The Chronicles of Narnia II (movie)

In May 2008, Czech film audiences will have the opportunity to see the second film in The Chronicles of Narnia series – "Prince Caspian" (the first film – "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" premiered in Czech movie theaters in 2006). Not very many people may know that in the latest film, Prince Caspian's knights are wearing suits of armor that came from the workshops Czech armorers.

In commenting on the project, Petr Nůsek from the A.R.G.O. agency said, "I can relate to the story; and, I don't think I'm the only one. As a child, I often used to crawl into closets, wardrobes and boxes, hoping to come out and suddenly appear in a different world. What I "dig" the most about working on film projects is the initial stage when decisions are being made as to who will be in charge of what. Not everyone is asked to participate in the creative design area … I've gotten used to being tapped for this task and I've been enjoying it. After a couple of hours working together, the senior designer - Jessie - gave me a lot of creative freedom. It was a very enjoyable and inspiring collaboration. During the shooting of the movie, our work ended up padding through three different areas - armory, costumes and stunts."

The entire A.R.G.O. agency team did an incredibly good job in working on the project. The team often got so busy that there was hardly any time for taking breaks – for example, it took a group of twenty designers to create the decorative Narnian etchings used in the film. The team also participated in the training of the Czech stuntmen for the project. Three combatants from the Czech Association of Professional Swordsmen were awarded the contract for the action scenes in the movie and they will be appearing in the film's sword fighting segments. During the filming, the members of the A.R.G.O. team were inspired by stuntmen from New Zealand and they were able to learn a couple of new tricks involving the use of special stilts called "power-risers".

Karolína Martincová was able to successfully demonstrate her skills after being appointed into the position of being assistant to the head of the international armory department. Right now, she is probably the only Czech woman in this field with a similar amount of experience. Her job was to oversee the top armorers from throughout the Czech Republic who were working on the movie.

In the costume department, we worked together with the department's coordinator, Hanka Kučerová, with whom we had already worked previously on the shooting of the movie Tristan and Isolde. Thanks to Hanka, we also got a chance to work on samples of armor for Riddley Scott's project, "Kingdom of Heaven".

It didn't go unnoticed by the foreign management of the project that Petr Theimer wasn't just a first-class armorer but also an excellent swordsman. Thus, he was able to easily identify some of the shortcomings in the plastic armor supplied by our New Zealand competitor, Weta, and fix them, literally, over night. Because the designers from down under were often unable to fully respond to the requirement to have the moves in the combat scenes of the movie's main protagonists (Prince Caspian and others) appear as natural to the viewer, Petr was rewarded by his foreign colleagues with the opportunity to work with some of the latest materials, which were never before used in film making. (These were plastics that were used in the design of the space shuttle.)

Bonus footage for the movie's DVD release was shot at our primary location – Housa's Mill in Tábor. The moviemaking team was so fascinated by the history of the Hussites and the town of Tábor, that they considered the production of a special bonus feature with this theme.

And how did the local Czech production of the metal armor for the movie get handled? We coordinated the work of approximately ten workshops that were contracted by our agency to produce the chain mail and several hundred helmets, gauntlets and other pieces of armor that were used in the production.

Before the pieced produced were handed over to the stunt team, we professionally tested the equipment under realistic conditions. In this way, we were always able to immediately find out which armor designs made the movement of the stuntmen difficult and which designs made it easier to complete the stunts.

All in all, this was an extremely challenging project, because, while working on this project, we also of course had to attend to our regular projects for the agency's clients. These included the annual "Five-Petalled Rose Festival in Český Krumlov", the "Tábor Gatherings Festival" and other events. The agency was also able to get involved in several domestic film and theater production projects and our daily schedule therefore also included work on a ten-part TV series – "Calligraphy of the Heart"; the new Slovakian movie "Peace of the Soul"; the filming of an episode of the "Challenge" game show with Czech Television in Tábor; and, work on the Angelika musical in the Broadway Theater.

Come to see us at the cinema! more about The Chronicles of Narnia II Disney website, IMDB , Petr Nůsek A.R.G.O. at IMDB

Argo Agency provides movie and theatre with:

• Choreographies of fights from various historical eras, fighting preparation of the cast, fencing courses
• Extra cast (jugglers, dancers, fencers, horseback riders and so on)
• Consultant service in the field of history – costumes, warfare etc.
• Leasing of properties – weapons, torture chamber, tents, wagons, barrels, ship...
• Coordination of fighters, fencers and extra cast in battle scenes
• Safeguarding preparation of child actors for risky and fencing performances