Mark Johnson won an Oscar twenty years ago for producing Rain Man, but his latest project was a challenge even for such an experienced producer. After all, how often are you faced wrangling a human and non-human cast on a daily basis? And how do you pick a favorite character in the film when you’re stuck between a gallant mouse and a wise beaver? As the producer of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Johnson worked hand in hand with director Andrew Adamson to bring the fantastical world to life yet again. We’ll hear from Adamson later this week, but for now check out what Johnson has to say about the movie’s adult themes, why Narnia is better than Hogwarts, and how Narnians, like everyone these days, are going green.
[In a rare twist, Mark actually speaks to us journalists first.
You all saw it last night, right?
Yeah. You were there too right?
Oh yeah. Because we’ve never seen it before with an audience. We tested it in late January, but it didn’t have any of those visual effects. for instance, Reepicheep was just a stick character. It was fun to see things and to hear a little bit of the murmuring when Prince Caspian first meets Susan.
Were you yelling at Andrew to finish it up?
We had all the time in the world, you would think. But these movies take forever. And Andrew is, surprise, surprise, a great perfectionist, and knows this world so well. If he had another month he’d still be working on it.
How did the success of the last one affect this film?
With the first one we were so mindful of the audience, and the book, The Lion. The Witch and the Wardrobe was so revered by so many people, we felt that to alter it or to make any kind of big changes would be to take life into our own hands. I’m very pleased that we were able to make a movie, a real movie, and yet be so truthful to the book. With this one, we felt now, I hope not arrogantly, but we felt that the audience trusted us a little bit better, and said OK, we know they’re not out to Hollywoodize these books. The other thing we discovered is that not nearly as many people have read Prince Caspian. We felt that as long as we were true to the characters and to the themes, we could make it work better as a movie.
Do you see this movie as being about a certain big idea?
Well, if the first one is about faith, this is about losing faith and regaining it. What I like [in the movie], that I think works really well is the ecological theme. It’s Miraz threatening to tear down the forest, to completely destroy it, and we see the trees coming down. It’s young Lucy who says, early on when she’s in Narnia, and she’s remarking about the trees—“They used to dance.’ It’s the trees themselves who then end up saving the day.
Speaking of the trees, there were a lot more special effects in this one. Is that because effects have gotten better?
I think we probably ended up with the same number of effects. These are more complicated. And somebody said, ‘Is what’s available to you now that much more sophisticated than it was three or four years ago?’ Not necessarily. The more somebody practices at something the better they get at it. This Narnia is much more real. The Narnia in Lion, The Witch, it was a new country, it was frozen for 100 years and then we saw spring blossoming. It was also sort of the youth of Narnia. This is the older, corrupted Narnia somewhat. I think for me the effects—all of the characters are more real, more believable, than they were in the first film. That’s not necessarily a critical observation, it’s just something that we felt that we needed to do. I look at Trufflehunter the badger or at Reepicheep, and I think they are, for me, more successfully translated than some of the creatures in the first one. This is a very physical movie, and it’s a darker movie, both in terms of tones and themes I think.
One of the beauties of this franchise for me is that each book is so different from the one that preceded it and the one that followed it. The worlds of Narnia are really different. Unlike, say, Harry Potter, where it takes place in the same school and the same costumes and many of the same characters, this completely changes. But Aslan is the only character who appears in all seven books.
Going into Dawn Treader, are you thinking of giving that film a different flavor?
Michael Apted, who is directing the next one, if you think of his strengths, it’s probably as much with actors, and consequently storytelling. While he did do a James Bond movie, he’s not necessarily known as a visualist the way that, say, Andrew is. If Andrew’s not going to do the third one, which he’s not, you don’t want to say ‘OK, who’s Andrew-like?’ It’s a little bit what Harry Potter did with Alfonso Cuaron. It will be a very different movie. And yet, you want as many connections as you can. It’s sort of fun. We’ve tried, as much as we could, to hearken back to Lion, The Witch.
Was Apted on the short list?
We talked about a lot of people, and Michael was the person we got the most excited about.
One of the added scenes in the movie deals with some really heartbreaking and grown-up issues. Did that feel like a risk, or was it just the natural step forward? [No, I’m not giving away what the scene is!]
I think it’s probably both. I was very aware of it. It’s a very grown-up moment and for me it’s very emblematic of the difference in this movie. I think this movie is in many ways a more dramatic, darker movie. It deals with a Narnia that, as Trumpkin says, you may not recognize it. That scene always scared me. Honestly, we changed it a lot. The other thing that makes this movie a little bit more grown-up and a little bit harder [is that] the violence is so much against humans in this movie, whereas it’s against creatures in the last one.
These were children’s books, but Lewis never shunned death or mortality.
I absolutely agree. It’s like a lot of fairy tales—Lewis could be quite violent. That’s why I’m not worried that this film is out of step with what Lewis wrote.
One thing that struck me is that there’s many layers of betrayal in the film. Did you think about that as a theme?
Not as much. In Lion, The Witch betrayal is very important because that’s what Edmund does. No, this was much more about belief.
How did the switch in release date from December to summer affect your work on the movie?
I just heard that Iron Man made $38 million last night [he's speaking the day after Iron Man opened], so summer can be a great place to have your movie. What happened with Lion, The Witch, we were at Christmas, which really fits. This wasn’t necessarily a logical Christmas movie. We thought, wouldn’t it be great if we could play out through most of the summer. Any period these days is scary with all the competition.
