One year after the incredible events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the kings and queens of Narnia find themselves back in that faraway wondrous realm, only to discover that more than 1300 years have passed in Narnian time. During their absence, the Golden Age of Narnia has become extinct, Narnia has been conquered by the Telmarines and is now under the control of the evil King Miraz, who rules the land without mercy.

The four Pevensies will soon meet an intriguing new character: Narnia’s rightful heir to the throne, the young Prince Caspian, who has been forced into hiding as his uncle Miraz plots to kill him in order to place his own newborn son on the throne. With the help of Trumpkin, a good-hearted Red Dwarf, a courageous talking mouse and Trufflehunter the badger, the Narnians, led by the mighty knights Peter and Caspian, embark on a remarkable journey to find Aslan, rescue Narnia from Miraz’s tyrannical hold and restore magic and glory to the land.

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Matt: Can you tell us what drew you to this Amazing Grace project in the first place?

Bob: Sure, there are a couple of things. Way back six years ago now when Phil Anschutz decided to get into the film industry, he invited me to come and be a part of that adventure, William Wilberforce had actually been a hero of mine for many years when I was in pastoral ministry. He’s such a great model of someone whose faith had led to a vital social action out of that. Almost from the beginning, Phil had said, “I want to make a movie on the life of William Wilberforce.”

It was a project that was a hard sell even though he was the financing behind it, simply because those who were advisors for him in Hollywood within the production company just said, “You know you shouldn’t make this movie. It’s a period piece and nobody knows who this guy is. You’re gonna lose a lot of money.” But he was very persistent and just said, “I don’t care. This is an important story. I want to tell it. I want to make the film.” That really began this process that finally is reaching fulfillment on February 23rd.

Now where did you serve specifically in regards to the film?

Technically, I’m the Associate Producer.

And what does that mean?

Well, in this particular case, it means that I was involved on the team that helped conceive the project and develop it. I helped oversee script development and actually helped oversee production and final cuts. So basically I had a seat at the table in all of those decisions. That’s the reason I have been given the Associate Producer credit.

Now I recently read a statistic that said there are more people in slavery today than in any other point in history. Is this true?

Well, it depends on the numbers you use, who you are talking to and how you define it. I’ve heard everything from the State Department’s number of 800,000 to 27 million. The latter figure is probably more accurate if you include the bonded labor going on around the world. Personally since I’ve been involved with my wife with the Dalits in India, who are the untouchables in India, they have been in slavery for 3,000 years and there are 300 million of them. So it’s a huge issue in the world today.

That’s one of the reasons why, along with the film, we also launched the Amazing Change campaign to network organizations that have been working in this area and raise awareness and call for some action on modern day trafficking.

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Here’s a peak at the stuff about Narnia:

Can you let us in on what’s happening with Prince Caspian. Is the script completely finished? And is it sticking closely to the book?

It’s pretty close. Andrew Adamson is gonna direct again. Most of the same crew is working on this one. Mark Johnson will produce again. A lot of the cast and crew will be the same. Now, I don’t think that will the case for all seven. I don’t think Andrew Adamson wants to spend the rest of his life on this one series.

But the script … let me put it this way: All of the elements from the book are present. It’s not as easy of a book to adapt as The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe was simply because it has a little bit of a different structure and Andrew wanted to rearrange some of the elements for dramatic effect. But everything that is in the book will be in the film.

And you’ve already greenlit the next one?

Yes. The next book after that will be The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and we’re going to try and film the next two in a way that it won’t have to be two and a half years between them. We’ll be able to bring them out sequentially a year apart.

Is Adamson attached to that project?

I think whoever actually directs the project will be under Andrew as sort of an overseer on the thing.

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CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN, THE – February 12, 2007 – Auckland, New Zealand & Prague, Czech Republic.

STORY: The film is about Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund, the Pevensie siblings are pulled back into the land of Narnia, where a thousand years have passed since they left. The children are once again enlisted to join the colorful creatures of Narnia in combating King Miraz, an evil villain who prevents the rightful Prince from ruling the land. (Posted: February 13, 2006. Revised: December 20, 2006)

DARK IS RISING, THE – February, 2007 – Romania.

STORY: The film is about Will Stanton, who discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is the last of the “Old Ones,” a group of immortal warriors who have dedicated their lives to fighting the forces of the Dark and he must undertake a difficult journey to defeat the evil powers that threaten the land. (Posted: December 21, 2006)

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I know it’s taken a long, long time to get back to you with news of the casting on Prince Caspian ? but it has been a terribly difficult process, and a very wide search. We are now sure that we have our Prince and wanted to thank you for becoming involved in the auditioning process and working with us. Have a very, very Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

Thanks again,

Pippa Hall

There is still no word as to who has been cast in the role, but we’ll know soon enough. As always, stay tuned to NarniaFans.com for all of the latest on Prince Caspian!

Gore Verbinski (“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”), Andrew Adamson (“Shrek” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”) and Stefen Fangmeier (“Eragon”) all arrived as helmers with effects backgrounds. Soon, visual effects supervisors John Dykstra and Eric Brevig will join them with their own films.

Dykstra, who has twin Oscars for his visual effects work on “Spider-Man 2″ and his legendary innovations on “Star Wars,” believes his experience helped develop some essential skills.

“Visual effects supervisors have experience moving large teams of creative artists toward one vision and taking an idea from a page into the physical world,” says Dykstra, who’s now directing “Tortoise and Hippo.” “So if you’ve done that, you already have an understanding of how it works and how to solve some of the problems that can come up.”

Producers agree visual effects knowledge gives directors an edge, especially on larger films involving lots of digital work.

“You can’t pull anything over on them,” says producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “They know what it takes to get the shot they want, and if something isn’t quite there yet, they know how to get it where it needs to be.”

Bruckheimer is now at work on “G-Force” with another former visual effects supervisor, Hoyt Yeatman, set to direct.

“They get the process right away, and they understand the costs involved,” says Chrissie England, president, Industrial Light & Magic. “When we were working with Gore on ‘Pirates,’ there wasn’t a ramp-up time because he understood the language of effects already.”

Some believe the biggest advantage is simply the company they kept while on the job. “I had a front-row seat to the problem-solving,” says Brevig, who is currently directing “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” “I was able to work with the best directors in the world and watch and see how they work and talk to them. I worked with everybody from James Cameron to Barry Sonnenfeld to Michael Bay. I was able to see how all those styles and techniques are used to make a great film.”

But there are adjustments to make when taking on the helmer’s title. “Basically, I went from the top of one smaller mountain to the valley of a much larger mountain,” Fangmeier says. “I made about one-quarter of what I made in visual effects, and it’s a tremendous pay cut, but it’s not about the money — it’s about the chance to really tell a story the way you see it.”

Still, Bruckheimer wouldn’t seek out a director just for their effects experience. “I had no idea Gore had an effects background,” says Bruckheimer. (Verbinski had worked as a digital compositor.) “We wanted him for ‘Pirates’ because he’s a great storyteller with a great visual style.”

Adamson agrees and says his success hinged on developing storytelling skills as he moved into directing. “The danger is to lean into the visual mastery you already have, but what you need are story and characters to make a great movie,” says Adamson, who is in pre-production on “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and also a producer on Dykstra’s project. “It’s kind of a cliche that it’s about storytelling and characters, but it’s a cliche for a reason: It’s a cliche because it’s true.”

[Variety.com ]

Columbia’s similarly themed fantasy fable aimed at family audiences pre-empted by one week Disney’s “Prince Caspian,” which had been slated for December 14, 2007. Both sweeping epics are produced by Walden Media and when left to open one week apart were perfectly poised to cannibalize one another’s 2007 Christmas boxoffice. The perceived threat to its family audience during the frame was enough to make Disney blink. (Sheigh Crabtree)