I definitely think there's a strong possibility of that, especially since Digory is already a strong Lewis Proxy in both MN and LWW, however there's probably a few items of counter-evidence to the idea that they are leaning into that even more.

I definitely think there's a lot to be unpacked from the school uniform photos, and I agree that Digory's dourness and unkempt look mean this is is likely an early introductory scene..... As you say though, it doesn't appear to be a boarding school, so would not entirely be the same as Lewis.

The year 1955 definitely feels very "meta" as far as Lewis is concerned, but if they really wanted to dial up the Lewis Proxy side of his character, why not stick with the original time period when Lewis himself would have been a boy? Moving things up to 1955 feels like something intended to bring out the audience perspective of the story ("when your grandfather was a boy") rather than the writer's.

I also really like McKenna's bigger frame (relative to the illustrations) and overall look for the role, and there is definitely that certain twinkle in his eyes in some of the shots where the camera isn't running where he reminds me of the photos of an older Lewis (the classic shot where he's in the chair with the glasses) but by all accounts Lewis was actually quite lythe and trim as a young man, so not sure that entirely fits either.

I definitely though think that the Lewis Proxy dimension of Digory's character is an inescapable fact of both MN and LWW as books, so am definitely expecting elements of that to track into the movie.

Just a reminder that Greta Gerwig pulled from Louisa May Alcott’s life when she made Little Women, and as a result I’ve long thought that she would do the same with C.S. Lewis and Narnia. Gerwig seems to have viewed Jo March and Louisa May Alcott almost as a combined character, and even borrowed dialogue from Alcott's diary, letters and other novels to use in the movie; she also adapted Alcott's real-life publishing dilemma into the film's ending to emphasize her heroine’s struggles and artistic ambitions. 

@rachel They do refer to that in the newest Talking Beasts episode, which I was listening to yesterday and it's very interesting. There's some discussion there about the possibility that Lewis will somehow appear as a character, or at least that something of his own life may be brought into the story somehow.

I'm intrigued by that thought and will certainly be watching out for it when we finally see the finished product. I agree that Digory is something of an authorial self-insert, although of course transplanting the action to 1955 doesn't put it within the era when Lewis was a boy. (Mind you, even canonically he doesn't make Digory the same age as himself. Digory is about 12 in the original book — born in 1888 according to the timeline that Lewis wrote up later — whereas of course Lewis was born in 1898 and would only have been two years old in 1900, the year the original story takes place.)

There was also a mention in the podcast of the fact that the film seems to be set in London, whereas Lewis lived in Oxford, and we haven't seen any indication that filming is taking place there. (I wish it would — Oxford is a gorgeous city, just as nice as it looks in all the pictures you may have seen of it. ) And if we're being pedantic, by 1955 Lewis was working in Cambridge, where he lived during the week and only came back to his home in Oxford during the weekends and the holidays between academic terms. We haven't seen any evidence that Cambridge is going to feature in this movie in any way either.

Another point of interest is that in 1955 Lewis was getting to know a certain lady called Joy Davidman Gresham, and her sons David and Douglas — he married her the following year. I don't know if there will be any references to that in the film either!   (And of course that story has been told on stage and screen before, as Shadowlands.)

As with so much else, we'll just have to see where they take all this, and whether these speculations turn out to be close to the truth or way off the mark.

Maybe this is hoping that you're right, but I think the idea is brilliant, if indeed that's what Ms. Gerwig is going for. 

And I will add that I don't think EVERYTHING about Digory has to be taken from Lewis's life, but just bits and pieces that direct the character's arc. 

ETA: Just out of curiosity, are there pictures of C.S. Lewis as a boy? I feel like I might have seen some with his brother Warnie in the past, but I'm not sure.

@courtenay As a boy, Lewis lived in Ireland (now Northern Ireland), apart from his boarding school years. Oxford and Cambridge were unknown to him as a child.  

Posted by: @coracle

@courtenay As a boy, Lewis lived in Ireland (now Northern Ireland), apart from his boarding school years. Oxford and Cambridge were unknown to him as a child.  

Yes, I did already know that. I was referring to what the Talking Beasts presenters were saying — the idea that Lewis as an adult could somehow feature in this story that's set in 1955. Hence my reference to Cambridge, as that's where he was living at that time in real life. (The presenters only mentioned "Oxfordshire" as the place where Lewis lived as an adult and remarked that we haven't heard of any filming being done there.)

Basically, these are two related possibilities but not the same thing — that either Lewis could feature in this film as the adult he was in 1955, or else Digory's life as a child (now set in 1955) could be portrayed as reflecting Lewis's own childhood. Or perhaps both those things could be done in the one film!! I wasn't getting those two issues confused, but I'm sorry if it sounded like I was.  

Posted by: @rachel

Just a reminder that Greta Gerwig pulled from Louisa May Alcott’s life when she made Little Women, and as a result I’ve long thought that she would do the same with C.S. Lewis and Narnia. Gerwig seems to have viewed Jo March and Louisa May Alcott almost as a combined character, and even borrowed dialogue from Alcott's diary, letters and other novels to use in the movie; she also adapted Alcott's real-life publishing dilemma into the film's ending to emphasize her heroine’s struggles and artistic ambitions. 

And that's particularly why I think this is the angle Gerwig is taking with Digory. I couldn't find a direct parallel to any of the scenes shot so far (that we've seen at least) in The Magician's Nephew, so part of my rationale with this theory is to address that somewhat with something that we've seen Gerwig do before!

Sort of like "collaborating" with Lewis himself, as she put it!

Posted by: @impending-doom

A thought I had was that we’d see his classmates getting picked up by their parents, while Digory walks home alone because his sick mum and absent father aren’t able to. Something that could show his situation without him having to spell it out. This would then immediately lead into him meeting Polly while “blubbing” outside.

In mid-50s London, children of 11 and older walked home, or cycled, or caught a bus. Fewer families had cars, and it was a safe for children to look after themselves on the way to and from school. In the early 60s I walked to school, often alone, and I was half his size!

I don't think that other parents collecting their 11 year boys was a major misery. 

Posted by: @coracle

In mid-50s London, children of 11 and older walked home, or cycled, or caught a bus.

Even if it's not having other parents picking up their children, I think there could be some non-verbal cues for the audience to clue in on and begin to wonder... "where are his parents?". Historical accuracy aside, I do think most people watching a child walk alone across several different locations will likely ask themselves that question.

But I'm willing to bet that Digory's having a pretty lonely and miserable time at school. 

Being new at school, perhaps partway through the term (not semesters in UK), is often lonely, and even his accent might add to his otherness (posh but countrifed). Maybe he and his mum moved from the countryside when she got sick, because there was nobody to look after her there. What a culture shock!

(Was it the old Kirke house that they were living in, with only the great-uncle and servants, but none capable of nursing her, so that older sister Leticia wrote to her to move to London to stay with her? Or perhaps a house in the village near the big Kirke house? I could imagine Letty arranging the move for her little sister).

Update after reminder from Courtenay: of course they weren't living in the large Kirke country home!  Silly me.  Maybe they rented a little house, or if it was theirs and they had to sell or rent it out, when Mabel was ill. 

I think the important thing is that Digory is ALONE and not with a group of children or adults or anybody. I walked home from school all the time in the 90s without a parent, but often with a group of friends and classmates (as far as their houses went).

Posted by: @coracle

Being new at school, perhaps partway through the term (not semesters in UK), is often lonely

Yep.

Thanks for sharing that above picture @impending-doom !

Posted by: @coracle

(Was it the old Kirke house that they were living in, with only the great-uncle and servants, but none capable of nursing her, so that older sister Leticia wrote to her to move to London to stay with her? Or perhaps a house in the village near the big Kirke house? I could imagine Letty arranging the move for her little sister).

Canonically, no. We're told clearly in the last chapter of the book that when old Great-Uncle Kirke died and Digory's father inherited his wealth and property, "the great big house in the country, which Digory had heard of all his life and never seen, would now be their home..."

We do know from the first chapter that Digory has "lived all [his] life in the country and had a pony, and a river at the bottom of the garden", before being brought to the "beastly Hole" that is London, but obviously, wherever he grew up, it wasn't anywhere near his great-uncle's grand house, and also it seems the great-uncle wasn't emotionally close to Digory's branch of the family either, since Digory has never seen the house, much less lived in it.

Back on topic, I'm also very intrigued at the little we've seen so far of Digory and Polly in the filming process. They obviously are emphasising Digory's loneliness, as a few people have said, but it's hard to know exactly how they'll portray the dynamics of his and Polly's friendship. Everything is looking very different from the book so far, but we don't really know enough to judge at this stage.

@courtenay Ah. That'll teach me to cite details without the book in front of me.

Okay, so Digs has never seen the Big House! Actually I prefer what Lewis wrote (!), that the family inherited the Kirke house, and life got better. 

But canonically he's lived in the countryside and had a pony (probably in a field in walking distance from his house).