Principal photography has started in New Zealand

Narnia Sequel Prince Caspian Takes Action in New Zealand
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the second motion picture adaptation of CS Lewis’ beloved series of literary classics, recently began principal photography on location in Auckland, New Zealand.
by Anne Thomas
Posted: Monday, February 26, 2007, 12:48 (GMT)

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the second motion picture adaptation of CS Lewis’ beloved series of literary classics, recently began principal photography on location in Auckland, New Zealand.

The film, which is the Christian parable and sequel to 2005's hit The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, will premiere in the summer of 2008.

Prince Caspian will be played by Ben Barnes.

Director Andrew Adamson returns for the new sequel along with the young quartet of British actors: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, and William Moseley.

He shared: “If we don’t make [the film] now, we’ll never be able to because they’ll be too old."

Using a best-case scenario, it would take two years to make each movie, according to Rev Bob Beltz, director of special media projects for the billionaire media entrepreneur Philip Anschutz.

That would mean 12 more years and the last film would appear in 2017.

"They could end up holding the first screening of 'The Last Battle' just before my funeral service. That's about how long it may take us to do the whole series," quipped the 55-year-old Presbyterian pastor, referring to the seventh and final Narnia novel by the Christian apologist CS Lewis.

"Seriously, when we started seeing those first really big numbers roll in at the box office, that's when it hit me," said Beltz. "Some of us worked on this first movie for a very long time and now it seems like we may literally get to work on the Chronicles for the rest of our lives."

“Prince Caspian”, which was first published in 1951, and is the second book in the seven-book series written by Lewis, finds the Pevensie siblings pulled back into the land of Narnia where a thousand years have passed since they left. The children are once again enlisted to join the colourful creatures of Narnia in combating an evil villain who prevents the rightful Prince from ruling the land.

General Glozelle, Trufflehunter, and Asterius Cast

Pierfrancesco Favino Cast as Glozelle

From Narnia.com: Casting News - Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino has been cast as Gen. Glozelle, the leader of Miraz’ Telmarine troops. Favino recently played Christopher Columbus in "Night at the Museum".Pierfrancesco Favino (IMDB) was born in Rome, Italy in 1971 and has played roles in a number of European films. In 2006 he received a Donatello, the Italian equivalent of the Oscar, for his role in "Romanzo Criminale".

Ken Stott Cast as Trufflehunter

From Slashfilm.com: Veteran Scottish actor Ken Stott ("Casanova," "King Arthur") will lend his vocal talents to the role of Trufflehunter, the faithful badger who believes the former Kings and Queens of Narnia will return to assist Caspian in his quest.Trufflehunter is one of the key animal roles in Prince Caspian.

Shane Rangi Cast as Another Minotaur

Narnia.com: "Shane Rangi is back in Prince Caspian as Asterius, the Minotaur who aides Caspian and the Pevensies in their attempt to overthrow King Miraz."Rangi (IMDB) also played General Otmin, the Witch’s head Minotaur, in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."Like Otmin and Oreius, Asterius is a character added to the story by the filmmakers.

Production begins on "PC"

BURBANK, CA, February 16, 2007 — "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," the second live-action/CGI motion picture adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ beloved series of literary classics, began principal photography on location in Auckland, New Zealand, on February 12, 2007. The production, once again a joint venture between the Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, continues the franchise which commenced with the spectacular, Oscar-winning 2005 release, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which went on to earn over $745 million dollars in its worldwide theatrical release, making it one of the most successful movies ever made and one of the biggest successes in the annals of the Walt Disney Studios.

Native New Zealander Andrew Adamson (the Oscar®-winning "Shrek," "Shrek 2") embarks on his second Narnian film adventure, returning to his homeland to helm the follow-up film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Emmy Award-winning writing partners Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (HBO’s "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers"), who also co-scripted the first film. Adamson also reunites with the producers of the first "Narnia" film — Academy Award®-winner Mark Johnson ("Rain Man," "Bugsy," "The Notebook") and Philip Steuer ("The Rookie," "The Alamo").

Following the tremendous success of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," the filmmakers immediately began their planning and pre-production efforts on "Prince Caspian" in early 2006. The new project’s production schedule encompasses another six-month live-action shoot followed by a post-production schedule leading to its May 16, 2008, global release through Disney’s distribution divisions of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution and Buena Vista International. Filming locations include both the north and south islands of New Zealand, Prague’s Barrandov Studios, the Czech Republic, as well as locales in Poland and Slovenia.

Once again toplining the new film as the Pevensie children are the four young British talents discovered by Adamson for the first film — Georgie Henley as Lucy, Skandar Keynes as Edmund, William Moseley as Peter, and Anna Popplewell as Susan.

The film’s title character will be played by Ben Barnes, a 25-year-old British actor, a veteran of the stage who is currently best known for his recent role in "The History Boys" for London’s National Theatre Company. His upcoming feature film roles include the independent feature "Bigga Than Ben" and a featured role in Matthew Vaughn’s fantasy film "Stardust" for Paramount Pictures.

Also co-starring in the new film are a pair of diminutive actors whose talents have loomed large on the motion picture screen — Peter Dinklage ("The Station Agent," "Find Me Guilty") as the Red Dwarf Trumpkin, who accompanies the Pevensie children on their new journey and unites Narnia’s two kings, Peter and Caspian; and Warwick Davis ("Willow," "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy") as the suspicious Black Dwarf, Nikabrik. The film also features veteran Flemish actor Vincent Grass ("Vatel," "Londinium") as the wise old sage, Doctor Cornelius, Prince Caspian’s tutor who educates the future Narnian king in the history of his land. Veteran Scottish actor Ken Stott ("Casanova," "King Arthur") will lend his vocal talents to the role of Trufflehunter, the faithful badger who believes the former Kings and Queens of Narnia will return to assist Caspian in his quest.

Inspired by Lewis’ imaginative creations, the story’s human cast will once again be complemented by a gallery of original creatures portrayed onscreen in the combined efforts of live-action and CGI animation under the supervision of visual effects supervisor Dean Wright, who will also collaborate this time with VFX veteran Wendy Rogers ("Shrek," "Flushed Away"), and the movie magicians at London’s Moving Picture Company, Framestore/CFC and Weta Digital in New Zealand. Five -time Academy Award®-winning visualist Richard Taylor ("Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "King Kong") and the wizards from his Weta Workshop will also design the film’s armor and weaponry for Narnia’s new inhabitants, the Telmarines.

Howard Berger and Tami Lane will also reprise their efforts for the film’s makeup effects, and will manufacture and apply hundreds of special makeup prosthetics for many of the unique characters in the story.

Adamson has again secured the talents of Oscar®-nominated production designer Roger Ford ("Babe," "Peter Pan," "The Quiet American"), award-winning costume designer Isis Mussenden ("Shrek," "Shrek 2," "10 Items or Less"), and film editor Sim Evan-Jones ("Shrek," "Shrek 2"). Industry veteran Karl Walter Lindenlaub, ASC, bvk ("Independence Day," "Stargate," "Because of Winn-Dixie") joins Adamson’s technical team as director of photography.

The enchanted characters of C.S. Lewis’s timeless fantasy come to dazzling life again in this second installment of the seven book series, in which the Pevensie siblings — Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy — are magically and mysteriously transported back from World War II England to Narnia, where a thrilling, perilous new adventure and an even greater test of their faith and courage awaits them.

One year after the incredible events of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," the newly-annointed Kings and Queens of Narnia find themselves back in that faraway wondrous realm, only to discover that more than 1000 years have passed in Narnian time. During their absence, the Golden Age of Narnia has become extinct, and now exists as little more than folklore. The land’s magical talking animals and mythical creatures have disappeared, becoming little more than folk tales to the Telmarines, a race of humans led by the evil King Miraz, who now rules the land without mercy. Though his name is still remembered in the woods, the mighty lion Aslan has also not been seen in a thousand years.

The four children have been summoned back to Narnia by Caspian, the young heir to the Telmarine throne whose life is in danger as his evil uncle Miraz plans to eliminate the young warrior so his own newborn son can ascend the throne. With the help of the kindly dwarf, a courageous talking mouse named Reepicheep, and a leery Black Dwarf, Nikabrik, the Narnians, led by the mighty knights Peter and Caspian, embark on a remarkable journey to find Aslan, rescue Narnia from Miraz’s tyrannical hold, and restore magic and glory to the land.

"Prince Caspian" is the second (appearing in 1951) of Lewis’ seven-book "Chronicles of Narnia" series. Published between 1950-56 and long regarded as one of literature’s most enduring and imaginative classics, Lewis’ books have sold over 100,000,000 books in 29 different languages, making it the second biggest book series the world over. In addition to the second novel, the Oxford scholar wrote six additional books, including "The Voyage of the ’Dawn Treader’" (1952), "The Silver Chair" (1953) "The Horse and His Boy" (1954) "The Magician’s Nephew" (the prequel to the first book, 1955), "The Last Battle" (1956) and the story that launched the series in 1950, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

Interview with Douglas Gresham (Lewis' Stepson, Producer)

"The Philippine Order of Narnians" has interviewed producer Douglas Gresham on a variety of interesting topics, including his thoughts on the Narnia films. Read the full interview at FilipinoNarnians.org. Thanks to "diwanggising" for the heads up!

On Bringing Narnia to Film:

TPON: We know that Andrew Adamson and Walden Media have been very respectful of the original material. In theory, though, how much veto power do you hold over the script?

Gresham: We create the scripts in a collaborative manner, I meet with the writers and Andrew, and we go carefully through every line, honing and refining until we are satisfied that what we have is right. I have as much "voice" in this process as anyone on the team who are all very respectful of my knowledge and expertise.

TPON: The biggest criticism of the LWW film seems to be that there isn’t enough of Aslan in it, and Aslan doesn’t seem to be as all-powerful as he is portrayed in the books. Any thoughts on that?

Gresham: Yes, two thoughts. One is that no matter how much of Aslan we might want to put in a movie we are, as always, constrained to some extent by budget realities. To make a Lion for Aslan who looked anything less than perfect would be terrible, so we tend to try to make every hair of his mane and every move that he makes as close to perfect as we can. You have seen the result on screen. Now I am not about to tell you how much it costs to produce that quality of CGI, but let’s just say that it is not cheap. Somewhere along the line one has to decide how much money is to be spent on what, and to put more of Aslan in the movie means to put less of other things. We had to try for a good balance and I think we achieved it very well.

The on the topic of Aslan being all-powerful (but restraining his power), just how would one portray that in a movie? Remember this? 1 Kings 19:11 Then He said, "Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

Aslan in the LWW, is the still small voice (except when he roars).

TPON: Many people are into the Narnia stories particularly because of the themes that are behind them. What do you think are the most important themes of Prince Caspian that absolutely must be in the movie?

Gresham: That one I will wait to answer till after the movie is released. I am not about to give anything away at this stage. :-)

TPON: Many are apprehensive about the portrayal of Calormenes in the Horse and His Boy, which seem to have a Middle Eastern flavor. It’s still far away, but do you have any idea how the Calormenes might be approached in the movies, given a post-9/11 audience?

Gresham: Yes I do, but I am not about to give that away either. However, I don’t think that the descriptions of the Calormenes do have a Middle Eastern flavour. I think you need to look further afield and further back. But in any case, taking offense is a personal choice, and if people want be offended by what I do in a movie that is their right and their responsibility. I will not pander to the likes, dislikes, preferences or prejudices of individuals who might be in our audiences, if you start to do that, sooner or later you wind up with artistic porridge.

Trumpkin the Red Dwarf, Nikabrik the Black Dwarf, and Dr. Cornelius have been cast

Peter Dinklage Cast as Trumpkin the Dwarf

Prince Caspian’s publicist, Ernie Malik, has confirmed for us that Reepicheep and Miraz have not yet been cast and we are still awaiting word on Doctor Cornelius.

We are able to announce that the role of Trumpkin the Dwarf will be played by Peter Dinklage (Elf, The Station Agent). Mr Dinklage is 4’ 5" tall (1.35 metres).


Warwick Davis Cast as Nikabrik the Dwarf

From Narnia.com, Warwick Davis joins Peter Dinklage in the casting of the two Dwarf characters in Prince Caspian. Davis will be playing Nikabrik the Black Dwarf, while Dinklage plays Trumpkin the Red Dwarf. Mr Davis is 3’ 6" tall (1 metre).

Davis has been seen in other fantasy films such as Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Harry Potter, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

He also played Reepicheep the Mouse in the Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader BBC television productions, as well as Glimfeather the Owl in The Silver Chair!

Vincent Grass Cast as Doctor Cornelius

From Narnia.com:

Casting News - Two key roles have been announced from "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." Peter Dinklage will play Trumpkin the dwarf and Vincent Grass has been cast as Doctor Cornelius, Prince Caspian’s mentor.

Vincent Grass was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1949 and has appeared in over eighty films and TV movies, including the Horatio Hornblower series.

Prince Caspian has been cast!

And the actor selected to play Prince Caspian is British actor Ben Barnes!

After a long casting process and in a move that will no doubt surprise many Narnia devotees, director Andrew Adamson has selected the youthful-looking 25 year old (with a playing age as young as 17 years) to play the pivotal Caspian role. In the book, Caspian is a mere 13 years of age.

Although we recently contacted Mr Barnes’ agency, we have not yet received an official announcement. However, The Times has now reported that the actor has dropped his current award-winning theatrical project in London, "The History Boys", in order to accept the Caspian role even at risk of being slapped with a lawsuit. "The History Boys" also sees Barnes playing a schoolboy.

The Times article states that the young actor has a three-film deal to play Caspian. Presumably this means that he will be reprising the role in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair, the next two films after Prince Caspian.

Barnes has an impressive list of film, television, radio, and theatre credits, and has recently completed two films, "Bigga than Ben" and "Stardust". See his profile at IMDB, Casting Call Pro, and The Spotlight.

"PC" has a release date!

"Prince Caspian" will release on May 16, 2008.

Walden Media's Bob Beltz Talks about "PC" with Infuze

Bob Beltz has a lot to say. As the Associate Producer of the upcoming movie Amazing Grace as well as the editor of Real Christianity, Beltz talks to us about the life of William Wilberforce and the issue of slavery in the modern world today and what we can do about it. As a part of Walden Media, he also gives the latest scoop on the Narnia series, including which movies have been greenlit, the problem with Edmund and the timeline of releases.

Can you let us in on what's happening with Prince Caspian. Is the script completely finished? And is it sticking closely to the book?

It's pretty close. Andrew Adamson is gonna direct again. Most of the same crew is working on this one. Mark Johnson will produce again. A lot of the cast and crew will be the same. Now, I don't think that will the case for all seven. I don't think Andrew Adamson wants to spend the rest of his life on this one series.

But the script... let me put it this way: All of the elements from the book are present. It's not as easy of a book to adapt as The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe was simply because it has a little bit of a different structure and Andrew wanted to rearrange some of the elements for dramatic effect. But everything that is in the book will be in the film.

What are some of the changes we can expect to see?

I can't talk about that.

(Laughs). Just thought I would try...

(Laughs). They're real good, let me just say that.

What about using the children? Obviously, children grow up so fast on camera...

And we're actually using the same four kids and I know that three of them actually look almost the same as they did. Skandar [Keynes] who played Edmund has grown about seven inches and looks like a full blown adolescent now. In the Lewis story, there's only a year that has taken place between the first and second book and I think that will just get left a little open ended. The big challenge is going to be Edmund I think.

And you've already greenlit the next one?

Yes. The next book after that will be The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and we're going to try and film the next two in a way that it won't have to be two and a half years between them. We'll be able to bring them out sequentially a year apart.

Is Adamson attached to that project?

I think whoever actually directs the project will be under Andrew as sort of an overseer on the thing.

So you will begin shooting Dawn Treader right after Caspian wraps?

Yeah, the way I understand it is that it takes six months to do the live photography on Caspian and then a full year of post-production with all of the effects and computer generated things that have to get done. In theory, what we'll do is as soon as they are done filming Caspian and into post-production, then we'll have a new crew to do the filming part of Dawn Treader. Then when that one goes into post-production, we're hoping to go into The Silver Chair, which would be the next book into production.