The 2005 role Tilda Swinton has always wanted to reprise: “Let’s cross our fingers”
Tilda Swinton has appeared in many striking roles, her career beginning via a series of collaborations with one of Britain’s most idiosyncratic arthouse filmmakers, Derek Jarman. From this moment on, there was no doubt that the actor wouldn’t continue to appear in unique parts – it just seemed like she was wired that way.
While Swinton dipped her toes into the mainstream throughout her career, the characters she has continuously taken on have been anything but conventional. Just look at her appearance in Marvel’s Doctor Strange, in which she played a bald-headed androgynous monk.
More interesting are her roles in smaller movies, though, like the gender-bending Virginia Woolf adaptation Orlando or Tim Roth’s child abuse drama The War Zone, which demonstrate the true bravery of her talents.
At least Swinton does pick out fascinating roles when it comes to blockbusters, not succumbing to the cookie-cutter mould of Hollywood… In fact, she tends to bring her background in subversive cinema to these performances, like when she starred in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The Disney-produced movie was a two-and-a-half-hour-long adaptation of C S Lewis’ classic children’s book, and of course, Swinton was cast as Jadis, the White Witch – appearing frosty and decisively strange-looking, she entices the young Edmund with the offer of Turkish Delight, something that no doubt had a whole generation of children asking their parents to buy them some from the corner shop (it was never as appealing as the box of it she presented him in her snowy carriage).
Directed by Andrew Adamson, the 2005 movie was a huge success, becoming one of the most profitable films of the year… There are so many unforgettable characters in the film, from James McAvoy’s Mr Tumnus, a faun, to Liam Neeson’s God-like lion Aslan, but Swinton’s Jadis left a lasting impression on many viewers, precisely because she mastered that balance between charm and malevolence so well.
It’s a role that Swinton would love to reprise, with the actor writing on Reddit for an AMA in 2013, “I have always hoped that there would be the chance to make THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW.. the prequel to THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE – such a fantastic story.. the creation of Narnia and the Witch driving a coach and four horses around Victorian London at breakneck speed.. but no word as yet.. let’s cross our fingers..”
Sadly, it seems like her wish won’t be coming to fruition with the announcement of Greta Gerwig adapting the book into a high fantasy epic, set for release in 2027. With Charli XCX initially in talks to star as Jadis, the role has since been bagged by Sex Education actor Emma Mackey. Perhaps Swinton was simply too old to star as the White Witch in the prequel, which is set decades before the events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?
Still, it’s a shame that Swinton won’t get to step into the White Witch’s shoes again, because she’s such an iconic character from the movie – her sharp crown and white furs, which drape over a blue and white dress, which looks practically solid, serving as a pretty unforgettable vision of her icy power.
