Interview with Douglas Gresham

NarniaWeb moderators got to ask Douglas Gresham, C.S. Lewis' stepson, some questions about the upcoming "Prince Caspian:"

NW: How is the filming going? In fact, where are you right now?

DG: I am in Prague at the set of Prince Caspian. I am here to catch up with some of my favourite people who are the cast and crew, and with the footage that has been filmed since I was with the team in New Zealand - and of course to look at one of the most fabulous sets ever built, Miraz’s Castle, which is what we are filming right now. I can tell you that the footage we have so far looks spectacularly good, even richer and somehow stronger than LWW. Also the increased maturity of the children and their acting skills is remarkable. This is going to be one seriously great movie.

NW: So how do you like the casting choices for Caspian and the other new characters?

DG: As Co-Producer one of my tasks is to be a part of the team that makes the casting decisions, so naturally I am happy with our choices. This film was not as easy to cast as LWW, but the cast we have found are superb.

NW: What is the rationale behind putting a minotaur (Asterius), a creature associated with evil in LWW, as someone on Caspian’s side?

DG: There are several reasons for that. Firstly, we felt that we needed to show that in Narnia as here, old foes can be forgiven and can reconcile and work together, given the will to do so. Secondly, that in Narnia as also it is here, a common adversary will bring even the worst of enemies together and unite them. Also, that the shapes and colours of a species’ body do not necessarily denote their character, that just because someone is a Minotaur does not have to mean that they are all bad. Finally, we kind of like Minotaurs.

NW: Have any secondary characters from the book been reduced or eliminated in PC in the way that Rumblebuffin and the "Us Lions" lion were in LWW? (eg Wimbleweather, the Bulgy Bear, Bacchus, Caspian’s Nurse).

DG: Now you’re fishing with too fine a net, I am not about to reveal too much nor to give too much away. That is the sort of question that you will have to watch to the movie to find out the answer to.

NW: We’ve heard rumours that Mr. Tumnus is going to be in this movie as a very old faun. Is this true? If so, why?

DG: Well, I know that Fauns are long livers, but 1300+ years? I doubt it. It would be fun to bring back James though.

NW: Has Queen Prunaprismia’s role been expanded in the film?

DG: Go see the movie, and all will be revealed.

NW: How will the children’s’ relationships with Aslan be portrayed in this film? Will Lucy’s midnight meeting of him be shown; will the children have to follow him on faith? Is Aslan going to undergo any "character development", per se?

DG: Now that is an interesting question. I suggest that you get together all your friends, and their friends, and your enemies and their enemies too (after all we are supposed to love our enemies) and then take them all out to the movie on release night, and then let me know what you think the answer to that is. If you can’t quite figure it out that night, go back and see it again and again till you can, it will be worth it.

NW: Will the dryads and wood gods be CGI or actors or half-and-half, this time?

DG: This actually varies from character to character depending on what we require them to do and how they need to appear. For example the Cherry-tree dryad in LWW was one who need considerable CGI assistance to exist at all. We will of course use the very best techniques available to us in each case, but these decisions are always driven by the needs of the scene.

NW: Do NarniaWebbers need to feel alarmed at the rumour of there being an attraction between Caspian and Susan in the script?

DG: If I were you I would worry far more about Global Warming.

NW: Is there any reason to worry about the Peter/Miraz duel being changed significantly (as in, maybe, Caspian/Miraz) in the film?

DG: Again, this is not something I would descend into the depths of despair over.

NW: Do you think PC will be about as true to the book as LWW was, or will more changes be needed?

DG: That depends a bit on what you mean by "true to the book". In the sense that the meanings and intentions that Jack wrote are all in the movie, it is faithful to the book; but the book has a great deal of walking and talking which, while it works very well in Jack’s masterful prose, would result in a very boring movie if we stuck to that format on screen. We have obviously had to make rather more visually exciting things happen .

NW: Is PC going to be as squeaky clean as LWW was? While aiming for a PG rating, will a bit more grittiness be added to the movie for a little more realism?

DG: Ahh, so you guys do want a romance between Susan and Caspian after all. Seriously, though, I think I take issue with your idea apparent that LWW lacked realism. You have to remember that LWW starts in savage winter when the whole land of Narnia is blanketed in thick snow which is freshened almost every night, and thus has that beautiful clean, almost purified look and feel about it, and then moves into the burgeoning freshness of Spring. Hard to make either of those "gritty" without losing their realism. Prince Caspian is very different in character, scenario, in feel, in the nature of the adventure. I think that you will find it stunningly beautiful, and yet carrying moods as changeable and as impactive as the weather in which we filmed them. However what is realism in Narnia may well be fantasy here.

NW: Is there any chance we’ll be treated to another cameo by Mr. Gresham?

DG: That is a decision for Andrew, suffice it to say that if called, he will serve.

NW: Thank you very much.

Photo Spoilers of the "PC" set in Prague!

Last Girl Guide writes: "I live in Prague and I took the photos as I was walking to the bus stop. I saw a whole load of tents and catering vans, so my boyfriend and I remarked they must be filming something, and wasn’t Narnia going on at the moment? Then we turned the corner to see a red phone box, bomb-shelter and on the opposite side of the road, The Strand underground station. It was very bizzare I can tell you. The irony is that I actually come from a village near the Severn Valley Railway, which of course is what they used in the last film for the train journey. I’m beginning to feel that Narnia is following me!"

Producer David Minkowski talks about filming in the Czech Republic

Associate Producer David Minkowski discusses the Czech Republic leg of the Prince Caspian filming. Read the complete interview at the Czech Film Commission site.

HN: In April you will begin filming in the Czech Republic The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. How is work proceeding on the film?

It’s all going very well. Right now it’s shooting in New Zealand, then in a couple days the staff will relocate to the Czech Republic, where they will film until August. Right now there are 300 to 400 people working in Prague on pre-production [Note from NarniaWeb: Prince Caspian has now begun filming]. At Barrandov and at the studios at Modrany we have a total of seven sets, plus they’re building a giant set on the backlot at Barrandov.

HN: What will the time-table of shooting look like?

First we start at Modrany, then we transfer to Barrandov and then a week in Poland. After that we return to Prague and to Ústí nad Labem and around there. Actually we will have in the Czech Republic two crews – one will film 11 weeks in Ústí and a second in Prague. The first crew will then move to the mountains in Slovenia. The filming there will be very demanding in terms of travel and logistics

HN: Unlike the first Narnia film the majority of the scenes of the new film will be shot in Prague. How did you convince the film’s producers, Walt Disney and Walden Media, to do it this way?

Prague has good infrastructure and conditions – big studios, offices, film crews and equipment, everything you need. What’s more it’s a good base if you need to film in other locations in Europe, like in Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia or Poland. So if you need to travel every week to a different location, Prague is a natural centre for filming.

HN: But the first Narnia shot only a few scenes here …

That’s because of the weather. We need summer and in New Zealand it’s just ending and we can’t shoot there in winter.

HN: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe cost about USD 180 million to make. A sequel to a commercially successful film is usually more expensive than the original. Is that the case with Prince Caspian?

It’s case by case. In 2004 we shot Alien vs. Predator, and that was the least expensive of the Alien films. As for The Chronicles of Narnia, I think it could be true. Prince Caspian is definitely a big film.

HN: How much of the total budget for Prince Caspian are Disney and Walden Media investing in the Czech Republic?

I suppose that the net investment will be around USD 30 million to USD 40 million. That includes the construction of the big sets, renting the studios, filming in Ústí nad Labem, contracting hundreds of crew members and so on. I’d say that it’s the biggest film ever shot here. The total amount that Prince Caspian is bringing to the Czech Republic will be even bigger – that investment, which will flow into the Czech economy, will have further economic effects, for example in paying for housing services, feeding crew members, etc.

HN: How many Czech filmmakers are employed on this film?

The majority of the crew will be made up of Czechs. If we don’t count the workers who are building the sets, there will be on the sets in film crews about 900 people. That’s a lot.

Watch Andrew Adamson's First Video Blog!

SFXer Howard Berger blogs on the creatures of Narnia

A LOOK INTO THE CREATURES OF NARNIA
BY HOWARD BERGER
Makeup Effects and Creature Designer

Once in a lifetime, something so amazing happens and you are so grateful for it. But, to have it happen twice in a lifetime is unheard of. I am talking about the privilege of another journey into Narnia that the creative team at KNB EFX Group, Inc. gets to take for PRINCE CASPIAN.

The first film was a challenge, as we had never tackled a project so huge in scope and with so many creatures playing at once. It was important to bring all the Narnians to life and make it completely believable that they could believably live in this magical land. And here we are again, ready to meet up with the new Narnians that inhabit the land 1,500 years later.

The first step took partner Greg Nicotero and I back to the drawing board, as we wanted to mix things up a bit. We wanted to take another pass at what the Narnians would be like if they had become more wild in their appearance, seeing how they have been living in hiding within the forests all these centuries. What if they were all different age groups, sizes and races? We felt that the Narnians in the first film were all in their thirties, so we designed some study sculptures to demonstrate our concepts and approached director Andrew Adamson with the ideas. He liked our take and felt this could give Narnia an even more real existence.

In PRINCE CASPIAN, we have heavy set fauns, old age fauns, female dwarves, centaurs and their families. The minotaurs are now on the side of good. A new hag, a werewolf and the satyrs are back, but all newly redesigned to be more animal-like than the prior movie.

I think in every film there is one character you fall in love with. The first movie had Mr. Tumnus, played by the great James McAvoy. This time it is Peter Dinklage who plays Trumpkin the Dwarf. The character is so wonderfully written, and once you see Peter as Trumpkin, he becomes alive and real. We gave Trumpkin his look, but Peter gave him his heart, and the collaboration brings to life a new and interesting addition to this rich world.

A lot of the same crew from the first film have joined us, including my co-winner for the Best Makeup Oscar last year, Tami Lane (with key support from our third team member, Sarah Rubano). We are all excited and thrilled as there is an evolution that has occurred in Narnia and we are all privileged to be here to experience another wonderful adventure.

BIO

Howard Berger grew up in Los Angeles (the son of a post production sound mixer) and spent his younger years visiting the studios of Oscar winners Stan Winston (whom he met at age 14, and who gave Howard his first job after high school graduation) and Rick Baker, the renowned animatronic and makeup effects innovators, with whom he would later collaborate on "Aliens," "Pumpkinhead," "Predator," "Harry and the Hendersons" and "Men in Black."

With partners Greg Nicotero and Robert Kurtzman, he co-founded his own makeup design company, KNB EFX Group, in 1988. Over the past 19 years, KNB has worked on a wide range of distinguished films, ranging from the Oscar winning DANCES WITH WOLVES to Martin Scorsese's CASINO, from Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL films to most of Robert Rodriguez's projects, including the recent SIN CITY to name just a few of the 600 titles on which KNB has performed their artistry.

For their excellence and highest caliber of work, Howard and co-founder Nicotero were recently awarded the British Academy Award (the BAFTA) for Best Makeup on THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. Howard (and colleague Tami Lane) also took home their first Academy Award for Best Makeup on the film adaptation of the C.S. Lewis classic.

Update on FX in "PC"

Caspian Effects Update
Report hints at new content
by Paul Davidson

April 4, 2007 - Although production on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is nowhere near completion, the film's effects teams have sprung into action, preparing various computer-generated sequences for integration with live-action footage. As previously reported, two London-based effects houses -- Moving Picture Company and Framestore -- have been hired to do the majority of the digital effects for the second Narnia adventure.

Framestore has an update on their website with information on the films they're currently involved with. Their entry on Prince Caspian, though brief, is interesting and may allude to some of the additional content written to augment the original book — with the intent of adding depth and excitement to the film.

"The next Narnia film is now well under way," reads the blurb, "and Framestore CFC has got a lion's share (pardon the pun) of the VFX work. As well as the CG creatures, Aslan and a badger called Trufflehunter, the 500 or so shots our team expects to complete will also involve a spectacular River God sequence."

What "River God sequence" could the website be referring to, and where might such a scene fit into the established plot?

Producer Douglas Gresham also touched on the changes in his recent interview (though he certainly mentioned no River God). "A lot of [Prince Caspian] is walking and talking, which is fine on the pages of a book, but doesn't really come across very well in the cinema. So there are things we've had to do to make things a little more lively."

Hopefully we'll hear more about the changes and additions to the story before too long.