One Year to Go: How We’re Feeling About Gerwig’s Narnia Movie | Talking Beasts
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That’s right. Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew will be hitting IMAX screens in just over one year. A veil of secrecy continues to hang over the production, but much of what little has leaked has been controversial. How are fans feeling a Thanksgiving 2026 starts to draw near? Listen and then post a comment below!
I feel like this so out there question but it was kinda all over the news was that a few days ago there was news that Greta Gerwig was meeting the Pope for some event at the Vatican, during the time period where she almost done with filming.
I think during Gerwig’s Barbie interview tour, she been like over “hinting” about like what Narnia book she was adapting cause she was using like metaphor to try to dodge the questions, but actually was just giving the answer instead to us or the person she was answering the questions, which kinda give the vibe of her being a bit bad at keep like a secret “secret” if you get me. I think around that time PR started to come in and like alter around the news and stuff in addition to her not interviewing a lot or related to the project.
My stance is I always prefer complete secrecy and then considered well thought comments than flippant statements from the actors or crew that are divisive
There was literal podcast about ‘rock and roll’ and whether it would be musical!
Having looked at IMDB, Vincent Sieber has an assistant credited Lily Alessandroni and that in my opinion would highlight some collaboration with the Cs Lewis estate and communication. So I don’t think this will be as far afield as you think.
I’m going to do a longer comment later but I just wanted to say for now that I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks the time period is a bigger deal for The Magician’s Nephew than for the other books!
@Alex Anar, I agree
I’d like to change my prediction to December 4th, where we’ll see some marketing done in an official capacity at IMAX’s investor day!
@col klink – I was thinking of you when Forest mentioned that. Maybe there’s more of us than we thought 😉
I’d put my excitement level at 3 too. I’m not getting a good vibe right now but I’m trying to withhold judgement for a while. A promising trailer or even a good interview with Greta Gerwig, one in which she explained her reasoning behind some things, could make me feel better. Interestingly, I’m not as worried about Meryl Streep right now as about Mark Ronson. When I first read that he was doing the soundtrack, I thought, “hey, he did some ‘normal’ soundtrack music for Barbie. Maybe he wants to branch out and do more of that.” But then I remembered they almost cast Charli XCX and I thought, “Oh who am I kidding? It’s totally going to be a pop musical!”
I found myself agreeing with a lot of what Forrest Lybrand said in this episode, which is odd since we tend to disagree about Narnia adaptations. (I really like the Walden Media Narnia movies. He doesn’t.) I think The Magician’s Nephew could be an amazing movie in its own right without much tinkering. You’d just have to trim the dialogue and maybe do something with the part where Digory is just sitting by the window, waiting for Jadis. And there’s certainly no need to change the time period. You can’t just say, “books and movies are different mediums; they have to change some things.” There have been movies set in the same time period as this book, people! It’s not impossible! The Magician’s Nephew is also a pretty short book, unlike Little Women which is long and slow paced, making it inevitable that a movie adaptation will capture what some fans love about it and not what other fans love about it. I feel like a movie of The Magician’s Nephew should be able to capture what all fans love.
I guess the reason I’m not as excited to see a personal take on the book is I don’t think I have anything important in common with Greta Gerwig so a movie that’s personal for her would probably be uninteresting, if not off-putting, to me. But, hey, then again, her Little Women adaptation really resonated with me. (Towards the beginning, one of the main characters throws caution to the wind and buys something expensive. Then when she gets home, she’s like, “what was I thinking?” We’ve all been there.) Maybe her Magician’s Nephew adaptation will resonate with me too.
This comment may lean negative, but I do hope Glumpuddle keeps up his respect for Gerwig’s filmmaking prowess and subsequent relative optimism throughout the production of this movie. This podcast would get tiresome if the main podcaster was grumbly all the time. (Grumbly guests are fine though.)
What I really appreciate about this podcast is that everyone here is an actual Narnia fan, full stop. It’s weirdly hard to find Narnia content that isn’t either preaching at you or laser-focused only on the religious angle.
And with the coming year leading up to the new release, I’m sure we’ll see plenty of folks trying to use Narnia as a platform for their own political or religious agendas rather than out of any real affection for the series.
So yeah, just wanted to say keep doing what you’re doing. The thoughtful commentary is genuinely refreshing and appreciated more than ever.
I predict: by the time this film comes out we will have experienced a sea-change as to the whole culture-war thing, one way or the other. In any case, I doubt GG has considered Jack’s “Reflections in a Toolshed”. I predict, when seen, this movie will NOT be (as Jack says) “looking along the beam”. Quite the opposite. I predict: when seen, a few random Wicked fans might enjoy GG’s “beam rejection” … But not so much Friends of Narnia. :(((((
@col klink — I’m glad a lot of what I said resonated with you. I wish and hope some day there is an adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew that is in the correct time period. Like you said, it’s one of the Chronicles that needs the least amount of tinkering. It’s really quite solid all on its own merits. We’ll see what Gerwig cooks up in the end. I’m happy to be a grumbly guest, though I hope I wasn’t too grumbly. Just calling it as I see it, so far. Things are subject to changing.
@A Humble Lurker — I agree (unhappily) with your prediction about the coming year…I am not looking forward to Narnia becoming a pawn for the various disingenuous social commentators to use for their own causes. Fingers crossed that, whatever changes Netflix is making, the film is largely faithful and enjoyable, so as not to alienate those who love the books (or feed the rage trolls out there).
Thanks for lurking and listening!
Love that headline and image! That sums it all up pretty nicely.
When a book is being adapted, the message of the AUTHOR…not the preferences of the FILMMAKER…should have priority. As a published writer myself, I say that with great conviction. I don’t want some filmmaker taking my work and twisting it into something that doesn’t honor the spirit or the message of my creative works.
This is so exciting! This book is the BEST of the Narnia series… seriously scary baddie, boy’s dying mother, mad bad scientist and our first meeting with Aslan.
My feelings and opinions actually lean more towards Forrest’s, but I might be more critical. If I had to choose a number for excitement, it would be a 0-1, and if I had to choose a number for worry/concern/annoyed, it would be a 10-11. Here’s a couple of reasons why:
The timeline change: I’ll add to what Forrest said. It’s also a ripple effect. That’s what makes it a major change for me. If Magician’s Nephew is set in 1955, why are the Pevensies running to the countryside for? WW2 came and went! Furthermore, if they are willing to change this, what stops them from deviating further away from the books? We’ve already seen the possibility of Jadis using her magic in our world when, in the book, her magic never did work in our world. Only her crazy strength remained.
Meryl Streep as Aslan: I don’t think I have to explain this too much, but, according to C.S. Lewis, since Aslan is meant to be the answer to the question “What would Jesus look like if He came down to a world like Narnia?”, casting a female to play Aslan feels like someone just flipped the bird at who Aslan is meant to be. The Chronicles of Narnia is very much a Christian Fantasy. The beating heart of it is the Christian Faith. As a Christian woman myself, hearing this news felt like someone took Jadis’s knife and twisted it in my back! I know there is a lot of speculation about how this will play out, but knowing Hollywood’s own negative and even hateful opinions towards Christianity, I cannot bring myself to be hopeful.
(I’ve actually had people mock and attack me for this despite my polite explanations.)
Fun episode! I’ve liked Gerwig’s movies for a long time, so chances are I’m going to enjoy this one no matter what she does with the adaptation. But from what she’s actually said about Lewis and how much Narnia meant to her growing up, I really do think she enjoys/respects his work more than people give her credit for. If she can do to Magician’s Nephew what she did to Little Women, that’ll be tremendous!
@LunarstarStudios I encourage you to go listen to interviews with Gerwig where she discusses religion. There’s not a once of cynicism or hatred… It’s really quite refreshing.
How We’re Feeling About Gerwig’s Narnia Movie:
Nothing. No feeling at all. Nothing but cold, calculating, rational thoughts regarding the many unnecessary changes likely being made to a beloved novel. What’s there to feel for? The movie isn’t even out yet! So of course no negative or positive feelings are possible without waiting for the final product, even if many warning signs are very apparent. You know: Just another day on Narniaweb.
Hear’s to looking at us – a pack of glum puddles. (Nothing to mope about) Cheers!