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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I’m rather nervous about the certainty/possibility of extra characters. I feel that adding too many will take away from the spirit of the book, which is a work of art, and change the plot almost beyond recognition. I know we’ll just have to wait and see what the movie is like (there is still a chance that it could blow our minds in a positive way) but it’s hard to be patient sometimes! 🙁
It’s cool to near that Cameron Bell may be involved, as I’ve also been following the production of Sunrise on the Reaping which his twin sister (Iona Bell) has a main role in
248 days to go!
I’m surprised by this since in the book, all the other kids in the neighborhood were off on holiday. I’m not angered by the change or anything, just a little confused.
Eh, it might dilute the focus at most. But it certainly doesn’t necessarily mean that it will ruin the whole movie.
Hey, maybe putting this many children in a film is just to make up for the evacuting children scene that there won’t be in the next movie because of the time period change? Or maybe the two Narnian films Greta Gerwig is doing will include a lot of children in general to help with being able to hire more children and give more children a chance to shine or because Greta Gerwig considers the films made for children and families. Frankly, I do not care about the number of children used for the Magician’s Nephew in particular but, I would not mind helping budding young child actors start acting.