|
Rarely does a film that
captivates audiences of all
ages can go so far as have a
companion book that would
not only revel in color and
beauty but give you an
inside backstage look at the
magic that makes movies
happen.
This 216 page perfect bound
marvel leaves nothing to be
desired. Disney along with
Walden Media want you in on
the entire process that is
The Chronicles of Narnia:
Prince Caspian. Words from
director and screenplay
writer Andrew Adamson are to
be expected. Its a brilliant
piece of work on the silver
screen. But the biggest
submissions to the book are
the behind-the-scenes look.
You'll absolutely be floored
if not astonished at the
films 136 day schedule
photographed in large view.
The storyboard drawings that
come to life.
Filmed in New Zealand,
Poland and Czech Republic;
the cast and crew went
through severe undertakings
during filming. With
exposure to ticks, sand
flies and numerous other
bugs Hollywood doesn't
appear to be the glitz and
glamour that most would
expect. Read page 45 of the
official illustrated movie
companion. You'll find
yellow warning sign and the
memo sent to the cast and
crew to take
the Encephalitis
Vaccination.
2 years in the making... The
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince
Caspian: The Official
Illustrated Movie Companion
is a must read for all
Narnia fans.
Below is an excerpt from The
Cast: A Family Reunion:
Making a
full-scale motion picture
like Prince Caspian is a
journey unto itself -- not
only a physical one that
took hundreds of filmmakers
thousands of miles across
two hemispheres, but also a
spiritual and emotional
voyage for the film's family
members.
With
mothers and fathers, sisters
and brothers, sons and
daughters, and husbands and
wives away from home for
close to a full year, the
film company's 600-plus
members bonded closely,
sharing in both work and
play, to create not only a
friendly on-set environment
over the lengthy seven-month
shoot, but hopefully
something greater than the
sum of its parts --
something all can hail
proudly when the lights go
down, the projector
flickers, the film unspools,
and their collective movie
magic enchants audiences the
world over.
As
production began over a year
ago on that mid-February
morning in Auckland, there
stood Andrew, the lanky
director, alongside his
Pevensie clan like a proud
father with his children,
home for the holidays. Even
though it had been barely
two years since the
completion of The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe, his
film family had, indeed,
matured, both physically and
emotionally. Their patriarch
grinned with pride at the
progress.
There
they were, anticipating
their forthcoming experience
and joyously reliving the
last one -- Peter, Susan,
Edmund, and Lucy, in the
guises of actors William
Moseley (now a dashing
20-year-old), Anna
Popplewell (a newly minted
Oxford freshman), Skandar
Keynes (with vocal octaves
much deeper at age 15), and
Georgie Henley (approaching
teenhood, a good six inches
taller than we last saw
her).
"They've
all grown up really well,"
Andrew beams about his young
English cast. "It was nice
to see them go back to a
really normal life. They
were excited about doing
this again, and treated it
like another adventure.
There's change in very
positive ways about growing
up, but I'd like to say the
movie hadn't changed who
they are, which I'm really
happy about. A lot of that's
attributed to their parents.
They've all got great
parents."
"We're a
really tight unit . . . a
formidable four, you could
say," quips Will, the eldest
of the quartet. Adds Anna,
"The dynamic among the four
of us has pretty much
remained constant, which is
great. I know we'll all
still be friends after the
movie finishes."
"Do I
feel like the leader of the
group?" the handsome,
fair-haired Moseley wonders
when asked about the
professional and personal
dynamics of the four
Pevensie actors. He responds
proudly and without
hesitation: "I definitely
do!"
"Like I
said before, I'm the oldest
in my family," he continues,
"Anna is the oldest in hers,
so she is also kind of the
leader. Skandar is the
youngest, but wants to be
the elder as well. Georgie
is the youngest as well. We
form a very tight unit. The
parallels to our characters
are simple -- we're all
playing ourselves, drawing
on our own lives, to show
how similar we are to these
characters."
While
reflecting back to the
beginning of the lengthy
shoot, Anna was not
surprised at the changes the
cast experienced since they
last worked together, over
two years ago. Except, maybe
about herself.
"What's
nice is everyone has grown
up a little bit and changed
a little bit," she observes.
"But, I've probably grown up
the least, I'd say. Maybe
that's just because I
haven't noticed the change
in myself." To which Andrew
smiles and replies, "Anna's
right. When I first met her,
she was 13 going on 40. Now
she's 18 going on 40."
Perry
Moore's wonderfully
evocative book took us
behind the scenes of The
Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe, where we first met
these four relative
unknowns, memorably though
Perry's vivid and poetic
portraits in each actor's
chapter. Let's take a
further peek at the lives of
the four Pevensies, now
older and (one hopes) wiser,
as they venture from their
own private worlds in
England back to a magical
landscape that has changed
drastically since the first
movie -- much like the
actors themselves!
|