Narnia: Greta Gerwig Reveals What Made Meryl Streep Perfect Choice for Gender-Swapped Aslan

To any fan of C.S. Lewis’ work who was first introduced to Narnia through the Walden Media movies, the idea of a female Aslan might be uncanny. However, Greta Gerwig has made the case for why Meryl Streep was the right choice for the character in her upcoming Netflix adaptation of Narnia.

Gerwig is directing at least two Narnia films for Netflix. Along with Streep, the films will star a slew of well-known names, including Daniel Craig, Beatrice Campbell, Emma Mackey, Carey Mulligan, and Ciarán Hinds.

How Gerwig’s vision for Aslan led her to Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep’s casting as Aslan, arguably the most important character in the franchise, raised a lot of eyebrows when it was first announced. The part was previously played by Liam Neeson. But Gerwig revealed why it made sense to cast the Devil Wears Prada alum for the role.

Speaking with Empire Magazine, Gerwig revealed, “I wanted someone who was profound but not pretentious, who had gravitas but not morose self-seriousness. Someone who could communicate depth and pathos as well as joy and delight. I wanted someone who was older than 70, so there was a wisdom of experience, but who also had the capacity of fresh wonder, like a child. And also to be one of the greatest actors to ever do it. That list is not a long one.”

There are a lot of other decisions about the film that have been flagged as interesting choices by fans and critics alike. To begin with, Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew has been labeled a ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Blockbuster’, with NarniaWeb reporting that the comp titles for the movie include Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore, ‘any’ Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse film, Jumanji: The Next Level, and ‘any’ Guardians of the Galaxy movie, among others.

Further, it has been reported that the film is going to favor practical effects over CGI, while early test screenings have produced mixed to ‘boring’ results. The internal rounds of the film have called it faithful to the stories that Lewis has written.

Source: Comingsoon.net