William Moseley Tagged Articles at Cinematical

One thing I've noticed about most epic sci-fi/fantasy stories is that they're essentially about war, albeit disguised and softened with weird monsters, robots and other creatures with funny names. There's usually a bad guy (with a really sinister sounding name) who wants to take over the world or something similar, and a reluctant hero -- plucked from his comfortable, yet mundane home -- who has to stop him. The trick is to make it all fun. Because let's face it, we humans love war. If we didn't there wouldn't be so many movies and books about war, as well as -- you know -- real wars. (More specifically, I think, we love watching them, rather than fighting in them.) The Lord of the Rings trilogy worked so well because Peter Jackson projected his own twisted glee into every frame; he loved making those movies and it showed. The characters felt an anxious anticipation toward the battle, like a buildup, and the battles themselves were explosive releases. The new film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the second in an unfortunately ongoing series, treats war as if it were already played out, rather than happening before our eyes. It's a dead dog dull bore of a movie, but that won't stop it from making a fortune. (See also Jette's review.)

One of the best casting decisions in recent memory is Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter. The kid just looks like the spitting image of the literary icon, and he wears the scar and glasses like they're completely natural, like they've always been there. But can you imagine the Potter world without Radcliffe? Like, could you imagine William Moseley being the guy that gets to befriend Hermione and Ron, come onto Cho Chang,* chum up to Dumbledore, and take on Voldemort?

The actor recently talked with MTV, and mentions that he was up for the part of Harry, but that "I don't quite fit the bill, I think." Moseley certainly would've been a much different choice. Luckily, losing that role left him open to play a British child in a different epic, fantastical gig. He plays Peter Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia franchise.

He admits that he wonders what it would have been like, but that "if I could have chosen one part for myself, I would have chosen Peter every single time." So from an actor's perspective, he's happy with Peter, but I wonder, who is your preferred hero?

*Edited thanks to Monster. I don't know why I keep calling her Chen....

You may or may not recognize the name of William Moseley. The young man played High King Peter in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe flick, and will return to reprise the role in the upcoming sequel, Prince Caspian. If you don't recognize his name, I wouldn't worry about it, because unlike Radcliffe and the stars of the Potter-verse, the children in Narnia will not be around for the full seven book run. Peter, in fact, will drop off after book two* and won't show up again in a major role until book seven.**

The Hook caught up with William Moseley recently and picked his brain for thoughts on the next flick. Moseley, like everyone else involved with the film, was not able to say much, because "They're keeping it really hush-hush. Whether it's even finished, I don't know." However, Moseley did verify shooting is still set to begin in January, and they expect it to carry well into summer. Moseley also talked about the challenge of acting opposite non-existent CGI characters, and had a very interesting take on it: "When you imagine Aslan you just see some highly individual perception-- I saw a majestic creature. I enjoyed being able to create my own Aslan instead of someone else putting it there in front of me." This makes a lot of sense to me. Moseley, like millions of the rest of us, has read and known Narnia since childhood; of course he had a personal vision of Aslan in mind. We all envision the characters and places we love in great books -- Lewis' description of heaven at the end of The Last Battle has served as my mental image of heaven since I was a child. Moseley was just lucky enough to be a part of his own imagination on the biggest stage in the world.

*Yeah, I'm using the original numbering and not the new chronological numbering. It is how the movies chose to deal with it, which I feel validates my long argued point that the magic of Narnia works best when revealed in the original order. Yes, I know Lewis was cool with chronological order, but I still prefer published order.
**Let's put aside the discussion of grown-up Peter in The Horse and His Boy until we learn how they plan to cast him.