February 5, 2007 - With principal photography set to start next week in New Zealand, there has been a bevy of new developments on Prince Caspian, Disney's sequel to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
First, the title role has been cast. English thesp Ben Barnes, soon to be seen in Matthew Vaughn's Stardust, has won the coveted part of Caspian, but now faces a lawsuit over his decision to leave a stage play in order to work on the film.
Barnes, 25, was appearing as "Dakin" in a British revival of the Tony award-winning play The History Boys when he won the role of Caspian, according to TimesOnline.uk.
"Ben Barnes has decided to leave The History Boys early, before his contract is finished. It is something we are taking very seriously. He has accepted an offer to be in a children's Disney film and we have had to fly Jamie King back at extremely short notice this week," a spokesperson for the National Theatre advised The Times.
The National Theatre is reportedly "furious" at Barnes for exiting History Boys, which he has been a part of since 2006, and are considering suing him for breach of contract.
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Speaking of contracts, a source for the Times article claims that Barnes informed his History Boys comrades that he had signed a three-picture deal with Disney for the Narnia films, which the studio envisions as a seven-film series.
Caspian director Andrew Adamson sang Barnes' praises to The New Zealand Herald. "Ben is a very accomplished young man, he's been getting a lot of good reviews lately for a play that he has on the West End," Adamson said. "He came to us very late in the game and he just blew us away. He's going to be a great addition to the cast. I think he'll really fit in well with the other kids."
As a side-note, two actors will probably be needed to play Caspian in The Silver Chair: the young Caspian who appears briefly near the end of the story, and the aging king Caspian whose long-lost son two British children set out to find.
In other Caspian casting news, Italian actress Alicia Borrachero (Love in the Time of Cholera) has won the role of "Prunaprismia, the wife of General Miraz, Narnia's evil king," according to Variety. Adamson told the Herald, "We have not yet cast King Miraz, we're still in discussions with someone on that."
Read on to find out what Disney and Walden Media's plans are for the Narnia sequels!
