A Filipino Narnian Enters the Gresham Manor
February 23, 2006
ayen Cadd, a member of TPON and the one who portrayed one of the Witch's hags at the Trumpets Theatre Company's rendition of Narnia on stage, was given an opportunity to visit Douglas Gresham at his manor last January 31. Her personal account of the experience were as follows:
"AAaaaaaa! We were having dinner last Jan 31 at Rathvinden Manor with the Gresham's when the phone rang. Douglas went to the other room then came back saying, WE GOT NOMINATED FOR 3 AWARDS! Did I hear that right?! Was he talking about Oscar Nominations?! Aaaaaaaaa! My husband & I were actually with the Gresham's in their kitchen when they were informed of Narnia nominations! Wahoo! Out of this world!"
Okay, let me backtrack a bit. My husband & I had taken a 3-week trip to England when a friend of Steve's(my hubby) invited us to their new house in Northern Ireland. Steve immediately thought of visiting Douglas. We wasted no time & e-mailed him right away, saying we were in England & we're planning to fly to Ireland. He replied right back with an invitation to stay in their 16th Century 17-room Manor! Wow! Gladly, rather giddily, we obliged. We drove up to their town called Leichlinbridge in County Carlow. Past the iron gate, you could see several lamp posts & a stone small sculpture of a lion half-sitting, half-lying at the end of the driveway just before you reach the manor.
We were greeted by one of Douglas' son at the door with a humongous Irish wolf-hound by his side. He led us straight to the kitchen where everyone was having lunch. I found my hands holding a plate of hotmeal immediately. Now, that's hospitality! Whilst having our fill, we were introduced to the rest of the family (Douglas was out) & their occasional patient/client/people who go for counsel. Apparently, they have been running this program for quite some time now. Like a Starting Over house, you stay in their home for weeks to finish a counselling program. So they are so used to hosting & caring for people. After lunch & small talk, as Merrie (Douglas' wife) was leading us to our beautiful, very spacious room, my eyes were being called by pictures of Lewis everywhere, books, doors, rooms (feeling like Diggory wanting to explore the house already! Hihihi. I wanted to check out rooms, doors that could lead to somewhere, books or anything that was of Lewis. Just outside our bedroom, there was a picture of Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger & Douglas. Twas obviously during the filming of Shadowlands. We washed up & rested a bit. What can I say? A 16th-Cen Manor indeed! It doesn't get any better than that!:) Our bathroom had this spectacular view of the outside garden. Twas better than a hotel room. Thinking we have rested enough, Steve led me (as he has been there before) to their mini-library where all Lewis books were kept. They get copies of all Lewis books printed or yet to be printed as per agreement witht the C.S.Lewis foundation. I saw a book entitled "Jack's Life". It was written by Douglas himself, released only last Oct, 05.
Douglas finally appeared. He looked a bit tired, from being on the go ever since the film project started, I reckon. He was as always, sweet & warm. Asked about his Filipino family (that's what he calls the Trumpets people ever since we did LWW). He was leaving the next day for Virginia or Tokyo ( I forget ) & he wanted to catch up right away so we headed straight to his office & talked & talked. I asked him about his new book then he generously got one copy, wrote a dedication, signed it & gave it to us. I, of course, am tempted to not read the book, but frame it. Hahahahha. Oh, the book comes with a dvd of him being interviewed about living with Jack(Lewis). I haven't seen it yet. It is too precious to touch. Hahaha. It was hard concentrating on listening to him because behind him was his pc with behind-the-scenes pictures from the movie as his screensaver! I wanted to photograph them from my cellphone but that would be inappropriate.:)
Following are some of the things he said that I remember. Prince Caspian is definitely their next proj. It is in pre-prod now. Like Harry Potter, they have to use the same kids right away before they show drastic age difference already. They're not sure yet where to film because the kids & their parents don't want them missing school again for 8months, so New Z is out of the question. Unless they change their minds. Douglas is very happy with the turn-out of the movie that he said he will want to finish all the chronicles!!! And that would be his life's work from now on.
When we asked him when he was returning to Manila, he mentioned that TPON invited him to speak here. I jumped & excitedly said "I'm a member of that! Remember, I e-mailed you that I joined TPTS & then TPON?" I sounded like a giddy, teen-ager with her movie idol!
Then he went on to tell us the scenes that weren't in the book but were actually his ideas. Like the air raids in the beginning with the kids & mom running for safety. The goodbye at the train station scene, too. And the frozen waterfalls melting with Maugrim & the wolves & the beavers. Oh & he also insisted on including Father Christmas! And he didn't like the red suit or a commercialized version of St. Nick. Back in those days, he would've looked like that, he said. Did you ever know that he was up for the voice of Aslan, too? But they needed a name so, there yo go Liam. He was very impressed with Tilda's performance, though in the beginning, just by her looks, he was looking for another physical type. But he said in the end, it all worked out good! He loved working on the film 7 loved his team, esp his director.
Then we left Narnia already & talked about their wanting to leave Ireland for good to move to a warmer country. Then the dinner bell rang & that's when the Oscar Nomination call happened. That was the last of our meaty talk for he had to pack for his trip the next day. We spent the rest of the evening talking with Merrie, who is just a smart, funny & compassionate lady. And, beautiful! We stayed there for 2 nights and then left for Northern Ireland. Brief trip but well worth it.
We didn't have time to visit Lewis' birthplace/school& other sites in Belfast. There's always a next time. I have high hopes. Our hosts in Woking, England showed us a copy of a recent BBC feature on Lewis' life that had just aired last week of Jan. They did a nice take on the stroy-telling. It was in Jack's perspective. How he felt when his Mom died, when their Father abandoned them emotionally, how he hated his primary school, how Tolkien led him to finally accept & believe in God, how he fulfilled his vow to his best friend who died in the war by taking care of the guy's family, how he married & loved Joy, how he struggled with his faith because of Joy's death & how the writing of the Narnia Chronicles came about. i'm waiting for a copy of that show from our friend. For now, I have in my hands a book to read...