Greta Gerwig's 'Narnia: The Magician's Nephew' trailer reveals Meryl Streep as Aslan
Greta Gerwig's take on C.S. Lewis is finally out in the open, and it is, in the director's words, a punk rock multiverse. The first trailer for Narnia: The Magician's Nephew dropped Monday, revealing a modernized spin on the very first book in the Chronicles of Narnia — and confirming Meryl Streep as the voice of Aslan.
The clip opens with Beatrice Campbell's Polly Plummer and David McKenna's Digory Kirke wondering whether Digory's Uncle Andrew Ketterly has lost his mind, after a sheet is tugged off the famous wooden wardrobe in the Ketterly attic. "Sometimes, one story is the beginning of all others," says a voice that sounds like Ciarán Hinds.
Daniel Craig plays the eccentric Uncle Andrew, who insists he is a magician and hands the children golden rings. "See for yourself," he says, as the pair tumble into what the trailer calls "infinity worlds."
The mood flips when Digory touches a magical object he shouldn't. That summons Emma Mackey's Jadis, the White Witch, in silver sparkly eyeshadow and a metallic dress, brandishing her wand as Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" kicks in — the unmistakable punk rock energy Gerwig promised.
A lion born from cosmic dust
Carey Mulligan appears as Digory's mother Mabel, insisting that "magic, it's everywhere," while a winged horse carries the two kids off a cliff. The payoff arrives at the end: "Have you ever seen a world born?" Hinds' voice asks, as Aslan roars into existence out of cosmic dust.
The film lands in theaters February 12, then hits Netflix on April 2. Alongside Campbell, McKenna, Craig, Mackey, Mulligan and Hinds, the cast includes Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Denise Gough and Susan Wokoma.
Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt wrote the original score, with Seamus McGarvey on cinematography and Jacqueline Durran — Gerwig's longtime Barbie and Little Women collaborator — handling costumes.
