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Liam Neeson is all for Meryl Streep taking over the role of Aslan in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming “Narnia” movie — even if he’s just learning about it now.
Neeson, who voiced the mythical lion in the original “Chronicles
of Narnia” film trilogy, admitted he was unaware of the new adaptation in a recent interview with ScreenRant. When asked for his thoughts on it and if he’d seen the trailer, Neeson replied: “I’m sorry, this is news to me.”
In Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew,” Streep is voicing Aslan, who created the world of Narnia and is often seen as an incarnation of Jesus. When ScreenRant broke the news to Neeson that Streep would be playing the role, he responded, “Meryl is playing Jesus Christ? Well, if you’re going to make Christ a lady, nobody better than Meryl.”
Of casting Streep as Aslan,Gerwig told Empire: “I wanted someone who was profound but not pretentious, who had gravitas but not morose self-seriousness. Someone who could communicate depth and pathos as well as joy and delight. I wanted someone who was older than 70, so there was a wisdom of experience, but who also had the capacity of fresh wonder, like a child. And also to be one of the greatest actors to ever do it. That list is not a long one.”
She said that David Bowie was a source of inspiration for Aslan’s look — who has multicolored eyes and a red-striped face in this version — as well as the essence of the movie, which she described as “big and transporting” and feeling like a “rock opera.”
“Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” will open in theaters on Feb. 12, 2027, before streaming on Netflix April 2.
