Exclusive Interview by Jenny Halper

If sixteen-year-old actress Anna Popplewell could have one superhero power, she would want to fly. “That,” she says, “Or super-speedy archery.”

In “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Anna not only got to fly (on the back of the heroic lion Aslan), she also showed off newly honed archery skills in a pivotal battle sequence director Andrew Adamson (“Shrek”) filmed on New Zealand’s South Island.

Though the highly anticipated “Narnia” is undoubtedly the film that will thrust her into the spotlight, Anna is already a seasoned actress with “Girl With A Pearl Earring” and “Mansfield Park” (among others) under her belt. She recently took time to chat about playing Susan Pevensie, the second oldest of four siblings (Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Georgie Henley) who are transported from an ordinary wardrobe to the magical and frightening world of Narnia.

CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL: When I was on the set last fall, Andrew (Adamson) told us you and Georgie were the first to see the model Aslan. What was that like?

ANNA: It was really amazing, the first time we saw the model Aslan- most of Aslan is CGI- but on the set table they built an Aslan, which is really amazing, it looks like a real lion, and certainly it will onscreen. It was really helpful to see because it was built to scale and looked so real and was so impressive.

CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL: Had you worked with CGI before?

ANNA: I’d never worked with CGI before.

CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL: So this was the first time you had to act against creatures that weren’t there…

ANNA: It was interesting (laughs). It was a new experience, but everyone was really helpful. We tried all sorts of different ways, sometimes we had Andrew’s assistant stand in for eye line and read the lines, we used markers, we used pretty much everything. And it got easier.

CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL: Were there any scenes you particularly loved shooting?

ANNA: One of my favorite scenes is when we get to the beaver’s dam, which is one of the very few scenes where we had to laugh. There was a lot of running away and a lot of being scared; a lot of highly emotional scenes, so that was one of the few scenes where Andrew had to try and make us laugh. That was fun.

Probably the most difficult scene was the death one, but it was also really rewarding when we got that.

CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL: And the battle scene?

ANNA: It was crazy. (Laughs). It was really fun. It was different, because we’d spent four months in studio so being on location was new and it brought lots of challenges. The weather was difficult, we had to get the right light, and for William Moseley, who plays Peter) who did a lot of work in that scene, it was exhausting having to wait for the right weather and that sort of thing. But it was really fun to be outside, and it was really fun to shoot on such a large scale, the scenery’s amazing.

CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL: Was it your first time in New Zealand?

ANNA: Yeah, it was really fun. It was great to get to go to a new country and experience a new culture. The people are really nice, really laid back, and we had a great time.

CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL: I saw some pictures of Tilda Swinton as Jadis the White Witch, and she looked terrifying…

ANNA: Tilda’s amazing. She’s very, very warm as a person so it’s amazing to see her being transformed into someone so cold. I think I only have one scene with her, when she comes to Aslan’s camp. But on set when we were doing the shots she scared me. I was really scared of her. (Laughs). But as a person she’s really nice and it was really wonderful to work with her.

CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL: Did you read the books when you were growing up, and was Susan your favorite character?

ANNA: I read them when I was about seven, and then during the casting process I reread them. Certainly once I got the part I became biased towards Susan.

CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL: Were you a “Shrek” fan before working with Andrew?

ANNA: I saw the “Shrek” movies, and I was really excited to work with him, and andrew’s such a nice guy, he’s not just a genius, he’s nice genius, which is always wonderful to work with.

CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL: Of the actors playing the four Pevensie siblings, you were the most experienced. Did the other actors ask you for advice?

ANNA: No, not really. They didn’t need any of my help. (Laughs). And after a couple of weeks it was as though we’d all been onset forever. On a film set you learn from everyone around you, so it was more me learning from them than anything else.

CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL: When we spoke to Andrew he said you all really seemed like brothers and sisters.

ANNA: Yeah. We were all away from our families, spending a lot of time together in a sort of extreme situation. So we bonded very quickly. We did begin to feel like a mini-family. And William’s the oldest in his family, I’ve got two younger siblings, Skandar has a sister my age, and Georgie’s the youngest in her family, so it all kind of slipped into place.

“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” opens in December.