NEW YORK: It was an unseasonably warm night in New York City, and I found myself wandering the length of Times Square, under the ominous gaze of a giant P Diddy looming from a billboard above, pondering the existence of God — in film with talking animals.

Honestly, I could have sworn I’d spotted him several times that evening on screen — in the form of a great big lion who spoke in a wise Irish lilt, in a massive wave of fury, and even as little tinkly floaty things in a little girl’s dream.

I had just caught an advance screening of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian — the second film adaptation of CS Lewis’ series of adventures featuring the Pevensie siblings, and a rush of questions were swirling around in my head. Why was I seeing divine apparitions on celluloid? Was it some sort of sign? Why did the bad guys in the film sound Italian? Does God not like spaghetti? Will a pepperoni pizza with extra cheese send me straight to hell? Why are mid-western American tourists so fat? And why is that strange man in a trench coat following me? Is he ... Italian?

Suddenly, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue, I had an epiphany. Perhaps I was seeing God in Prince Caspian because there was so much hullabaloo about there being no God in The Golden Compass.

Maybe all that press about the faith-based marketing employed by the first Narnia flick (2005’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), the petitioning against the film adaptation of Philip Pullman’s Godless Compass, and subsequent failure of the movie in the US had impeded my ability to watch a Disney family film without imagining some sort of non-secular agenda.

Little did I know, as I bought a hotdog from a street vendor who looked just like Armin Mueller-Stahl in Eastern Promises, that the possible religious allegory was just one in a lengthy list of many allegations being lobbed at poor, misunderstood Prince Caspian, which includes one of its teen actors being accused of supporting eugenics and its titular star being involved in a torrid affair with Colin Firth.

Okay, it’s not as salacious as I’ve made it out to be. Broadway just brings out the drama queen in me.

THE BOYS

William Moseley was sitting quite comfortably at a group interview at Manhattan’s Mandarin Oriental hotel, proudly listing the numerous directors he’d like to work with.

Christopher Nolan, Guy Ritchie and Guillermo del Toro, rattled off the 21-year-old who plays Peter, the oldest of the Pevensie siblings. "I did actually meet (Del Toro). He was such a pleasant, nice man ... He was originally going to direct (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) but he didn't want to because of the Christian allegory of the film, and I kinda understand that."

Something his 16-year-old co-star Skandar Keynes (right) couldn't understand was how he’s been accused of backing up a terrible Nazi ideology. "I got this really weird request the other day about Darwin and about how I thought he was responsible for eugenics. And I was just like ... This is ridiculous!" he said.

Keynes, who plays Edmund Pevensie, is the great-great-great grandson of the famous scientist Charles Darwin. "(Nazi) ideas about the holocaust don't stem from Darwinism ... That’s an example of using a scientific theory to justify something that’s just un-justifiable," said Keynes.

The English actor comes from a respected family. His father, Randal Keynes, is a conservationist and author of Annie’s Box, which one journalist mentioned she thoroughly enjoyed reading.

"I haven't actually read it," said Keynes, with a laugh. "Your dad wrote that?" asked Moseley. "Yeah," replied Keynes. "Don’t act like you’ve read it."

THE GIRLS

Twelve-year-old Georgie Henley is playing with herself in full view of a table of journalists. Yes, the excited English lass can't help but show off her very own action figure.

"It's a good piece of machinery," said the actress who plays Lucy, the youngest of Narnia's Pevensie siblings, fiddling with her miniature plastic likeness. "Although I would make the dagger fit into the scabbard, maybe."

Henley is a gregarious little creature dressed in a bright red jacket and a sunny beaded flower necklace.

In direct contrast, 19-year-old Anna Popplewell is a picture of cool collectedness. On-screen as older sister Susan, Popplewell is attractive in a girl-next-door manner. In person, she’s a stunner with gorgeous blue eyes and pouty Jolie lips. Lips that recently had to engage in their first screen-kiss.

"It was a little bit daunting," said the Oxford student of her scene with Ben Barnes, the rising English star who plays Prince Caspian. "I'm not really into public displays of affection, and it was about as public as it could possibly be – there were 300 extras, a whole film crew and my surrogate brothers and sisters. I had to just get over it and get on with it."

"I think Susan could probably do a lot worse than Prince Caspian, anyway," she added with a smile.

THE PRINCE

"I had an interview with Colin Firth this morning who called you ‘irritatingly talented’," said a Swedish reporter.

"That is very sweet. He's the nicest man I think I’ve ever met in my life," replied Ben Barnes, Prince Caspian, himself. "Yeah, Colin and I are very much in love."

This illicit love affair between the two actors stems from the film they'd just shot together, Noel Coward’s Easy Virtue.

"I was completely in awe of him. I'm sure the reason he said ‘irritatingly’ is because I now phone him up all the time to ask for advice on everything," said Barnes of his screen dad. “And now when he writes me a text, he signs it 'Love, Daddy'."

Barnes, 26, is finding himself in good company these days. Besides starring in a film with Firth and riding high as the titular hero of the current Narnia blockbuster, he’s been cast as the lead in an upcoming adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray.

"It's just surreal. It's just weird," he said of the movie posters featuring his handsome mug plastered all over the world. "I can't really explain how it feels. The one on Sunset Boulevard is 10 stories high and that left me short of breath. I panicked a little bit. It should be kinda flattering and really cool, but actually it just made me nervous."

Barnes, who was starring in a West End production of The History Boys when he scored the Narnia role, is a different creature from the younger boys in the film. He's more thoughtful and seems less likely to start a brawl in a pub.

He was also wearing black underwear. Just thought you might like to know.

The son of a psychiatrist father and psychotherapist mother, has mesmerising dark eyes, perfect cheekbones, and breezy charisma. Chances are, Barnes is about to become a really big star. Not that he’s buying into his own hype, though.

"At the moment, I still think about roles in terms of scripts and storylines," he said when asked which directors he’d like to work with. "I don’t really feel like I’m in the position to kinda say (in a terribly affected accent): 'Oh, I’d love to work with Spielberg.' It sounds a bit pretentious and I don’t really feel like I’m in that place quite yet."

Pity no one prepped young Moseley on how to answer that same question gracefully. But maybe Broadway just brought out the drama queen in him.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian opens in theatres on Thursday. - TODAY/fa