The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyager of the Dawn Treader Trailer

Only a mere glimpse of Ben Barnes, darn it!

First Look at Voyage of the Dawn Treader

We get our first look at The Chronicles of Narnia:  The Voyage of the Dawn Treader via an unexected source:  Facebook.  20th Century Fox took over the Narnia series, and they've started a production blog of sorts on Facebook.  The best thing is that Ben Barnes is back as Prince Caspian.  Dawn Treader comes out next year for the holidays in December of 2010.

Dorian Gray Trailer

Yum! I knew Ben Barnes had been working on Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, but I had no idea Rebecca Hall (Vicky Christina Barcelona) co-starred, or that Colin Firth was also in it!

Dawn Treader finds a home!

Hurray! Twentieth Century Fox has picked up The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, third in the Narnia movies. Disney had dumped it, and Fox has reduced the budget considerably. Ben Barnes is back as our Prince Caspian. Huzzah!

I just caught the beginning of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe at my son's orthodontist office. So cute seeing James McAvoy trounce around on those fawn hooves!

Casting Rumors for New Moon

Perez is reporting two casting rumors for New Moon, Twilight's sequel, which already has a release date for November of 2009. Chris Weitz is on as the new director, and he has only 12 weeks to get the cast together. Both Weitz and author Stephenie Meyer released statements trying to calm down fans about the change in director. Baby faced and barely 16 actor Taylor Lautner is not confirmed to be back as Jacob in New Moon.

Now, reports are that the 26 year-old actor Michael Copon, from Scorpion King 2, is one of the several actors director Weitz is considering to play the new and larger Jacob Black role.

A rep for Copon said they are making all efforts to land this gig. Even Copon is taking to self-advertisement by changing his Facebook status to messages such as "Michael Copon in a Twilight Zone!" and "Michael Copon is the older Jacob Black!" His rep confirmed that the Facebook is indeed Copon's.

Michael Copon is not Native American, but is half Filipino. Catherine Hardwicke had difficulty finding Native American actors for Twilight, and Weitz has to find actors to play Jacob's whole pack for New Moon. Michael isn't the only actor campaigning for a role in the next Twilight movie:

Additionally, 27-year-old Prince Caspian star Ben Barnes is also campaigning for a role. He's said to be actively trying to get the role of Aro, "a mind-reading vampire whose "New Moon" encounter with Edward and Bella helps shape their destiny together." And, coincidentally enough, Barnes has the same manager as Copon and Twilight star Cam Gigandet.

We smell a big paycheck coming in for their manager!

But even when a lead for Jacob has been cast, director Weitz is only left with about 12 weeks until filming starts.

First Pics of Ben Barnes as Dorian Gray

Yum! First pics of Ben Barnes out from the set of Dorian Gray. I did not know that Colin Firth also has a role in the film. Even more pics at Just Jared.

The 27-year-old actor plays Oscar Wilde’s title character, a corrupt young man who somehow keeps his youthful beauty eternally, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.

Dorian Gray, which also stars Colin Firth, Rebbeca Hall and Emilia Fox, will be released in the fall of 2009 in Britain.

Ben Barnes - Gorgeous!

Ben Barnes, looking drop dead gorgeous, at Toronto Film Festival promoting Easy Virtue. He also had sat down recently with Interview magazine:

Looking at 15-story high posters of yourself (for Prince Caspian) seems like the perfect grounding for playing a character like Dorian Gray. There have been some very interesting parallels. I don’t really see the point in making a film unless you can think of a good reason to do it. We live in this celebrity-obsessed, youth-obsessed culture, and it just seems to make a lot of sense to make this Dorian Gray film right now. Especially for me, as somebody who’s…I don’t know if “on the brink” is the right term, but sort of at the beginning of getting attention from the media and from other people. Dorian Gray is also somebody who, at the beginning, doesn’t want to be looked at, doesn’t really want to be noticed, but then begins to realize the power of youth and the power of people wanting to be around him. Obviously it goes very dark, which I’m hoping in real life my part won’t. I supposed you have to be aware, on some level, of the attention being focused on yourself even to accept a part like Dorian Gray.

Here are a couple of the drool-worthy photos from Interview magazine!


Hat tip: Just Jared

Ben Barnes at Edinburgh Film Festival

Ben Barnes (of Prince Caspian) was in Edinburgh to promote his film Bigga Than Ben at the film festival. More exceedingly yummy pics here. Oh, heck, I can't resist showing one more.

Prince Caspian - mini-review

I took my two oldest boys to see the latest Narnia installment: Prince Caspian the other night. I don't remember the book much, but my older son who had read it the most recently said they had key moments from the book like the duel, but he certainly didn't remember any ROMANCE. Well, my dear son, that kiss they put in for all the young girls, and their Moms! The movie is decent with great special effects, but what I loved by far was the prince himself, Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian. Hubba, hubba. The four kids who play the main characters of the Narnia books really don't have much personality to me. Nothing like the kids of the Harry Potter films. But Ben Barnes was worth the price of admission.

The film is chock full of battle scenes, that in the book get a brief mention. You have to have action in a film so they've fleshed them out nicely. There isn't a lot of anything else really there, aside from Prince Caspian's journey to overcome his feelings of revenge towards his uncle. I did thoroughly enjoy Peter Dinklage as Lucy's sour "dear little friend" and the voice of Eddie Izzard as a sword-fighting mouse.

I give this film three stars. Worth seeing on the big screen to beat the summer heat. Best thing about the next film in the Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader? More Prince, now KING Caspian played by Ben Barnes! It will be directed by Michael Apted and is due out in May of 2010. Hopefully with a director like Apted, this series can get better in the same way the Potter films have.