..cles of Narnia!
Director Andrew Adamson is live via satellite from the set in Prague, alongside Ben Barnes, who plays the title character of the new Narnia movie Prince Caspian (and also appears in the upcoming Stardust. Barnes has the Episode III Anakin hair going.
Adamson says Caspian was a more difficult adaptation than The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (which, for my writing sanity, will hereafter be referred to simply as Lion). The structure of Lewis' narrative isn't as cinematic — Adamson has fleshed out Caspian's past more, showing his battles in detail.
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A pre-visualization animatic was shown, in which winged gryphons carry Caspian and the Pevensie kids into King Miraz' castle to take out the guards — meanwhile, Reepicheep and his army of soldier mice infiltrate up from below, tying up a cat, and taking out a human soldier (and yes, that sounds stupid — mice with swords beating a conquistador type — but they're big mice and it looks semi-believable. Plus don't forget they have Jesus-Lion on their side).
One of the visual effects goals this time was to showcase the different fighting styles of the different mythical creatures.
The movie opens next May — like EVERY OTHER movie being showcased here! Someone's gotta blink. The claim is that there'll be a new Narnia movie every May, one a year, till they do all of them. The Horse and His Boy might be done last, because then the original actors will be in their 20s as the book has the characters.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader is next.
Every questioner from the audience seem to be representative of a different Narnia fan site. One girl seems about to cry over the news that Adamson won't be directing Dawn Treader — she's worried that the movies won't have a consistent look, and will therefore be no better than the Harry Potter movies (like that'd be such a bad thing?)
Adamson replies that “C.S. Lewis wrote more efficiently” than J.K. Rowling, and unlike in Harry Potter, where you have to condense the story, Lewis' books are short and can be expanded.
Peter Dinklage plays Trumpkin the dwarf, with Warwick Davis as Nikabrik.
Producer Mark Johnson says this will be “a darker film” than Lion. (Really? Darker than the scene where Aslan the Jesus-Lion got tied up by demons and murdered? Unlikely, sez I, though it may be more battle-oriented overall.)
The mythical beasts in Lion were all thirtysomething males — this time, they come in all types, with women, children, and old men.
The Telemarine soldiers look like pewter versions of Don Quixote; conquistador-type curved helmets, with metal facemasks that actually have goatees etched into them.
As a special bonus from Disney, we also got to see the new preview for National Treasure 2.
The money shot is this — picture Nicolas Cage in a wig that's way worse than Tom hanks' Da Vinci hair. Cage does that stare into nothingness that he does, and in deadpan style, says “I'm gonna kidnap him. I'm gonna kidnap the president of the United States.”
I didn't see the first one, but part 2 clearly is not taking itself seriously at all — plot involves John Wilkes Booth's diary, Cage trying to clear his ancestor of collaboration with Booth, and something called “the President's Book of Secrets,” which contains details on everything from the missing Nixon tape minutes to Area 51.
Looks hilarious. But if you objected to Ghost Rider's tone, this may be something to skip…
