|
'Narnia' actors discuss their roles, faith
By Rebecca Bostic, rbostic@catholicsun.org
December 18, 2008
It’s true. The Pevensie children — Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy — are the only 20th century humans that can travel to the land of Narnia.
But now the entire world can experience the children’s second trip to the magical land in their living room. “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” (Walt Disney Pictures) DVD was released this month.
In the film, William Moseley returned to Narnia for second time as Peter. But his Narnian story has ended. Prince Caspian, played by Ben Barnes, will command the forthcoming third Narnia installment, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”
Although Moseley and Barnes are young actors, they both found multiple connections with their royal characters.
“I’ve found the parallels between myself and the character increase the more I thought about it,” Barnes said of playing Caspian. “He thinks about everything too much, which something I am often very guilty of.”
Similarly Moseley found inspiration from his character — a part the 21-year-old actor first auditioned for when he was 15.
“For anybody those years are a huge changing period, but in Narnia it was definitely a unique experience and I have really grown an incredible amount,” Moseley said. “I have learned a lot from my character and a lot about myself along the way.”
“The Chronicles of Narnia” series — which is based on the books written by C.S. Lewis — focuses on spiritual battles and earthly struggles. The spiritual message of the novels is clearly portrayed in both films in the series, and is one Moseley believes goes beyond a Christian message.
“These films have appealed to people all over the world from all different countries, all different religions and they sort of meant something to them on a spiritual level, on an emotional level,” he said.
Although Moseley was not very familiar with Lewis’ work before filming began, Barnes grew up reading the series with his father from the time he was 8.
Comparisons to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the “Harry Potter” films are unavoidable, but welcomed by Barnes, who believes the Narnia films have something special to offer.
Whereas the “Harry Potter” books follow one group of friends through a school experience, and “The Lord of the Rings” tells one large story in three sections, “The Chronicles of Narnia” covers a huge expanse of time between each book, according to Barnes.
“The difference with the Narnia series is that each book is almost a separate genre and therefore it makes for a separate genre of film,” Barnes said. “The first film — ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ — was a lot of allegory, but it’s essentially a Christmas-type fairytale with sort of an action button on the end.”
“Prince Caspian,” he said, “is a story about conflict and about freedom and about a sort of humility, and therefore makes a more dramatic film with action and adventure.”
“And then ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ — the next one — is more of a roving adventure story sort of full of magic and discovery,” Barnes explained.
“I’m really looking forward to reprising the role and revisiting the character several years later, officially going into the mind of the character who at the end of the this film says ‘I’m not ready to be a leader, I don’t want the responsibility of being a king,’” Barnes said of playing Caspian in the next movie.
“We get to see him several years later having been the king for that period of time,” Barnes said. “So it will be interesting to see how he develops into a man and then go and just kind of journey and discover.”
Until then, fans can fill their Narnian imagination with “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” DVD, which includes featurettes, interviews and deleted scenes.
|
