Andrew Adamson Chronicles "Narnia" Again - Interview

Director Andrew Adamson is in the business of chronicling `Narnia,' this time in `Prince Caspian'

by Clint O'Connor / Plain Dealer Film Critic

Wednesday May 14, 2008, 7:48 AM

AP Photo/Peter Kramer

Andrew Adamson is Mr. Blockbuster. He's had a hand in four of the top 35 grossing films of all time. None of his movies has earned less than $260 million.

That's Lucas-Spielberg territory.

The 41-year-old New Zealander directed "Shrek 2" (No. 3 on the all-time list, and the most successful animated film ever), was a producer on "Shrek the Third" (No. 18), directed and co-wrote "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" (No. 29), and directed one of the most entertaining films of the 21st century, the original "Shrek" (No. 35).

Apparently the guy likes the pressures of spitting out sequels. He's back with the second Narnia film, "Prince Caspian," which opens nationwide today. This time, the four Pevensie children return to Narnia where more than 1,300 years have passed, and must help Caspian defeat an army of Telmarines. The second film from C.S. Lewis' seven-book series is lengthy (140 minutes), darker, and more battle-heavy than the first.

We caught up with Adamson on the phone from London to ask about his Narnia redux.

You've become Mr. Epic. Do you ever long for a small budget, a hand-held camera, and a crew of three?

That's where I wanted to go in the beginning and ended up being steered in this direction by accident and incident. I'm actually stepping back from the next one of these. Michael Apted will direct ["The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"]. I'm planning to go off to New Zealand and develop some smaller projects.

The first time around you took a beloved book to the screen, now you have to top the first film. How do you deal with that pressure?

You can't think about that too much because you start second-guessing your own decisions. I can't really make a film for somebody else. I can only make it for myself and hope that other people approve of my taste. Once you try to guess what's cool for a 13-year-old boy, you can pretty much guarantee you'll miss. And they'll know that you're false.

With "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" a lot of attention was paid to the Christian aspects of the story -- Aslan dying willingly and being resurrected. Did that affect your approach to those themes this time?

Not really. A lot of people, particularly in the U.S., made a big issue with the allegorical lion. Certainly it's something C.S. Lewis would have been irate about, because he never intended him to be allegorical, though he certainly wrote from his own belief system. The last film had a resurrection story, obviously a very strong representation of the resurrection story of Christ. But it also exists in a lot of other cultures and a lot of other religions. I think that's why the book has been so accepted across the world, and why the movie was as well.

The film is rated PG. With all of the sword fighting and battling I assumed it would be PG-13. Were you surprised by the rating?

There's a lot more action in it, it's a bit more of a boys' film, and a bit more intense. But in the last film, with Aslan being killed, I don't think there's anything darker than that. That was very terrifying for children. The thing I learned was it's okay to go there and it's okay for kids to be sacred, as long as you don't leave them in that state, and as long as you're not gratuitous.

How old were you when you first read the books?

I was between the ages of about 8 and 10. I read them a couple of times over. I do feel comfortable with that age group seeing the film. I would say for younger kids, parents should definitely go with them. You want somebody who can hold their hand during the scary bits.