Indication of Meryl Streep Being Present on Narnia Film Set

Almost exactly one year since the controversial reports first emerged that Meryl Streep would be voicing Aslan in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia movie, the Oscar-winning actress may have indirectly acknowledged her own involvement.

While promoting the The Devil Wears Prada 2 last week on The Late Show, Streep was asked by host Stephen Colbert about her brief voice-cameo in Project Hail Mary, which is now in theaters:

“Amy Pascal is a friend, she produced lots of wonderful movies including Little Women that I was in — I’ve known her for a long time, and she’s the producer of [Project Hail Mary] and she asked me if I’d do it, we were working on another film in London, and I said “sure!”.

Meryl Streep

Based on the post-production timeline for Project Hail Mary, it is likely that the other film being referred to here is Greta Gerwig’s Narnia (for which Amy Pascal was also the producer) and would seem to imply that Meryl Streep was physically present in London for Narnia’s filming.

Later in the interview, Streep briefly mentions Greta Gerwig.

---

These new comments follow a recent interview with Emma Mackey (Jadis), who seemed to imply that she and Streep actually got to work together as actors on the film set. NarniaWeb has also previously received unconfirmed reports indicating Streep was present for some of the studio based filming in England.

While it is not yet possible to say what implications this may have for Aslan’s role in the film, it is worth noting that on many film productions, voice actors for CGI characters will often just show up during post-production and record their lines at a sound recording studio, whilst in other cases, the voice actors are used to perform on-set motion capture for their characters.

It could simply be the case however that Streep was required to deliver her lines on set so that the other actors could fully engage with her performance.

In a 2010 interview with NarniaWeb, Aslan actor Liam Neeson expressed his disappointment at not having been involved with any of the on-set filming for Voyage of the Dawn Treader:

“Well, I’d be honest with you. It was a little frustrating because I wasn’t part of the film process. I wasn’t on location, I wasn’t with the kids, I wasn’t with the film crew. They brought me in at the end to put in an anonymous sound booth, either in Toronto or Vancouver or here in London. That was a little frustrating.”

Liam Neeson

Exactly what level of involvement Meryl Streep had on the Narnia film set remains a mystery for now, however her presence in the film itself looks to be all-but-confirmed, with Aslan being the only role she has been connected with so far.

Thanks to NarniaWebber Alex Anar for the heads up on this story!