Figured I'd find out what the Kiwis were up to on the religion front, so I pointed my Mozilla browser at the New Zealand Herald. It turns out the paper has a ton of information on the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, to be directed by the country's own Andrew Adamson, and filmed in New Zealand and the Czech Republic. Learn about the cast, the animatronic reindeer, the imported pack of wolves, the plans for the sequel, and the controversy over why LW&W (published first but not first chronologically) should be shot first. Policy wonks can even learn about the effects of subsidies and local labor laws on the filming of the movie.

Missing thus far is much discussion of the religious aspects of the film. Hopefully we'll see more of this as production rolls along and the trailer is cut (the movie is slated for release in late 2005). I wanted to recommend a few good Lewis websites to tide readers over, but in my admittedly limited search, I couldn't find many that were both easy to navigate and valuable. Readers are invited to chime in.

Here's my one small contribution to discussion of LW&W: [major spoiler warning to those who have not read the book: DO NOT READ THE NEXT SENTENCE] I always assumed that Lewis, by having Aslan killed on a stone table with the ancient law written on it, was combining the cross with the tablets of the Ten Commandments. What do you all think of that?

[A footnote: Readers who don't like seeing nude images should avoid typing the word "Aslan" in Google's Images search.]