At the C.S. Lewis symposium in Montreat this week, Douglas Gresham (stepson of C.S. Lewis, co-producer of Narnia movies) said he fought to keep William Moseley on the list of actors being considered for High King Peter in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.William, he said, auditioned several times but “didn’t do very well because he was nervous.”

When Gresham heard William was going to be dropped, he told the casting department to keep him on the list.

I said, “just study how he behaves–how his mind works–while he’s [acting] and you’ll find he has huge strength of character.” And that young actor, I think, did King Peter extremely well in our movies. […] He can play King Peter for me anywhere, anytime. He’s a superb young man and I have the greatest respect for him. Douglas Gresham

Douglas Gresham has worked as a stage and voice actor. (Listen to his conversation with NarniaWeb about his wide-ranging life experiences)

Gresham was also asked about his favorite Narnia characters. His reply: “Reepicheep is one of my favorite characters. Absolutely. And, in the films we’ve made, he was one of my favorites among the actors too.” (It was not clear if he was referring to Eddie Izzard in Prince Caspian or Simon Pegg in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.)