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Well, with the new news today I think it's time for a new thread. There is now a good deal of debate over whether or not Will Poulter should return to play Eustace. I'm of the opinion that he is far too old, sadly, because I loved him in VDT. In SC, he's supposed to be about 9 years old. I'm ok with making him a little older, but not too old cause he's still in school. Will has changed from a boy to a man since VDT and just doesn't work for me as a kid anymore.

So, what do you all think? Keep Will Poulter or cast a new Eustace? And if you think a new Eustace should be cast, who do you have in mind?

The previous films have already messed up with the ages for the Pevensie's and with Caspian. Eustace in no way was perceived as 8 or 9 in VDT and I believe Will with the way he looks now can be passed as 15 or 16, still a school age. I already love Will Poulter as Eustace Scrubb and also as an actor that it'll be hard and sad for me to see or envision someone else in the role.

I would be fine with even an 18 year old Jill and Eustace. I've always imagined them as high-school, teen age.

...Does it really say 9 years old?

I agree that Will is a little too old to play Eustace now, for the reasons fantasia_kitty gave, and others.

I hereby renominate Asa Butterfield! He was one of the fancasting favorites before Will won the role. He isn't much younger than Will, but inlike Will, he hasn't gotten up to ten feet tall and grown out of his boyhood stage yet. He's also a freakishly good actor for a kid of his age.

Hmm, this is a tough one. I'm not sure that I'm as insistent on them staying the same age as in the book. As DJP said, the ages have already been pretty skewed when it comes to the Pevensies, and even Eustace. I had forgotten Eustace was 9 years old in the book... and he definitely was older than that in the movie version of VDT. If they're trying to pick up directly where VDT left off, I don't know if they'd make him younger, whether they recast or not. I do see that Will's basically grown up into a man, and so I'm not sure how well that would work out. Still, for continuity's sake I'd really like Will Poulter to continue, unless this is a total reboot type thing. Depends on what direction they take it.

If not, I can see Asa Butterfield as a good choice. Even so, he's getting older as well. I guess this all hinges on how old they decide to make Eustace, and what direction they take this film now that there's been so many changes since the last one.

Even so, he's getting older as well.

That's a good point, Mountie. We're still a few years away from filming....

It's hard to see someone else as Eustace, but then I thought the same about David Thwaites (BBC Eustace) and love Will Poulter in the role. I could get used to another Eustace. Whether that's Asa Butterfield, I don't know. I don't completely like his look. Perhaps if I saw him in a similar role to Eustace, I might like him better.

Will Moseley was 18 in LWW, and 20 in PC, I believe. He didn't look like 12 or 13 to be sure, but neither did he appear to be old enough to be distracting. At least not for me....

Thanks, EtJ!

EtJ wrote:Will Moseley was 18 in LWW, and 20 in PC, I believe. He didn't look like 12 or 13 to be sure, but neither did he appear to be old enough to be distracting. At least not for me....

Yeah, Will Moseley was another example I was going to bring up. I found it slightly distracting, I think, if I recall correctly, but I also really liked seeing him older. It felt more relevant to the age I was at the time. This is not to say that I don't relate to the books with the original, younger ages. I think the younger ages are really an integral part; they make the books seem so magical, and they're what attracted a five- or six-year-old me to the series in the first place. But I'm not sure it's completely realistic for me to expect the ages to remain the same. I'm torn between both viewpoints; there are so many different things to consider. I'm still trying to solidify my opinion on this, so I'm really on the fence about it.

I also just had a thought: it will completely depend on the target audience. If their target audience is teens/adults, they may opt for bumping up the ages a little bit in order to attract an older crowd.

Do I take Your Ladyship's meaning that a reboot, if that is what we get, could see the children at book-age at last? That IS an interesting thought....

Oh, wow, that's a nice title, thanks. One of the first times I've felt like Narnian royalty. (I presume you were talking to me, anyway... )

Mmhmm, yes, that's what I was thinking. They could do a reboot and make the children's ages younger, or they could do a reboot and keep the ages the same, or they could carry on where they left off and keep Will. A lot has changed since the last movies, so at this point, I feel like anything is possible.

I'll give you my verdict on Asa Butterfield after I watch Ender's Game...

But an interesting choice, yeah.

Hmmm.... Ender's Game. I'll have to see it now.

Asa would've been a good choice too. But now I'm not so sure for those of saying because he's younger. He is younger however he seems to be going through puberty very fast. He's like 15 now and already he's the same height as Will Poulter and obviously his voice is deeper then Will's.
Check out this interview of him this July. I can only imagine how taller he may be by next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqMd8PVwN4c

Edit: Also I probably shouldn't say this but I think he's too swoon and suave now to play Eustace. Perhaps a future Tirian in the making

From reading the books of VDT and SC, I understood Eustace and Jill to be about 12. As I posted a while ago on another thread, Lewis' description of Experiment House is much more like a modern English comprehensive school (ages 11 - 18) than a primary school (ages 5 - 11), and if Eustace and Jill were only 9 then Experiment House would be a primary school and the bullies would be only a year or so older than them. The only other possibility would be for Experiment House to be a preparatory or "prep" school (ages 8 - 13), but again, Lewis' description doesn't feel like that. Prep schools tend to be feeder schools into public schools (which in Britain are highly exclusive and expensive private schools, the exact opposite of "public schools" in the States), and as such tend to be very conservative, not the progressive approach of Experiment House.

On the other hand, I don't think it would work to make Eustace and Jill about 15 or 16 (and I think they should be the same age, not a Eustace who is 15 and a Jill who is 11). They have to be young enough to be bullied by older children. Granted, I was still being bullied at school when I was 16, but I was smaller than most 11-year-olds at the time and something of a freak. (It's paying off now, as I'm nearly 50 and look 35.)

So for that reason, as brilliant as I thought Will Poulter was, I don't see how he could return to play Eustace now. There's no way he can pass for 12 or 13. It would have to be a teenager.

As much as I loved Will Poulter in VDT, I think they should re-cast. The Chronicles of Narnia is about children going to a magical land, not twenty-somethings going to a magical land. For that reason alone, I think a re-casting would be a good idea. Staying true to the heart of Narnia is more important to me than continuity at this stage.

Another reason is that Eustace behaves very differently in SC. Yes, he's still Eustace and he still has relapses even in SC, but the bratty Eustace that Poulter played so well is no more.

Please recast. As much as I loved Poulter's acting, the age puts too much of an opening for a romance between Eustace and Jill. It'll offer too much room for the potential to veer from the book. I would much rather a new actor.

starkat wrote:Please recast. As much as I loved Poulter's acting, the age puts too much of an opening for a romance between Eustace and Jill.

I forgot about that!

It's hard to imagine a fantasy movie with two twentysomething leads of opposite genders, without any sort of romantic tension.