Carey Mulligan on “Secretive” Narnia Production
Greta Gerwig’s film adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew hits IMAX screens in 7 months, but only a handful of details have leaked. Yesterday The Today Show, Carey Mulligan acknowledged the secrecy surrounding the project.
Host: You have a movie coming out soon–The Chronicles of Narnia. Can you tell me anything about that?
Mulligan: No [laughs]. I am almost afraid to say that I’m in it. It’s terrifying. I’ve never been in anything that’s been this secretive. It’s quite thrilling.
Mulligan is believed to be playing the role of Digory’s mother in the movie. Here is everything we know about Netflix’s Narnia.
Hey, it’s only 222 days until everything is revealed!
Vogue had conversation with Anna Wintour and Meryl Streep with The Devil Wears Prada 2, where Greta Gerwig was the moderator. Here the part related to Narnia:
Gerwig: When we had a wrap party for Narnia, I realized nobody wanted me there. I was like, Nobody can have any fun as long as I’m there.
Wintour: I know that feeling.
Gerwig: So when I embraced the last crying child, who was sad that the movie was over, I was like, “I’m going to take myself home.” And I almost felt like, as I walked out the door, everyone was like, “Yay.”
Wintour: The art of the drop-by is also good. You go for five minutes and head for the hills.
Gerwig: You want to tell us the plot of the movie?
Streep: That’s, like, the last thing I ever remember about a movie. I am the best audience for my own movies because I never remember what happened.
Here the link to the article:
https://www.vogue.com/article/meryl-streep-anna-wintour-may-cover-2026-interview
I didn’t think anything was going to be released before or during CinemaCon, because it would aggravate theatre owners, who would more easily band together against a Netflix film taking up imax space in one of the most lucrative times of the year against actual theatrical films and distributors that are sworn to theatrical. Now that it has passed and it has been 11 weeks 1 day since filming wrapped ( directors edit should take up approx 12 weeks), with the next IMAX investors call on April 30 and Cannes Film Festival taking place from May 12 to 23 and the new Vanity Fair issue has not been released (little women first look came on June 19 Frankenstein on July 29 in Vanity Fair first looks) and judging from the IMAX release calendar, the Narnia trailer would most likely play on the Mandalorian and Grogu film( May 22-filmed in IMAX but has a smaller audience) or Toy Story ( June 19- not filmed in IMAX but has a bigger audience), last year the Netflix tudum took place on June 1 where Frankenstein trailer was dropped too.
Hence, i would suspect something(not something big) to come before the month ends
I sire hope your right, cause this is officially the most secretive movie of all time, so far
221 days to go!!!!
We are now over half way through to the release since, the start of filming (filming started more than 221 days ago). WHERE ARE THE OFFICIAL LOOKS????
They probably went to Narnia to fetch the official pictures, but forgot that time works differently there. We’ll get them in about 300 years.
Clearly the best explanation!
Pahaha frfr. This made me laugh
This campaign of secrecy that Netflix is pushing on Narnia, is not intersteing. Neither to fans, nor to the non-converted. This whole “it’s so secret I can’t talk about it” act feels artificial. Like they’re trying to pretend it’s already a popular worldwide event when it’s isn’t anything yet. This secrecy shtick worked with the marvel films (especially the later films) because by that point there was a worldwide audience for it (many who were not comic fans) who were trying to discover what would occur at the end of the marvel franchise, who would survive, who wouldn’t. Etc. So there was a drive to keep everything under wraps. Right now, Netflix really only has seasoned Narnia fans to depend on for drumming up buzz for this film, and they just keep pissing off those fans rather than leaning into gaining their trust. My prediction is, come November/December, everyone involved in this film will in for a rough awakening when they realize the audience for this franchise is Small with a capital S.
I hope the film is successful and I think sometimes creative people work better when they can focus on the project instead of also marketing it to fans before it is completed. You’re right that they can’t copy the MCU strategy with the way Netflix is marketing Narnia.
The thing with Marvel movies is that they “leak” enough secrets to their movies to keep people in the know if they are comic book fans. For example, I have already known the basic plot about Spider-man: Brand New Day, since December. I know which issues it’s based off. I know some things they left out of the official trailer. We have had official photos of new costumes since last Fall and Marvel usually gives us an idea of how new actors and actresses coming into the MCU franchise plan on developing their characters. Do I know how the Marvel movies will end? Not always, but there’s enough “leaked” to keep comic books fans hopeful.
The other thing with Marvel is comic writers have basically done so much shocking stuff to the major characters over the years, that I think the MCU has more leeway than Gerwig has here in terms of expectations. In the comics, Iron Man has actually treated Spider-man pretty badly at times, so him being a mentor to a teenage MCU Spider-man was strange at first, but it also is something that is believable that it could have happened.
I agree that the secrecy is ridiculous. Many of Those who are not Narnia fans aren’t even aware of the film coming out. If everything has been filmed, where is the harm in at least releasing the full cast list?
The cynic in me thinks they are holding back details because they know the film diverges so far from what Lewis wrote and don’t want to deal with many months of criticism and controversy and risk another “Snow White” situation.
Perhaps the major promotions will be saved till a couple of months before in the hope that the general public will buy their tickets blindly and won’t have as much time to hear the warnings from the few faithful Narnia fans.
Sadly, I think you are probably right. There will definitely be backlash because of how different this film is to the book, and with the massive budget it needs to do well.
I doubt the altered 1950s Rock and roll version of Narnia the magicians nephew is going to do well financially at the box office since It’ll compete against Disney hexed and the hunger games films. I’m very unhappy with the major changes from the original 1900s Narnia the magicians nephew book to Greta Gerwig altered 1950s setting which feels very off.
At this point in time I’d rather wait for an anime remake of Narnia the magicians nephew that’s book accurate with male Aslan that will honor CS Lewis legacy.
CrosswalkX, the Japanese have already made a complete series of mangas for Narnia because it is in public domain in Japan. It’s not in English, but the pictures in the sample are whimsical and interesting to look at.
There’s also a couple of older illustrated abridged editions of The Magician’s Nephew in English that are difficult to find.
It would be more fun for Narnia nerds now, for the production to release visuals about the film. But it will mean that once the marketing starts flooding in, it will be very welcome! I remember all the videos from the Wicked press tours – I don’t know how a Wicked fan would have kept up with it all!
And there was a Narniaweb story at some point indicating that a large marketing budget is attached to Gerwig’s Narnia. That means it might go crazy at some point! Bring it on!
I feel like it’s just a ticking time bomb until everything is revealed! At least….I hope so. Movies like Hunt for Gollum have even confirmed more than MN at this point and they don’t even start filming till May! But maybe it’s all to make us so excited when we finally get an official look! (which, I agree with Ahoshta Tarkaan that they must’ve gone to Narnia to get them!) 🙂