'Narnia' director feeling confident

Andrew Adamson finally has some confidence in his filmmaking abilities. That's a really big career step for him.

The 41-year-old New Zealand native has had considerable experience in both visual effects and in animation.

And he did direct the first two "Shrek" animated hits before his work on "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe."

And yet even he admits that he was an unlikely choice of director for the first film in what Walt Disney Pictures was planning to be a successful movie franchise.

As he recalled, "I'm sure there were a lot of people wondering who this Andrew Adamson guy was and why Disney allowed him of all people to make this movie."

"And I was chief among them," Adamson added with a laugh.

But he must have done something right. That film wound up grossing nearly $300 million in the United States alone. That obviously helps explain why he's returned to direct and co-write the screenplay for its sequel, "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," which opens Friday.

"I'm back! And so are the Pevensie children," Adamson said from New York City. He was there helping to promote the new film.

The movies, based on author C.S. Lewis's seven-volume "Chronicles of Narnia" series, were long in development at Walt Disney Pictures, but none of those projects had gotten off the ground until the start of the 21st century.

According to Adamson, a few screenwriters and filmmakers had suggested they update the tale or make even more drastic changes in the story content.

"I think everyone was getting pretty frustrated and disheartened at that stage," he said.

Fortunately, Adamson was coming off the first "Shrek" success at the time and had his own pitch, which showed the producers how much he loved the material.

"They were the first really 'big' books that I ever read. To me they were perfect and needed no changes whatsoever," he said, suggesting that the clincher may have been his "nearly encyclopedia knowledge" of the books' events and characters.

Still, Adamson said he "was convinced that I had scared them off at first, because I was so obsessive."

Yet he wound up having a "blast" making the first movie and says he felt more "assured" making the follow-up, "Prince Caspian."