Next Narnia Movie Remains “Under Wraps” as Fans Hope for Clarity from Trailer | Talking Beasts
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Narnia’s return to the big screen comes in less than 8 months, but remains largely shrouded in mystery. Writer/Director Greta Gerwig recently broke her 2-year silence by acknowledging that her upcoming adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew remains “under wraps.”
Only small scraps of information has leaked the past year, but much of it has left fans puzzled. Will the first trailer (whenever it comes) offer some clarity about what to expect? Listen to our discussion and then post a comment below!
Podcasters: Glumpuddle, Gymfan, Forrest
Thanks for a great podcast. I will be watching the trailer when it comes out. I want to see the movie on opening day. I am really hoping this movie is not done in a controversial or divisive way. I am assuming there will be some negative talk online about it, like there was with Barbie. I hope the movie itself brings people together – like Top Gun Maverick, Avengers Endgame and Project Hail Mary have done.
Thanks guys for the podcast! I also feel uncertain about what to think of the project and that the PC movie had scenes that felt so Narnian that it did make it worth it to watch, even though I still am disappointed in High King Peter’s personality being changed.
For me, I also enjoyed DT, but the feeling was different and the seven swords and green mist additions did not streamline the plot like the director wanted because they didn’t have a deeper meaning.
I do believe Gerwig when she says she loves the books, but that doesn’t mean the plot may not change significantly to where it might not feel like Narnia. I am sure it will be an entertaining movie, and hope it will be successful, but the cosmic nature of Aslan being pure good and creating Narnia… Well it is something I worried would be lost by any movie studio. And then will Aslan be how we imagine? I think with the Emma interview, it would make sense that Meryl could be playing Jadis’ sister in Charn.
With so many trailers out right now, it may be wiser for Netflix to wait on a release, but if the movie will be truer to the book than the rumors are saying, well, I think they are hurting their reputation by not being more open.
I would be relieved if Kobna Holdbrook-Smith was cast as Aslan, but I don’t think I’d be overjoyed with the casting choice. Similar to what Glumpuddle has said about Ron Pickup and Liam Neeson, I feel Holdbrook-Smith has a very soothing voice, maybe not intimidating enough for the character of Aslan. Still, he is the right gender, unlike Meryl Streep.
I’m not an expert on Little Women, like Gymfan, but I feel like Gerwig’s movie has more dialogue from the book than any other recent adaptation. (The really, really old adaptations might have more.) It’s true that it’s not word for word since the book is really long and slow paced and more suited to a TV series than a film but it’s much closer to being word for word than the Walden Media Narnia adaptations. In fact, even some of the dialogue in the 2019 Little Women that’s not from the book, I believe, is from other things that Louisa May Alcott wrote. It’s true that the acting is very modern and if you compare the published screenplay to the actual, you’ll see that some speeches were originally written to be closer to Alcott, but they had to change them on set to make them easier to act. But I feel like the script is a lot closer to the book than it sometimes gets credit for being.
I don’t actually like the Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie but I’m going to have to defend it a little bit. I wouldn’t say it’s totally unrecognizable from the book. It’s got the painting in the bedroom, the Lone Islands, the Island of Voices, Deathwater Island, Ramandu’s Island, Dark Island, the wonders of the Last Sea. To me, it’s more like the notes are there but there’s no music.
I don’t think they’ll show Aslan in the first trailer either. I imagine they’ll show Uncle Andrew telling Digory about other worlds and then give us (hopefully) tantalizing glimpses of the Wood Between the Worlds, Charn and Narnia, maybe ending with a shot of the lamppost growing, just to connect this to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That’s what I’d do if I were doing a teaser for The Magician’s Nephew anyway.
The Frankenstein first image was released 4 months after filming finished and a trailer was released on the first of June. It’s only been roughly 8/9 weeks since filming finished, maybe there will a first look image or Vanity Fair spread(like Little Women), after the mandatory DGA directors cut time allocation (10 to 12 weeks since wrapping) or the end of May(4 months since filming ended), or something sooner since Meryl (who has recently done two voice performances for the films Hoppers and Project Hail Mary) is doing press for the first time in over a year for Devil Wears Prada 2 where she may be asked about Narnia, as well as Carey Mulligan who is beginning promotion for Beef S2 as well. So Netflix will likely release something anticipating that Meryl and Carey will be asked about Narnia, especially with the next investors call happening on April 16 too.
Considering Greta was observed at a knicks game and at a DGA director’s screening of The Bride! Q and A, I would assume the edit is moving along well. It would be straight up psychotic to to do so if the editing process was in disarray.
Ps-Anyone curious about Neal Scanlan should checkout the new featurette he did for his teams work on Project Hail Mary.
I agree that the first trailer will show us very little, but I do think they would have to show Aslan at least fleetingly (note: show, not hear) even if it is just a lion’s tail, or opening his mouth to roar. From the Elliot McNab poster, I think it’s safe to say that it will be a male lion, though who voices him is anyone’s guess right now.