Peter Jackson brought The Lord of the Rings to the cinema, Gore Verbinski brought the first Pirates of the Caribbean films and Chris Columbus took us to the magical halls of Hogwarts at the beginning of the millennium. biggest fantasy blockbuster of our time come from filmmakers whose names are at least familiar to fans.
But who is behind Narnia and – while we’re at it – Shrek?
Fantasy blockbuster genius: The same director is behind the first Shrek and Narnia films
Until recently, I would not have had an answer to this question. The closest I could get to the filmmakers was the studios in the background Narnia was Disney’s answer to the fantasy boom of the 2000s, while Shrek is, for me, the embodiment of the DreamWorks logo in animation.
But who actually sat in the director’s chair has? I couldn’t have said that. A quick look at the relevant film databases reveals: Andrew Adamson is the director who is the central theme of the first two Shrek films and who later accompanied the franchise as an executive producer.
Disney
Andrew Adamson (left) and production designer Roger Ford (right) on the set of Narnia
In 2005, he ventured into the live-action sector and brought the lavish Narnia film adaptation and its first sequel to the cinema. Just as with Shrek, he subsequently accompanied the series as an executive producer. This means that he is the director behind four of the most successful and influential Fantasy films in general.
The box office results of Adamson’s Shrek and Narnia films:
Numbers via Box Office Mojo .
After that, all doors should have been open to him in Hollywood. What followed, however, was not a great directing career. Adamson only returned to the director’s chair for two more films – the drama Mr. Pip and the 3D spectacle Cirque du Soleil: Dream Worlds. Both films were released in 2012.
Andrew Adamson has experienced the digital transformation of blockbuster cinema and shaped it with his films
Adamson was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1966 and had originally planned to become a Career as an architect However, due to a car accident, he missed the opportunity to enroll in university on time, according to Animation World Network. He then applied for a job in the field of computer animation.
Universal
Shrek 2 – The daring hero returns
After his first steps in the advertising industry, Abramson made his way to Hollywood via the fantasy film Toys (1992) and discovered that he had arrived there at exactly the right time: the dawn of computer animated effects in the blockbuster cinema, which has just been revolutionized by Jurassic Park and Terminator 2.
In the 1990s, he established himself in the VFX industry through his work on Batman Forever (1995), The Jury (1996) and Batman & Robin (1997) – all directed by Joel Schumacher – and eventually took over the Co-directed by ShrekThis experience later proved to be very helpful in the Narnia film adaptations.
Hardly any director was better prepared for the blockbuster cinema of the 2010s than Andrew Adamson
The rest is history, albeit a very short one. And that doesn’t let me go. Because Adamson was predestined for a successful blockbuster career in the 2010s. With his Shreks, he Milestones of animation film which have left a remarkable legacy from a pop culture perspective.
Add to that the handling of a complex CGI blockbuster production à la Narnia and even the entry into the 3D boom triggered by Avatar with his Cirque du Soleil film. Adamson had all the directing skillsthat a Hollywood studio could have wished for its next big event film.
Disney
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
However, apart from obligatory producer credits on the Shrek and Narnia films, his name never appears again in Hollywood – not even in background reports that could tell what became of himMost of the interviews with Adamson are from his time as an active filmmaker. After that, many question marks follow.
Shrek and Narnia: Now Andrew Adamson remembers the great cinema successes of his career
Maybe he has played through the cinema, maybe a long-prepared project never took off. Unfortunately, I have not found an answer to the question of what Adamson is doing today. The most revealing thing is a A stroll through his Instagram accountThere he shares holiday photos and memories of his films.
On the 15th anniversary of Narnia he wrote:
15 years ago today our little film grew up and went out into the world on its own. Such a labour of love with a wonderful family that found each other here. I am so happy that [unsere Umsetzung] people liked and so proud of this familyespecially those little Narnia creatures who have grown into wonderful young adults.
Universal
Shrek – The daring hero
At 20 years of Shrek, he was no less moved:
It is hard to believe that 20 years [seit dem Kinostart von Shrek] have passed. At the turn of the year 2000, I was in Guatemala with friends and wondered how my film would be received and/or whether the world would end because of the ‘Millennium Bug’. On New Year’s Eve 2020, I was stuck in New Zealand because another kind of ‘bug’ was causing trouble. It’s wonderful that after all this time, we are still smile, laugh and love So happy that these friends from 2000 and these two guys [Shrek und Esel] have remained in my life over the years.
He even heard the most bizarre of all Shrek stories: Al Pacino’s ogre-style smartphone casethat went viral two years ago. “That just made my day”writes Adamson on Instagram . However, he doesn’t seem to have any intention of returning to the fantasy world far, far away one day.
If you’re curious about Adamson’s films, you can stream almost all of them. Disney+ offers the Narnia films as a subscription. The rest (except for Mr. Pip) are available on Amazon Prime Video and Co. with various purchase and rental options.
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