Is She Going to Be in Narnia or Not?
Door Jam: October 5, 2024
The Door Jam is a place to squeeze in relevant articles written about C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, their work, adaptations of their fantasy worlds, and other potentially interesting news, information, and articles. Unless otherwise stated, I’m not necessarily endorsing (or criticizing) any of these, but merely sharing them with you.
This week’s top story is a Narnia casting rumor. Other stories include an unexpected C.S. Lewis adaptation, lots of Rings of Power news and interviews, faith in the music of Middle-earth, and a first edition Lord of the Rings up for auction.
Top Story
Earlier this week, news broke that Saoirse Ronan had been cast in Greta Gerwig’s Narnia adaptation in a “supporting turn,” according to World of Reel. Ronan was nominated for Best Actress twice, both for Gerwig films—Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019).
It would be hard to imagine an actress of her caliber simply being a background character, but she obviously can’t be any of the children leads. Depending on which book Gerwig adapts, Ronan could be the two iconic villains, the White Witch from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or Jadis from The Magician’s Nephew.
But it’s all hypothetical for now. NarniaWeb sources said Ronan hasn’t been cast right now. Then Ronan herself told Jimmy Kimmel, that she wasn’t attached to Gerwig’s Narnia, at least not yet.
Kimmel: There are rumors that you will be in Greta Gerwig’s version, reboot – I don’t know what to call it – reimagining of Chronicles of Narnia. Is there truth to that?
Ronan: I mean there’s not – there isn’t no truth to it. She hasn’t asked me yet, she’s writing it. But we have that kind of relationship where I just sort of go to her and I say “so I’ll be in this, just so you know” and she takes some time to think about it and she goes, “OK.” But she honestly hasn’t asked me about Narnia. I think she’s so wrapped up in writing it right now.
From the sound of the interview, Ronan would like to be in Narnia with Gerwig. We’ll see if she does indeed open that wardrobe door.
Not Safe But Good
C.S. Lewis quote of the week
The first qualification for judging any piece of workmanship from a corkscrew to a cathedral is to know what it is—what it was intended to do and how it is meant to be used. After that has been discovered the temperance reformer may decide that the corkscrew was made for a bad purpose, and the communist may think the same about the cathedral. But such questions come later. The first thing is to understand the object before you: as long as you think the corkscrew was meant for opening tins or the cathedral for entertaining tourists you can say nothing to the purpose about them.
Tumnus’ bookshelf
A book by or about C.S. Lewis
In an interview highlight below The Rings of Power’s showrunners talk about The Screwtape Letters and how they were influenced by Paradise Lost. With that in mind, I have to assume they’ve read Lewis’ A Preface to Paradise Lost.
The Lamp Post
Recent articles from me in other places
U.S. Evangelicals Want to Engage Culture More Than They Actually Do — Lifeway Research
More Behind The Wardrobe Door
Recent pieces and relevant archives
From the archives
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