThey could start with adult Digory in the “real world” with him looking back and using Mabel as a reason he’s retelling or remembering this journey. This would be a framing device of sorts, which would help connect MN and LWW (and possibly other books if they wanted). Regardless, like you guys said, there’s no way they won’t expand on her character—and truthfully, there’s no good reason NOT to. I do wonder if Digory’s father will play a factor into the story.”
Now that does sound a good idea, & quite original. But if Digory’s father does come into the story at all, I think he also needs to be of part Indian descent as well as the boy who might play Digory.
A historical note to make, is that it wasn’t until 1859 that the British Raj even started, and before that, the East India Company, until the 1870’s was the chief British operator from the 1600’s onwards. And yes, families who worked/or later, fought there, returning to Britain to visit family or eventually to retire there, were called Anglo-Indians and by the late 1800’s, having done well, would definitely fit the bill for Digory’s father, in my opinion.
@ J
Thanks for the comment! Part of the confusion arose from the fact that the Girl and Boy 2 were described in equal terms, implying the same level of significance. I think your theory is plausible, though I’m more convinced that Boy 1 and 2 are both Digory!
There were some really interesting theories being shared in the casting area on the NarniaWeb forum if anyone wanted to read them 🙂
@ Impending Doom
I also think they are both Digory. I think they just wanted to broaden the search.
I also believe Carey Mulligan’s role will be somewhat expanded beyond the 2 or 3 lines Mabel Kirke has in The Magician’s Nephew and I’ve been thinking about how it could be done. In preparing to direct Little Women, Greta Gerwig had read a great deal about Louisa May Alcott’s biography and she added to the film a scene in which Jo negotiates with her publisher to retain the copyright from her first novel. This scene is not included in Alcott’s book but did happen in real life, and fit in well with Gerwig’s focus on concerns about women and economics at a time when female financial “power” was very limited. I suspect that Gerwig may look to C. S. Lewis’s actual life to add a scene or two with Mabel that does not appear in TMN. I’ve read that Lewis’s mother was the daughter of a priest, came from a distinguished family of clergy and academics, and was the first female mathematics graduate to study at Queen’s College Belfast. I’ve also read that Lewis was baptized in the Church of Ireland, but fell away from his faith during adolescence after his mother became sick and died, and of course later returned to his faith. This may sound somewhat out there but I’m wondering whether Gerwig might include a scene in which Digory and his ill mother discuss in somewhat simplistic terms how it is possible to live a life which reconciles faith and rationality. I recall having a similar conversation with my father when I was 10 and my beloved grandfather was ill— he also later died from cancer. I have no idea if Lewis as a child ever had such a conversation with his mother, but it is the type of discussion that might fit in well with the subject matter that Gerwig is interested in exploring.
@Rachel, interesting suggestion.