It started off with a seemingly innocent email I received from our head editor, asking if I was willing to do an interview for the DVD release of Prince Caspian. It sounded like a great opportunity, so I found myself a week later driving down the freeway, heading for Hollywood. After checking in, I had some time to consider the day's activities. You see, this wasn't simply going to be an interview—especially when Disney was involved.

Thirty minutes later, I found myself in a van as a group of international reporters headed to KNB Studios to find out more about the makeup and costumes used in the actual film. We arrived at a rather nondescript building in Van Nuys, where Howard Berger and his team have routinely performed their magic in films such as the Kill Bill series and Spiderman 3 (KNB won an Academy Award for Best Makeup in 2006 for The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe). We were then told that we would receive a unique treat—each of us would be "transformed" into one of the characters from the movie. Berger looked at me for a second before giving my team of makeup artists their cue—"Make him into a dwarf."

Over the next ninety minutes, I learned firsthand what it means to have prosthetics applied to one's face (ears and nose) and watched in amazement as I was transformed from a mild-mannered editor to a cross between Gimli from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Evan Baxter from Evan Almighty. Actually, I think I looked pretty cool (especially the dreadlocks in the beard; see below). But this doesn't happen quickly; it takes lots of time (including removing the stuff). Some of the characters in Prince Caspian had to undergo the makeup treatment every day for five months! But the end results speak for themselves.

After feeling like a real actor (especially with all the flashbulbs going off as Disney snapped publicity photos), I got the makeup removed and took time to admire the detail of the costumes the characters wore in the film before our group returned to Hollywood.

The interviews would be done in two stages: the first would be roundtable sessions with two of the stars from the movie, William Moseley (Peter Pevensie) and Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian). The second was a fifteen-minute in-depth interview with both stars later in the day.

It turned out the roundtable sessions were pretty intimate yet informal—I was one of eleven or so writers there with Barnes and Moseley, so we had the opportunity to talk with each one for a while.

The first thing I noticed about William Moseley is how young he is (21 years old). He told our group that the role of Peter changed his life "in every way" and is quite happy where he's at right now in life. In the early part of 2009, he'll have a starring role in the film Ironclad along with Megan Fox and Paul Giamatti. Regarding all things Narnia, he auditioned for the BBC version of the series at the age of 10, but didn't get the role. Five years later, he was cast into Peter's role in the American version. When asked about the moral/religious themes in the film, he came up with a list including making the right choices in life (Moseley cited Peter choosing the easy way in the film, but also noted the negative consequences of his choice) and that no man is an island (we need others to be a part of our lives). He added that there's an "amount of osmosis" between Peter the character and Moseley the real-life person; in other words, the character has become a part of him in some ways. When asked about the adaptation from screen acting to theater acting (Moseley is very interested in Shakespeare), he stated that "[I]f you can make other people believe . . . you're on the right track."

Continue: 1 2 3