Netflix is preparing itself for The Chronicles of Narnia with Barbie director Greta Gerwig at the helm. Film chief Scott Stuber tells Variety during a Q&A with executive editor Brent Lang at Variety’s Business Managers Elite Breakfast that Gerwig is “set to break the whole arc.” Stuber opens up about working with Gerwig and his history with the filmmaker, stating:
“Greta’s been a friend for a while. Her husband, [director] Noah Baumbach, we’re close to, we’ve made, I think, three films. We’re starting another one. We have a big deal with them. If you don’t know her, she’s truly one of the greatest people, not an artist, but a human being. She’s just got this great soul. When we had [2019’s] ‘Marriage Story‘ and she had ‘Little Women,’ we all spent quite a bit of time on the awards trail together at dinners.”
The conversation then turns to her adaptation of Narnia and her approach to the material. The exec says, “[Gerwig] grew up in a Christian background. The C.S. Lewis books are very much based in Christianity. And so we just started talking about it. And like I said earlier, we don’t have IP, so when we had the opportunity [to license] those books or the [Roald Dahl Co.], we’ve jumped at it, to have stories that people recognize and the ability to tell those stories. So it was just a great opportunity, and I’m so thrilled that she’s working on it with us, and I’m just thrilled to be in business with her. And she’s just an incredible talent.”
Variety then asks what her process will be for crafting the adaptation, inquiring, “Is she writing many of these adaptations? What is her commitment to this?”
He notes, “Obviously, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is kind of the preeminent one, but there’s such an interesting narrative form [to the Narnia series] if you read all of them. And so that’s what she’s working on now with [producer] Amy Pascal and Mark Gordon, and they’re trying to figure out how they can break the whole arc of all of it.”
There’s currently no set date for Gerwig’s The Chronicles of Narnia., but let us know on our socials @FlickeringMyth if you’re excited to see what the filmmaker and Netflix cook up for the adaptation…
