Posted by: @icarus

it perhaps means they've been doing alot more pre-production work under the radar that we've not heard about?

That would be my assumption, although I could be wrong.

@whitestag I was so excited to read this news the other day. I yelped and scared my family haha. Then I read it hasn't been confirmed through netflix yet. I very much hope this news is true. I've also tried searching the web to see if GG had any social media but I believe she doesn't. It would be easier to track where she is in the process if she did. We can only cross our fingers and hope.  

I think Netflix has a reputation for not releasing much info during pre-production, so it wouldn't surprise me if it got to this point without more news leaking out. 

Posted by: @whitestag

If it's Shepperton Studios I'll drive down there myself lol.

And if it is, I must start plotting how to get some work on the set.  

Posted by: @coracle

And if it is, I must start plotting how to get some work on the set.

100% - I'll sign any form. I'll go back to being a runner and do the tea/coffee runs!

I wonder if they might do a call for extras in crowd scenes??   (Not a huge number of those overall, but if she's starting with The Magician's Nephew, there'll be the London scenes, especially when Jadis is on the rampage and crashes the cab.) 

Posted by: @justin

I think Netflix has a reputation for not releasing much info during pre-production, so it wouldn't surprise me if it got to this point without more news leaking out. 

Indeed. The secrecy they utilised for pre-production on "Avatar The Last Airbender" was insane.... One of the main actors was auditioned for the role of General Zhao by having him perform a scene as a corporate Investment Banker

https://www.gamesradar.com/avatar-the-last-airbender-bank-audition-ken-leung/

@icarus Wow, that's fascinating! Very clever way of doing auditions without revealing to anyone what roles they're actually being tried out for... and that does mean that, for all we know, they could have been doing the casting and other pre-production for Narnia without the public knowing. It'll be very interesting to see how much of this rumour, if anything, turns out to be true.

Others do it too. I auditioned for a series under its cover name, reading for a character that I didn't think was its real name either (I think it was the actual name). 

Posted by: @courtenay

I wonder if they might do a call for extras in crowd scenes??   (Not a huge number of those overall, but if she's starting with The Magician's Nephew, there'll be the London scenes, especially when Jadis is on the rampage and crashes the cab.) 

That's an interesting thought. I can't imagine being a huge number of extras for Narnia films, but it wouldn't hurt if there was any for a crowd scene.

And what about when they get to The Last Battle with the reunion? (though I don't think Greta Gerwig is going to do that one). There's got a be a large number of Narnians, Archenlanders, Calormenes, and Telmarines who had gone on before, so it would probably require some extras.

That's wonderful that you live close to where filming will take place @WhiteStag. I do have a strong feeling that GG is starting off with Magician's Nephew after her "I'm in the wood between world's comment." If any of you happen to get on set you're very lucky and do expect me to ask a lot of questions.  

@daughterofthestar 

We all have to bear in mind that people who work on a film have to sign a confidentiality contract.  This means that they cannot tell their friends, family or fellow Narniawebbers, what they have witnessed, nor their costume/makeup/moves/words. 

Posted by: @coracle

We all have to bear in mind that people who work on a film have to sign a confidentiality contract.  This means that they cannot tell their friends, family or fellow Narniawebbers, what they have witnessed, nor their costume/makeup/moves/words. 

I was just thinking of this earlier, too, which would further explain how at least some of the casting and other pre-production work could already have taken place and we haven't heard anything about it.

I think these days we're all so used to people everywhere being able to communicate almost instantly, and information (accurate or not) getting around the world in the blink of an eye, that it's easy to assume that if we haven't heard about something, it can't have been happening at all, or else everyone would know by now, surely. Whereas directors and film studios aren't under any obligation to give the public any details of their current or upcoming projects until those in charge decide it's time — and as you say, it's standard practice for all those involved to be bound by contract to keep everything secret before the release date as well, on pain of losing their jobs.

At least we know something's now happening with "Netflix Narnia" — after all those years of virtually no news (and it turns out there really were things going on in secret all this time) — and it shouldn't be too much longer to wait before we have more and more official confirmations!

Very true @coracle

It's been a minute since I've been on a big studio set as a background extra. I had to fill out a couple of those. I'll ask about things you can talk about. hehe.

Posted by: @courtenay

Posted by: @coracle

We all have to bear in mind that people who work on a film have to sign a confidentiality contract.  This means that they cannot tell their friends, family or fellow Narniawebbers, what they have witnessed, nor their costume/makeup/moves/words. 

I was just thinking of this earlier, too, which would further explain how at least some of the casting and other pre-production work could already have taken place and we haven't heard anything about it.

I agree to some extent, but from experience of following the development process of the previous 3 films (as well as lots of other non-Narnia films) it's very difficult to keep everything completely quiet.

To start with, there's just the sheer number of people who need to be involved in organising a large scale movie production (everyone from the caterers to the production assistants) not all of whom can be wrapped up in NDAs.

Then you've got the fact that certain activities have to, by definition, take place in the public sphere to some degree - things like casting and location booking - even when they use cover stories and code names they are usually easy enough to work out from context, particularly when you've got big name talent involved like Greta Gerwig who are going to be paparazzi'd everywhere they go..

Then there's the fact that alot of the people working on these big projects rely on being able to add the credits to their CVs as soon as they can in order to sustain their careers (concept artists and the like)- not a single member of crew has been added to the IMDB page for this though, which is just weird. Not even a Casting Director.

Finally there is the fact that people love to talk. Even when people have signed NDAs, people still talk - often people will think that their obscure corner of the internet will never be found by prying eyes, or that if they don't mention the key words of the project, no-one will know what their photos are of... But the internet always has a habit of finding a way.

All of which is to say that the lack of noise surrounding this project is suspiciously quiet. Clearly they are making progress on certain things which have a limited digital footprint and largely taken place behind closed doors (corporate discussions and script writing etc) but I really do think they will struggle to go much further into the productiom process and maintain the levels of radio-silence they currently have.... Or at least I hope so!