Georgie Henley and William Moseley Talk Prince Caspian

By Kellvin Chavez on May 16, 2008

The Pevensie siblings return to Narnia, where they are enlisted to once again help ward off an evil king and restore the rightful heir to the land's throne, Prince Caspian. A few weeks ago I had a chance to sit down and talk to Georgie Henley and William Moseley about the sequel "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian"

Did you have any mishaps with the swords while you were doing this movie?

Moseley: I did actually, yeah. I had a few. One was because, I remember, I was actually doing a kill count check. Each time I killed a person I would pretty much tick it on and I got to like forty or something and probably around twenty nine – I felt terrible – I must've clipped this guy on the nose and his nose was bleeding, obviously. This guy had a staff and was supposed to hit me in here and I was to take the hit and go down or whatever. Instead, and these are trained guys, he smacks me in the ear. I'm not even joking! I kind of looked at him like, 'What?!' and he kind of looked back at me like, 'Uh huh.' I thought, 'Alright. I won't hit anyone else. I'm really sorry.' It's like you don't want to mess with those guys, the stuntmen.

In the closing scene when you say you're not coming back to Narnia and that you've learned all you could, what did you learn?

Moseley: That's a good question actually. Well, I think myself and Susan, but mostly my character learn a very important lesson in humility and I think that leadership at the end of the day is about serving other people and about serving a place or a country and not serving yourself. Peter really had to learn that very valuable lesson and reinstate his trust in Aslan. Aslan says, 'You've learned all you can. Your trust is a hundred percent in me and all the leadership skills you've learned.' Peter obviously then has to pass Narnia on to Caspian, pass the torch on very honorably and nobly and I don't think that he would've done that at the start by any means. So there's definitely a strong leadership journey there.

This film is very action driven as opposed to a very character driven film in the first one. Did either of you approach your roles differently than you did the first time?

Hensley: I definitely think that I've always wanted to do swords. I've always wanted that and I think that because Lucy has grown up since this last film she understands the fighting more and I think she feels that it's alright to be a part of it. So I think approaching the role differently was approaching it with a lot more openness, I think.

Moseley: For me too. I actually trained in New York for three and a half months. I trained on my accent, to get better because I knew that I was taking on a new role this time, a kind of different character and I knew that it was going to be a lot more of a physical film. So I trained three times a week at this underground Brooklyn boxing gym and I was, let alone the only white person, but also the only English person there. So I was like, 'Hey, you guys.' It was very awkward for me and I remember I was on the speed bag one day and hitting it there was this boy who must've been like thirteen and I don't know why he wasn't at school – I can't answer that question – but he was so fast on the speed bag. He was really incredible and it really gave me the motivation to go full on ahead with these stunts and to commit myself one hundred and ten percent. Watching it back I was really pleased with the physical aspects of the film.

Right now we're noticing that there are a lot of paparazzi following celebrities around. Is that happening to either of you and are you getting help in dealing with that strange atmosphere?

Hensley: It's a strange feeling. I'm only twelve, but I still don't understand the concept of taking pictures of people who are in films and stuff. I still don't really understand it. We are kind of getting a bit of that outside the hotels sometimes, but it's good because our team is really supportive and they'll help us through and every time we're in the cars they ask what we want to do it, if we want to go for it or if we're going to stop. It's definitely a decision and you've got to make it together really.

Is it more here in America that you deal with that or more so in England?

Moseley: I think it's more here.

Hensley: Yeah.

Georgie it seems like your character has a closer relationship with Aslan than the others. Why do you think that is?

Hensley: I think that Lucy's connection to Aslan has something to do with the fact that she's the youngest and she's always had a more open mind, I think, then the others. She  introduced them into Narnia and got them caught up in the whole thing to start with. I think because she's so open minded she's very trusting. I think that Aslan sees that in her and I think he shows himself to her first because he knows that she will believe that he's actually there and won't think that it's just a vision, a fleeting thing, that he's just a wild lion. She knew it was Aslan and she knew that she had to do something and she didn't let her siblings beat her down about her beliefs. I think that's why Aslan kind of believes in her a bit more and shows himself to her.

Do you think that Miraz is scarier than the White Witch?

Moseley: To be quite frank, the White Witch isn't a human and Miraz is human. I think that whenever you're fighting humans you're fighting something that's real. I think that's a lot more scary. It's a different world. It's one thing to be afraid of, for instance, a bear, but it's another thing to be afraid of a human. I think as scary as the White Witch is Miraz is on another level, and especially working with Sergio Castellitto, the actor, when I'd do the fight scenes with him his eyes – he'd be chatting and laughing and then he'd go into it and I'd be shaking afterward.

Hensley: He looked so evil across the set when he was getting into it.

Moseley: He was like this on top of me and he's kind of a small guy. It was completely intimidating and definitely a step up as a villain to 'The Chronicles of Narnia'.

Have you both read the books?

Hensley: Yes.

The question everyone asks about the books, all through the ages, is that the paradox of Aslan is as he gets larger he gets harder to see. That seems to say something about aging. Have you thought about what that message is about?

Moseley: Yeah. I think that's a really interesting question, but when we talking about seeing I think it's more believing. You believe and then you see. It's not a question of – obviously I don't want to go into the analogy but it's obviously there. Aslan represents God. People say everyday why can't I see God. If he's there why can't I see him? Peter and Susan and Lucy and Edmond, or Peter and Lucy mostly are like, 'Why didn't I see him? Why isn't he there? He's this force. He's this unbelievable being. Why can't I see him –' and here's the huge line – '…in a physical form?' Well, because you're not believing. When they start to believe, when Peter really sees that thing about his remorse, then he starts to Aslan and then the magic stars to happen. It's almost like letting it in. It's almost as if you have to open yourself up and believe and then you see. I don't think that has anything to do with aging. I think it's more to do – obviously Georgie, Lucy is much younger than us – with your strength in belief.

What do you think caused Peter's lack of faith in Aslan?

Moseley: I think that Peter just feels very self-entitled. I really do. I think his ego got on top of him and not that that's happened to any of us before, but when you're up and he was definitely up and he was the high king and then goes back to England and no one there had any respect for him and he got back to Narnia and no one had any respect for him there either. They didn't have a parade for him by any means and so he thought he would do it without Aslan, thought that he could take it on. A good example would be that Aslan sort of took the witch and he was fighting, but Aslan eventually saved the day and I feel like when Lucy says that one line to him that definitely resonates an even stronger thing –

Hensley: It's harsh.

Moseley: Exactly. It's very, very harsh. I think he just feels very self-entitled.

What's your perfect Narnia?

Hensley: I loved the Narnia when it's after Prince Caspian and is when the Telmarines and the Narnians are living harmoniously together and you've got that amazing balance of magical creatures and then humans who actually originally came from our world which I think is a really nice touch. I really love the fact that they do learn to get on and live together and that Narnia was never right unless a son of Adam was king and all that. It's true. I think that Prince Caspian does bring that and so good on him.

Lucy has more of a struggle seeing Aslan when she's older and he tells her things change when you're older. What do you think that's all about?

Hensley: I think that when you get older your mind does close more. If you think about it, when you're a child everything is new to you and your imagination is so amazing and you can play all these wonderful games. It's just such a lovely time and then you get older. If you have an imaginary friend it fades away and you kind of grow up more and you stop playing those games. I think that has something to do with it, but the thing here is that Narnia isn't a game. It's a real world. So, although Aslan fades for a while he comes back and is stronger than ever and is bigger than ever. I love that saying, 'As long as you grow so shall I.' When I grow it's like he becomes more mature and bigger and it's almost like Aslan suits you, if you know what I mean, and Narnia suits you more. I don't know if that makes sense, but it makes sense in my head [laughs]. It's all about compatibility and Narnia suiting yourself and your personality almost, I think.

Did you have any conversation with Douglas Gresham about that?

Hensley: I haven't. I've had conversations with Douglas Gresham about other things, but not about that. I might give it a try. I'm sure that he'd be a very interesting person to talk to about that.

Moseley: I think that what Georgie is saying is really interesting, and I'm not sure if anyone has read Blake, but I think it's about that innocence. There's innocence when you're younger and there's an almost deeper innocence when you're older and I think to that fact that the little lamb and tiger are both about innocence and experience. Obviously Blake's things were about innocence and experience. I think when Lucy's younger she has this innocent outlook. I think all the Pevensies do, but when they come back they've had this experience and are now almost cynical, almost more closed off and they're older. They get an almost deeper innocence through this lesson and we see that. Aslan sees that in them as well and that's also an answer to the previous question of why they're given their exit to Narnia nobly.

Hensley: Also, you were talking about them being more cynical; I think that because they've been to Narnia before they feel that they know Narnia better than anyone else because they've ruled it and know it better than everyone else. Then they come back to a completely different Narnia and they don't think they can cope with that as well as they do at the end. I think they do come through there and save the day though.

How hard was it wrapping this film knowing that two of the four original cast members will not be coming back?

Hensley: Wrapping the film, I think, was okay because we knew that we'd see each other here in New York and everywhere else. We'd get to that point where we'd be seeing a lot of each other in publicity and things, but I think it's going to be quite hard because I started auditioning for this when I was seven and I met the others when I was eight years old. I'm thirteen in July and that's amazing. I think it's an amazing journey to spend with a group of people and I think that we all know each other so well. I could probably tell them a lot of stuff about you and you could tell them a lot of stuff about me. I think that's a really hard bond and because it's such an amazing bond I don't think it'll break which is a really good. I don't think it'll be broken because you can't break something like that abruptly.

Moseley: I agree with that.

Hensley: We'll still be friends.

Moseley: For me it was actually really sad filming the final scene. It was almost one of our final scenes on set, the moment that I handed the sword over to him and Anna gives him a kiss goodbye. It was sad. We won't go to that [the kiss]. It was really sad for me. I felt like being emotional and Andrew told me to just be stoic. I was like, 'Okay. I'll just trust Andrew. He's the director and I trust him one hundred percent.' So then when I saw the film back I knew why he did it, because we were ready. At that point I was thinking, 'Am I ready to leave Narnia? It's been a huge part of my life for six years.' Now that I see the film I do feel like I've moved on. I do feel like I'm ready for something different and ready for something new and like Georgie says, whenever we see each other we just slip back into those dynamics.

Hensley: It's like a little Easter Egg mold and you come out of it and then Easter comes around again and you pop back into the mold and you bake your chocolate egg like you always have done and it's fine. It all works very well.

Source:Latino Review

• 

  Comments

• No comments yet!

Submit Your Comments

Title

Comment

Your Name

Your Email