Nina Gold, casting director for Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, faced a monumental task in identifying the two actors who could best portray Digory and Polly.
Children drive most of the action and emotion of the Narnia stories. Depicting that in print requires an exception imagination. Capturing that on film, however, requires actual children to capture your attention and your heart.
Whatever one thought of the early 2000s adaptations, the children leads captured much of what makes Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy such special characters. We need to see the wonder in Lucy’s eyes as she walks through the wardrobe for the first time.
Leading The Magician’s Nephew may be an even more daunting task. Digory has a mix of emotions and motivations, not the least of which is his ever-present worry that his mom is about to die. Polly doesn’t bear the same load, but she’s still key to drawing you into the story.
Speaking to Backstage, Gold opened up about her award-winning career and some upcoming projects, including Narnia.
You’ve built your career on finding undiscovered talent. Where do you like to look for fresh faces?
Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. Really, I mean, because I live in London, where there is a lot of theater, I go to the theater a lot. And I go to a lot of drama. We also have a lot of really incredible drama schools, and I go to them and see all the new people. I hold a lot of auditions, which involve bringing in new people all the time from just wherever we can get them. It’s so fascinating to see new people developing.
When casting Netflix’s “Narnia,” you asked kids to tell stories rather than perform scenes. What advice do you have for actors who are so focused on the “perfect” performance that they lose some of their authenticity?
It’s really hard, but as a child actor, you just have to bring what you’ve got. It’s not necessarily about having learned all the lines in one particular way. It’s about seeing different sides of a person and seeing what sort of potential they have, and the rest of it can possibly come later.
Also, it’s meant to be fun. If you’re a child actor, it really is supposed to be fun. Otherwise, what’s the point?
What specific traits or qualities were you looking for when casting the new “Narnia”?
We were looking for kids who could occupy the center of this gigantic story and keep you wanting to watch them, which is an incredibly big ask for children to bring enough acting talent and their own personality to the whole thing.
Gold is one of the top casting directors today. She has won multiple Emmy Awards for her television casting, including on Game of Thrones and The Crown. She was also nominated for the inaugural Academy Award for Best Casting earlier this year for Hamnet.
Her filmography includes Oscar-winning movies like Hamnet, Conclave, 1917, The Imitation Game, and The King’s Speech. She has also cast for blockbuster franchises, including Star Wars and Jurassic World, and hit kid movies like the Paddington franchise and Wonka. Currently, Gold is being trusted to find the next James Bond for that film franchise.
Perhaps more importantly to her work on The Magician’s Nephew, she cast for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader adaptation. On that film, she found the then relatively unknown Will Poulter for Eustace Scrubb. She has also recently worked with Noah Baumbach, Gerwig’s husband and frequent collaborator, on his film Jay Kelly.
For more:
From ‘Slow Horses’ to ‘Narnia’: Here’s What Casting Director Nina Gold Looks for in Actors — Backstage
Narnia Casting Director on Finding Digory and Polly for the Film’s “Gigantic Story” — NarniaWeb
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