‘Barbie’ director Greta Gerwig is ‘terrified’ about directing two ‘Narnia’ movies

“I haven’t even really started wrapping my arms around it. But I’m properly scared of it, which feels like a good place to start.” — Director Greta Gerwig, who is currently basking in the success of her latest directorial, the fantasy-comedy film ‘Barbie’ is also set to direct the next installments in the ‘Narnia’ franchise which has got her spooked

LOS ANGELES — Director Greta Gerwig, who is currently basking in the success of her latest directorial, the fantasy-comedy film ‘Barbie’, is also set to direct the next installments in the ‘Narnia’ franchise which has got her spooked. Stating that she hasn’t even begun working on the two films she has to direct, she’s “terrified” of working on the ‘Narnia’ projects.

Speaking to the ‘Inside Total Film‘ podcast, the ‘Little Women’ director said that she’s unsure of whether her own iteration of the fantasy world based on author C.S Lewis’s best-selling novels from the 1950’s would be able to capture the aesthetic or spirit of the novels in the same way she handled ‘Barbie’.

Describing her uncertainty, Greta said: “I haven’t even really started wrapping my arms around it. But I’m properly scared of it, which feels like a good place to start.”

She added: “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. And so we’ll see, I don’t know.”

She also said that she doesn’t plan on stopping with ‘Barbie’ and her ‘Narnia’ movies as she has a bunch of ideas for projects she wants to work on.

She said: “I hope to make all different kinds of movies in the course of the time I get to make movies, which, it’s a long time, but it’s also limited. I want to do big things and small things and everywhere in between, and having another big canvas is exciting and also daunting.”

Next to nothing is known about Greta Gerwig’s own ‘Narnia’ installments and what she has planned, though this project is unlikely to see the light of day anytime soon as the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have frozen Hollywood.

As such, neither writers, directors, producers or actors have taken up any work and put a stop to all their projects, and with many big directors and actors supporting the strike, it’s unlikely to end soon until the studios capitulate to their demands.

The first big-screen adaptation of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ was launched in 2005 with ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’, which was a massive success at the box office generating over $750 million worldwide.

Following that, two more sequels were released which include ‘Prince Caspian’ in 2008 which grossed $420 million, three years later and the ‘Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ in 2010 which earned over $415 million. As a collective, the trilogy has generated over $1.5 billion worldwide.

In 2018, Netflix bought the rights from Disney and now it’s completely unknown which books will Greta Gerwig be adapting to live action.

Also read: Margot Robbie: ‘In Barbie Land, it’s the opposite; women Barbies run everything’

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