Emma Watson makes me think far more of Polly than Jill.

Hmm...she does, kinda--well, maybe in that picture/movie at least. But I think the character of Hermione/how Emma plays her reminds me of Jill (a bit bossy, "superior", adventerous etc).

Yeah I thought of Emma Watson as Jill before when I saw Harry Potter. Yeah I agree that she is too well known for the Narnia franchise and people will think of Jill as Hermione.

But I think the character of Hermione/how Emma plays her reminds me of Jill (a bit bossy, "superior", adventerous etc).

...Which all happen to describe Polly as well. The big difference between Polly and Jill (to me anyways) is that Polly is more of a girly girl and Jill is more of a tomboy. Emma Watson strikes me as a girly girl. I cannot picture Emma Watson playing Jill in the Last Battle. But that's just me.

Yeah I thought of Emma Watson as Jill before when I saw Harry Potter. Yeah I agree that she is too well known for the Narnia franchise and people will think of Jill as Hermione.

good point..... yeah that's too bad she'd be good for the part though

I always thought of Jill, not completely a tomboy, but not a girlygirl either. I imagine that Polly would be very girly, and Aravis would be the tomboy of the Narnia series, and Jill would be sort of in the middle.
And if you think about it, the eye color doesn't necessarily matter. If the casting directors want her eyes to be a certain color, then they can just give her colored contacts to wear. (That's actually what they did in the Twilight movie series with Bella. She originally had blue/green eyes, but she wore brown colored contacts while filming.)
As for Jill being American, it could work. I mean, Ben Barnes was cast in Hollywood, which you mentioned. I think as long as Jill can do a flawless British accent, it should be fine. Lots of girls all over the world probably would love to be Jill, so we should allow as many people as possible, don't you think?
It's kind of sad, but I don't think just anyone will be able to audition for Jill, unless they have open auditions. Casting directors do these kind of things in the dark, and nobody knows when the auditions were held until its too late.

^ Ditto, not just anyone should audition for Jill because acting is a serious profession and a job. I don't want someone casted who will only do it just because it is their favorite character and then get an agent and a spot to audition. It needs to be the people who are eligible in the acting world who already have acting resumes and are experienced. No one random.

Hmmm...I kinda like random. Remember, Georgie H. had only school acting experience, and she is wonderful! As long as the actress is qualified, I don't care if she has never acted in a movie before. American is fine as long as she has a really convincing accent. British is probably the safest way to go though.

Hmmm...I kinda like random. Remember, Georgie H. had only school acting experience, and she is wonderful! As long as the actress is qualified, I don't care if she has never acted in a movie before. American is fine as long as she has a really convincing accent. British is probably the safest way to go though.

That is a complete difference of what I'm talking about. Georgie H. knew for a fact that she could commit to acting when she went into the audition. I don't want them to cast some one who is only wanting to do so just for the sake of being a popular character in the Narnia series when they aren't a commited actor. I find it fair that the casting directors will scedule girls who are into an acting world, they don't have to come from movies but at least some training experience, otherwise someone who is not commited to acting will have a very rough time on set. And that is a given fact.

Ahhh gotcha.... sorry I misunderstood ; I'm blonde what can I say?

I think the whole ideal of the Narnia series is sort of about dreams coming true. For a young girl whether in America or anywhere else I think it would be a great dream come true to even be able to be given a shot to try out for the part. I do think they should have open casting calls but not just so that they can make some girls happy but because you never know who they might find. I would rather much more to have someone original and fresh then someone the world's already seen. I do think that they will however get someone who will take it seriously and do a good job. From what I can tell there is a lot of responsibility to who ever gets the part but the people who have casted the others have obviously done wonderfully. So I guess what I'm saying is It would be neat if they had casting calls but in view of what's best for the film I trust their judgement.

The thing is wordarrow is that there's more to acting then having a dream come true to actually playing the character. The person who gets it will have to be used to leaving friends and family for five months or more, they will work for hours and on top hours with only 3-5 hours of sleep then stay awake for 17-20 hours shooting. It's not a life of luxury, it's a profession/job. I was just saying some one who already knows acting and wants to do it has every right to audition for Jill. Some one who is going to find this very unexpected and not used to this kind of thing will have a very hard time adapting to it, and will possible show a tad bit on screen.

I agree with DamselJillPole. It is a job, and the actress cast as Jill should be used to long days and lots of hard work. We don't want Jill to be yawning as she is fighting another character!
Open auditions would be really cool. Then again, the casting directors do know best. There are a lot of girls with absolutely no acting experience who want to be Jill Pole. Then there are others who know about how much work it takes and are seriously interested in playing her character.
I think whatever happens will be in Jill's best interest.

Gee, if the casting people follow our advice, they are in for a wild ride!

It doesn't matter if they have open auditions or not; I don't live n the UK, so I can't act her. Woe is me!

Do you think the actress should keep a dairy, like they had Anna do?

I don't necessarily agree that they shouldn't cast someone who's not a professional actress, or even has acting experience at all. Many movies use open casting calls, especially for children's roles. Everyone has to get their start somewhere, and there could be some little girl with no experience, the next Meryl Streep maybe , out there who is dying to play Jill Pole who is more talented that someone who has an acting background.

Look at the Harry Potter kids for example. Most of them had no acting background other than school plays and small acting troups. Rupert Grint wanted to be in a Harry Potter movie so bad that he made an audition tape himself and sent it to the the production. Producers liked it so much that they cast him as Ron.

Even Georgie Henley had no previous professional acting experience before Narnia, and none of the other kids really had much, maybe with the exception of Anna.

As another example look at the children from Slumdog Millionaire. Those kids had absolutely no acting experience at all, and were living in the slums of India when they were chosen by Danny Boyle to be in his movie.

I could go on and on about actors, both children and adults, who have succeeded in the industry without any previous acting experience or training.

My point is that the director will cast whomever he thinks will be best in the part, regardless of their prior acting experience. Obviously they aren't going to cast someone whose not up for the job, and they would be able to figure that out during the auditions and as they make their decision. I would almost put money on an unknown being cast as Jill Pole though.