Aigh!…the lion won’t stop chewing the scenery! Brian Cox is cast as Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia. Snark aside, I actually think that’s quite good voice-casting.
Tag: Narnia
Filming the Fantasy Shelf.
Much recent news on fantasy-fiction-to-film projects has materialized of late: Christopher Nolan preps for The Prestige post-Batman, WETA readies Prince Caspian as the second film in the Narnia series (after The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe), and director Chris Weitz discusses his adaptation of His Dark Materials.
Sexy Beast?
Word is Ray Winstone, of Sexy Beast and late of King Arthur, will be voicing Mr. Beaver in The Chronicles of Narnia. Yeah, I can dig it.
The Rule of Four.
Jim Broadbent joins The Chronicles of Narnia as Professor Kirke, and the four Pevensie children have been revealed.
Witching Matilda.
Narnia casting has begun, and it’s Tilda Swinton as the White Witch. Yeah, that works…better than Julia Stiles as FF‘s Invisible Girl, at any rate. Update: Swinton will be joined by James McAvoy as Mr. Tumnus.
The White Witch Approaches.
One journey is over, another begins…word is Nicole Kidman may be the White Witch in the forthcoming Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. I’ll be honest, I don’t like the Narnia books nearly half as much as LotR. But, still, it’d be nice to see ’em done right, and Kidman is a step in the right direction (Heads up via High Industrial.) Update: Word from the studio is it’s not true.
The Fruits of the King.
On the day after PJ’s big cleanup, Disney announces that it has secured The Chronicles of Narnia, with Andrew Shrek Adamson directing. Meanwhile, Robert Rodriguez announces he’s doing The Princess of Mars, the first of the John Carter books.
Flights of Imagination.
The Science Fiction Book Club picks the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy books of the last 50 years, although after the top ten they’re listed alphabetically (Via Lots of Co.) I’d say I’ve read about half of these, and the choices seem pretty legit. No surprise who‘s at the top of the list, but otherwise it seems like the fantasy side got short shrift. I guess the Narnia books (and for that matter Animal Farm and 1984) are over 50-years-old. Speaking of which, I can’t say I’m a very big C.S. Lewis fan (particularly as compared to Tolkien), but nonetheless – the Narnia film site is now live.
Iorek v. Aslan.
His Dark Materials author Phillip Pullman rips into C.S. Lewis. (Via LinkMachineGo.) Pullman’s got a point, but to my mind his trilogy grew a lot more ponderous and a lot less fun once the whole Republic of Heaven angle became the central thrust of the story (somewhere in the first third of The Subtle Knife.)