DamselJillPole, I love the romance between Frank and Helen! I had forgotten about that! Mr. Anderson, I see what you mean about them not making MN or maybe making MAJOR changes because of the lack of violence/duels/battles, but I think DamselJillPole had an excellent point by saying that there could be a flashback to the battle for Charn between Jadis and her sister. There could even be a duel of sorts with Jadis and her sister before Jadis uttered the Deplorable Word.

It's going to be the Silver Chair, and that's how I'd like it. However, after that, they have to make Magician's Nephew, Horse and His Boy, then the LB. Isn't that the way Lewis wrote the books?

Well actually no. Silver Chair and Horse and His Boy were written about the same time, with Silver Chair being published first. I can't see film producers changing the publishing order they have followed so far. Silver Chair probably will be next, and even Douglas Gresham seems to think that would be a good idea. If there is any more films afterwards, then it will be Horse and His Boy, followed by Magician's Nephew and Last Battle. Don't forget that HHB was actually dedicated to Douglas and his brother.

There is one good thing about Magician's Nephew. Unlike the other books it is a stand-alone which wouldn't need past characters in any way. Three of the Pevensies come back in HHB, as adults or late teenagers, whilst LB has a return of just about everyone. Though I'd be doubtful if the films would get as far as filming 'Last Battle'.

Tilda Swinton won't play Jadis in London, in Charn or anywhere else. For one thing she would be getting too old by the time filming for MN starts, presumably if they get that far, and for another, she flatly refuses to play any more witches. Someone else who looks a bit like her will have to do it. Maybe that won't be a bad thing, wouldn't it? There is a fundamental change between the White Witch in LWW and Jadis in MN, in that eating the apple at the end of MN must have had consequences for her appearance in LWW. Like being frozen in infinity.

Though I'd be doubtful if the films would get as far as filming 'Last Battle'.

I respectfully disagree... However thats just my opinion

Tilda Swinton won't play Jadis in London, in Charn or anywhere else. For one thing she would be getting too old by the time filming for MN starts, presumably if they get that far, and for another, she flatly refuses to play any more witches. Someone else who looks a bit like her will have to do it. Maybe that won't be a bad thing, wouldn't it? There is a fundamental change between the White Witch in LWW and Jadis in MN, in that eating the apple at the end of MN must have had consequences for her appearance in LWW. Like being frozen in infinity.

Mmm... Interesting, where did you find this out, cause I haven't heard about it.

Tilda Swinton said she wouldn't want to play another witch soon after the release of Prince Caspian, long before I even participated on NarniaWeb. I've known that for ages.

If there has to be a good box office before any more get released, then a lot depends on not only how good VDT is, at the end of the year, but also what sort of a film is made of Silver Chair, then of the three other books.

Tilda Swinton said she wouldn't want to play another witch soon after the release of Prince Caspian, long before I even participated on NarniaWeb. I've known that for ages.

Do you happen to have a link to your source for this? I don't recall ever hearing anything of this sort but it's quite possible I just missed it.

I'll always be a,
NL101

I would almost bet money that if MN is made and something horrible doesn't happen (like Tilda Swinton died, God forbid), that she will return to play Jadis.

In fact, I can't cite a source because I can't remember where I read it, but I'm almost certain that she mentioned in one of her interviews that she'd definitely return to play the character again if MN is made.

As far as her age goes, she hasn't aged a bit physically the few recent times I've seen her. She's at that period in her life I guess. And a little makeup and CGI tweaking goes a long ways.

Having said that (and to get my post on topic), I would definitely like to see MN made right after SC to prevent her from aging another three to four years while HHB is being made.

I'm sorry, but I do think that HHB will be the next one after Silver Chair, whilst the producers will dilly dally over anything as controversial as MN or LB. If they get made at all, it will be in this order: SC, HHB, MN then lastly LB.

Tilda Swinton said she wouldn't want to play another witch soon after the release of Prince Caspian, long before I even participated on NarniaWeb. I've known that for ages.

Do you happen to have a link to your source for this? I don't recall ever hearing anything of this sort but it's quite possible I just missed it.

I'm sure you would have missed anything that wasn't actually posted to Internet. Just as I'm equally sure that the source of my information was in my local newsagent and not online at all. I don't have my original source for my information having long ago discarded old magazines in the paper recycling, or else donated it to the local doctor's surgery. By the way, apart from an absorbing love of Narnia, which is why I would buy a magazine in the first place, whatever source I used is probably New Idea, if not something similar, since I fancy my ability at their code cracker puzzles and their crosswords.

However, Tilda Swinton is a major actress who has been around in Britain for a long time, who is famous for 'doing her own thing', and who is probably the only well-known British actress who missed out on a role in Harry Potter. Her online biography states (on page 17):

Though she's now balancing Hollywood work with indie efforts, we can expect nothing from the mercurial Tilda Swinton., even though that extensive biography also notes that in 2008, one of her roles was a reprise of Jadis as follows:

Next would come the delayed second installment in the Narnia Chronicles, Prince Caspian, where the Pevensie children return to the fantasy world to discover they've been away for hundreds of years. Now they must help heir to the throne Caspian to snatch power from evil king Miraz, and foil a plot to raise Swinton's Jadis from her icy grave.

In this MTV movies blog, Tilda Swinton insisted she wasn't in any Narnia sequels, whilst in this MovieWeb interview, she seems to have a distinctly leftist view of Jadis.

You don't know how much weight to give to magazine interviews or online articles, when NarniaWeb, itself, had an article about her and her children playing cameos as centaurs in Prince Caspian. On the other hand, anything is possible.

But I don't think that a woman in Tilda Swinton's position would want to commit to a role so far in the future when she so clearly prefers to live for the present, and when the delays in producing first Prince Caspian and then Voyage of the Dawn Treader, would obviously cast some doubt that the rest of the series would ever be filmed. Whilst Silver Chair may make it, and, hopefully HHB as well, with its strong message of anti-forced marriages, and anti-slavery, there is a strong chance that Magician's Nephew, in particular, and consequently Last Battle, will never be produced.

Wikipedia has a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magician's_Nephew]good online article[/url] in which Tilda Swinton does relate a bit about Jadis as follows:

Actress Tilda Swinton who played Jadis, the White Witch, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe commented on the character and her origins in an interview:

Why is Jadis so angry?

Tilda Swinton: I didn't see her as angry. She's interested in dominating absolutely and is irritated that there is this prophecy that says sooner or later four humans will turn up and make trouble for her reign. She wants to get rid of them fast and it's all going a bit wrong. She's confused and irritated. I don't see her as particularly angry. Have you read The Magician's Nephew?

No...

Tilda Swinton: I hope they make it. It's a prequel that explains where Jadis came from and how Narnia is created. She's so bad that she destroyed her empire to spite her sister. There's this one deplorable word, which we don't know what it is, that if it's spoken; everything is vanquished and she's the only one alive. She does it to spite her sister. She just wants to dominate. The idea of anybody having anything over her is confusing

Without the assurance that the film would definitely be made, I am wondering if Tilda Swinton would really agree to play a character so opposed to her own stated values.

I'm sorry, but I do think that HHB will be the next one after Silver Chair

I think so too! it would be logical.....I hope so!

waggawerewolf27: But Jadis is a witch. Of course she's not going to have the same values as whatever actress potrays her. Besides didn't Tilda say she wasn't going to be in PC either? I think we'll just have to wait and see.

I really wish I hadn't chucked that magazine article out. But then you can't keep things forever. (sighs). Because I distinctly remember it said she didn't want to get typecast for playing witches. Of course a few years ago, we had all that furor about Harry Potter, Laura Mallory and people wanting to ban witches in children's literature etc.

Apparently Tilda Swinson and Andrew Adamson both had this vision of how Jadis might be played, but now the franchise has changed directors who might have a different concept of how Jadis should look, as related here:

Tilda Swinton: Rather than playing up, it was more a question of playing down. Both Andrew [Adamson, the director] and I shared very early on that neither of us had had been convinced by the cackling, shouting, hot-under-the-collar witches that we'd been exposed to as children. They hadn't frightened us. It occurred to me that since this is not a human witch, this is the epitome of all evil...What children, in fact all of us at any age, find frightening is unreliability and emotional coldness. The idea that you can't affect someone, that you can't see where they're coming from and can change tack at any moment..

Jadis saw the White Witch as an extremely Nazi-like sort of figure, also, according to the MovieWeb article I linked to in my earlier post, which said among other things: Her perception of Jadis as the ultimate white supremacist was very interesting. She turns her into a Nazi-like character hell bent on domination. Tilda really wanted to turn the traditional idea of the evil witch on its head.

Whilst I agree that a good actress can play any role, how the actress feels about the character's values and how she sees the character matters a lot, as does what the director's vision of the character might be. The White Witch in the films did come across as very frozen, like an icicle. This might still work in Charn, but how would Tilda expect to play Jadis in London, do you think?

Getting back to the Magician's Nephew and the order of how the films would come out, I do wonder why it wasn't produced first if there were really a lot of producers itching to film that story. Logically it could have been done that way, and then we could all have enjoyed it. And that omission is also why I don't think MN would be done any time soon.

^I agree. It should have been done first. I want to see it so much!

About Tilda: But she already played her in two movies, one where she was trying to come back from the dead. I can't see how Jadis has different "values" in MN then she does in LWW (and PC). If Tilda had no problem being that character in the first two movies, she shouldn't have problem reassuming the role. And it was her and Andrew that decided to make her so cold and cruel. If she didn't like that, she shouldn't have even been in LWW. She's playing a witch. And it's not even a good witch or something- she's not endorsing anything bad. Jadis is the antagonist. I can't see what her problem would be.

The problem is not Tilda, herself, or her idea of how she sees the White Witch as evil, it is the change of directors with different ideas of what they see as good or evil that would be the problem. Tilda was on that film precisely because she and Andrew Adamson agreed how to depict the White Witch, and because that domineering supremacist coldness is precisely what both he and Tilda Swinson sees as evil. Tilda Swinson, correctly, I think, portrays the White Witch as cold and domineering, but also in having Nazi-like characteristics.

What if another director chose to see Jadis differently? Some definitely would, especially if they were inclined to be cold, supremacist and domineering, themselves? And that is the point I wanted to make. To play Jadis/White Witch you have to have a definite idea of what you see as evil and good, and to play it any other way won't work.

But I don't think you could really call the Jadis that's running around London in MN cold. She's extremely passionate, yelling threats and lashing out violently. I honestly wouldn't have a problem with a different actress for MN because of this. If I remember right, Jadis doesn't even look the same in MN as she does in LWW.

^I don't know if I would mind either. Tilda was excellent as Jadis in LWW and PC, but the Jadis in MN is different in a way. Maybe a different actress would be better. A younger one who is more beautiful. B/c Jadis is supposed to be extremely beautiful, at least in MN. But I would want an actress that at least looks simliar to Tilda.

waggawerewolf27: ok I see what you're saying. Well hopefully Adamson will come back for that movie. Didn't he say he wanted to?

While I'm dying to see HHB on film and will probably bawl my eyes out if Walden stops making Narnia films before they get to that, SC is the logical choice. Use Poulter while they've got 'em.

I'd like Tilda to come back for MN ... but please, not Adamson.