Netflix film boss Scott Stuber has updated fans on the status of a highly anticipated project: Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia.
Stuber, 54, spoke to Collider at an event at The Egyptian Theater Hollywood for the reopening of the American Cinematheque, the outlet reported Tuesday.
“Well, I think people know that we’re ambitiously trying to get Greta Gerwig’s Narnia off the ground and make this movie that’s coming out next year,” Stuber said of the project with the Barbie director, 40, in Source material by CS Lewis.
The star of Gerwig – who is expected to helm two projects from the material – has been on the rise in recent years with a number of high-profile, critically acclaimed projects.
Most recently, this includes this summer’s blockbuster Barbie film, which grossed more than $1.4 billion at the global box office.
The Latest: Netflix film chief Scott Stuber updated fans on the status of a highly anticipated project: Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker, 40, was photographed in LA last month
Gerwig also directed the music video for the Dua Lipa track from the film’s soundtrack, Dance the Night.
She received two Academy Award nominations for her work in the 2017 film “Lady Bird,” including Best Original Screenplay and Best Achievement in Director. and received another Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2019 film Little Women.
Chatting with Collider, Stuber said that Netflix has “tried to be aggressive” in acquiring the intellectual property of prominent authors with built-in fan bases.
“We went out and got the C.S. Lewis library,” he said. “We went out and got it [Roald] “So Dahl, we have an opportunity to do some of these animated features around Charlie and some of these great titles.”
He said the streamer also “went and got some of these video games.”
Gerwig was confirmed to direct at least two new films for Netflix this past July, based on the CS Lewis Narnia novels.
While promoting Barbie on the Total Film podcast, the actress and filmmaker admitted how “scared” she is of the daunting adaptation.
“I haven’t even really started to care about it yet, but I’m really scared about it, which feels like a good start,” Gerwig explained. “I think when I’m scared it’s always a good sign.”
Details: Stuber, pictured in LA last year, said Netflix was “ambitiously trying to get Greta Gerwig’s Narnia together and make the film, which will be released next year”.
Projects in the works: Gerwig is currently involved in several films for the streaming service from the CS Lewis source material
Breakthrough: The novels have been adapted several times, most recently in Disney’s adaptations of the first three novels in 2005, 2008 and 2010, with the 2005 film featuring James McAvoy’s breakthrough performance as Mr. Tumnus
“When I stop being afraid, I might think, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t do this.’ No, I’m terribly afraid of it. It is extraordinary. And it’s exciting.’
Lewis wrote seven novels which made up The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian – The Return to Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew and…compose The Last Battle, all published between 1950 and 1956.
The novels have been adapted numerous times, most recently in Disney’s adaptations of the first three novels in 2005, 2008 and 2010, with the 2005 film featuring James McAvoy’s breakthrough performance as Mr. Tumnus.
The story is about four British siblings who discover the magical world of Narnia in a seemingly ordinary wardrobe.
While the first four novels are set chronologically between 1940 and 1942, The Horse and His Boy is set in 1940, The Magician’s Nephew is set in 1900, and The Last Battle is set in 1949.
Neither Netflix nor Gerwig have confirmed which two novels they plan to tackle first. However, given the way the novels move before and after the original books, it is possible that they begin somewhere other than the traditional starting point of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. ‘
Gerwig began her career as an actress in mumblecore films such as Baghead, Hannah Takes the Stairs (her screenwriting debut), and Greenberg.
She co-wrote, co-starred and co-directed Nights and Weekends with Joe Swanberg before making her solo writing and directing debut with 2017’s Lady Bird, which earned her a 2019 Best Picture nominee. Little Women” followed.
Now that Barbie is in the bag and Narnia is on the horizon, Gerwig admitted that she doesn’t want to do just one type of film throughout her career.
“I hope that with the time I have to make films, I can make all kinds of films. “It’s a long time, but it’s also limited,” she said.
“I want to do big things and small things and everything in between, and having another big screen is exciting and also daunting,” she explained.