Tweet

Comments (3)

 1 of 2

Will Poulter is the best thing about The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third in the Chronicles of Narnia films, opening worldwide this week.

With his wild eyebrows, exaggerated expressions, and grating tone of voice, Poulter is brilliant in the role of a character described in the book's opening sentence like this: "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

Poulter as Eustace, with Reepicheep the mouse

There was another boy called William Jack Poulter, and he pretty much deserves to play the role—and not just because his middle name is the same as Narnia author C. S. Lewis's nickname. Poulter had already proven himself adept at playing a brat, as Lee Carter in the 2008 cult classic Son of Rambow. (Meanwhile, Lewis scholar Devin Brown has written about the similarities between Eustace and his own creator.)

We recently chatted with Poulter, 17, about Dawn Treader and his memorable character, a boy who undergoes quite a transformation. Due to his selfishness, snobbery, and greed, Eustace literally turns into a dragon (in the book and the film), only to later regret the way he's been acting. When he tries to peel off his dragon skin, he finds that he can't do it alone. Only Aslan the Great Lion—a Christ figure—can tear off his dragon skin and restore him to being a normal, albeit quite changed, boy again. (In the book, the scene is depicted beautifully and movingly, divine redemption quite evident; in the film, unfortunately, the scene gets short shrift.)

When did you first read the Narnia books?

My mom read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to me when I was about seven, and I've read them all since then. These books are kind of like a rite of passage for young children, kind of ingrained in so many people's childhood, especially in Britain. I've read them again recently for character research and to understand the role a bit better.

And I think a lot of people love the fact that they've been converted into films. When I saw the first film [LWW in 2005, when he was 12], I loved it. But at that time, if you told me that I was going to be in this film, I would have thought you were crazy.

So when you read Dawn Treader as a boy, you meet this kid named Eustace and you're thinking …

What a jerk.

And now here you are playing that jerk.

Absolutely! Yeah, I know, pretty crazy. That's everyone's reaction to Eustace the first time they meet him. He is exactly that, a complete jerk, a real brat, but he was really fun to play. But after a while, I just kind of felt bad playing that side of his character. I liked playing the other side to him after he transformed back into a human, because I felt so bad about being such a nasty guy on set the whole time.

Did that come naturally to you, being nasty?

Oh, I hope not! I hope I'm not too much like him.

If I were to ask your mother …

I hope she'd say no. I try my hardest not to be anything like him!

Poulter in 'Son of Rambow'

You also played a brat in Son of Rambow as well. Are you getting a reputation?

I hope not! In my next role [a British indie film set in London], I'm playing a slightly different character, almost a paradox to this one. But yeah, I need to try and get away from that brat role, or people are going to think I'm a natural brat.

You said it was fun to play both sides of Eustace. Was that a good test of your acting range?

It depends whether I've done it well. But it was cool playing two sides of him, and seeing his transformation—developing from his nasty character to this relatively nice character at the end. I hope I have shown two very different assets of his personality.

When Eustace turns into a dragon in the story, what does that represent?

I think it's symbolic of the fact that he falls into temptation, and that he hasn't really had the strength to battle that. And transforming back into a human at the hands of Aslan is Eustace being redeemed for what he's done. That's quite a significant feature in the book which obviously relates to some of the other themes in the book.

next page... |  1 of 2 | last page

Related Elsewhere:

The Narnia Policeman	Printer view
Douglas Gresham, C. S. Lewis's stepson and co-producer of the Narnia movies, is the keeper of his stepfather's flame.

---

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader	Printer view
This passable adaptation disappointingly lacks the awe and wonder of the book.