Other Titles • The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) • The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe • The Chronicles of Narnia • more
Rounding out the Pevensie family is the family matriarch, played by New Zealand actress Judy McIntosh. It is she who must make the agonizing decision of sending her four children out to the country during the dangers of the London blitzkrieg. For McIntosh, a mother of three children herself, the small role was a very moving one, integral to the story’s impact. “Mrs. Pevensie is there to highlight the plight of these British evacuees during the War,” notes the actress. “I think she provides an opportunity to kick-start the film with an emotional impact. When she says goodbye at the train station, she gives the children the responsibility to go out and make those adult decisions that she would normally have made for them.”
Before Adamson led his film family into the magical world of Narnia, he cast two other key roles for the film’s opening in war-torn England—veteran New Zealand actress Elizabeth Hawthorne as Mrs. MacReady, the stern caretaker of the professor’s country home where the children are evacuated; and Best Supporting Actor Oscar® winner Jim Broadbent (“Iris,” “Moulin Rouge!,” “Gangs of New York”) as Prof. Kirke, whose home houses the magical wardrobe. With the human elements of the film in place, it was time to move into the magical realms of Narnia.
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