Posted by: @davidd

Which locations would make sense to film on-location today?  Have the Terraced Houses in London changed much over the last 100 years since the time when the book was based?

Depends on which part(s) of London we're talking about — it's a HUGE city and very diverse. There are probably a few residential areas in the suburbs with Victorian-era terraces that, with a bit of work to cover up (or digitally edit out) any trappings from the modern era, can be made to pass for that period. 

  Or are they much the same today and could pass for an early Twentieth Century London street today?

(Very) Late 19th, actually, since the book is set in 1900 — the 20th century didn't start until the first day of 1901.   Not that that made any difference to the architecture in suburban London, of course... 

Do you think there are any other locations that would make sense to shoot on-location in London?

I can't think of any offhand, but a good deal of the first half of the story does take place in London. Especially if, for the interior scenes in the Ketterleys' house, they're going to film inside an actual period house, rather than creating those scenes with sets in a studio. That's not something I would have expected — normally it's "serious" period dramas like Jane Austen adaptations that get that sort of treatment — but it's not outside the realms of possibility. (After all, if it's also true that they are shooting this on film, as in literal film, that's something I wouldn't have expected for this production either.)

It'll be fascinating to see what this whole production turns out like, that's for sure! 

@davidd   Which locations would make sense to film on-location today? 

Try Bayswater, Suffolk Gardens and Paddington, all London suburbs to the north of Kensington Gardens. The Queen Anne Style Terraced houses, all painted Queen Anne white, in Bayswater are heritage listed, you see, and I've even stayed there, myself. Terraced housing became again quite fashionable a century later, during the Regency era of the early 19th century, especially around Kensington and Bath, around Wiltshire. Something like this, I think, though there are sometimes terraced houses that go to three to five floors. The picture gives some idea for the exterior of the type of house Digory was living in. 

Below is the Bayswater Inn where I stayed, in 2009. 

I always get the impression that the house would have been old, even in he late Victorian era, therefore I'm thinking of a Georgian era terraced house.

Also, maybe due to the way the attic scene is described, and the fact that Andrew had a secret study on the top floor, but I always imagined it as being a 3 story terrace., which is pretty common for houses of both the Georgian and Victorian era.

Benjamin Franklin's House in London  {Above)

Charles Dickens House in London (Below)

@courtenay, @waggawerewolf27 and @icarus , thanks a lot - I had it in my head that the London houses had evolved a fair bit (glad to hear that a lot of those beautiful houses are now heritage listed).

I love that photo of the brick houses - you can clearly see where Digory would have waited for Jadis and Uncle Andrew in the afternoon:  "It was a bow-window from which you could see the steps up to the front door and see up and down the street, so that no one could reach the front door without your knowing."

In terms of other scenes to be shot on location, I'm in two minds about the Wood Between Worlds.

On the one hand, if you are shooting on film, it makes sense to shoot in a real woodland to capture the beautiful natural light which you simply can't replicate on a soundstage.

On the other hand, if the woodland looks too real, the audience (and the characters) might assume they've just been teleported outside to one of the many London woodlands. Therefore perhaps the artificiality of a soundstage works in it's favour.

Narnia itself though, once fully formed, definitely warrants shooting on location - you just aren't going to get that in London... Although you probably don't need to go too far afield to find somewhere suitable.

@icarus It'd be awesome if there's a real world location that could pass for the wood between the worlds. Although I think it would be tough (at least if it adheres to the description in the book with the many pools and trees growing so close together that you can't see the sky, but a bright green light shows through the trees nonetheless).  I guess they could still use lighting to produce the green light (and if Digory or Polly ever looks up, they could drop in some CGI / something similar for the tree tops overhead).
I also thought, maybe Digory's house in the country could feature (that he mentions to Polly when they first meet) or the mansion that he moves into at the finale).

Posted by: @icarus

Narnia itself though, once fully formed, definitely warrants shooting on location... 

You mean they should be sending the cast and crew to Narnia itself???   (I know, too obvious a joke, but I wish I could be an extra in this... ) 

@icarus   In terms of other scenes to be shot on location, I'm in two minds about the Wood Between Worlds.

On the one hand, if you are shooting on film, it makes sense to shoot in a real woodland to capture the beautiful natural light which you simply can't replicate on a soundstage.

I remember when watching an old Pirates of the Caribbean movie, maybe the one called "At World's End", perhaps, or maybe the one called "Dead men tell no tales", but definitely one of the later ones, there was a setting for one of the scenes, where Jack Sparrow's party was fighting the Spanish army. Or maybe the Spanish army just turned up? That is to say, where there were some trees with puddles between the trees with a mountainside nearby. It made me think of MN's Wood between the Worlds. 

I wonder if there are also other films which also used locations that are similar to the Wood between the Worlds, or remind viewers about that sort of location? 

Posted by: @courtenay

You mean they should be sending the cast and crew to Narnia itself???   (I know, too obvious a joke, but I wish I could be an extra in this... ) 

Hey you can't get more authentic than that, right??

Would there be any sets leftover from movies based on Charles Dickens’s books?   They might work for movies based on The Magician’s Nephew at least for part of the book. I don’t know if they keep old movie sets in the UK.  Here in the U. S. they are often taken down not long after the movie or television program is made.  Sometimes it is unfortunate since the locations may have some historical value, e. g. old classic science fiction like Star Trek.  But if the locations remain the same in appearance for over a hundred years they probably would work as something from the Victorian period. It seems likely that enough buildings would survive from that time to make it look authentic. 

It might be a little tricky to do the Wood Between Worlds in an actual outdoor location, because I imagine most places that actually look like that would be sensitive ecosystems that they wouldn't want a film production to disturb.  Well they could at least film some external shots there but mainly use a soundstage for the actual actors. 

This question was fairly straightforward before this week, but now... the two scenes we know they're filming (1955's swimming pool and big city scene) don't appear in the book at all 😜 

But aside from the London stuff, I'd love for them to find a mountain location for The Garden scene!