Greta Gerwig’s Narnia Film Featured “Over 150 Children”

Although C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew likely contains more real-world scenes that any other Narnia book, it remains a fairly focused story overall, with the majority of the narrative focused around just its two main child protagonists. Evidence however suggests that the upcoming Netflix adaptation will have a slightly more expansive scope, not just in terms of its locations, but also in terms of the number of child actor roles.

In February, the Sally King Agency, who provided numerous extras, body-doubles, and stand-ins for the film, reported that over 150 children had been involved with the production. Whilst that figure might seem like a lot, it is worth remembering that Digory and Polly will have had at least three or more body doubles each, and so the number of children required for any one role will quickly add up.

However, as well as the glimpses we have already seen of additional child actors present for the on-location filming, we have also seen several major casting calls during production which have indicated that a large number of children were required for different background roles in various scenes.

In August, we learned that at least 40 boys were required for a scene shot at the Victoria Baths swimming pool in Manchester, whilst another casting call from the same drama school revealed that the production was looking for “Girls with shoulder-length hair“ and “Boys with slightly longer “Teddy-style” hair“ for the 1950s themed film shoots in London, Manchester and Bradford.

As well as these bulk casting calls for background roles, NarniaWeb has also learned of dozens of individual child actors who have been linked to the production at various periods of time, including Cameron Bell, who was reported to have landed a role in Greta Gerwig’s film back in October, and Dylan Raja who reportedly has a non-speaking role in the scene shot at Manchester’s Victoria Baths.

We also know from a report back in October that Polly will have at least 3 sisters (if not more), which perhaps also leaves the door open for her to have some brothers as well.

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