New Set Photos Show Jadis Rampaging Through Tower of London
Filming for Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’ continued at the Tower of London yesterday, giving us our first clear look at Jadis being unleashed onto the streets and wreaking havoc in England.
Emma Mackey will portray Jadis, but the action filmed yesterday featured Mackey’s stunt double alongside a dummy stand-in (presumably) for Digory, who newcomer David McKenna will reportedly play.
Additional photos from the shoot, courtesy of photographer UnBoxPHD, can be found here. A video of the filming was also shared online.
Special thanks to ‘Emma’ for the tip.
Have a scoop or inside information about Netflix’s Narnia production? Send in an anonymous Spy Report here.
Honestly, Jadis’s make-up looks terribly cliched. Her outfit is garish and reeks of artificiality. The short hair only enhances this effect. Jadis from the book was terrifying, but also incredibly beautiful and provocative. I definitely miss that here. Jadis’s make-up in Gerwig’s film is decent at best. Compare this costume to the meticulousness and scale of Walden Media’s films—the difference is like the abyss between heaven and earth. I don’t want to complain, but the more information leaks about the new film, the less I want to see it.
oof this is rough
It’s really hard to judge quality and details given that this is only a stunt double, but I’m kind of warming to the look…. even if only a little bit.
Jadis’ costume in the Pauline Baynes illustration was always wacky, and sure this is a slightly different flavour of wacky, but I’m hopeful that when we see the proper costume, on the proper actress, and presented on film, the effect won’t be quite so jarring as it was at first.
God this film already looks terrible. Thanks for nothing Greta.
This is clearly not intended for close-up shots, and I believe that only the top portion of the double’s body will even be seen in the final product. Don’t forget how tall Jadis is. The shots where the double is standing in the saddle are probably where they are actually shooting, and the stirrups are crazy-short, which means Jadis’s torso will be added in post-production, almost completely covering the double’s torso and legs, then legs will be added extending down even lower than Digory’s. That work will probably reveal a whole costume that we’re not seeing here.
More than anything else, I hate the hair. The outfit I dislike, but I get it. Jadis has no idea how to dress in London. In the books, the people at the lamppost fight mocked her, laughed, and thought she belonged in an asylum. If her Charn outfit is good, I can forgive this. I really DON’T want to see it at the creation of Narnia, though.
It’s like the director and the entire crew have got the booked mixed up with some kind of science fiction weirdness, its now set in the 50’s and she’s wearing GOGO boots and a kind of 1960’s inspired loose fitting outfit. When you say in every interview you do “I have great respect for the source material” and still produce not only the wrong time line but also the wrong look the audience simply have to conclude, you may know the title but actually have no idea about the story. Such potential wasted for nothing what has the industry become now !!!!!!
Yeah, really disliking this outfit. Where’s her crown?
It’s very difficult to make out what is even going on or what direction this film is headed in. Sadly, not promising at all. I remember when the Walden sets and filming photos were released—it looked like a glimpse into Narnia. Everything was instantly recognisable and exciting. While aspects of the hair, the makeup, the costume of this frazzled, disco Jadis will likely be (hopefully) replaced by CGI, the look is currently on par with a budget high school play. I’m glad Greta is seeing the vision, because I unfortunately wouldn’t be able to see it.
Ahhh NO NO NO! This is awful! I kept positive, but HOW on earth did Greta think that it made any sense to set the Magicians nephew in the 1950s! The whole wardrobe plot will make no sense, why would the children be in digorys house without an evacuation? How would anything make any sense whatsoever if the timeline is SO messed up. In order for digory to become an old professor by LWW that would mean that LLW would have to be set in the 1990s
Honestly, we wont know how good this will be until it comes out. However, and call it pessimistic, I think the time for great films based off of older books has come and gone. I do not have any high hopes, but I still still be checking out the final product to see if I am surprised. Any work of art looks “bad” in its infancy, sure. But… Sigh.
Is she on the way to a go-go dance party? This outfit looks like it came from a discount clothing bin. And those boots? This while outfit looks gaudy.
I still really dislike the dress, though it looks slightly better here than it does in the other pictures. But they HAVE to get rid of those boots!!
Ok, now i can see what they are doing with jadis’ outfit. Yeah, it looks terrible here, i know. But from what i can see, the actual dress is going to be something like an armor. Actual metal on the shoulders, or just some hard, stiff fabric resembling metal plates. Silver, softer fabric for the blouse and skirt resembling chainmail. And long steel knightly boots. That’s how i imagine the final product from what i can see here. (And no, it’s not coping because i have little faith in the project and don’t care a lot at this point.)
I really hoped Gerwick would stay faithful to the books and illustrations. I have to say, I am very worried about this now, and ive been looking forward to it since it was first confirmed.
The soviet production of the Lord of the Rings was pretty ghastly and was overly informed by it’s soviet self than telling the timeless story. In this era we have this production in the soviet spirit of a message that didn’t come from Narnia. This is going to be propaganda not art
The visual of Jadis raiding the Tower of London to get the crown is rather funny, but wouldn’t she go to Buckingham Palace directly to try to defeat the monarchy?
Jadis’ costume looks more developed in these photos, but I still wish it was more regal.
Christopher Young, I hope it does not become political. I have not seen Soviet LotR, but maybe I should?
This monstrosity is why I wasn’t happy when Greta was announced as director and equally so when was announced was The magicians nephew. I thought Barbie was a terrible movie. Who makes a Barbie movie for adults. it was all the kids wanting to see it that made it seem like a hit. Anyway Greta has messed up a movie all us Narnia fans have been desperate to see. Thanks for NOT proving me wrong
People are just going crazy withou seeing the final version of it all! It makes me more sad to see people arguing about it all than the changes that we didn’t even seen… take the book and read again and again, it will never change! The movie is an adaptation and it takes some changes to make sense to the new audience… As a fan… I was sad that maybe I wasnt able to see it on the big screen again! Just knowing it will happen as soon as I coldn’t imagine… it makes me reeeeally Happy! I will wait and see! Gretta is a very visionary and great director!
You guys are just looking as superhero fans arguing about changes between movies and comic books… as annoying as them!
SOME THINGS DOESN’T WORK ON A MOVIE AS IT WORKS ON BOOKS! And the general audience is not only the book stans… I stan for the new generations getting to know Narnia, and hopping for them to get as enchanted as I was when I first saw the LWW movie and rushed to see the books afterwards!
PEACE <3
(Sorry for my english, I am not an native speaker, but a Narnia lover!)
I don’t think Greta’s understands the assignment. Or has ever read or understands the point of the books. I have very low expectations and looking at these pics doesn’t help. Probably will skip it altogether.
Artur, I don’t think we are unjustified in our disapproval of something we cherish being ruined.
Imagine someone taking a song that has been loved for a super long time, and then destroying it with a cover version. Lovers of the original would have the right to criticize the new version.
This isn’t Greta’s thing to destroy, but she’s doing it anyway. If she wants to take something that is beloved by millions of people and change everything about it, then she is going to be criticized for doing it.
Oh yikes. This just looks worse and worse. I’m rather disgusted. This will make that awful Rings of Power show look like a masterpiece! Yuck.
The costume Jadis’ double is wearing is probably only used for lighting testing before the actual shots are taken.
To paraphrase Otto von Bismark, “Movies are like sausages. It is best not to see them being made.”
I’m not sure how to feel about her outfit. She probably doesn’t know how to dress in London because she’s come from a different world. So maybe like in the Walden film, she’ll have different outfits for different scenes. So maybe after the rampaging in London scene and the characters are in the Wood in Between the Worlds, her costume changes.
I’m kind of mixed on this. Not too crazy about the 1950’s setting. But waiting to see how the final product turns out
*Cringe*… maybe they will use (A LOT) of CGI to make this not what we are seeing? After Jadis’ incredible ice dress and war dress in LWW 2005, they wouldn’t make it look like she took aluminum foil and said, “This will make me look intimidating” would they? There’s got to be more story here. But, then again, “No one is ever told any story but their own” 😉 so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!
@Karen
You haven’t even seen the film yet! Films are made in the editing room, not during the shoot. You wouldn’t judge a film based on its green/blue screen sequences without special effects, would you? This comment section is just filled with people making final judgements based on raw footage.
@Jake
The problem with that argument is that cover songs are supposed to be different, otherwise there wouldn’t be any point in doing a new interpretation. I don’t see how a new version of something automatically invalidates or spoils what came before.
@Mr Wilde, but if the cover is memorably bad, then when people listen to the original again, they’ll be reminded of it whereas before the original gave them undiluted pleasure. That’s kind of how I feel about annoyingly bad adaptations.
The world is so boring. People just complain, complain, complain. Generation whining
geração chata que só sabe reclamar, e reclamar e reclamar, e reclamar.
Em todo fórum, em todo filme, em tudo que se debate. Essa geração não tem criatividade para fazer nada, mas reclamam de tudo, são especialistas de tudo. Pensam que a diretora está ali pra fazer as “suas próprias vontades”.
Imploravam por informações do filme,e agora reclamam de tudo.
A boring generation that only knows how to complain, and complain, and complain, and complain.
In every forum, about every movie, about everything that’s discussed. This generation lacks the creativity to do anything, but they complain about everything, they’re experts in everything. They think the director is there to do “their own bidding.”
They used to beg for information about the movie, and now they complain about everything.
To Clevio:
Perhaps we are a little judgmental, but The Magician’s Nephew is a Christian classic. It’s really hard to watch the moviemakers disrespect it and turn it into something it’s not. I suppose we will always have the books, but I would like to see a RECOGNIZABLE adaptation that is true to the original story. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
And there are probably multiple generations whining here. I just recently became a teenager, but there are many much older people who don’t like what is being done to the movie.
Sorry if I am being rude!
P.S. You are right about something, though. The director isn’t there to do our own bidding. We can’t direct Miss Gerwig. But it would be nice if she would take the fans’ views into consideration.
@ Clevio
Agreed. I recently started commenting here, and all I’ve seen so far are the same redundant, repetitive complaints. People are pre-judging this film based on raw filming footage and bashing Greta Gerwig, despite the fact that she’s one of the industry’s most respected filmmakers.
As you say, none of these people have anything new to offer the world, no ideas of their own or creative talent, so they resort to insulting a successful artist instead (and all because it isn’t literally the book turned into a film, which it was never going to be.) Thankfully, the Narnia Web team have a much more measured and respectful outlook.
Mr. Wilde, you should rethink your claim that none of the fans have any creative talent because it is false. Fans are shocked that that so many things are different and changed and suspicious that Netflix will change Narnia to mock Christianity or Lewis. We don’t know that Netflix is doing that, but to jump to judgment that fans are talentless and just jealous of Gerwig’s talent is unfair.
No matter how skilled we are, we cannot distribute our own adaptations because Narnia and Aslan are trademarked. Being good at drawing, I have looked into this since Narnia is public domain in many countries and I like to illustrate scenes from it as a fan. Japan has a manga adaptation now that it’s public domain in their country, but of course Narnia and Aslan are spelled differently in Japanese, so they can get around the trademark. Greta Gerwig has a great opportunity of legally being able to adapt Narnia, but who knows what her advisors and Netflix are telling her she has to do. Honestly, if Netflix’s adaptation does look very different from the books being set in the 1950s, then that makes it easier for future directors and illustrators to make adaptations without it looking like the Netflix version. That’s why I have mixed feelings about Jadis’ dress: it’s nothing like how I imagine her dress is, but at the same time, it won’t interfere with my vision of the dress because it is so different. But I still want to be able to feel it is a Narnia adaptation and not a parody. You see, my sentiments do not come from jealousy. Please respect this
@EJH
A fair assessment and I understand your position completely. The point I was trying to make is that these days a lot of internet spaces are taken up by people angrily insulting filmmakers and criticising their work, decrying them as ‘arrogant,’ all while arrogantly proclaiming that their own version is superior. Some might be talented, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are still placing their own judgement ahead of industry professionals.
Another angle on this is that a lot of people speak about this new film like it’s blasphemous or heretical. Narnia is inspired by Christianity, but it is also inspired by various Pagan mythologies and folklore. These books are not holy texts, but people speak about them like they are.
I’m kind of into the wildness of Jadis’s look here. Pauline’s illustrations took inspiration from earthly historical royal fashions, but Jadis is otherworldly…therefore her looks may not mirror our preconceived notions of what she should look like. Also, Charn was a war-torn world before she spoke “the deplorable world” and essentially nuked everyone, so I appreciate the harsh metallics and choppy hairstyle. I really can’t wait for this film!
Thank you, Mr. Wilde. It is easy to feel Narnia canon is extremely important and I think it has shaped worldviews of many fans. There are also many people who can’t articulate what they feel easily. I’m a very superficial Star Wars fan, but I did find the new trilogy with Rey to just feel disappointing in comparison to the original three movies. There were critics who were all over the place trying to figure out who to blame, but I think it actually felt different because the hopeful feeling that was in movies of the 70s and 80s has faded a lot from Hollywood, so of course the new ones will feel different. That said, I was also surprised there was so much criticism because the Disney promotion and advertising team is usually very effective at guiding public opinion about their movies.
I think it is related to the comic book industry. So many men who grew up reading comics did not have a dad and used Batman, Supes, and the others as male role models and father figures. We have new writers who don’t understand this try to shake things up and change characters to be more morally ambiguous and it doesn’t go over well, plus we have a whole category of Youtubers who just use clickbait and try to make people emotional for more views and more money. Because Marvel hired some women writers who were new to comics in a push for diversity, women are often being blamed for “ruining” comics, and this has spilled over to other genres. There are some people automatically against Gerwig because she’s a woman and there are people who saw the Barbie movie (where all the men are controlling except for one) and presume it means she will write all male characters like that. I’m a woman who liked the technical skill of the Barbie movie but I found the tension between genders to be unappealing, but maybe the Barbie movie was actually meant to show how quickly society can devolve, I don’t know.
Chuck Jones, I believe the hair will look different in the movie. I think the rider is wearing a riding helmet underneath the hair and is not meant for closeups.
I’m not talking specifically about Narnia, I’m talking about complaints as a whole. Before being a Narnia fan, I’m a fan of movies, comics, and theater. I frequent discussion forums and notice that every work produced receives a barrage of criticism and complaints. Everyone wants to be an expert on everything, criticizes everything. As if the director should make a specific version for each viewer.
I think we should enjoy more and criticize less.
@Clevio, then why do you frequent discussion forums? Maybe you’d be happier if you didn’t.