CHRONICLES of Narnia star Skandar Keynes says the Gold Coast is a scary place.

Keynes, who celebrated Halloween with cast and crew on Saturday at the Southport Bowls Club, tells CC the Gold Coast gives him the heebie jeebies.

That, and `evil pumpkins’.

But Keynes failed to give CC an explanation as to why he finds our town petrifying.

“I don’t know,” he says jokingly.

It certainly couldn’t be as scary as the witch who leads his character Edmund Pevensie astray in Narnia?

Keynes recently celebrated his 18th birthday party at Swingin’ Safari. He returns to the UK when filming wraps up on the Gold Coast in three weeks.

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Launched in 2008, Connect2earth, an online environmental community where you can tell the world why you care about the environment and why it should be protected is now entering a new phase.

The new service links you directly with friends and the world’s top environmental experts to discuss renewable energy, the species extinction crisis and climate change among other topics. You can debate, learn and share information by posting text, images, audio and video material and then follow the discussion live as it plays out on the web or on your mobile phone.

connect2earth community members, together with a jury of green experts, will then pick a winning contribution. The winner could win a trip to be part of an official delegation to the United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen later this year, or even get first-hand experience on a conservation project somewhere in the world.

Skandar is urging you to go www.connect2earth.org for your say in the future of our planet!

Teenager with Darwin link stars in Narnia films

ON SCREEN he’s the bad-boy traitor who sold out his siblings to the White Witch in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

In real life, Highbury schoolboy Skandar Keynes is a teenage Hollywood hearthrob and all-round over-achiever who counts Charles Darwin, economist John Maynard Keynes, politician Tony Benn and King Edward I among his ancestors.

Seventeen-year-old Skandar brought a touch of adventure to William Tyndale School in Islington on Wednesday when he presented a treasure chest to help children emulate some of his great-great-great grandfather Charles Darwin’s simpler experiments. Skandar, a former pupil of Thornhill Primary School in Barnsbury who now attends City of London School, is studying sciences at A-level. Speaking exclusively to the Tribune, he said: “I’m doing biology, chemistry, maths, further maths and history. When I was choosing I thought I enjoy sciences. They’re not something I can pick up on in the future like English literature.”
He is determined that filming – work on a third Narnia film starts in Australia in July – will not distract him from his studies. “It’s not too hard to focus on work,” he said. The visit to William Tyndale was arranged to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. He said: “My dad asked if I wanted to do this. I know a little about Darwin. I believe in everything he said. It wasn’t really stressed on me but I’ve been aware of it.”

The treasure chest, provided under a joint project between the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, contains stickers, a plant press, a mini-seed bank and other resources to help children take part in Kew’s Great Plant Hunt. William Tyndale is the only school in Islington to receive a treasure chest.
Headteacher Tanya Watson said: “The children absolutely loved it. For them it was a terrific chance to have a well-known child actor and direct descendant of Darwin visit. “Anything that makes science a more creative experience for children has got to be good. It’s about opening children’s minds even more, keeping awareness of the world around them and not just seeing science as a Key Stage 2 Sats paper.” Angela McFarlane, from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, said: “The project celebrates Darwin the scientist and shows children that, although he was a genius, the way he did science used simple techniques, looking carefully at what’s around him. “They can go out and do some of the things Darwin did. They can send the information they find to Kew. We’re going to be making the world’s largest collection of daisy seeds which our scientists at Kew will be experimenting on.”

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We have decided to put something together for Skandar’s birthday this year, and have gone with the idea of having a scrapbook filled with birthday messages from his fans which will then be sent to him. Visit the birthday section for further information and get involved!

IndieLondon have posted a new interview with Skandar and William:

Q. What were the challenges this time around?
Skandar Keynes: One of the biggest challenges was sort of the step up in the physical aspect of the shoot. I was quite unfortunate because in one of my stunts I was running and jumping off this rock and landing on a horse. But one time, at the very beginning of all this action, I missed the horse [laughs], so I had a busted heel. It wasn’t in a cast but it was really badly bruised and any time you put any weight on it, it hurt. So I had to do the rest of the battle sort of doped up on painkillers, which proved very problematic. It made it really difficult and made more of a challenge something that was already not a piece of cake.

Q. Do you find yourself being recognised a lot?
Skandar Keynes: Not really. I kind of feel that once we’re back in London and back in regular life, I just sort of get the bus and very occasionally this whole other role slips into my home life. Randomly people recognise me but even then it’s very minor. It’s not as if my life has been turned on its head and I can’t walk down the street unless I’m wearing dark sunglasses and a ninja kit.

Read the full article here

Video updates:

Some more pictures from the French Premiere have been added.

Rotten Tomatoes have published a wonderful new interview with Skandar:

I imagine you learnt a lot on the first film — when you came back for Caspian was it easier to get going? Were there fewer nerves?

SK: Yes, there are less nerves and it’s also great because on the first day of the first one you have to start establishing bonds with people. You’re young, not really experienced in the industry and you’re suddenly thrown into this group. The first day is kind-of daunting.

In this film it was so much easier because we walked straight back in and re-established these bonds that we already had. It was a relief and it was so relaxing. It just felt like we didn’t have to waste time with those sorts of things; we could get straight to work and we could really go forward to create a better film.

Read the full article here.

Skandar’s Official Site is now open! It features news from Skandar himself, interviews, pictures and a lot more, so go take a look! We are linked on the links page.

Lastly, many thanks to everyone who entered our competition to win a copy of the Prince Caspian Sountrack (all 153 of you!). We are pleased to announce that the winner selected at random is Rebecca from the USA. Congratulations!