Tilda Swinton is fixing to cast her spell on “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe.”
“Narnia” director Andrew Adamson — due in Cannes in a few days for the Competition showing of DreamWorks’ “Shrek 2,” which he co-directed — confirmed that Swinton has boarded the project as the evil White Witch. Fellow redhead Nicole Kidman was rumored to be in discussions for the role as recently as last month, but those reports turned out to be false.
Budgeted at more than $100 million, according to sources, the Walden Media/Walt Disney Co. co-production is scheduled to begin shooting in the summer in Adamson’s native New Zealand. “The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe” is the first installment of Walden’s planned “Chronicles of Narnia” franchise, based on the series of classic children’s fantasy books by C.S. Lewis.
Adamson is making his live-action debut on the project, with a Christmas 2005 release already slated via Walt Disney Pictures, which also is distributing Walden’s “Around the World in 80 Days” in the summer.
The story of Narnia revolves around the Pevensie siblings — Lucy, Susan, Edmund and Peter — who go through a magic wardrobe and enter the world of Narnia, a once peaceful land of talking beasts, dwarfs and giants that has since become frozen by the evil White Witch (Swinton). The four children then help the lion Aslan break the witch’s spell.
The role marks a departure from Swinton’s more recent art house work. The actress is known for her wide-ranging credits from the quirky “Adaptation” and the sexually charged “Young Adam” to the mind-bending “Teknolust.” She next appears in the indie ensemble “Thumbsucker,” followed by Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Constantine” opposite Keanu Reeves.
Separately, Disney said it would release a “Narnia” video in time for the 2005 holiday season. Adamson will be involved with the video game production team during the simultaneous development of the game and the movie.
“We’re very early, so we’re not announcing the developer choice yet,” said Graham Hopper, senior vice president and general manager of Disney’s Buena Vista Games unit.