Na-na-na-Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia film franchise has always been like a cross between Harry Potter and a cheap man's Lord Of The Rings - the effects aren't quite magical, the themes of loyalty are a tad too strong, the costumes too contrived and the action lack lustre. The latest instalment is much the same, save for a kick-ass Sea Serpent during the finale.

Lucy and Edmund Pevensie (Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes) return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) where they meet up with King Caspian (Ben Barnes) for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk, a band of lost warriors, the usual assortment of talking animals wielding swords and so on. The difference with this Narnia film is the mission is unclear until halfway through. Whereas the others were about trying to restore a kingdom and so forth, this is about trying to find the seven swords of the lost Lords of Narnia to prevent a mist more annoying than the one in Lost from taking over the land. The kids and Caspian do this by travelling to various tropical islands, which all look the same, and sailing against a backdrop of constant sunsets.Leads Henley and Keynes give crisp performances as the righteous and indignant younger Pevensie's who comfortably chirp out phrases like "I knew we could do it'' and "when you grow up, you should be just like you.'' It is a shame to see Poulter's performance in this, as he has turned into another smug Disney child and lost all that natural charm he first displayed in Son Of Rambow. Barnes provides a willing distraction for female audiences, but does little more than prance around and be handsome. Of course fans of the franchise will find all of this very entertaining. The rest of us, however, will spend the duration of the movie trying to spot the Gold Coast landscapes and local faces (after all, it was filmed here last year).A redeeming moment comes toward the end when a genuinely scary Sea Serpent tries to take out our heroes. But the action is short lived and before you can say `thinly veiled Christianity' we are on the shores of Heaven preparing for a soppy farewell.

The themes of Christianity which underline all of C.S. Lewis' books come through more strongly in this film, with each of the tasks to acquire a sword about defeating one of the seen deadly sins. Oh, and lets not forgot the Great Lion Aslan's comment at the end about their adventures in Narnia being a way to get to know Aslan better in their world, where he is known by another name *cough* God *cough*.

The filmmakers have made a conscious effort to wrap the series, making sure audiences are aware the Pevensie's won't be coming back for another film. Their cousin Eustace on the other hand, is an entirely different matter. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader is out now. To read my previous Narnia stories click here, here, here and here.

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The Chronicles of Narnia: voyage of the cutest cast member

From an exclusive on set visit and some of the first Narnia pics in the world, to paddling out in the Seaway to cover the shoot, I’ve followed The Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader’s progress pretty closely. Okay, I‘ve verged on stalker. But the legion of Narnia fans out there seem to appreciate it, so that shall remain my defense.

Anyway, with the big flick out next Thursday I thought why not bring you an exclusive with the franchise's newest cast member - 10-year-old Arabella Morton (above). After appearing in several commercials for Sizzler and Holden, the aspiring actress from Brisbane got her big break when she auditioned for a role in Voyage Of The Dawn Treader last June. The only catch was, she didn't actually know what she was auditioning for.
"Her agent found out about the auditions and we didn't want to freak her out, so we didn't tell her what she was actually auditioning for,'' said mum Sam Morton.

"When she got there, there were literally hundreds of kids going in all day.

"Someone told her when she was in there what they were auditioning for and she was amazed.

"Then when she got called back for a second audition with the director Michael Apted, we knew she was up there.''

Growing up as a fan of the Narnia movies, Arabella said she was `shocked' to even audition, let alone get the role.
"At first I had no idea it was Narnia,'' she said.

"I was amazed, the whole thing was amazing and you would just never think it.

"It was just great.

"I've always quite enjoyed the (Narnia) movies and I like all the adventure and magic.``Some movies you can't get stuck into it, but with this you can.''Voyage Of The Dawn Treader is the first movie role for the Ipswich Grammar School student and Arabella said she was `star struck' by her fellow cast mates, particularly actress Georgie Henley, who plays Lucy Pevensie (Arabella (L) with Georgie (R) above).

"I'm quite a fan of Georgie and I've always related to Lucy,'' she said.

"When I actually met Georgie I was quite star struck .

"She's an amazing actress and very patient, she was really nice and funny.

"She told me to be yourself and taught me that you can be silly on set, as long as you're not silly when you're acting.

"Sometimes she would play around on set when we had a break otherwise she was really good and teaching me to calm down with the acting thing and how to switch in and out of character.''

Another mentor for her on set was director Michael Apted, who is behind such hits as Gorillas In The Mist and James Bond: The World Is Not Enough.

"He was really nice,'' she said of the industry veteran.``He can be a bit strict sometimes, but he's a great director.''

Arabella plays Gael in the film, a new role which has got a fair amount of interest from hardcore Narnia fans. If you really want to know the specifics of the role there are plenty of online forums, but being the traditionalist that I am, I'm keeping mum.

"No one would have known about it until it came out, but when she was shooting on the ship (Dawn Treader) at Cleveland we were outside and people got pictures of her walking around on set,'' said mum Sam.

"Die hard fans couldn't work out who she was in the story.''

Arabella too said it has been difficult to keep the details of her character a secret, especially from school friends.

"Its been hard because at school girls ask you but you can't really tell them anything,'' she said.

"You have to watch the movie and then you can ask questions.

"You can't tell them every single detail, you can tell them who you are in the movie but not every part of the plot.''

The plot might be under wraps, but the scale of the multi-million dollar production is not. From the 100ft Dawn Trader (above) to creature effects and costumes, Arabella said she was blown away by the set.

"It was definitely extraordinary,'' she said.

"And even though a scene might only be there (on screen) for two minutes, you would still go `wow'.

"There was not one thing that looked empty, everything was perfect.``There was not a stick or stone out of place.''

Arabella spent six months filming with the Narnia crew, working eight to ten hours a day and then backing up for schoolwork with a private tutor. It's quite the workload for a 10-year-old, and although she said she has had several other movie offers since Narnia, she is going to take a break and concentrate on school for a while. That is, at least until the next blockbuster role comes along. She said her part in Narnia is `a really good shot' for making it in other big-budget Hollywood films.

In the meantime though, Arabella and her mum are off to the UK for the London premiere where they will walk the red carpet and meet the Queen. Yes, that Queen.
"The last time I was in London I was nine months old so I don't remember a single thing and I'm so excited to see it all,'' she said.

"It's absolutely amazing, my mum has waited all her life to meet the Queen and when we found out she was running around the place.''

The Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader will be the Queen's first 3D movie and lets hope the amazing, out-of-the-screen visuals don't make it her last. To keep up to date on the epic cuteness that is Arabella Morton, her Facebook fan page is the way to go. The latest Narnia installment is out Thursday, December 2.

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On the set of the latest Narnia epic!

This has to be the most exciting and exclusive post I’ve written on Movie Mazzupial.

Today I got a world exclusive, sneak peek at the latest Chronicles of Narnia film The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is being shot on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Well, technically I wasn’t the only media peep there as a representative from AAP wire service and Channel Nine were also treated to the behind the scenes tour. It was still pretty darn awesome. You will have to excuse the Blair Witch-esque photos as they were strict with the use of cameras and I had to take these on my phone. Oh, and please note, I have never been on the set of a Hollywood blockbuster before so you will have to excuse my fanatical gushing every now and then.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third film in Narnia franchise, which has grossed $1.2 billion at the box-office to date. This adventure sees the two younger Pevensies, Edmund and Lucy, stay with their cousin Eustace Scrubb. The trio find a painting of an old ship and become absorbed into it, where they join the new King Caspian (Ben Barnes) to find the seven lost Lords of Narnia. It takes them to the farthest edge of the eastern world where they must survive storms, sea serpents and invisible enemies to reach lands where magicians weave mysterious spells and nightmares come true.

The production started filming this week at Warner Roadshow Studios, Movie World on the Gold Coast. It’s the biggest feature film to be made in Queensland and considering most of the movies shot on the GC are indie, low-budget or crappy tv shows, understandably the locals have been going ape-shit for any info on the movie. You can appreciate the froth factor from the Movie Mazzupial camp when my efforts to get on-set finally came to fruition. We (the media party of three) were met at the entrance to the studios this afternoon and transported via buggy to one of several lavish sets created for the film.

(Above) This first pic is taken inside sound stage five and the terrible quality of my sneaky photo does not do this set justice. Basically, it’s an expansive garden set with an array of peculiar, somewhat creepy hedges. It gave off a very Alice in Wonderland feel and everything, EVERYTHING, was varying shades of green. It was designed by Francisco Blanc and took local craftsman eight weeks to put together. They will film on this particular set for only three days which is amazing considering the effort put into creating the garden wonderland which, might I add, was made by hand.

The Media Coordinator on the film, who flew in last week, said the craftsmanship behind the creation of the set had blown him away and was `just like anything you would see done in Hollywood’. Here he explains how the set will be incorporated into the movie; “This is the magicians garden in the story, Coriakin, and he has turned a society of people invisible and when the kids from Narnia sail to this island they need to find the spell that will bring these invisible people back to visibility. This set is case and point really, just look around you. This is built by locals, designed by an American, but that doesn’t make any difference. It was made by locals and it just goes to show the craftsmanship and magic exists here in Australia.” (Below) This next shot is an overall view of the area where most of the filming is taking place at the Warner Roadshow Studios. Filming here ends in November, with a year-long post-production schedule leading to the film's Australian release in December, 2010.

(Above) Here you can get a closer look at the booty of one of the key elements that lured the Narnia crew to film on the Gold Coast as opposed to other locations that were considered including New South Wales, New Zealand and Mexico.

(Above) What is that you ask? That is a $2.1million water tank which allows for large-scale underwater and above water filming. The State Government invested $500,000 in the tank to try and boost the number of big budget films made in Queensland so Premier Anna Bligh was there today shaking hands with people and meeting the cast etc etc. The tank is the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, and one of only a few worldwide. Productions like Titanic and Pirates of the Caribbean used similar water tanks and Fools Gold and Nim’s Island have been filmed in the tank over the past couple of years. Built into the ground, the tank measures 40m x 30m and has a graduated depth of 2m to 5m.

(Above) When I was on-set today, the lead characters including `heartthrob’ Ben Barnes were shooting a scene on a canoe in the tank.

(Above) Yeah, so, they might be splodges on here and you can only just get a glimpse of the canoe but cut me some slack – this is all from a camera phone baby. The leaf green canoe was decorated in intricate, vine-like engravings which weaved along the length of the boat in a lemon colour. The cast were all wearing the usual Narnia get-up which is like a cross between the attire of medieval Europe and Middle Earth.

(Above) Here, Premiere Anna Bligh (far left) is greeting lead cast members Will Poulter (middle) and Georgie Henley (right). You may remember Will in the incredibly awesome Son Of Rambow and this is his first feature film since then. He plays the Pevensies annoying cousin Eustace Scrubb. Besides smiling politely at the Premiere and avoiding our glances, he was pretty shy on-set (which is fair enough considering the ruckas a media scrum of three journos can create). His co-star, 14-year-old Georgie Henley, was not so shy and happily chatted with me before heading off to her lunch break. “We've been treated very well and everyone here seems very excited to have us here,” she said. “It's beautiful here. We've been around Main Beach but haven't been to any of the theme parks yet.” Henley resumes the role of Lucy Pevensie in the film, one of the major characters in the previous Narnia films.

(Above) Here’s just more on-set shenanigans as people mingle and be important. Notice the fellow second from the left with the short white hair, black sweater and jeans. That’s the director, Michael Apted, whose previous film credits include James Bond flick The World Is Not Enough, personal fav Gorillas in the Mist and guilty pleasure Enough. Apted lived up to the disheveled, elusive filmmaker stereotype on-set, but he did have this to say; “We came here for the weather and location, and so far its been spectacular”. True that. The other thing the Gold Coast has in abundance besides fake tans and plastic breasted women is super fine weather. Except on the odd occasion when we get freak storms that tear your roof off and wash away all your worldly possessions. Besides that . . . .

Alas, my friends, that wraps up my detailed account of my first experience on the set of a Hollywood blockbuster. I’m curious to know just how much this film is costing so if anyone has any info about that please leave me a comment. My guesstimate, once you incorporate the lavish sets and special-effects, is around the $100 million mark. Stay posted for more pics and goss as I plan to paddle my surf ski out into the Seaway this weekend to get some pictures of a huge wharf set they have constructed on the northern wall. Filming on this set, which is literally surrounded by ocean, starts there late next week.

I’m also hoping to bring you some pictures from the parts of the movie they are shooting at Cleveland Point. The main ship to appear in the movie was constructed at Warner Roadshow Studios and taken up the road to Cleveland to film exterior shots on the boat in September. Why wait until September you ask? Because the ship is colossal, measuring 100ft long. The interior shots on the ship will be filmed back on the Gold Coast in November. Here are some pics of the actual ship on location, taken by the father of one of the bloggers at Cine Fools.

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