New 'Narnia' Director Greta Gerwig Makes Bold Promises, Netflix Exec Says Films 'Rooted in Faith'

Greta Gerwig is trading in hot pink heels for a lion, a witch, and a wardrobe.

The director of the box-office hit “Barbie” said during a recent interview with Time her goal in creating new film adaptations of C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia” for Netflix is to give viewers a “magical … re-enchantment of the world.”

What are you trying to accomplish with the Narnia movies? “Re-enchantment … of the world.” pic.twitter.com/WuJPfYqc2j

— Aaron Earls (@WardrobeDoor) February 22, 2024

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos described Gerwig, who is coming off a billion-dollar success in “Barbie,” as an “incredible visionary,” and went on to vow the coming “Narnia” films will be true to the source material.

“It won’t be counter to how the audience may have imagined those worlds, but it will be bigger and bolder than they thought,” he said, noting the movies will be “rooted in faith.”

Gerwig, 40, is a fan of Lewis’ works.

“I would say the two big books of my childhood were ‘Little Women’ and the ‘Narnia’ books,” she said. “So I had that, you know, instant excitement, but instant terror that comes from trying to tackle something that has shaped me.”

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She explained she is drawn to Lewis’ “euphorically dreamlike” stories.

“It’s connected to the folklore and fairy stories of England, but it’s a combination of different traditions,” Gerwig said. “As a child, you accept the whole thing — that you’re in this land of Narnia, there’s fauns, and then Father Christmas shows up. It doesn’t even occur to you that it’s not schematic. I’m interested in embracing the paradox of the worlds that Lewis created, because that’s what’s so compelling about them.”

According to Screen Rant, filming for the Netflix films is slated to begin later this year.

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