WELLINGTON, NEW Zealand—“Come on in,” Richard Taylor said, leading a pack of journalists who had flown in from all over the world for a tour of his Weta Workshop. Weta, named after an insect that is found primarily in New Zealand, was established by Richard and his partner Tania Rodger 16 years ago. They had been active in the business for a number of years, but it was their work on the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy that did more than just put the spotlight on them. It also earned them an Oscar. The award is well deserved. After all, Taylor and his crew worked on the trilogy for seven years and made a whopping 48,000 props for the films. [More]

HIGHLAND HILLS --- On Thursday, November 17 at Cuyahoga Community College’s Eastern Campus, Tri-C professors Laura Blunk and Marueen Morley will deliver a lecture titled “Storytellers for Our Times: J.R. R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.” The presentation, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and the forthcoming film of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, will take Place in the President’s Plaza of the E-3 Building at 4250 Richmond Road in Highland Hills from 6 to 7:15 p.m. [More]

Like most professional actresses, Anna Popplewell insisted on the use of a body double for certain film scenes. Unlike most actresses, it wasn't because of insecurities about her appearance. The truth was far more prosaic: she's scared of mice. "I'm absolutely terrified of rodents," she says. "I thought the director was winding me up. I don't think he understood just how much of a phobia it was. He called me over one day and had a mouse in his hand and I just burst into tears." [More]

Disney's new feature film, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," spends a good deal more time than C.S. Lewis's beloved children's book on the climactic battle between the forces of the sinister White Witch and the army of Aslan, the supernatural lion. The movie of course has the benefit of studio bean counters and recognizes that this could be the mother of all screen battles - not just your basic struggle of good and evil but a $200 million smackdown between the religious right and godless Hollywood, between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and, for that matter, between Aslan and King Kong, a resurrected version of whom opens in a movie of his own a few days after "Narnia" does next month. [More]

CS Lewis's magical children's classic is about to light up the big screen, but behind the fantasy lies a real-life tale of loss, quest and salvation. Boyd Tonkin looks at the writer's personal journey. Let's clear up one popular misconception at the start. It was not CS Lewis who, at one of the regular readings of new work in the ale-and-pipe tobacco fug of the Eagle and Child pub in wartime Oxford, groaned in response to the arrival of yet another of JRR Tolkien's mythic sprites: "Oh no; another f*ing elf." That was their mutual friend Hugo Dyson, professor of English at Reading University and fellow member of the informal coterie of donnish, Christian yarn-spinners who called themselves the "Inklings". [More]

(Court TV) — An advocacy group claims a Florida reading contest involving the classic novel and upcoming film "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" violates the role of religion in the classroom. Attorneys for The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), however, say they will support in court any school threatened by the claim free of charge. Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AUSCS) group has demanded Gov. Jeb Bush's statewide contest stop using C.S. Lewis' Christian allegory as the only book for the contest. [More]

The man who guided thousands of movie fans to Lord of the Rings film locations now aims to guide fans into movie-making. Ian Brodie, the man who wrote the Lord of the Rings Locations Guidebook is today releasing Cameras In Narnia, a chronicle of how a huge team headed by New Zealand-born director Andrew Adamson made The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. But anyone expecting a guidebook to locations used for the latest fantasy epic filmed in New Zealand will be disappointed. Instead, Brodie's book sets about uncovering how hundreds of people with talents in disparate areas like make-up, construction, costume design, camera operation and computer effects go about creating a big budget movie.

Order 'Cameras in Narnia : How The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe Came to Life' on Amazon.com Today!

Narnia director Andrew Adamson is confident that fans will not be disappointed with his depiction of the fantasy land in Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Although filmmakers are often pressed to make sacrifices in terms of abandoning authors' original visions and plot elements for adaptations of their novels, Adamson stated in response to fans during a Q&A session for a fansite that such sacrifices have been kept to a minimum. [More]

Santa Ana, CA (PRWEB) November 8, 2005 -- Bob Siemon Designs has announced the release of a new jewelry collection based on the upcoming film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe™. The company is an authorized licensee to create official jewelry for the Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media production. The Narnia jewelry collection consists of 16 original designs inspired by the epic C.S. Lewis tale of good versus evil. Each design is a faithful interpretation of the story, representing key characters and symbols in Lewis’s masterpiece. All symbols are captured by handcrafted quality and rich detail, enhanced by the brilliant shine of sterling silver and the vintage appeal of pewter. [More]

At the beginning of 2001, Perry Moore embarked on a quest. Moore, an executive with an untested movie company called Walden Media, dispatched an impassioned letter to the chief executive of C.S. Lewis Co., seeking movie rights to the "Chronicles of Narnia" fantasy novels. [More]

Lisa writes: We have two tickets to the 'Narnia' premiere in London on eBay with proceeds benefiting Variety The Children’s Charity! Maybe some of your members will be interested in attending. [More]