'Meryl Is Playing Jesus Christ?: Liam Neeson Reacts to Netflix's Aslan Casting

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Add legendary actor Liam Neeson to the list of people surprised to learn that Netflix cast Meryl Streep to voice Aslan in its new Narnia movie.

Millions of movie buffs know the Oscar nominee for his roles in "Schindler’s List" and the "Star Wars" franchise, while families of faith may recognize him best as the voice of Aslan in "The Chronicles of Narnia" trilogy —first in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (2005) and then in "Prince Caspian" (2008) and "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" (2010).

The Narnia story is based on C.S. Lewis’ classic book series, in which Aslan is a Christlike figure who sacrifices himself to save Edmund, a youngster in the story —but later rises from the dead.

This fall, Netflix and director Greta Gerwig unveiled the first trailer for "Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew," with Streep taking over as the voice of Aslan. The film opens in theaters Feb. 12.

Neeson learned of Streep’s casting during an interview with ScreenRant promoting his new action thriller, "The Mongoose."

“I was just curious,” reporter Liam Crowley told Neeson, “now that Narnia is back in the news cycle — we're getting a new interpretation next year — if you had a chance to check out the trailer and what it feels like to now have people revisiting that franchise on the big screen.”

“This is news to me,” Neeson responded, unaware of the Netflix film.

“Well, I'm grateful to be the one to break it to you,” Crowley responded. “Meryl Streep is taking on Aslan this time around.”

“Meryl is playing Jesus Christ?” Neeson asked, surprised.

“She is,” Crowley said.

Neeson, seemingly struggling for words, gave a diplomatic response.

“Well, if you're going to make Christ a lady, nobody better than Meryl,” Neeson said.

Gerwig has defended the choice of a female to voice Aslan.

“I wanted someone who was profound but not pretentious, who had gravitas but not morose self-seriousness,” she told Empire. “Someone who could communicate depth and pathos as well as joy and delight. I wanted someone who was older than 70, so there was a wisdom of experience, but who also had the capacity of fresh wonder, like a child. And also to be one of the greatest actors to ever do it. That list is not a long one.”

Despite Streep's casting, Aslan remains male in the Netflix film, according to Relevant, which cited a person involved in the production who had seen the movie.

Photo Credit: ©X.com/ScreenRant —ScreenGrab

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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