Bond Helmer May Head to Narnia

Directing Dawn Treader?

by IGN Staff

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2007 - Just the other day, the rumor broke that a new director had been chosen to film the third Chronicles of Narnia film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We now have a name to put to that rumor: according to the AintItCoolNews.com website, Michael Apted has been chosen to guide the Dawn Treader on its ocean-faring adventure.

Apted isn't exactly a household name among fantasy film lovers. His biggest oeuvre to date has probably been the 1999 James Bond flick The World Is Not Enough, starring Pierce Brosnan. Other projects to his credit include the investigative mystery Thunderheart, the '83 spy thriller Gorky Park, and several episodes of HBO's historical drama Rome. Despite the shortage of blockbuster titles on his resume, Apted appears to be a strong and capable director with much more experience than Andrew Adamson, whose main claim to fame before signing onto the Narnia series was the hit animated flick Shrek.

As for Adamson, he'll stay on as producer for Dawn Treader, but directing it would not have been an easy task, considering how its filming and post-production schedule will overlap that of Prince Caspian.

The third Narnia film is likely to begin production shortly after Caspian completes its shoot. A separate production crew will be used as well; Disney and Walden Media hope to release the next three adventures in quick succession, only a year apart if possible.

It should be emphasized that the news on Apted is just a strong rumor for the moment; no official word has been released to the media just yet. Hopefully the studio will give confirmation soon, and it would be nice to hear from the man himself how he feels about the movie and Narnia in general.