Walt Disney Studios and Walden Media present “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” the second movie based on C.S. Lewis’ beloved series of literary classics.
The film continues the spectacular story that began with the Oscar-winning 2005 release, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which earned over $745 million in its worldwide theatrical release, making it one of the most successful movies ever made, and one of the biggest successes in Disney’s history.
director Andrew Adamson (Oscar-winning Shrek, Shrek 2) embarks on his second Narnian film adventure from a screenplay he co-wrote with Emmy Award-winning writing partners Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (HBO’s The Life and Death of Peter Sellers), who also co-scripted the first film. Adamson also reunites with the producers of the first Narnia movieOscar-winner Mark Johnson (Rain Man, Bugsy, The Notebook) and Philip Steuer (The Rookie, The Alamo). Also reprising their roles are executive producer and former Walden Media executive Perry Moore and co-producer Douglas Gresham, author Lewis stepson.
Pevensie Children
Once again toplining as the Pevensie children are the four young British talents discovered by Adamson for the first film: 12-year-old Georgie Henley as Lucy, the youngest and the first to encounter the great Aslan on their new journey through Narnia; 16-year-old Skandar Keynes as Edmund, the younger boy who betrayed his siblings for his own selfish gain in the first adventure; 19-year-old Anna Popplewell as Susan, the cautious and practical older sister; and 21-year-old William Moseley as Peter, the eldest of the siblings and now High King of Narnia who valiantly leads the battle to save his realm from the tyrannical reign of the evil King Miraz.
Ben Barnes
The film’s title character is played by Ben Barnes, a 26-year-old British stage actor best known for his role in the drama “The History Boys” for London’s National Theatre Company, the first West End staging of Alan Bennetts award-winning play. He recently completed the film adaptation of Noel Cowards Easy Virtue opposite Jessica Biel and Colin Firth, starred in the independent feature Bigga Than Ben and had a featured role in Matthew Vaughn’s fantasy film Stardust.
Also co-starring in the new film are Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent, Death at a Funeral, Elf) as Trumpkin the Red Dwarf, who accompanies the Pevensie children on their new journey; and Warwick Davis (Willow, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Return of the Jedi) as the suspicious Black Dwarf, Nikabrik.
Veteran Kiwi actor Shane Rangi (Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) plays Asterius, the aging minotaur, and British musical theatre star Cornell S. John (Sir Trevor Nunns Gershwins Porgy and Bess, Julie Taymors The Lion King) is Glenstorm, the leader of the centaurs.
International Cast
The films international cast includes acclaimed Italian actor-director Sergio Castellitto (The Big Blue, Mostly Martha, Dont Move) as the villainous King Miraz; fellow Italian performer Pierfrancesco Favino (Night at the Museum, Romanzo Criminale) as the leader of the Telmarine army, Gen. Glozelle; Mexican star Damin Alczar (Men with Guns, And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself) as Lord Sopespian, another high-ranking soldier in Mirazs army; Spanish actress Alicia Borrachero (Periodistas, TVs Hospital Central, Love in the Time of Cholera) as Mirazs loyal wife, Queen Pruniprismia; and veteran French-Flemish actor Vincent Grass (Vatel, Ma Vie En Rose) as the wise old sage, Doctor Cornelius.
Scottish actor Ken Stott (Casanova, King Arthur, The Boxer) lends his vocal talents to the CGI character of Trufflehunter, the faithful badger. Academy Award nominee Liam Neeson (Schindlers List) returns as the voice of Aslan the Lion, and veteran English comic Eddie Izzard (TVs The Riches) voices Reepicheep, the swashbuckling mouse.
Visual Effects
Inspired by Lewis’ imaginative creations, the story’s human cast is again be complemented by a gallery of original creatures portrayed onscreen in the combined efforts of live-action and CGI animation under the supervision of returning visual effects co-supervisor and Oscar nominee Dean Wright (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Titanic), who will collaborate this time with VFX veteran and longtime Adamson ally Wendy Rogers (Shrek, Flushed Away).
The pair, who supervised over 1,600 CGI shots for the film, teamed with the movie magicians at London’s Moving Picture Company (all five Harry Potter films, Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit), the Oscar-winning Framestore-CFC (Superman Returns, Children of Men, all five Harry Potter films) and Weta Digital in New Zealand. Five-time Oscar-winning visualist Richard Taylor (Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong) and the wizards from his Weta Workshop designed the film’s armour and weaponry for Narnia’s new inhabitants, the Telmarines.
Oscar-winners Howard Berger, Gregory Nicotero and Tami Lane also return to design and apply the film’s special makeup effects, manufacturing hundreds of creature prosthetics for many of the unique characters in the story. KNB EFX Group, Bergers award-winning design house in Los Angeles, fabricated several full-scale animatronic suits for the storys unique Narnian beasts, which include minotaurs, satyrs and centaurs.
Oscar-nominated production designer Roger Ford (Babe, Peter Pan, The Quiet American), award-winning costume designer Isis Mussenden (Shrek, Shrek 2, 10 Items or Less), film editor Sim Evan-Jones (Shrek, Shrek 2) and Grammy-nominated composer Harry Gregson-Williams (Shrek, Shrek 2, Flushed Away) all repeat their roles from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Karl Walter Lindenlaub, A.S.C., bvk, (Independence Day, Stargate) joins Adamson’s technical team as director of photography.
In addition to its commercial success, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe also earned numerous awards including the Oscar for Best Achievement in Makeup, as well as nominations for visual effects and sound; the British Academy (BAFTA) Award for Best Makeup, along with nominations for visual effects and costumes; Golden Globe nominations for Best Movie Score and Alanis Morissettes original song Wunderkind; and Grammy nominations for score and Imogen Heaps original composition Cant Take It In.
The Shoot
“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” began filming on February 12, 2007 for six weeks on both the North and South Islands of New Zealand, where locations again included Henderson Studios sound stages as well as brand new sites on the countrys alluring Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island. South Island locales included the isolated Haast River Valley bordering the Tasman Sea on the countrys verdant South Westland coast, and forests near Paradise Valley and Glenorchy outside of Queenstown.
After concluding the New Zealand portion of the schedule in late March, the company relocated to Eastern Europe and the legendary sound stages at Pragues Barrandov and Modrany Studios. Key exterior locations in the Czech Republic included the Northern Bohemian city of Usti, the primary site of the films epic climactic battle, and locales in Poland and Slovenia.
