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Barnes, a bit of a history buff, said the story also shed more light on the state of the world at the time Lewis wrote the book—just a few years after World War II.

"The historical context became even more vivid to me while watching the film," he says. "There's this race [the evil Telmarines, who have taken over Narnia] with a dictator who wants his race to go forward at the expense of all others. This film is set during the second World War, and you see remnants of that [Nazi Germany] all through it. But all of it—the historical element, the spirituality—is there if you choose to see it, and you can judge the film on whatever level you want to."

Die-hard Narnia fans may judge the film more meticulously than others, and one issue that they've discussed is Barnes's age. He's 26, and students of the books argue that Caspian was either 13-ish, 17-ish, or somewhere in between.

Barnes rightly notes that the book never gives Caspian's age, but only hints at it.

"It only says that when Peter first sees Caspian, he's described as 'a boy about Peter's age,' and Peter was probably an older teen at that time," says Barnes. "But William Moseley [who plays Peter] is 21 now, and they needed someone who looked a similar age. And then you've got Voyage of the Dawn Treader [coming in 2010, with Barnes again playing Caspian], where Caspian has become a young man and he's leading a ship."

Barnes takes the nitpickers in stride.

"There's very little you can do to quell the wrath of the stalwart fan," he says, "but hopefully, they'll be able to enjoy the movie as much as anyone else. We honestly have tried to be as faithful to the book as possible. Besides," he adds with a laugh, "I was only 25 when I made the film! And I'm very immature, so it's okay!"

Barnes was offered the role after director Andrew Adamson had searched for almost a year for the right person. When Adamson saw Barnes perform at London's National Theatre in The History Boys, he knew he'd found his lead actor. Five weeks later, Barnes was in New Zealand filming his first major motion picture.

He had to gently "earn" his way into what was already a tight-knit family—Adamson and the four young actors who play the Pevensie siblings (Moseley as Peter, Anna Popplewell as Susan, Skandar Keynes as Edmund, and Georgie Henley as Lucy). Those four had worked together, with Adamson, for several years, and then here comes Barnes, the new guy, to steal some of their thunder.

Barnes had to find his way into this new 'family'

Barnes says he had heard that they had bonded like family when making 2005's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, but was skeptical that it was anything more than warm and fuzzy publicity—till he arrived on the set.

"I was very cynical at first about this whole 'family' thing," he says. "When I first got the part, I got the DVD of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and watched all the bonus materials. And there's Georgie [Henley], saying [he mimics her sweet voice perfectly], 'We're like a family, and Will's like my big brother, and Andrew's like my dad when my dad's not there.' And you just think, Get me a bucket! It's not gonna BE like that!

"But then I got there, and I walked into the branch office, and they're playing table tennis with each other, and Georgie's sitting in Will's lap, and they were sharing ice cream, and it was just like something out of, you know … Disney! So it really is like that!"

Barnes is laughing as he recounts this story—and so are his listeners.

He also gets a kick out of telling how he developed his accent for the film. The day before his audition, Barnes learned that Adamson wanted the Telmarines to speak with an invented dialect—speaking English but with a Spanish accent. Barnes scrambled to think of something he could use a model. Then he popped in his DVD of The Princess Bride, and closely studied—who else?—the character of Spanish swashbuckler Inigo Montoya, played so marvelously by Mandy Patinkin.

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