A-list actors being considered to play two of the greatest writers of all time…

In an interview with Premier Radio about the upcoming film The Lion Awakes, telling “this incredible true story between the faith, friendship, and fantasy of Lewis and Tolkien” (including Lewis encouraging Tolkien that The Lord of the Rings was actually worth publishing, and Tolkien leading the devout atheist Lewis to Christian faith), composer Wernher Pramschufer, who's written music for the film as well as producing, said that:

“I can say without reservation that Tolkien and Lewis will be A-list...We’ve sent a letter of offer to Philida Lloyd who directed The Iron Lady…and we are in early-stage negotiations with A-list actors including Jude Law, Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill, to see if any of those guys are interested, to play Lewis and Tolkien. Because Tolkien himself has never been portrayed on the big screen. So it offers, you can imagine, audiences a tremendous opportunity to see the author of The Lord of the Rings interacting with the author of The Chronicles of Narnia.”

Although he didn't specify which actors were being considered for the role of C.S. Lewis and which for the role of J.R.R. Tolkien, or even if some actors were under consideration for each of the two roles, the three names mentioned are all talented actors who could no doubt bring something to the table. Jude Law plays Watson to Robert Downey Jr.'s Holmes in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes films, Tom Hardy is reuniting with his Inception director Christopher Nolan as Bane in this summer's highly anticipated Bat-sequel The Dark Knight Rises, and Henry Cavill, after years of just missing out on iconic roles such as Batman, Superman, and James Bond, will now finally play Superman in Zack Snyder's upcoming reboot Man of Steel.

On both authors' use of fantasy to tell stories with resonant themes, Pramschufer delivered the great quote, probably paraphrasing C.S. Lewis himself: “I think, you know, we need a dual framework. As you know, great films tell two stories at once, I believe: what the story’s about, and what the film ultimately means.”

Pramschufer also teased the tone of the film in general, saying:

“We’re looking at pleasing the gigantic fan base of both the Narnia movies and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but we’re also directly appealing to a family and faith-based audience. There are some things in the film that are going to be extremely exciting. We’re going to have some astonishing CGI effects...delivering a tantalising taste of the fantasy worlds of Middle Earth and Narnia, before they were brought to life with the current franchises. But we’re also going to show the carnage of World War One..."

He also said that they plan to film in Oxford in September, and release the film in late spring/early summer 2013, between the two The Hobbit movies directed by Peter Jackson.

The full 18-minute interview, which contains plenty of interesting discussion of the film, including C.S. Lewis's nephew Douglas Gresham's involvement, the scoop that the popular Christian band Kutless will be providing music for it, and the importance of getting the lawyer behind The King's Speech on board, can be heard at the link below:

Premier

The film's official site, which features music by Wernher Pramschufer: http://www.thelionawakes-themovie.com/

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