The Other Kids of Narnia

Sunday last week, Conversations spotlighted Ben Barnes, the 26-year-old British theater actor who’s making his Hollywood debut as the newest cast member of the new Walt Disney movie The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, in the title role.

Prince Caspian, again directed by Andrew Adamson, is the second of C.S. Lewis’ seven-book Chronicles of Narnia series which includes The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, The Last Battle and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the story that launched the series in 2005, grossing over $745-M worldwide.

In Prince Caspian, the Pevensie siblings — Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy — are magically transported from World War II era England to Narnia through a tube station near London’s Trafalgar Square, embarking on a perilous new adventure and an even greater test of their faith and courage. It’s Prince Caspian, the rightful heir to the throne who has been ousted by his uncle Miraz, who blows the horn to bring the siblings back to Narnia to save it from Miraz, the unrightful king. (The lion character Aslan is voiced by Liam Neeson no less.)

Now, meet the original children of Narnia: William Moseley, 21, as Peter; Anna Popplewell, 19, as Susan; Skandar Keynes, 16, as Edmund; and Georgie Henley, 12, as Lucy.

The son of English cinematographer Peter Moseley, William comes from Gloucestershire in the Cotswolds area of England.

The daughter of a barrister father and a doctor mother, Anna was born and raised in London, the eldest of three siblings.

Skandar first appeared at age nine in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Macbeth for TV and then as a Victorian waif in a docudrama called The Victorians.

A native of IIkley, W. Yorkshire, in the north of England, Georgie made her professional acting debut in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She was already a member of a local drama club called Upstagers when she was discovered by a casting director.

Like Ben Barnes, the four Narnians sat down for the following Conversation at a function room of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Manhattan during the Prince Caspian press junket first week of May.

How are you different now from what you were five years ago? How has Narnia changed your life, if it ever did?

Georgie: I don’t think I’m different now in any way although I must say that Narnia has changed my life in an amazing way. As a person, I don’t think that I have ever changed.

Anna: Everything is not the same; my whole life has changed!

Skandar: Narnia has brought my life into an entirely new dimension. Everything seems so abstract. I guess the biggest change in my real life is that my grandmother is now able to go to a local supermarket and buy a lollipop with my picture on it. (Laughs)

William: My life hasn’t changed superficially. But professionally, I think I’ve grown up a lot. And also, basically and emotionally, I think I’ve been very fortunate that I have the experience of growing up in Narnia. As an actor, I’ve learned so much from Narnia.

Before the movie, were you familiar with the Narnia characters?

Anna: Oh yes, I was. I grew up reading The Chronicles of Narnia.

Georgie: I am, too. I just love Lucy.

Skandar: Yes. I have all the Narnia books. What a fantastic world Narnia is! I’m really excited to be part of it.

William: I read the Narnia books every night before I go to sleep. So essentially, my dreams from age nine to 11 were all about Narnia.

What’s in your characters that makes you identify with them?

Georgie: Lucy takes a lot of risks and I’m like her in that sense.

Anna: Susan and I are actually not the same people. We have very few similarities but I felt like I was her during the making of the movie.

Skandar: Narnia is such an amazing world and I’m really happy to be part of it. Some people see Edmund as a villain; I don’t. I thought he was a good guy who did bad things, but he has matured a lot in this (second) movie. There are moments when he would put down his little sister in the old days but now he’s really kind to her. And he saves his older brother, Peter, a lot, because Peter is flawed in this movie.

William: Playing Peter is kind of bizarre because I already had an idea of what the character was like but it wasn’t me. Finally, when I got the part, I said, “Wow! I’m now gonna be envisioning everybody else as I do, so I better do a good job.” It’s a happy coincidence and a big responsibility.

How did you cope with the changes of location, from New Zealand to Eastern Europe to Prague to Czech Republic to Poland to Slovenia?

Georgie: We love going to those places; I love traveling. The flights were easy but the jetlag was just horrible.

Anna: I love the locations that you see on the screen, I can’t believe that I was in all those beautiful places in a span of months. It was just incredible! The shoot itself was just exciting — you know, they put the cameras in the helicopter while we did our thing on the ground. It was a huge operation.

Skandar: It was a great privilege to be able to travel around the world and feel the amazing locations. For me, the highlight of the whole production was the time we spent in the South Island in New Zealand and I had lots of time to go bungee jumping. I jumped off the Sky Tower which is the highest building in the southern hemisphere. I also did the Canyon Swing which is the biggest swing in the world. William did  some of them with me but he was pretty scared. He likes to claim that he’s more of an action man than me, but there’s no way. (Laughs)

William: You know, what I enjoyed most was hanging out with people and just being in those incredible locations. But also, learning a lot from those seven months we were shooting the movie. You learn how to be a professional actor. I realized how open people are, they’re very kind and they really get to you and you try to give back to them; and also, how cosmopolitan the world is. So, I advise everybody to travel.

The four of you...oh, five, including Ben Barnes...come from different backgrounds. But you blend very well. How did you do it?

Georgie: We are from different places in England but we come from the same backgrounds. It was easy for us to bond. Only a few days into the shooting of the first Narnia movie, we were like long-time friends. Now, we are like brothers and sisters.

Anna: Yeah, I think Georgie is right. If you’ve been around each other for a long period of time, you end up like a family.

Have you always wanted to be an actor?

Anna: Well, it wasn’t as if when I was six years old, I suddenly said, “Mom, I want to be an actor!” I’ve always wanted to be one. I really enjoyed acting ever since I could remember.

Georgie: I was always in school plays as far back as I can remember. I’ve always wanted to perform but I’ve never imagined that I would go this far.

William: Yes, always. I would spend nights watching films on TV and I even recorded most of them. I have always dreamed of being an actor. I didn’t want to be anything else.

Skandar: Same here.

How do you divide your time between school and work?

Skandar: It’s difficult sometimes but I manage. I spend three hours in school every day. I’m taking Math, History, Biology and Chemistry and, yes, it’s fun.

William: You know, I don’t go to school anymore, so I’m done. I didn’t have to be in school every day, anyway, and when I came back after the shooting, I still had one year to finish. I took up English and Drama.

(To William) I learned that your father had been to the Philippines. What did he do there?

William: I think he was there to film a TV show in the mountain. I heard that there are so many beautiful places in the Philippines, and so many beautiful girls, and I would really love to go there.

Do you see yourselves as role models?

William: Essentially, we just play characters in a film. We are actors, we play characters, and whatever we do in our private lives is quite private. However, saying that, each one of us is really grounded. We have strong family  ties. I think we were cast in the movie because we are pretty much down-to-earth. As role models, well, I think it’s important to remember that there’s a distinguishing difference between your character and your real self. And so, the audience should see Peter as Peter and not as William Moseley.

Skandar: Away from work, I hang out wtih friends. I play the guitar and the piano, and I play football. And I watch a lot of DVDs which I keep in big boxes.

(Note: For more on the stars of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, tune in to The Ricky Lo Exclusives on Tuesday night, May 27, 8:30 to 9:30 on Q-11.)

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