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Narnia devotees are going to nitpick your every single decision. Would you say that Doug Gresham is the biggest nitpicker of all?

He is a nitpicker, but it's very rare that we have bumped heads on anything because we both have the desire to be true to the books. But there were times in the first film we did come to blows (laughing)—no, come to conflict, I should say—with things like Susan [Pevensie, one of the children in the books]. This was where C. S. Lewis had a feeling about women's role in the world that differed a lot from mine—particularly with Susan getting to use her bow.

Adamson on the Caspian set

You're talking about the part in Lion/Witch where Father Christmas tells Susan and Lucy they are not to use their weapons in battle, but only in great need?

Yeah. I always thought it was such a negative message to send to young girls and women to say, "Here's a bow and arrow. But I really should have given you a butter knife and a plate, because all you do is get to make sandwiches." To me, it's like why is he giving her a bow and arrow and then saying you have to rely on your brothers to defend you? This is where Doug and I got into it a little bit. I said maybe that was C. S. Lewis's point of view at the time, but times have changed and it's certainly not my view at this time. I've got two young daughters, and I don't want that message to go to my daughters.

But Andrew, you didn't try to contemporize other parts of the movie. You kept the setting in World War II, with London being bombed at the beginning. So why did you feel like you had to contemporize this part of the story?

Well, I think Lewis's view of women changed when he met Joy—Doug's mother. I think he sort of cast women down in the earlier books, but when you look at The Horse and His Boy, it has a strong female character. Doug's mother was a strong woman. Doug said, "I don't really know if that's true. I'm trying to remember if he wrote The Horse and His Boy after he met my mother." I went, "Doug, the book is dedicated to you."

Based on that argument, you reached the agreement that Susan would indeed be in battles?

Yes, we did. And Doug accepted. Well, I don't know whether he just relinquished or accepted. But she's in battle in both of them, and she really does well with this one.

Moving on to the title character—why is a 26-year-old [Ben Barnes] playing the role of a 13-year-old?

Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian

Caspian is not 13 in the story. I've made him more about Peter's age, 17-18. [Some Narnia fans support this, because the book Prince Caspian says Peter saw Caspian as "a boy about his own age."] Ben doesn't look like he's 26; he doesn't look a day over 20. But I think we were lucky to find someone with really good acting experience. He understood an element of Caspian's character that not everyone got, and he was great in the auditions. Charming. He's a genuinely sweet young man.

Do you tire of all of the nitpicking questions from the diehard fans, including me?

It's a mixed blessing. You get positive things, and you get the negative too. But it's inevitable, and you can't tackle something like this without accepting that it's going to happen—and you're not going to make everyone happy. Even if I stayed true to the book word for word, I don't believe I could make a movie that would make every fan happy. I talked to [Lord of the Rings director] Peter Jackson about this, and asked, "How true did you stay to the books?" And he said, "I'm getting credit for staying true to the books, but I changed a lot." He said you can change stuff, as long as it's good.

Christian readers are among the most devoted Narnia fans, and Lewis is revered in evangelical circles. Do you feel any sort of responsibility to the Christian audience?

I feel my responsibility to C. S. Lewis's fans is just being true to the books, and letting people take from it what they will. What you take from it depends on your belief, and how much interpretation you place upon it. I think by staying true to the book, I'm staying true to what any fan gets from the book.

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