Roar (Politely) for Aslan
Fan feedback is vital, because Netflix is currently gauging us. This is very intentional.
If you know anything about me, you know I love C.S. Lewis.
Also I used to work in Hollywood (full story here).
And due to those two facts, I can assure you, Netflix leaked this news about Meryl Streep voicing Aslan extremely intentionally, and in a specific order.
Netflix, first, allowed a leak of the news on April 1st to mitigate it, and see how viral the reaction went. Did it seem like a big joke to everyone? How much blowback was there on social media? Netflix then gauged that reaction, about a week later allowed one of the legit Hollywood magazines to partially confirm the casting. But that legit article went out of its way to be very vague… this was intentional.
Rest assured, someone very highly placed in Netflix really likes this casting choice and really wants to do it. However, someone else highly placed is very worried about it… so this is the strategy they have decided upon to gauge the damage to their multi-million dollar investment. This is where you come in.
First off, let’s be clear, Ms. Streep is an inimitable actress, and extremely talented and it would be a huge win for the Narnia project to have her involved in the Narnia project in any other capacity except for Aslan’s voice.
However, rather than shaking our fists at the air or raging against godless Hollywood, many Narnia fans are instead creating a letter-writing campaign, because in Hollywood if the ink isn’t dry it isn’t a done deal. Just look at the highly successful Sonic the Hedgehog franchise which abruptly changed its entire aesthetic due to early fan backlash, and thus earned themselves a very lucrative and beloved series of movies. Netflix may do the very same thing, but only IF they hear from us.
Again, from my time in LA I’m certain that Netflix leaked this on purpose to gauge the potential backlash to their investment. If you care about the Narnia movie then they tacitly want to hear from you. That’s what this gap in announcement and confirmation is all about.
Lots of very polite letters to Netflix are the best response to this very unorthodox casting announcement. Notice that Netflix has been very careful to not make it finalized or make any official statement one way of the other despite it being a national story. Netflix is not dumb, this is clearly intentional.
So if you’d like to (politely) roar for Aslan, here are the people to contact with your concern about the potential casting.
Again, be polite! Know that you will be doing Netflix a huge favor by this and loving your enemies because they will absolutely lose immense amounts of money if they continue on this path (the consensus among fans is nearly 100% universal concern about the casting choice, and alienating an entire fan base in one fell swoop has never-ever, not-once worked for Hollywood). So, strangely Netflix showing an immense amount of humility for a Hollywood production company by tacitly requesting feedback through their marked silence. This time, they actually do want to hear what you think.
But there is only a short window. Once the ink is dry on a contract, it is exponentially harder for any Hollywood studio to legally alter anything.
So if you’d like to give POLITE, RESPECTFUL feedback as to your casting concerns, here are the people to contact:
Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, Co-CEOs, and Reed Hastings, Chairman, Netflix
Hannah Minghella, Head of Animation and Live-Action Family Film
100 Winchester Circle
Los Gatos, CA 95032
Phone: (408) 540-3700
Website: www.netflix.com; Email: info@netflix.com
Netflix Public Relations
Emily Feingold (Vice President, Communications): efeingold@netflix.com
Sabryna Phillips (Director, Film Publicity): sphillips@netflix.com
NETFLIX
5808 Sunset Boulevard, 12th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90025Mark Gordon (Producer)
MARK GORDON PICTURES
12200 W Olympic Blvd, Ste 250 Los Angeles, CA 90064
Amy Pascal (Producer)
PASCAL PICTURES
100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608
Vincent Sieber (Producer)
MIDNIGHT ROAD ENTERTAINMENT
10866 Wilshire Blvd, 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90024
C.S. Lewis Company
Melvin Adams (Director of The C.S. Lewis Company)
Rachel Churchhill: rachelchurchill@narnia.com
THE C.S. LEWIS COMPANY LTD
Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London, NW1 3ER
You are making a good point here. I tend to be cynical about the project in general and I assume that even if they improve their casting of Aslan, I will still dislike their adaptation. In any case, we canceled our subscription (that we first set up almost 15 years before) because there wasn’t much left that we wanted to watch. I do love their Watership Down series and I find myself missing Puffin Rock from time to time, but we simply weren’t using the service much anymore.
Sharing, sharing, sharing this! Thanks Sam!!