LOS ANGELES, California?William Moseley, who makes his last appearance as Peter Pevensie in ?The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,? gets some ?bizarre? fan mail (read on). Anna Popplewell (Susan Pevensie) is enrolled at Oxford, where C.S. Lewis, who wrote the ?Narnia? books, taught for over 20 years.
These were some of the updates shared with us by the main cast of the blockbuster adventure-fantasy film series in recent interviews in New York. What a difference a few years can make. When we first talked with William, Anna, Georgie Henley (Lucy) and Skandar Keynes (Edmund) in 2005 for ?The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,? they were, understandably, shy and awkward at the press cons. They spoke softly and gave short answers.
Flash forward to 2008?William (21), Anna (19) and Georgie (12) were confident, answered questions while smiling, and in voices loud enough for all the reporters to hear. In place of Skandar, we had the very interesting Peter Dinklage, the diminutive actor in the brilliant ?The Station Agent,? who plays the heroic Trumpkin the Red Dwarf in ?Prince Caspian.?
Filming this second ?Narnia??directed again by Andrew Adamson?was bittersweet for William and Anna because they are not returning in the next installment, ?The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.? William is symbolically passing on the sword to Ben Barnes, who is the Prince Caspian in the title, and who gets to give Anna her first screen kiss. All this happens when the Pevensie children are transported back to the mystical land of Narnia and discover that the kingdom is overrun by Telmarines and a cruel tyrant.
Magic, spectacle
Along the way, there are spectacular battles, magical landscapes and cute animals: Reepicheep (we teased Andrew that this mouse reminds us of Antonio Banderas? Puss ?n? Boots in ?Shrek,? which Andrew also directed); Trufflehunter, a badger; and Asterius, half man, half beast.
Georgie, Skandar and Peter get a chance to shine on their own in the third ?Narnia,? which is to start filming late this year.
William and Georgie, who were paired in the interview, were like real siblings in their easy banter. Here?s what the former said about some of his fan mail: ?I?ve had some bizarre fan mail, to say the least. I?ve had fan mail from different parts of the world and different types of people? from girls who send half-naked pictures of themselves, to men, you know, offering me a holiday in the Bahamas. I really find it fascinating to read fan mail. It shows that the first film appealed to a broad spectrum of people. I think [more] will come in soon [because of the new film].?
Since there is budding romance between Prince Narnia and Lucy, William was asked for an update on romance in his own life. He answered in a winding way: ??Narnia? has opened my eyes to a lot of things. I feel lucky that I?m able to travel; I?m not stuck in my hometown, meeting the same kind of girls and saying hi to the same people, week after week. There are so many interesting, intelligent girls out there.?
Eye-opening
Georgie, with a naughty glint in her eyes, pounced on one word and repeated it, drawing laughter from the reporters: ?Intelligent.? William could only smile back in brotherly amusement. ?It has definitely been a roller coaster ride in that department,? he quipped. Pressed for a precise answer, William finally admitted, ?There is someone special but I?m not going to go any further than that.?
On how he has matured since he was cast in the first film, William replied, ?It was an eye-opening experience, to say the least. I was essentially playing myself. But by the end of the filming, my character grew from a boy into a man. In my own experiences, I also matured greatly. In the second ?Narnia,? my character is much darker. He is more experienced and a lot angrier. I had to get in touch with a lot of the dark parts of my personality, and that made me even more mature. From the time I was cast to the present, I have gone from boy to man even though I?m not sure if I?ll ever be fully a man (laughter). I?m almost there.?
For her part, Georgie said, ?When I first auditioned, I was 7 years old. I had to describe what breakfast cereal I had that morning and which member of my family I would eat first if we were stranded on an island (laughter). Being around older people on the set was a good thing.? Laughing, she said, ?I am mature for my age but I?m still very naïve sometimes.?
Befitting his final ?Narnia? movie, William figures in exciting fight scenes. He cited one particularly challenging one: ?I have a fight scene with Sergio Castellitto, the wonderful actor who plays Miraz and whom I have a lot of respect for. At first, when the fight scene was being choreographed, a lot of it was done by stunt doubles. And then Sergio came in and did some of the fight. I didn?t think he would be that good. He?s kind of a small man. I didn?t think much was going to happen. He?s always joking and laughing.
?But when we did the scene, his eyes lit up. He came down hard on me and he just kept going. I was ducking and diving all over. Andrew called ?Cut? and he?s like, ?That was great.? Andrew asked me, ?Would you want more of those?? I was like, ?Andrew, that was real! Sergio was really trying to kill me!? (Laughter) I was shaking. It was definitely scary; it really made me have a lot of respect for Sergio.?
Emotional place
William spoke wistfully as he reflected on his second and last ?Narnia? movie: ??Narnia? has been my life for six years. I started auditioning at 15. Now I?m 21, so ?Narnia? has a really emotional place for me. It?s not just a film or a job. It?s so much more than that to me, so passing it on [to Ben Barnes] is a sad thing. But it?s also a hopeful thing. I?m ready for a new challenge as an actor. I am ready to pass it on to Ben and see what he?s got in store and for him to anchor and lead the films. I?m ready for something maybe a little bit more in the real world.? With his heartthrob good looks, William should have no trouble finding roles in that regard.
Georgie, on the other hand, sounded excited about being in the third installment, to be directed by Michael Apted. ?I?m really looking forward to doing the next film,? she gushed. ??Voyage of the Dawn Treader? is my favorite book in the ?Narnia? series. I don?t say this in a mean way but I feel that Lucy isn?t overshadowed by her sister anymore. The same with Edmund. Lucy comes into her own more than she has in the first two films so I?m really looking forward to portraying that.?
Odd kiss
Anna, who was paired with Peter in the press con, was asked about her first screen kiss, and with Prince Caspian, no less. She confessed, ?I was quite nervous because not only had I known Ben for five months already?it?s always odd kissing a friend?there was an audience of actors watching. We were up on a platform. It really couldn?t have been more of a show.?
She added, ?It was especially nerve-wracking having Skandar, Will and Georgie there. They are like my surrogate sister and brothers. If I were kissing someone and I had my brother or sister standing there, I?d be very nervous. But the kissing scene went fine. Ben is great. He was very professional about it.?
Since a lot of the spectacular visual effects were done through CGI, Anna and Peter discussed having to act opposite tennis balls to represent the computer-generated characters that were added later in the process. ?Some tennis balls are better actors than some human actors,? Peter joked.
?Some of the tennis balls are,? Anna jokingly agreed to laughter from the journalists. ?It?s always a challenge to act to things that are not there.?
The English Literature student explained why the series is successful: ?One of the strengths of the Narnia stories is that they?re not a sequential franchise. Part of the reason why the books are so popular is that you have recurring characters and new ones every time. So you?re seeing some of the same people in completely new situations. Aslan (the lion considered by many as the series? Christ figure) is the only character who?s in all the books. The fact that it appeals so well in the cinema is that it?s a very human story?it?s very much about family dynamics. Whether you?re an only child or you have brothers and sisters, the humanness of the stories is something that everyone can relate to.?
Of her other life as a university student, she confirmed, ?Yes, I?m at Magdalen College in Oxford. C.S. Lewis taught there for 20 years. I just started in October. I?m really enjoying it. We have very long holidays at Oxford so I?m hoping to do something this summer. I?d like to continue acting but I see it as a long-term career. I?d like to act for 25 years, not five years, so I?m taking the time now to earn my degree.?
Poignant
Like Will, she sounded poignant when she talked about her last ?Narnia? gig: ?The last few shooting days were really sad. It was quite a bittersweet finish for Will and me, but at the same time I feel that I?ve learnt a huge amount from doing these movies. But I?m ready to move on and do other things. I don?t think I would want to play the same character seven times.?
E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.
