"The Silver Chair" Movie Snags "Life of Pi" Screen Writer

They're definitely going ahead with the fourth Narnia film, The Silver Chair and, as of Thursday (yesterday) they've just signed a writer to the project. This time the screenplay will be written by the Oscar nominated Life of Pi and Finding Neverland wordsmith, David Magee.




From Variety:

 

“I have always loved ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and I endlessly imagined myself finding my own passage into Narnia someday,” he said. “All these years later, I’m getting to fulfill that wish just a little bit by writing the film adaptation of ‘The Silver Chair’ and could not be more excited about it.” (Magee)

 


From HarperCollins Narnia Page:

Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis stated, “I have a great deal of respect for Mark Gordon’s work and am confident that together we can bring the beauty and magical delight that Narnia engenders in the hearts of those who read the books to the screen in ‘The Silver Chair.’ I am very much looking forward to diving once more into Narnia, this time with Mark Gordon and his team.”

Although Disney produced the first two (The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian) and Fox handled The Dawn Treader, neither will be producing on the fourth film. Instead it will be handled by a co-op of Producers led by Mark Gordon (a company that is better recognized for their TV credits than the four films they've produced).


I'm very curious to see how they handle the marsh-wiggle, Puddleglum as I was fascinated with the characters as a kid. The BBC series had Tom Baker in the role but I'm afraid my impressionable child-self could never see him as anything other than Doctor Who (the fourth Doctor, with the crazy scarf). I kept expecting a police box to appear in Narnia (or "not-Narnia") at any moment!

My favorite character from this book, though, was the Lady of the Green Kirtle, or the Green-Witch or the Emerald Witch. (I saw a discussion on when witches were first thought of as being green-skinned but I can't find it at present to link to - fascinating and not as clear to pin down as you might think.) This part of the book felt extremely "fairy tale" to me, what with her being deceptively sweet at the outset only to transform into a poisonous Green Serpent, not to mention her being called the "Queen of Underland".

Concept art for Dawn Treader which originally featured The Emerald Witch

Apparently the original screenplay and concept art from Voyage of the Dawn Treader featured the Lady of the Green Kirtle (shown above) and the set up is quite lovely. From a fan:

..more art that was prepared for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  One piece that I absolutely love is art that was done that would have set up The Silver Chair beautifully.  It was a divergent part of the story that was in an earlier screenplay for Dawn Treader in which the Lady of the Green Kirtle (aka Emerald Witch) appears.  It kind of cements the concept that the Green Mist was an extension of her / foreshadowing her as a greater problem.

I always found her somewhat mysterious and appreciated her attacks on all the senses (sight - beauty, smell - sweet powder thrown onto the fire, hearing - a lilting mandolin that made people drowsy when she played on it, not to mention her subtle yet effective brainwashing). She was an Enchantress who, though powerful and could resort to frightening means, lured her victims in through pleasure and altering their reality, much like the faery of the Unseelie Court legends and reminded me very much of the Faerie Queen of Tam Lin. SO much could be done with this character! I hope Magee recognizes this and writes something juicy accordingly.

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