C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia is one of the most popular children's book series of all time. The world of Narnia has the potential to be the next Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings when it comes to film and gaming adaptations. Yet, despite three well-recieved live-action Narnia films being released during the 2000s, the Narnia-verse has never quite managed to take off in modern pop culture.
Enter filmmaker Greta Gerwig, who was most recently in the news for helming the billion+ dollars grossing Barbie live-action film. It has been announced that Gerwig will be handling new The Chronicles of Narnia movies over at Netflix. Narnia fans who are unfamiliar with Gerwig's work might wonder if she has what it takes to turn the faltering franchise around. Here are ten reasons why Gerwig is indeed the perfect candidate for the job.
She Has Respect for the Source Material
Every film and TV studio wants their own franchise today, which has led to an influx of wanna-be cinematic universes built upon any book or comic series that becomes even mildly popular. Unfortunately, now that such adaptations are a dime a dozen, it has also led to a rise of adaptations where the showrunners do not seem to care about the source material or the existing fan base.
That does not seem to be the case with Gerwig, who has indicated that she has a great deal of respect for the world of Narnia, to the extent that the prospect of adapting it is quite daunting. "I'm properly scared of it, which feels like a good place to start," Gerwig told Total Film (via GamesRadar). "I think when I'm scared, it's always a good sign. Maybe when I stop being scared, it'll be like, 'Okay. Maybe I shouldn't do that one.' No, I'm terrified of it. It's extraordinary."
She Has Proven Herself Commercially and Critically
While Barbie broke Greta Gerwig into the wider global pop culture consciousness, the filmmaker has long been regarded as one of Hollywood's most exciting new voices despite only having made three films so far. Gerwig's debut as a writer and director was the 2017 indie feature Lady Bird. Not only did the movie generate great critical acclaim, but it became a breakout hit commercially as well.
Then came Gerwig's second directorial effort, 2019's Little Women, featuring an ensemble cast of promising young talent including Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, and Timothee Chalamet. Once again, Gerwig's film was hailed by critics and general audiences alike, putting her on the fast track with Warner Bros. to helm the live-action Barbie feature. And the rest is box-office history.
In a short time, Gerwig has proven herself as a filmmaking talent by giving back-to-back hits that also manage to win over critics, and now she will be bringing all that distinguished pedigree to the Narnia movies.
Little Women Has Shown What She Can Offer Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia will not be the first time Greta Gerwig will be adapting a beloved classic novel aimed at younger audiences. She had already tackled an even more prestigious project of a similar nature with her 2019 reimagining of Little Women. The original novel by Louisa M. Alcott is considered one of the greatest young adult books of all time, and is required reading in many classrooms.
In fact, Hollywood has made so many adaptations of Little Women over the years that many people wondered what could be possibly squeezed out of yet another adaption when Gerwig's movie was announced. But Gerwig proved everyone wrong with a refreshing adaptation of the source material that not only became a big hit but is now counted among the best adaptations of the novel ever made. Clearly, Gerwig knows her way around adapting existing works of literature in new and compelling ways.
She Can Attract Top Acting Talent
While Greta Gerwig has only made three movies so far, her acting lineup already reads like a who's who of Hollywood's acting elite. Gerwig has worked with the likes of Meryl Streep, Saoirse Ronan, Timothee Chalamet, Florence Pugh, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and Helen Mirren. In fact, Streep herself reached out to Gerwig about playing a role in Little Women, while Ronan and Chalamet both wanted to guest star in Barbie to continue their association with Gerwig.
All this goodwill clearly points to the fact that the filmmaker has crafted an excellent rapport with the best actors in the film industry, and is now considered a prestige director that the cream of the crop of A-list talent is eager to work with. This means the Narnia adaptations by Gerwig will also most probably feature a bevy of the best actors money can buy, which would put the series notches above similar but generic franchises which feature obscure or little-known actors who are only there for the paycheck.
She Makes Female Characters Shine
One thing that all three Greta Gerwig movies so far have in common is that they put female characters front and center as flawed but heroic protagonists with an engrossing personal journey for the audience to embark on with them. It's the kind of positive feminism that Hollywood has tried to cash in on time and again with poor results, but which Gerwig clearly has a mastery over.
The Chronicles of Narnia will benefit from being viewed through Gerwig's empathetic and feminist lens. There are a number of female characters in the series, from the heroic sisters Lucy and Susan to the villainous Jadis the White Witch, that have not been properly explored as three-dimensional characters in live-action adaptations. You can be sure Gerwig will take time to properly flesh out these characters and make them an important part of her Narnia stories.
She Knows How to Do Coming of Age Stories
Each Greta Gerwig movie features a young woman who must come to terms with the bittersweet process of growing up. Lady Bird did it in her movie. The March sisters did it in their movie. Even a shiny kid's toy like Barbie managed to go on her personal journey of self-discovery under the able guidance of Greta Gerwig.
This is in line with what The Chronicles of Narnia is all about, as the magical world of Narnia is viewed through the lens of innocent and naive children. As the children spend more time in Narnia, they realize the magical land is not all sunshine and laughter, but carries deep wounds and pain as well. Dealing with that pain forces the children to grow up as they become mature heroes through trial-by-fire. This kind of coming of age saga is right up Greta Gerwig's street, only with more lions, witches, and wardrobes involved than usual.
Barbie Proved She Can Do Big Budget Spectacle
The finer themes of innocence and awakening are all well and good, but what about the more exciting parts of the Narnia books? The epic battles between Aslan and the White Witch, the wars between seafaring tribes, and the action-packed throwdowns between the magical creatures of Narnia? Is there anything in Gerwig's filmography that shows she can handle these aspects of the novels?
Enter Barbie, which features a sub-plot involving Ken's rise to power and his attempt to take over Barbieland. The fun and action-packed b-story proves that Gerwig can also craft engaging narratives revolving around fisticuffs. And while Gerwig's own movies are quite gentle in their nature, let us not forget that the filmmaker once worked as an actor in the 2009 horror feature The House of the Devil, which means she likely has no problem going all gory and violent if the story demands it.
She Can Mine Hope From Dark Places
The Chronicles of Narnia are about a magical land that has been damaged beyond recognition due to sinister forces. When a group of human children are magically transported to Narnia, at first they are overwhelmed by the darkness surrounding the land. But slowly, with the help of their friends, and the aid of the noble lion Aslan, the children are able to restore Narnia to its former glory.
With this narrative, the Narnia stories are ultimately about finding hope in the darkest of places, and optimism winning over cynicism through faith and care. All these themes have also echoed across Greta Gerwig's previous movies. No matter how dark a place her characters find themselves in, Gerwig knows how to lead them, and the audience, to a happier, more fulfilling place in emotionally moving ways, like a meta-fictional Aslan guiding her children towards the light at the end of the movie.
Not Afraid to Tackle Real World Issues
Just like Joker, Barbie is one of the most subversive blockbuster ever made. The film places the beloved toy front and center of the narrative. But instead of having Barbie fret over buying a new car, or juggling her many, many, many jobs, the movie puts the doll in a real world setting, and has her grappling with deeply existential questions regarding aging and death.
This is par for the course for Greta Gerwig, who always puts an emphasis on having her characters deal with real-world issues like struggling to love your family, feeling trapped due to social expectations, and the problems born out of being in a co-dependent relationship. This kind of self-reflection and analysis is a very modern way of crafting stories aimed at younger audiences, and it's the kind of edgy approach that can work wonders in making the stories of Narnia relatable for a modern generation.
An Auteur Franchise Filmmaker
Greta Gerwig can truly be considered an auteur due to her movies clearly following a distinctive style that belongs to Gerwig. This sets the filmmaker apart from directors who work in an assembly-line manner for big studios, churning out franchise movies with no distinctive style or vision, which are only meant to appeal to the lowest-common denominator audience.
If Gerwig is finally jumping into franchise filmmaking, you can bet her approach will be closer to Christopher Nolan with The Dark Knight trilogy rather than the directors that rotate in and out of the MCU without really leaving any unique mark on the franchise. It will be interesting to see what kind of auteurist viewpoint Gerwig imbues her version of Narnia with. At the very least it will be a lot more interesting and well-thought-out than other cookie-cutter adaptations that follow number-crunched studio mandates rather than a specific creative vision.
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