Netflix’s Narnia Movie Signs A Creature Genius
Aslan is (maybe) real.
Fantasy movies are often only as good as the ability of their special effects to convince you that you’re watching another world. And even today, the most impressive special effects are often practical, like Rey’s rehydrating bread in The Force Awakens. CGI has its place, but a well-crafted animatronic can go a long way.
Netflix seems to agree, because ahead of its next big movie franchise launching next year, the streamer has sourced a practical effects icon to help create the many creatures involved. According to NarniaWeb, Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Chronicles of Narnia movie has recruited creature effects artist Neal Scanlan to help with “animatronics, puppetry, and prosthetics.” Scalan is a longtime SFX industry veteran, but he’s perhaps best known for his work within the Star Wars franchise. He served as the creature effects supervisor on The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and worked on The Rise of Skywalker’s droids. He also worked on Andor, where he was the mastermind behind stuttering droid B2EMO.
Special effects artist Neal Scanlan will lend his talents to Netflix’s upcoming Narnia franchise.
This new hire strongly suggests that Netflix’s Narnia movies, unlike the previous Disney films, will emphasize practical creature effects. Yes, James McAvoy’s Mr. Tumnus had prosthetic goat legs, but most of the other Disney characters were pure CGI, including the lion Aslan. Maybe this time we’ll see an animatronic Aslan that actors can physically exist next to, which could help give weight to such a key figure.
There’s another big difference between the creature work in this movie and its predecessors. While the Disney Narnia movies began by adapting The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first Narnia book C.S. Lewis wrote, the Netflix film series will begin with The Magician’s Nephew, the first book chronologically.
Puppets have been used to represent Aslan before, like on stage.
That book serves as a creation myth for Narnia itself, as Aslan creates the land as we know it. This includes all the animals that inhabit it, from alpacas and albatrosses to zebra and zebu. If this movie is going to include even a fraction of all the animals the book mentions, it’s nice to know that at least some will be represented through physical effects. The Disney movies were a decent effort, but if Netflix wants to adapt the entire Narnia series, it could benefit from trying something new.
