Posted by: @icarus

(also it bugs me that LWW adaptations always cast the Professor as being way too old - he's only supposed to be 52, not 92)

That's according to Lewis's timeline of Narnia, which (as far as we know) he didn't complete until after he'd written all the books, and there are several discrepancies between it and the info we're given in the books themselves. I'm pretty sure when LWW adaptations cast the Professor as elderly, they're simply going by Lewis's description of him on the first page of the book:

He himself was a very old man with shaggy white hair which grew over most of his face as well as his head...

I wouldn't count 52 as "very old", and nor would most of us, but at the time Lewis wrote that description, he was only just beginning the series and hadn't yet thought up the Professor's backstory and given him a date of birth. I expect that by the time he wrote The Magician's Nephew, it didn't occur to him that in order for Digory to be "a very old man" by the time we get to 1940, he would have to have been born earlier than the late Victorian era!! The same goes for King Caspian — we hear so much about how terribly old and frail he is before his death in The Silver Chair, and yet going by the famous timeline, he was only 66... (Sorry this is off topic already! )

@courtenay to a child of 9 or 10, reading this, 52 is pretty old! The whiskers accentuate it of course. 

So for what it's worth, this movie (Freud's Last Session) is supposed to be set on the eve of World War 2, when CS Lewis would have been 41 years old I think.

Matthew Goode is 44 at present which is a pretty good match for Lewis's age.

But back again to the Professor... given that he is a very clear proxy character for Lewis himself, and appears to be based on Lewis's own experience of taking in refugee children during the Blitz, it always seemed logical to me that he should be similar in age to Lewis himself at that time.

Either way, I think Matthew Goode has a really strong reputation for playing Distinguished Gentleman type characters, and so is a great choice for Lewis... (or for the professor 😉 )

You can probably take this news to be confirmed now - the official website for the film's production company (West End Films) has added Matthew Goode to the cast list on their website:

https://westendfilms.com/films/freuds-last-session

The film is apparently supposed to start shooting sometime this month or next, so likely we should start to see some more news on this going forward.

Probably Max McLean looks the most like C.S. Lewis of any actor portraying him. I haven’t seen Matthew Goode, but I have watched Anthony Hopkins in Shadowlands. The films get Lewis’s mannerisms right, but it is much harder to get his appearance. I think I like all of them, although some are better than others.  They seem to be quite realistic portrayals. 

This is a photo purportedly of a young CS Lewis (unclear what age exactly)

And here is a photo of Matthew Goode from fairly recently (so around 44 years old) in a similar sort of pose.

I know we are probably all used to seeing CS Lewis in photos from when he was much older, with the glasses and the balding hair, but I think for a play about a 40/41 year old Lewis this is a pretty decent visual match.

Today it’s hard to find people who talk and act like those who lived long ago. But somehow they still are able to find them for motion picture biographies. I dislike the term “biopics” since the term seems too modern for people who lived a long time ago, and now too many words are already unnecessarily shortened such as “info” for information. If new biographies are made about Lewis the actors will have to speak and act more formally than today. As time goes on it may be harder to find people who can do that effectively. And I think people should say “motion picture biographies” instead of “biopics”.  I’m sure C. S. Lewis would have agreed that English has far too many “coined” words. 🙂

If anyone is interested, The Hollywood Reporter mentioned that this movie is now scheduled to shoot in "Late January 2023", after the film got picked up by Sony Pictures Classic in a distribution deal signed last week... I'd anticipate a theatrical release in time for the 2023/24 Awards Season.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/anthony-hopkins-freuds-last-session-sony-pictures-classics-1235254084/

They also confirmed Matthew Goode's casting as C.S. Lewis, just in case there were any lingering doubts on that.

I wonder what people here think of David Payne’s portrayal of C S Lewis.

Here is a video of his performance:

I thought he was good, but I am not sure if Lewis was so jocular. I don’t know if Lewis made many jokes when he spoke.  Mr. Payne did get his facts and quotes right. I think Max McClean looks more like Lewis than any other actor. 🙂

@narnian78 my favourite is Jos Acland. He played Lewis in the original TV play of Shadowlands (which became a stage play and a film with a most unsuitable actor playing him). I also liked Hugh Bonneville in a stage production I saw in UK in mid 2019.

As for the jokes, Jack did have a great sense of humour, and I'm just looking for a quote from Doug Gresham on this, which I will edit in.
Update: "Jack laughed loud and long at good jokes and funny things in general" and elsewhere "mild-mannered and very calm". Not the crusty old bachelor don I would have guessed.

@coracle 

Yes, I think Joss Ackland is very good.  I have the DVD of the BBC TV special Through the Shadowlands, and its portrayal of Lewis is much more accurate than the movie Shadowlands with Anthony Hopkins, although both of them are worth watching.  Sometimes the older programs are more true to the actual life of the person.

I don't know how many saw the play on its run across the US. My mum was a CS Lewis fan, as am I, and we loved it. I cannot think of a better cast. I hope the additions to the script don't change the focus of the play too much, as we both considered it exceptional - intensely thought-provoking and moving. I hope that the original writer is in charge of the actual final film screenplay.

In terms of the actual movie production, it looks like they are currently in the process of set building and are looking to shoot sometime next month.

View this post on Instagram

https://twitter.com/FreudMusLondon/status/1622662372312621056?s=19

https://twitter.com/megthomson11/status/1622672850082570263?s=09

From the sounds of it, most of the filming is going to take place in Ireland, rather than London:

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/2023/02/13/sigmund-freuds-home-recreated-in-ireland-for-major-film-starring-anthony-hopkins/

https://amp.theguardian.com/film/2023/feb/12/sigmund-freud-film-london-home-recreated-dublin

This looks like it should be a really interesting project, with a stellar pair of leading actors, so I have high hopes for something special.

A few more updates on the production...

Anthony Hopkins has been in Ireland for the past couple of weeks where the primary studio shooting is taking place (and has grown out his beard to get that classic Sigmund Freud look), so presumably filming is due to start imminently if not already:

From Ireland, with love. 🍀 pic.twitter.com/qZID2tp3m7

— AHopkins.eth (@AnthonyHopkins) February 22, 2023

View this post on Instagram

The actress Liv Lisa Fries has been added to the cast list, presumably in the role of Anna Freud (also a famous psychologist in her own right) though that is not confirmed:

https://westendfilms.com/films/freuds-last-session

Also one of the film's producers has shared another behind-the-scenes photo of some rather interesting looking gargoyles, so everything looks like its coming together quite nicely!

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Just now waiting for our first look at Matthew Goode as C.S. Lewis!