Prince Caspian Casting News!
Yearly releases planned for Narnia sequels.
by IGN Staff
February 5, 2007 - With principal photography set to start next week in New Zealand, there has been a bevy of new developments on Prince Caspian, Disney's sequel to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
First, the title role has been cast. English thesp Ben Barnes, soon to be seen in Matthew Vaughn's Stardust, has won the coveted part of Caspian, but now faces a lawsuit over his decision to leave a stage play in order to work on the film.
Barnes, 25, was appearing as "Dakin" in a British revival of the Tony award-winning play The History Boys when he won the role of Caspian, according to TimesOnline.uk.
"Ben Barnes has decided to leave The History Boys early, before his contract is finished. It is something we are taking very seriously. He has accepted an offer to be in a children's Disney film and we have had to fly Jamie King back at extremely short notice this week," a spokesperson for the National Theatre advised The Times.
The National Theatre is reportedly "furious" at Barnes for exiting History Boys, which he has been a part of since 2006, and are considering suing him for breach of contract.
Speaking of contracts, a source for the Times article claims that Barnes informed his History Boys comrades that he had signed a three-picture deal with Disney for the Narnia films, which the studio envisions as a seven-film series.
Caspian director Andrew Adamson sang Barnes' praises to The New Zealand Herald. "Ben is a very accomplished young man, he's been getting a lot of good reviews lately for a play that he has on the West End," Adamson said. "He came to us very late in the game and he just blew us away. He's going to be a great addition to the cast. I think he'll really fit in well with the other kids."
As a side-note, two actors will probably be needed to play Caspian in The Silver Chair: the young Caspian who appears briefly near the end of the story, and the aging king Caspian whose long-lost son two British children set out to find.
In other Caspian casting news, Italian actress Alicia Borrachero (Love in the Time of Cholera) has won the role of "Prunaprismia, the wife of General Miraz, Narnia's evil king," according to Variety. Adamson told the Herald, "We have not yet cast King Miraz, we're still in discussions with someone on that."
Read on to find out what Disney and Walden Media's plans are for the Narnia sequels!
Bob Beltz, who works as a producer at Walden Media, had some interesting insider's info on how the studio plans to handle the next few film releases in the Chronicles of Narnia series. As anyone following IGN Movies probably knows, Prince Caspian is currently in production after a bit of a delay following The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Caspian isn't due in theaters until 2008, but Walden would like to begin releasing new films once a year from then on, Beltz told Infuze Magazine.
With that in mind, Walden Media is already laying out the schedule for the two films that follow Caspian: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair. Those two would receive 2009 and 2010 releases, respectively.
The challenge is that it takes about 18 months to make an effects-laden Narnia movie — six for the actual filming, and 12 for post-production work. The plan, then, is to start shooting Dawn Treader with a second film crew as soon as photography on Prince Caspian ends, and then shoot Silver Chair while Treader is in post-production.
Beltz also commented on the script for Prince Caspian. Without revealing what content might be added, he reassured fans that the story would still be quite true to the book:
"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 [director] Andrew [Adamson] wanted to rearrange some of the elements for dramatic effect. But everything that is in the book will be in the film."
February 5, 2007 - With principal photography set to start next week in New Zealand, there has been a bevy of new developments on Prince Caspian, Disney's sequel to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
First, the title role has been cast. English thesp Ben Barnes, soon to be seen in Matthew Vaughn's Stardust, has won the coveted part of Caspian, but now faces a lawsuit over his decision to leave a stage play in order to work on the film.
Barnes, 25, was appearing as "Dakin" in a British revival of the Tony award-winning play The History Boys when he won the role of Caspian, according to TimesOnline.uk.
"Ben Barnes has decided to leave The History Boys early, before his contract is finished. It is something we are taking very seriously. He has accepted an offer to be in a children's Disney film and we have had to fly Jamie King back at extremely short notice this week," a spokesperson for the National Theatre advised The Times.
The National Theatre is reportedly "furious" at Barnes for exiting History Boys, which he has been a part of since 2006, and are considering suing him for breach of contract.
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Speaking of contracts, a source for the Times article claims that Barnes informed his History Boys comrades that he had signed a three-picture deal with Disney for the Narnia films, which the studio envisions as a seven-film series.
Caspian director Andrew Adamson sang Barnes' praises to The New Zealand Herald. "Ben is a very accomplished young man, he's been getting a lot of good reviews lately for a play that he has on the West End," Adamson said. "He came to us very late in the game and he just blew us away. He's going to be a great addition to the cast. I think he'll really fit in well with the other kids."
As a side-note, two actors will probably be needed to play Caspian in The Silver Chair: the young Caspian who appears briefly near the end of the story, and the aging king Caspian whose long-lost son two British children set out to find.
In other Caspian casting news, Italian actress Alicia Borrachero (Love in the Time of Cholera) has won the role of "Prunaprismia, the wife of General Miraz, Narnia's evil king," according to Variety. Adamson told the Herald, "We have not yet cast King Miraz, we're still in discussions with someone on that."
Read on to find out what Disney and Walden Media's plans are for the Narnia sequels!
Bob Beltz, who works as a producer at Walden Media, had some interesting insider's info on how the studio plans to handle the next few film releases in the Chronicles of Narnia series. As anyone following IGN Movies probably knows, Prince Caspian is currently in production after a bit of a delay following The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Caspian isn't due in theaters until 2008, but Walden would like to begin releasing new films once a year from then on, Beltz told Infuze Magazine.
With that in mind, Walden Media is already laying out the schedule for the two films that follow Caspian: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair. Those two would receive 2009 and 2010 releases, respectively.
The challenge is that it takes about 18 months to make an effects-laden Narnia movie — six for the actual filming, and 12 for post-production work. The plan, then, is to start shooting Dawn Treader with a second film crew as soon as photography on Prince Caspian ends, and then shoot Silver Chair while Treader is in post-production.
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Beltz also commented on the script for Prince Caspian. Without revealing what content might be added, he reassured fans that the story would still be quite true to the book:
"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 [director] Andrew [Adamson] wanted to rearrange some of the elements for dramatic effect. But everything that is in the book will be in the film."
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