{"id":496605,"date":"2026-10-15T04:48:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T04:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496605\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T04:48:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T04:48:30","slug":"greta-gerwig-credits-her-faith-based-sacramento-upbringing-for-shaping-new-narnia-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496605\/","title":{"rendered":"Greta Gerwig credits her faith-based Sacramento upbringing for shaping new \u2018Narnia’ film"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greta Gerwig isn’t shying away from religion in adapting C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew<\/a>.” She says it’s a part of who she is.<\/p>\n

The “Barbie<\/a>” director unveiled the first glimpses of the film, due out in February, during a media event at New York’s AMC Lincoln Center on Tuesday, Oct. 13, screening a trailer\u00a0– which blasts Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”\u00a0– and behind-the-scenes footage.<\/p>\n

Lewis’ books are famously grounded in Christian theology. Gerwig, 43, was raised in Sacramento as a Unitarian Universalist, went to Protestant churches and attended St. Francis, an all-girls Catholic high school.<\/p>\n

Gerwig told moderator Stephen Colbert<\/a> that religion “has been a thread through all of my films,” beginning with “Lady Bird<\/a>” (2017), her first solo directing effort.<\/p>\n

“For me, film and faith have always gone hand in hand,” she said, calling both “communal experiences.”<\/p>\n

\"Greta<\/p>\n

Greta Gerwig attends the IMAX exclusive sneak peek of “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew”at New York’s AMC Lincoln Square 13 on Tuesday, Oct. 13. (Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for Netflix)<\/p>\n

Gerwig chose to start the new Narnia cycle by adapting the sixth of the seven books, rather than the first, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” because “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew,” published in 1955, is a prequel.<\/p>\n

She notes that Lewis himself often urged children to start with the prequel, and called it “a spiritual quest.”<\/p>\n

It follows two children, Digory (David McKenna) and Polly (Beatrice Campbell), in 1900 London who, through a magic ring, are transported into another world and witness Narnia’s creation by the lion Aslan (Meryl Streep<\/a>).<\/p>\n

“Have you ever seen a world born?” the trailer’s narrator asks, emphasizing the theme of creation.<\/p>\n

Daniel Craig<\/a> is Andrew Ketterley, the magician of the title. Emma Mackey, Ciar\u00e1n Hinds and Carey Mulligan<\/a> also star.<\/p>\n

“Movies this size are usually about destruction,” said Gerwig about her $280 million film.<\/p>\n

Gerwig said she met personally with Led Zeppelin members Robert Plant<\/a> and Jimmy Page to secure the rights to “Stairway to Heaven,” which is not a song they often license.<\/p>\n

“They did it because they saw the heart in the story,” Gerwig said, “and they, too, love C.S. Lewis.”<\/p>\n

Gerwig explained that Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia” were a foundational experience to her youth. The only comparable experience, she said, was reading Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women,” which Gerwig adapted in her 2019 film<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I don’t remember a time I didn’t know the books,” Gerwig told Colbert. “I would not be who I am without these books. They created me.”<\/p>\n

“Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” is scheduled to hit theaters, including IMAX, on Feb. 12, and stream on Netflix beginning April 2.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

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