Jimmy Page said he was delighted to have Led Zeppelin’s signature track Stairway to Heaven appear in the new trailer for upcoming Narnia movie The Magician’s Nephew.
Set before the events of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the blockbuster version of CS Lewis’ fourth novel in the series stars Daniel Craig, Meryl Streep and others. The two-and-a-half minute trailer is backed with sections of the classic song throughout. Page and bandmate Robert Plant have alway been extremely cautious in allowing their music to be used.
“I had the privilege of meeting Greta Gerwig, a powerhouse in the world of cinema,” Page said via social media, referring to the movie’s writer and director. “She is a switched-on creative, as seen by way of Little Women, Lady Bird and Barbie, and the soon-to-be-released Narnia movie. I am thrilled that she chose Stairway to Heaven in the trailer for her film.”
Gerwig told Variety that she’d met Page and Plant and shown them an early cut of the movie in the hope of convincing them to grant usage rights. Describing her take on Narnia as “a world made out of music,” she said: “It’s an epic song, and narratively, about a spiritual journey, a path of fake idols and wrong roads you can go down. It made sense to introduce the world. I was so moved that they allowed me to use this song. They saw the heart and story of the film.”
The movie, which arrives on February 12, was also inspired by her love for the music of David Bowie, the Rolling Stones and Todd Rundgren. “I hope they laugh. I hope they cry. I hope they feel like they’ve been on an adventure,” Gerwig said of those who see her film. “I hope when they leave the theater, they want to make something – a song or a cake or a painting. Making something is an act of hope.”
![Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven (Live at Earl's Court 1975) [Official Video] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ly6ZhQVnVow/maxresdefault.jpg "Why Jimmy Page let Narnia movie director use Stairway to Heaven 19")
Plant was famously inspired by the writings of Lewis and his friend JRR Tolkien, with many Zeppelin songs making direct or indirect references to Narnia or Middle-earth. In 2022 he admitted: “I was developing all the time with what I felt and what I was surrounded by. Although sadly some of it was – there were maybe one or two too many, well, hobbits!”
In 2025 he told Stephen Colbert: “Tolkien was a master… he opened the door to all that sort of dark age meander of history,” recalling childhood journeys through the landscape that had inspired the writer.
