DragonEustace' thoughts

[Glumpuddle]

PC is, in my opinion, the least cinematic book in the series. The only book where I couldn't imagine how it could be a movie at all. VDT is certainly more cinematic, but it still has its challenges...

Eustace' transformation into a dragon is, for many fans, the most important and memorable part of VDT. Because it's a book, we are able to know DragonEustace' thoughts, and so we can see how he slowly becomes a different person. Internal struggles generally work much better in books than movies. They can be difficult to show visually.

The filmmakers faced a similar problem in LWW with Edmund's journey to the Witch's castle. Lewis wrote a lot about what was going through Edmund's mind. But in the movie, they only gave it about 10 seconds of screentime. There was no good way to show visually what Edmund was thinking. And I think that's why they added the bit where he sits on the Witch's throne. It shows what he wants. His siblings having been pushing him around, and now he has the chance to be king over them. That was a visual interpretation of Edmund's internal struggle in the book. In other words, it was good adaptation. They achieved essentially the same thing, but in a different way. A way that worked better for film.

Read through DragonEustace' internal struggle in the book. How can that be shown visually?

[Peepiceeka]

Hmmm...okay, let me think about this. After reading that part again, it seems to me that since almost immediately after Eustace realizes he's a dragon he yearns to be among humans again, the Dragon Eustace should have flashbacks if you know what I mean. Perhaps scenes of times when Caspian and the rest were sharing good times and he was being a sour puss.

Then he could look at his hands or other features and see how different he is from them now and what he missed. I love how in the book, Dragon Eustace cries and wails. That is one of the best elements that could be included in this scene.

The bracelet is a key part as well. While he's trying to regain himself, maybe if Eustace desperately attempted to rip it off his arm almost constantly, it would show the redemption just starting to take place.

[7chronicles]

Peepiceeka I agree the bracelet should be key to Eustace's thoughts. Maybe he should really admire the bracelet and enjoy puting it on his arm and then when he turns into a dragon he should hate the sight of it and do everyhing to rip it off his arm. I think another thing that is key to Eustace's thought's, is how Eustace interacts with Aslan. In LWW when Edmund is speaking with Aslan we don't need to hear the conversation to know that Edmund has changed. I think if they nail the scene between Aslan and Eustace, they nail Eustace's character transformation.

[twinimage]

I was thinking of this not long ago, when I was re-listening to the FOTF radio version of VDT. Personally, I doubt the will have his thoughts narrate the scene.
And what concerns me is, if they are having Eustace "attack" the ship as we've seen in recently confirmed in news, maybe we don't see the transformation? Maybe we don't know it's Eustace till after he attacks?
That would be the Hollywood way, wouldn't it?
Not to sound all negative, but I really don't know how they're going to adapt this part of the book.
In the book, we sort of see through Eustace's eyes. It could be like that in the movie and first person view then it shows what Eustace has become.... but his thoughts are so important. Could that carry over well, in CGI, if they choose not to literally let us hear his thoughts?
My guess is they will have him "attack" and then the audience finds out it's Eustace.... Which would be pretty lame, cause Eustace/dragon crying, after he wakes up, is one of the more memorable scenes!

- Twinimage

[Bother Eustace]

I don't really want to actually hear EustaceDragon's thoughts audibly; that doesn't work well in movies, at least not for me. It will be tough cinematography, but they'll have to find other ways to symbolize what he's going through. I'm not a filmmaker so I don't presume to be at all skilled in that sort of thing.

A thought has occured to me though, involving Reepicheep. In the book Reep spends many nights alone with EustaceDragon on the beach, keeping him company. Perhaps a scene or two where Reep is sort of having a one-sided conversation (sort of reading Eustace's facial expressions) could reveal how Eustace feels. Not only would this help us see what he's thinking, but I think the dynamic between the two characters in a scene like this would be awesome. What do ya'll think of that idea?

[7chronicles]

I like your idea Bother Eustace, I could see that working on screen. And it's great because you get two things done at once, find out what Eustace is thinking and the character development between Reep and Eustace.

[Pattertwigs Pal]

Personally, I think the way the BBC worked well. They allowed us to hear Eustace’s thoughts. (That technique is also used to some extent in theater when people have asides). I would prefer this method. However, if they don’t do that, I would like to see Eustace going in to the cave putting the bracelet and falling asleep. During his nap we can see what the others are doing (hopefully looking for him ). Then we can see DragonEustace running from the cave in a panic to the water, looking in, and then starting when he realizes he is the dragon. This should be filmed in such a way that the audience can clearly see the bracelet on his arm and can realize it is Eustace. Then, DragonEustace can get an evil look on his face and picture himself attacking the ship. I know I am really grasping at straws, but maybe that is the scene we saw them filming. Part of the reason Eustace ends up in the valley with the dragon is that in his panic at the thought of being left behind he is not careful enough about where he is going. DragonEustace still thinks the others might leave him, so he pictures them in the boat. Thus, he pictures himself flying at the boat to attack. However somewhere in his idea of what he is going to do, he realizes that he really doesn’t want to hurt them. He wants to be friends, but he realizes that they don’t understand that and will think him an enemy. He pictures them shooting at him (having not read the right books, he doesn’t realize that arrows are useless against dragons). He could also see pictures off himself being not "such a nice person as he had supposed." He then, “lift[s] up his voice and [weeps].” I hope that have him crying in a valley under the moon like in the book.

[icarus]

I'd usually be opposed to the use of devices such as narration and inner monologue, but in this case i think it might be the best course of action. To fully convey every aspect of the Eustace/Dragon character arc with absolutely no dialogue from Will Poulter would be very very difficult in my opinion. Not only do i think the entire section would suffer without the input of dialogue from Eustace, but i think it would be almost unworkable. Though if they could find a way to do the scene justice without the need for narration/inner monologue, then it would definitely be worth considering.

It will also be interesting to see what they do with the Eustace diary sections of the book as well, especially with regard to the later Dragon sections. If they have established the use of narration early on in the diary sections, then an inner monologue later on with the dragon sections won't seem so out of place. Again though, such devices are quite tricky to pull of, especially in non-contemporary movies where they can seem out of place, but it may be better than the alternatives in this instance.

[Eustace]

I would love to hear Eustace's thoughts. I always think it's a nice touch in movies when you can hear the people's thoughts and you know they are just thinking it. But if they didn't want to do this for some reason they could always have scenes like Eustace is gnawing on the bracelet and and it does a flashback, showing something mean he did to Lucy or something. Then we flashback to him and he is crying. Maybe also we could see scenes where he goes up to Caspian and Edmund while he is a dragon and brings a dead sheep to them or something to try to help.

[ceppault]

Had been wondering about this too, gP.

Subtitles for the dragon-ish grunts? Divergence from the book and he is a talking dragon?

In the book Reep spends many nights alone with EustaceDragon on the beach ... What do ya'll think of that idea?

I do kinda like this idea, Reepicheep speaking for Dragon Eustace.

It is not outside the realm of CGI that communication may be an expression of emotions in the face of the character. Pixar has demonstrated this many times over - emotion conveyed with no words being spoken. No clue how well this would work for Dragon Eustace, but I am open to this idea too.

[Aravanna]

I hate hearing people's thoughts in movies... a lot of the time it breaks my ability to "suspend reality" so I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

I honestly think that if they have the CGI Eustacedragon "over-act" when he first transform, then between the sympathy we feel for him when he's attacked by the oblivious crew, his treatment of the bracelet, and his nights with Reep should pull it off.

When Eustace first transforms, he could react with horror and bolt at the sight of his dragon claws, then start crying when reality sets in. We would know when he knew just by his expressions, which might be a little confusing, but not the end of the world. Some of the people who've never read the books might not pick up that Eustace actually thinks there are OTHER dragons, only think he's horrified, but that doesn't bother me that much.

Someone mentioned in the dragon video thread that the fact that Eustace is shot will draw lots of sympathy for him if he's just trying to get everyone's attention and not attack (which I believe is the case.)

And of course I love everyone's thoughts on the bracelet and Reep's night's will Eustace in this thread.

[fauntastic]

I really, really dislike hearing people's thoughts, and I'm not really a big fan of dreams or imaginations in movies, that aren't real. I really like Brother Eustace's idea of having Reepicheep almost translate how DragonEustace is feeling to the audience while keeping him company at night, I think that might work well.

[Liberty Hoffman]

hmmm.....this is a tough one......
I think that they should make it so you can hear Eustace's thoughts, but the dragon doesn't move its mouth. but we'll just have to wait and see what Mr. Apted chooses to do with this.....