Monday, June 2, 2008
Mexico
Contributes to the Narnia Movies
By Allan
Wall
“Prince Caspian,” a movie produced by
Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, was recently released worldwide, opening in the number one position in 14 countries,
including the U.S. and Mexico.
Contemporary big-budget movies, with their legions
of actors, artists, technicians and other contributors, only a fraction of whom are seen onscreen, are international collaborations. “Prince Caspian” was no exception.
“Prince Caspian” is a cinematic adaptation
of the fantasy novel of the same name by C.S. Lewis. It’s part of the seven-volume
“Chronicles of Narnia” series, about the imaginary land of Narnia, first published in the 1950s. The books have
sold more than 100 million copies and have been translated into 41 languages, including Spanish.
In 2005, Disney and Walden brought “The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (the first of the Narnia series that Lewis wrote) to the big screen, and now it’s
being followed by “Prince Caspian,” which has several Mexican contributions.
Some of these contributions are in the area
of computer-generated visual effects, produced at Studio C in Mexico City, under the direction of Guatemalan-born Carlos Arguello.
The twenty Mexicans working at Studio C produced 40
visual effects for “Prince Caspian.” These effects are briefly seen onscreen, lasting from 3-4 seconds apiece.
But the movie’s most prominent effect
produced at Studio C was the “Hag,” a totally digital character, quite grotesque and evil, appearing about halfway
through the film. Quite effectively done, it managed to scare one of my children when we watched the movie!
While producing such effects, Studio C had to be in
communication with director Andrew Adamson in New Zealand, and a production director in Britain, illustrating once again the
globe-girdling nature of modern film production.
Also, prominent Mexican actor Damian Alcazar
had a major role in the movie. Alcazar, who has previously won ten Ariels (an Ariel is the Mexican equivalent of the Oscar)
portrayed Sopespian, one of the principal bad guys.
Alcazar turns in a very solid acting performance,
and near the end of the movie he is part of an impressive special effects scene (which I don’t divulge because I don’t
like to spoil movies for others).
Alcazar thoroughly enjoyed his stint on “Prince
Caspian,” his first Hollywood movie. The Mexican actor had not even sought the role. Rather, Adamson and the producers
had seen his work in Mexican cinema and sought him out for the Sopespian role, not even requiring an audition.
Alcazar says he tried to bring a sense of “Mexican
irony” to the role.
In his role as Sospespian, a leader of the Telmarine
army, Alcazar wore a suit of armor weighing 55 pounds.
The Telmarines in the movie (though not in the original novel) look like Spaniards, and their armor resembles that
of the Spanish conquistadors – with a little touch of Samurai. (Click here for a photograph of Damian Alcazar in the movie.)
Damian Alcazar acted in his portions of the movie
for 35 days in the Czech Republic and Slovenia (other portions were filmed in Poland and New Zealand), and his 20-year old
son, who tagged along, also appears in the film.
Alcazar said the experience changed his mind about
big-budget Hollywood film production: “…I thought that it was very
simple because there was a lot of money and production, but on the contrary, it becomes more complex and interesting.”
And he was impressed by the scale of production:
“I had never done a movie with special effects, with a team of 2,000 persons, before four or five cameras at the same
time.”
Damian Alcazar now says he won’t work in a Hollywood
movie with a smaller role than this one, unless it’s for director Martin Scorsese.
Mexico is a huge movie market. So before “Prince
Caspian” premiered here on May 16th (the same day as the general release in the United States) a few of the
film’s major actors, William Moseley (Peter) and Anna Popplewell (Susan) made separate promotional visits to Mexico.
And when “Prince Caspian” did arrive,
it did well, opening at number one on its initial weekend.
In October, filming is scheduled to begin on
the next Narnia movie, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” which is nautically-themed. Two-thirds of the movie is to be filmed in Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico, in the studio which was constructed
for the “Titanic” movie.
So the Narnia-Mexico collaboration, it appears, is
scheduled to continue.
——————————
Allan Wall, a MexiData.info columnist, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. He
currently resides in Mexico, where he has lived since 1991.
