Narnia Comes to Life
Douglas Gresham has dreamed of seeing Aslan on the big screen since he was a little boy. Now that his dream is about to become reality, C. S. Lewis's stepson talks about the new movie, and his role in it. (Part 2)
by Mark Moring | posted 11/01/2005
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Since he first read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as a young boy, Douglas Gresham has dreamed of someday seeing it on the big screen. His dream will come true on December 9, when the film adaptation hits theaters worldwide.
Douglas Gresham
Gresham, stepson to LWW author C. S. Lewis, was a co-producer of the film, representing his stepfather and the Lewis estate throughout the process—the writing of the script, the making of the movie, and even the merchandising of the spinoff products, including the toys for McDonald's Happy Meals.
We recently had an hour-long interview with Gresham, where he discussed his life with Lewis and the upcoming movie. Yesterday's part one of the interview focused on the former; today's part two focuses on the latter. We talked about his role as co-producer, the religious imagery in the film, how he thinks Christians—or anyone, for that matter—should watch it, and what Lewis might think about his book being turned into a Hollywood movie … or, for that matter, his characters being turned into fast-food toys.
What were your duties as co-producer on this film? I read somewhere that you said your duty was basically to represent C. S. Lewis on the set.
Douglas Gresham: That's part of it. And not just on the set. To represent C. S. Lewis when they're writing the script, when they're designing the sets, when they're doing storyboards—just keeping an eye on everything to make sure that Narnia stays Narnia. And that has spun off into checking out all of the merchandise that's going to be produced—all of the toys, all of the apparel, every single thing to do with Narnia, I have to check to make sure somebody doesn't make silly mistakes. It's a full-time job.
Now when people take artistic liberties, you …
Gresham: There's a difference between stupid mistakes and artistic liberties. When the artist goes too far, you have to rein him in. I'm ready to accept artistic liberties with the director [Andrew Adamson], of course. But there are certain things I think were wrong, and said so. We talked it out and achieved a compromise. Andrew is a very easy man to work with. He respects the material probably almost as much as I do.
Director Andrew Adamson, here with Tilda Swinton and Skandar Keynes (Edmund), has a great love for the book, says Gresham
Where did you feel like he was off course?
Gresham: Well I wouldn't do that, because those things are confidential between myself and Andrew.
I hear that someone associated with the film said you can't even spit without Douglas Gresham's permission.
Gresham: That was an exaggeration, but yes, to a certain extent I think I had probably been something of a nuisance to my colleagues in the production team, on occasion when I said, "No, you can't do that." But they have been very tolerant of me. I've met a lot of people I admire greatly and enjoyed working with enormously on this project.
Did you ever feel a vibe of "Ssshhh! Here comes that jerk!"
Gresham: (laughs) No, there was never anything like that, because they took the attitude that I should contribute, because we were all dedicated to the same end—to make this the best possible movie it could be.
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