Tangled Magazine

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian premiered in Sydney on Sunday (25th of May) with director Andrew Adamson, producer Mark Johnson and stars Ben Barnes and William Moseley in attendance.

Prince Caspian is the highly anticipated sequel to the 2005 film, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, with the magical land of Narnia now 1,300 years older. After only a years passing in England, the four Pevensie children - Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan - return to find Prince Caspian X (Ben Barnes), heir to the throne of Cara Paravel, at battle with his tyrant uncle, King Miraz. Prince Caspian and the Pevensie’s discover that King Miraz has not only murdered Caspian’s father and taken his rightful place on the throne but forced the majority of Narnia into fear and hiding. With the help of the Pevensie children, and a courageous mouse called Reepicheep (Eddie Izzard), Prince Caspian sets out to fight his uncle and save Narnia.

“It was very important to me, and very important to Douglas Gresham (C S Lewis’ stepson) who worked closely with us, that we remain [true to C S Lewis’ vision]. We’ve been very true to the book - we’ve expanded upon it, but I think it feels like we’re telling the same story”, said Andrew Adamson, when he stopped to talk to Tangled on the red carpet.

“[The cast] all made it very easy to join. They are very warm and caring people, and they knew I was coming so they didn’t have any reason to alienate me!” said Ben when talking to Tangled. “There was a lot of necessary training for the part, like riding horses and learning to speak in an accent… the accent was a Spanish, Mexican, Mediterranean mix - from all over really. We had to try and bring it all together and tone it down a bit so it wouldn’t get annoying.”

“We weren’t specifically looking for someone unknown [to play Prince Caspian]. I liked the idea of having someone who was able to be interpreted by the audience as the character, and I think it definitely helped to have somebody lesser known”, said Adamson in regards to casting Ben Barnes in the title role.

“It was really frightening [doing a sequel]. This film is actually very different to the first one. The first one we were really thrown into the thick of things”, said William Moseley. “This one it was more like we were put out there. We’ve done so many cities [this time] - we’ve just done Mexico City, Sydney, Israel - you name it we’re going there! I love the [publicity tours] and I totally believe in this film. I think it is a wonderful film, and I want to support it to the best of my ability.

“There are a lot of things you can do [to get into character]. I think music is a great way, but it is all about being relaxed and calming down because the set can be a very buzzing place, and if you’re relaxed and loose you can go where you need to go and where Andrew [the director] needs you to go.”

As C S Lewis did not write William’s character, Peter, into future Narnia stories, Prince Caspian is William’s last Narnia film. As for what is next for him, he says, “There is something in the pipeline but it isn’t definite yet so I’m not going to talk about it today!”

“I’m not shooting the next Narnia film [The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]”, said Adamson. “It says on the internet that I only do two of everything, but basically it’s been six years for me, there are other things I want to do. I will stay involved in the making, as a producer with Matt Johnson, but I am ready to do some other things. [I want] something really small and really easy! Each of these has been 2 ½ or 3 years making, and their very complex films, logistically complicated. I am looking forward to doing something I can shoot in a couple of months instead of 8-9 months.

“There is more pressure every film you do. To some degree I think every film I have done I have gone into quite fearful, but I think unless you go into it with a certain amount of fear you are not really pushing the right button, so I guess I hope I’m always a little bit afraid.”

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is in Australian theatres on June 5, 2008.