Interview: Hollywood Jesus with Douglas Gresham
Gresham: Sailing Through Troubled Waters
The third film in The Chronicles of Narnia franchise, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is about to hit theaters. It's been an interesting ride thus far for this film, and I recently had a chance to chat with Executive Producer Douglas Gresham—who as you may know, also happens to be the stepson of C.S. Lewis—about the interesting journey the Dawn Treader has taken to get to the big screen.
Me: It seems like Dawn Treader is a pivotal film so far as the future of the franchise goes. How do you feel about that? Is there a lot riding on this film so far as what happens next?
DG: Yes, of course, but it's no different from the others. I mean Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, when we did the first one, we knew that we wouldn't be doing a second one unless we had a success on our hands, and the public were very generous and supported us majestically on that movie. Then we knew with Prince Caspian that we wouldn't be doing a third one unless we had a success on our hands, and of course Prince Caspian did very well at the box office despite some of the things that have been said about it. We took four hundred and twenty, I think, million dollars, which isn't bad; it makes it a blockbuster hit. So of course, whether we make the fourth one depends on how the public supports us with Voyage of the Dawn Treader. So you know, take your friends, take your friends friends, take your enemies too—you're supposed to love them as well, you know—and take everyone and go and see the movie if you want another Narnia film to be made.
Me: It's been an interesting voyage for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader so far as actually getting to the screen, especially with the changing of distribution companies. Do have any thoughts on how that went down and why that change was made?
DG: Yeah, well, you know it's interesting, I think the enemy has finally woken up to what we're doing here and the fact that we're doing some good in the world and trying to stop us because this movie was, in various ways, attacked more than the other two put together. We had all kinds of stuff going on with this movie. We had people who were losing loved ones, we had marriages exploding all over the place, you know all sorts of attacks on people's personal lives were going on while we were shooting and making the movie and so forth. It's been a hard one, it's been a tough one to make for all kinds of reason. Our distributor house dropping out, you know, at the last minute didn't help, of course. But, I have to say there was a queue of other studios sort of waiting to pick up the reins. Whatever it was that stimulated that decision, I think the other studios saw it somewhat as a foolish step to take because they were all ready to jump in. Of course we went with Fox, who I've always wanted to work with, by the way. They're a great company. So that's where we are today, and we got a beautiful and exciting and very moving and humorous movie for everyone to look at.
Me: You know, Dawn Treader is one of my favorite books...
DG: Mmm, mine too.
Me: I know a lot of people prefer The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but Dawn Treader was always the one that captured my imagination the most. When I heard about what was happening with the budget of this movie, all the wrangling of how much the budget would be so on and so forth, I was thinking that of all the movies, it seemed to me that this was one that would require a lot of big-budget special effects and location shoots. How did that all work out with figuring out the budget and how that would fit with a story that's so expansive as the Dawn Treader goes on its journey?
DG: Well, we had some really good fortune there. We managed to capture probably one of the most experienced directors in the world in Michael Apted. Michael is a guy who knows in his head, he puts a vision in his head of what he wants to see go up on the screen, every single shot, then he shoots it. So we don't have this long extended shooting process which wastes time and money, which happens sometimes. But Michael is extremely experienced and we had a wonderful DP as well, director of photography, in Dante Spinotti, who's an absolutely genius. So putting the team together, I mean Michael had a good team. We have a great team. In Australia we had a terrific setup with crews and so forth, they were wonderful. We managed to build some of the best sets we've ever built; we did it economically. We were blessed in our crew and blessed in our top people on this movie despite all the difficulties we had in other areas and things going wrong and so on. What I think we've wound up with, to be honest with you, is a movie with more dollars actually on the screen then we may have had in Prince Caspian for example. It's a very interesting process the way movies are put together. We've got a very rich movie in terms of visuals: it's a beautiful movie to look at, it's a lovely looking movie. Then again there's a huge amount of action, there's a lot of humor, and an awful lot of interesting stuff going on in this movie. It's exciting, there's lots of action and stuff going on, you know. It's wound up, I think, being on the top level, well of three, it's probably right up there with Lion/Witch. They're all beautiful movies in their own way, but there is something special about this film.
Me: As a fan of the book, I have to ask: how do you go through the process of making sure fans of the book are going to be happy with what they see on screen? And let's face it, that can be tough. The avid fans of the book are never happy.
DG: You have to remember, I am the worst Narnia purist in all the world. If anybody changes a comma in a text I jump up and down and scream and bite the rug, you know. So for me, all the changes we have to make to translate from a verbal, print medium into a visual medium just drive me up a wall, and I fight tooth and nail to get things back to what Jack wrote and so on. I do have to learn, and have had to learn, the importance and the necessity of some changes being made in various way. And some of the changes in this particular movie are there for very good reasons and one just has to accept it. Of course, what we do is we all sit around the table and argue lots. I argue my side they, they argue theirs. Eventually of course we come to compromise; you know, I haven't shot anybody yet, so I think I'm doing all right.
Me: Well, that's good. It's nice to know we have someone like you on the side of the avid fans of the book who want it kept as close to the book as possible because that's the way they love it.
DG: (laughs) I don't always win, remember.
Me: It's still nice to have an advocate helping us out. Well, thank you very much for your time, Mr. Gresham.
DG: Thank you indeed
Me: It seems like Dawn Treader is a pivotal film so far as the future of the franchise goes. How do you feel about that? Is there a lot riding on this film so far as what happens next?
DG: Yes, of course, but it's no different from the others. I mean Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, when we did the first one, we knew that we wouldn't be doing a second one unless we had a success on our hands, and the public were very generous and supported us majestically on that movie. Then we knew with Prince Caspian that we wouldn't be doing a third one unless we had a success on our hands, and of course Prince Caspian did very well at the box office despite some of the things that have been said about it. We took four hundred and twenty, I think, million dollars, which isn't bad; it makes it a blockbuster hit. So of course, whether we make the fourth one depends on how the public supports us with Voyage of the Dawn Treader. So you know, take your friends, take your friends friends, take your enemies too—you're supposed to love them as well, you know—and take everyone and go and see the movie if you want another Narnia film to be made.
Me: It's been an interesting voyage for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader so far as actually getting to the screen, especially with the changing of distribution companies. Do have any thoughts on how that went down and why that change was made?DG: Yeah, well, you know it's interesting, I think the enemy has finally woken up to what we're doing here and the fact that we're doing some good in the world and trying to stop us because this movie was, in various ways, attacked more than the other two put together. We had all kinds of stuff going on with this movie. We had people who were losing loved ones, we had marriages exploding all over the place, you know all sorts of attacks on people's personal lives were going on while we were shooting and making the movie and so forth. It's been a hard one, it's been a tough one to make for all kinds of reason. Our distributor house dropping out, you know, at the last minute didn't help, of course. But, I have to say there was a queue of other studios sort of waiting to pick up the reins. Whatever it was that stimulated that decision, I think the other studios saw it somewhat as a foolish step to take because they were all ready to jump in. Of course we went with Fox, who I've always wanted to work with, by the way. They're a great company. So that's where we are today, and we got a beautiful and exciting and very moving and humorous movie for everyone to look at.
Me: You know, Dawn Treader is one of my favorite books...DG: Mmm, mine too.
Me: I know a lot of people prefer The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but Dawn Treader was always the one that captured my imagination the most. When I heard about what was happening with the budget of this movie, all the wrangling of how much the budget would be so on and so forth, I was thinking that of all the movies, it seemed to me that this was one that would require a lot of big-budget special effects and location shoots. How did that all work out with figuring out the budget and how that would fit with a story that's so expansive as the Dawn Treader goes on its journey?
DG: Well, we had some really good fortune there. We managed to capture probably one of the most experienced directors in the world in Michael Apted. Michael is a guy who knows in his head, he puts a vision in his head of what he wants to see go up on the screen, every single shot, then he shoots it. So we don't have this long extended shooting process which wastes time and money, which happens sometimes. But Michael is extremely experienced and we had a wonderful DP as well, director of photography, in Dante Spinotti, who's an absolutely genius. So putting the team together, I mean Michael had a good team. We have a great team. In Australia we had a terrific setup with crews and so forth, they were wonderful. We managed to build some of the best sets we've ever built; we did it economically. We were blessed in our crew and blessed in our top people on this movie despite all the difficulties we had in other areas and things going wrong and so on. What I think we've wound up with, to be honest with you, is a movie with more dollars actually on the screen then we may have had in Prince Caspian for example. It's a very interesting process the way movies are put together. We've got a very rich movie in terms of visuals: it's a beautiful movie to look at, it's a lovely looking movie. Then again there's a huge amount of action, there's a lot of humor, and an awful lot of interesting stuff going on in this movie. It's exciting, there's lots of action and stuff going on, you know. It's wound up, I think, being on the top level, well of three, it's probably right up there with Lion/Witch. They're all beautiful movies in their own way, but there is something special about this film.
Me: As a fan of the book, I have to ask: how do you go through the process of making sure fans of the book are going to be happy with what they see on screen? And let's face it, that can be tough. The avid fans of the book are never happy.DG: You have to remember, I am the worst Narnia purist in all the world. If anybody changes a comma in a text I jump up and down and scream and bite the rug, you know. So for me, all the changes we have to make to translate from a verbal, print medium into a visual medium just drive me up a wall, and I fight tooth and nail to get things back to what Jack wrote and so on. I do have to learn, and have had to learn, the importance and the necessity of some changes being made in various way. And some of the changes in this particular movie are there for very good reasons and one just has to accept it. Of course, what we do is we all sit around the table and argue lots. I argue my side they, they argue theirs. Eventually of course we come to compromise; you know, I haven't shot anybody yet, so I think I'm doing all right.
Me: Well, that's good. It's nice to know we have someone like you on the side of the avid fans of the book who want it kept as close to the book as possible because that's the way they love it.
DG: (laughs) I don't always win, remember.
Me: It's still nice to have an advocate helping us out. Well, thank you very much for your time, Mr. Gresham.
DG: Thank you indeed
posted by Lucy_Pevensie at 4:22 PM
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