Georgie Henley

Interview By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com

An exciting element of Hollywood adapting a British book series like The Chronicles Of Narnia is the opportunity for young talent of the region to be granted an unprecedented worldwide audience. One such young British performer is 12 year-old Georgie Henley, who reprises her role as Lucy Pevensie in the new adaptation of the second Narnia book in the series, Prince Caspian.

When Georgie first discussed the feeling of being reunited with her cast and crew once again, she claims her initial experience of returning for what is only her second film was a bit more daunting than the first time around.

'I think the first time you step on to a movie set, it's a great feeling,' Henley explains, 'And that happened to me on The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe. When you set on to a movie set after a long time, I think that's a completely different feeling.'

'I had a tummy full of nerves and I was really, really nervous and I stepped on set and this big feeling of relief came through me,' she continues, 'And I just looked around and everybody, loads of people who I knew from the first film were there, and I just felt so much more familiar than I felt it would. And I just totally got into it again and it was odd. It was great!'

The cast and crew returned to New Zealand where much of the first film had been shot. Henley explained for us the numerous fringe benefits that came with shooting on location over there, including an experience her cast mates William Moseley and Skandar Keynes shared bungee jumping.

'If you're in New Zealand, there's so much adventurous stuff to do,' she claims, 'We watched videos of William and Skandar as they both went down bungee jumping. Skandar was just sitting there and then he went down.'

'He did a really good dive and he came up and he was all happy and elated,' George adds, 'We all were sitting there, running his hands for a towel, going (makes panting, blowing noises), like breathing, and then he did this most perfect swan dive off the side (laughing). He came up and he was like (sighing ecstatically) leaning back and it was like a titanic moment or something. It was hilarious, so funny.'

This time around, joining the cast is Ben Barnes, who plays Prince Caspian. Georgie shared with us her rather awkward first meeting with her new co-star.

'It was a bit of a rocky start because we were playing table tennis at the base camp,' she recalls, 'Ben came down the stairs and Jeff Okabayashi, our second A.D., introduced him as Ben and everybody gave him a hug and stuff. And I was like, why are they hugging him' I don't even know who he is. What's his job or anything' ' 'So we went in and then, my mum came over and said, 'So what do you think of Caspian''' Henley continues, 'I was like, 'What'!' And she goes, 'That was Caspian,' I was like, 'That's Caspian'!'' And I went after him and I was like, 'I'm sorry! I didn't know you were Caspian!' And he was like, 'Oh, right.''

Henley adds, however, that it wasn't long before she felt the actor was a new extension to the tight-knit cast.

'It turned into a really good relationship and we really welcomed him into the Pevensie family,' Georgie says, 'He wasn't a Pevensie, which I think was quite nice for him, as well. I mean, we were the Pevensies and he was in our family, but I do think he was like another big brother.'

'There are so many now and he's just lovely and just as much so as everybody else who works with him,' she adds, 'He's so easy to get along with and that's what you need. Everybody, me, Anna [Popplewell], Skandar, and his highness William, it's so easy to get on with, but I think that's a great compliment to have if you are a Pevensie.'

One of the distinctive elements of The Chronicles Of Narnia book series is its very symbolic Christian messages. We asked Georgie what she felt was the kind of message Lucy conveys to the audience in Prince Caspian.

'I think my message is complicated, although, this is going to sound really corny, but my message, I think, is 'Believe what your belief is, because don't let anybody knock you down,' Henley believes, 'Because when Lucy first sees Aslan, she knows he's there. She can feel it in her bones and because her siblings don't believe her, she backs down. She follows them, they go the wrong way and everything starts to fall down even more, even though they meet Caspian, and he's very angry with her.'

'He doesn't understand why she didn't go to him because she believed it,' she continues, 'Why did she believe the others' Why couldn't her beliefs be stronger than their knockdown comments, if you know what I mean' And that's a definite lesson that she learns and that's a message she conveys. So I think a lot of people go through that in their lifetime definitely.'

Henley claims however that one thing she enjoyed in particular about the second film was her character getting to actually use her weapon.

'I was so happy,' she exclaims, 'I spent the first film having this dagger and not really get to use it. And then it was like 'Wow!' I think one of my best moments in the film is everybody's at the side of the bridge and everybody's at the town and stuff and I'm on the other side. And I draw my dagger with confidence and then, this army comes charging at me (laughing).'

'And I remember filming that, and then, Dami'n Alc'zar, who plays Lord Sopespian, was like, 'Charge!' and I was on my own,' Georgie continues, 'And I was having these horses galloping at me and I was absolutely petrified. And [director] Andrew [Stanton] kept shouting at me, 'Don't show it in your face! Don't show it in your face!' I was like so scared (laughing)! He was like, 'Within, within, it's called acting (laughing).'

When asked about how she reacted to the final cut of Prince Caspian, Georgie claims the experience made her a bit apprehensive.

'At the beginning of the film, I'm ashamed to say, I couldn't take it,' Henley claims, 'It was too much for me and I was having a bit of a sob, but then, my mum just said to me, 'Just sit back, relax, it's alright. Enjoy the film.' I thought I would be really critical of myself and I wasn't, because I relaxed and tried to watch the film.'

'And I watched everybody, I wasn't just watching myself thinking, 'Why did I do that, why didn't I do this''' she adds, 'I was looking at everything and every little detail and stuff and trying to soak it all in, so I could make myself feel better (laughing).'

However, despite having now played a role in a two entries of what has become a fairly big Hollywood franchise, Henley claims that it didn't stop her from fulfilling one of the most central ingredients in any child's life: school.

'Well, it's the law to do school and you're meant to do about three hours and if we had a half an hour break, we'd go and do some school, one-to-one teaching, which was amazing,' she says, 'When I'd go back home to school, I'd be ahead of everybody else because of the one-to-one and stuff. And the good thing is you don't do homework, because you do all the homework in the lesson times.'

'Even when I do publicity, I do school work in the afternoon, because you can't just come and throw everything else away,' Georgie continues, 'I've got to have some boundaries and I'm 12 years old. I got to do my education and I'm happy about that. I love school actually! I must say, I'm a bit of a nerd, I love school very much! And surprisingly, I'm into the arts, I love English, I like language as well. I like Latin and French and next year, I'm taking on Russian.'

And despite Georgie's considerable fortune obtained from working on a big film franchise like Narnia, she claims she doesn't spend all her earnings in one place.

'Most of the time, I'm a bit skim,' Henley claims, 'I spend my money mostly on my ITunes music. I just love buying songs and albums and stuff, which is a bit silly, because you listen to them and then you get a bit bored of them and you basically spend all your allowance on them. It's OK. I don't mind. And I like pretty things as well, so if I save enough money, I buy a nice pretty ring and that's always nice.'