Skandar Keynes Interviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1.What were the challenges this time around?
Skandar Keynes: One of the biggest challenges was sort of the step up in the physical aspect of the shoot. I was quite unfortunate because in one of my stunts I was running and jumping off this rock and landing on a horse. But one time, at the very beginning of all this action, I missed the horse [laughs], so I had a busted heel. It wasn’t in a cast but it was really badly bruised and any time you put any weight on it, it hurt. So I had to do the rest of the battle sort of doped up on painkillers, which proved very problematic. It made it really difficult and made more of a challenge something that was already not a piece of cake.
Q. It didn’t dampen your enthusiasm for doing your own stunts, though?
Skandar Keynes: No, no, no. I still did it. After that, I literally did it again!
How has life changed for you since the first film, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe?
Skandar Keynes: I wouldn’t really say that it’s dramatically changed.
Skandar Keynes: Well, we do have random moments in our life where we take private jets around! [Laughs]
Q. But do you find yourself being recognised a lot?
Skandar Keynes: Not really. I kind of feel that once we’re back in London and back in regular life, I just sort of get the bus and very occasionally this whole other role slips into my home life. Randomly people recognise me but even then it’s very minor. It’s not as if my life has been turned on its head and I can’t walk down the street unless I’m wearing dark sunglasses and a ninja kit.
Q. And how do you feel about appearing in the next Narnia film, Dawn Treader, as the emphasis shifts more to your character, Edmund?
Skandar Keynes: Well, I want to do what William’s doing instead [laughs]. No, no, no it’s going to be really great going back and seeing everyone again. I think it’s going to be a completely different experience because we have a different director [Michael Apted] and that means a whole new crew and different actors. There was one point in the second film where we thought, well, it’s one thing to have new people come on and the more the merrier, but now there’s going to be a completely different set of ideas as people go away. With that in mind, I think it’s going to be weird but at the end of the day it should be a great experience and hopefully I’ll make the most of it.
2. You get to become an action hero in this film, that's got to be pretty cool...
Skandar Keynes: It was really, really great doing that side of it. It was such a relief after the first film because I didn't get to do that much after having done all the training. It was really great this time to actually put it on screen.
And for me, personally, it's like a giant-sized home video that I can watch and have those memories. When the DVD comes out there'll be even more.
It's quite a long experience, shooting a film like this -- something like a year or more?
SK: I think for them it takes a year, but for me it was only about seven months. I got off lightly!
You get to tour the world in those seven months, though.
SK: Yeah, we started off in New Zealand, spent two months there, and then we were based in Prague and we would go all around Europe. We went to Slovenia, Poland, all around the countryside of the Czech Republic -- some really stunning places.
There were some places where we were staying in these strange industrial towns in the middle of Eastern Europe and you'd think it'd be the last place they'd shoot some of these beautiful locations, but it really was incredible and it really wasn't that far away, in Eastern Europe.
A great chance to see places that are off the beaten path...
SK: Yeah, it was a great chance to live there but it's also a great chance for audiences to have a look around.
I imagine you learnt a lot on the first film -- when you came back for Caspian was it easier to get going? Were there fewer nerves?
SK: Yes, there are less nerves and it's also great because on the first day of the first one you have to start establishing bonds with people. You're young, not really experienced in the industry and you're suddenly thrown into this group. The first day is kind-of daunting.
In this film it was so much easier because we walked straight back in and re-established these bonds that we already had. It was a relief and it was so relaxing. It just felt like we didn't have to waste time with those sorts of things; we could get straight to work and we could really go forward to create a better film.
Does it make it easier for you to have those relationships off-screen that you're trying to show on-screen?
SK: The relationships you have on set really do help you overall, because if you hate everyone you're going to go there and there's not going to be anyone to cheer you up if you're down. It's going to be grim on screen and not energetic. But even if you're tired after seven months, you're such good friends with everyone there that you never feel like being grumpy -- everyone cheers you up. It was a really good, supportive community that was built up between the first and the second film.
You mention you like the action; do you enjoy the risk of it?
SK: Yeah, and I just love doing the active stuff. I felt so cheated because one of my very first action scenes was the very beginning of the battle when I run and I jump off a block and get on a horse as it's going by. On one take I missed the horse. I basically didn't manage to land on it but I managed to hold on and I was flung around and almost smacked into one of those stone columns.
I slammed on the ground and bruised my heel so badly that I couldn't walk on it and it was throbbing constantly. I had to do the rest of the battle with a bruised heel. Sometimes if you watch my running it looks a bit odd; I wonder if other people notice it or if it's just me noticing! I had to do a lot of that sequence high on pain medication!
Other than that it was really great. For me, getting two swords and just getting into the thick of it and being around such a great stunt department was really fun.
But there are plenty of more intimate moments with his family for Edmund too, there's a nice balance between action and drama.
SK: There is a nice balance, and I think that's something that Andrew Adamson has done so well throughout the entire film. He's managed to really get the cohesion between all of the different departments and all the different aspects of the film and really get it to perfection.
People talk about it being darker and being more action-packed, but I feel that all of that is balanced out by the increased amount of light relief with characters like Reepicheep and Trumpkin. You do feel like they've upped the stakes significantly and gone much deeper into this world of Narnia.
Your journey gets to continue onto Dawn Treader; are you looking forward to that?
SK: Yeah, I think it's going to be great. We'll have a new director in and I think that's going to be a really big change -- probably the biggest change of all -- because he's going to employ pretty-much a different team. The set itself is going to change radically. I'm not saying I'm going to hate the new people who come in but there will be a process of establishing those bonds we were talking about earlier.
But it'll be great, also, to have some different experiences and be able to explore different aspects of it by having new people come in with different takes on it and different attitudes.
The Narnia books themselves; every one of them is slightly different.
SK: Yeah, I think that's what's so great is that people coming back to see this film aren't just seeing a repeat of the previous one like some franchises. This one, when you go back, the tagline they've put on the posters, "Everything you know is about to change forever," is very relevant. They're going into a world you think you know, but actually it's been turned on its head and the whole thing of discovery and exploration and the magic of the first film is portrayed again in a way you wouldn't think would be possible.
3. Q: So what's it like to come back for a second time around?
Skandar: It's been really cool. It's been really great to see everyone again and like, reuniting the family, to be very cheesy. Yeah, it's been great here in the middle of nowhere, it's beautiful. And what we're doing is really cool, we're like walking out [of Aslan's How] and everyone is [cheering]. So I'm having a good time.
Q: So in the movie, Edmund is only a year older. But you're actually a few years older?
Skandar: Yeah, I was 12 when I started the first film and I'm 15 now. I'll be 16 at the end of the shoot.
Q: I remember last time they had problems with you growing too much…
Skandar: Yeah, I grew 6 inches in 6 months. I felt growing pains last night actually. (laughter)
Q: The costume department said they have a computer program now to determine the patterns and how to make the costumes fit as you guys grow and keep them consistent.
Skandar: I had the chainmail, and I kept growing. And it's precise enough that if I grew, it would completely change underneath.
Q: Did you wear chainmail in the last movie too?
Skandar: Yeah, I'm actually wearing a lot less now.
Q: I bet you wish you were wearing it now after getting stabbed in the leg. (laughter)
Skandar: Oh yeah, [Will] totally just stabbed my leg! He draws his sword and then moves it back but as he moved it back it went "bang" on my leg. Just went right on my boot!
Q: Do you get to do more sword fighting in this movie than the first movie?
Skandar: Yeah a lot more which is good and I've got to do a bit more today. And I'm doing lots of training.
Q: How is the castle raid, do you have a big scene in it?
Skandar: I was already in it. I was on days while they were on nights, so I was kinda laughing at them (laughter). I do have a thing at the top but we are going to do that on a stage, because it would've been dangerous to do it [on the set] because it was so high up., and if anything had gone wrong, I could've like…died.
Q: So they're going to save that to the very end just in case.
Skandar: Yeah (laughter)
Q: What are your big scenes in this one?
Skandar: I have a scene when Will's in a fight…
(Here, Ernie whispers something in Skandar's ear, probably telling him not to give something away) (laughter)
Skandar (cont): Um, me and Will have a lot of little moments in this film. And then, I have big fights, which is good, that are scattered around the film.
Q: You're one of the few that gets to go on to the next movie, have you met with Mike Apted yet?
Skandar: Yeah, I had dinner with him, he was very cool. It all seems good.
Q: Did you drill him, test him to see if he knows his Narnia stuff?
Skandar: Yeah, we talked about Narnia a bit but the problem with the next film is I've got to do my GCSEs just around the middle and if they don't let me do them, my school won't let me come out here, so, I'll have to take like a month off or so.
Q: So you'll go back to school and then you'll turn around and come back for the next one?
Skandar: Well no, I think there will be some time before they go straight ahead, they are in pre-production now. So I'll go to school and then come back whenever they are ready.
Q: Can you talk about the unique style of the music playing while you are shooting a scene?
Skandar: Yeah, we like to play Rocky or just anything that has a cool beat. It feels so good walking down and they're all cheering…we are trying so hard not to crack up, but it's so hard. (laughter) During the epic battles there's a rule. When a song is played you have to wait until the end to try and get your iPod in there.
Q: Are your musical tastes that different?
Skandar: No, we are pretty much the same, he doesn't like some of mine and I don't like some of his so there's just minor differences… but mostly cool. The first couple of takes I was cracking up so it wasn't that great, but it was getting to me and it felt really cool.
Q: Was that something just for this movie, Andrew just decided to use music to get the mood out?
Skandar: Yeah, it was a couple of weeks ago, everyone was sitting around waiting on the sun and we realized we could put music on so we did and now we use it.
Q: Can you talk about working with Andrew on this one, what type of preparation did he have you do that was different from the first film, obviously you're older…
Skandar: We've done lots of rehearsals and I've done more horse riding. I've done more sword fighting and it's been a bit more intense this time.
Q: How's Prague been for you?
Skandar: Prague has been great, so yeah, everything is pretty cool in Prague.
Skandar: Yeah, down in New Zealand I did a bunch of jumps. I jumped off the Nevis which is the third highest point in the world, I did this one jump that was nearly 400 meters in the air and I did the Shotover Canyon Swing which is the biggest swing in the world. I jumped off the Sky Tower, which is the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere. And I did some jumps from a jet, so those were cool.
Q: Is this driving the producers crazy?
Skandar: Yeah, every time…I have all the videos as well.
Q: Is there a lot of sitting around waiting on the set?
Skandar: Not that much. There could be more, but there could be less.
Q: Do you go to do school here too?
Skandar: Yeah, three hours a day, I've got my GCSEs so I've got exams this week.
Q: Coming back for the second time, what's it like to have a lot more adults in the cast?
Skandar: Everyone matured a lot more and we weren't as silly as before, we didn't mess around as much…
Ernie Malik: That's a matter of opinion. (laughter)
Skandar: Everything has been really cool. We're kind of approaching it completely differently, and a bit more professional than last time.
Q: So this film is a little bit darker than the first one?
Skandar: Uh yeah, there are some darker scenes. There are a lot of scenes that happen at night (laughter). No, yeah, there are some darker scenes, there are some evil people, and some evil moments.
