Barbie Director Greta Gerwig to Adapt 2 Chronicles of Narnia Films for Netflix
Hollywood actress and director Greta Gerwig is slated to write and direct two movies based on C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia.
Gerwig, who has directed films such as Little Women (2019), Lady Bird and Mistress America, is also directing the first-ever live-action Barbie film, set to release on July 21.
According to A.V. Club, Gerwig was “caught off guard” when she was accused of selling out by online critics after moving from making lesser-known films to big box-office projects like Barbie.
Gerwig’s agent, Jeremy Barber, came to her defense.
“Is it a great thing that our great creative actors and filmmakers live in a world where you can only take giant swings around consumer content and mass-produced products? I don’t know. But it is the business. So, if that’s what people will consume, then let’s make it more interesting, more complicated,” Barber argued.
“Greta and I have been very consciously constructing a career. Her ambition is to be not the biggest woman director but a big studio director,” he continued. “And Barbie was a piece of I.P. that was resonant to her.”
Despite taking on the upcoming Barbie film, Gerwig told the outlet she wouldn’t make another toy film.
“It would have to be something that has some strange hook in me that feels like it goes to the marrow,” she said. “I don’t know if there’s a doll that anyone is as mad at.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney previously released film adaptations of Lewis’ novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) and Prince Caspian (2008), while Fox released a third film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, in 2010.
In 2018, Netflix Co-chief executive officer Ted Sarandos announced that the streaming platform had obtained the film and TV rights to The Chronicles of Narnia book series.
“Families have fallen in love with characters like Aslan and the entire world of Narnia, and we’re thrilled to be their home for years to come,” Sarandos said at the time.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/James Gourley/Stringer
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
Comments are closed.