Narnia producer found dead in New York apartment from 'drug overdose'
The producer behind the wildly successful Chronicles of Narnia film franchise was found dead in his apartment after an apparent drug overdose.
Perry Moore, 39, was found unconscious in the bathroom of his SoHo, Manhattan apartment by his partner Hunter Hill on Thursday morning.
The exact cause of death is unknown, but, according to sources, it appeared to be an overdose of prescription drug OxyContin - known as 'hillbilly heroin'.
Narnia: Perry Moore, left, poses for photos with the cast of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. He was executive producer, persuading Disney to fund the films
His father, Bill Moore, said he spoke with his son on Wednesday night.
He added: ‘He was in a great, great mood. No one was expecting this. We’re in shock.’
The producer also turned his hand to writing and directing with Hill.
The couple wrote and directed Lake City, starring Sissy Spacek and Rebecca Romijn, through their production company 66 Productions.
Suspected overdose: Perry Moore, left, was found dead by his partner, Hunter Hill, right, in the apartment they shared in SoHo, New York
In a recent interview Moore explained how he was given a copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to read as a boy.
He said: ‘I remember drawing out visions of the battle scenes with friends at school. There was simply nothing cooler.’
The Chronicles of Narnia series, which was based on the C.S. Lewis novels, grossed more than $1.5billion and is the 16th highest-grossing film series of all time. Moore was executive producer.
A post mortem to discover the exact cause of death is expected to take place next week.
Narnia: Tilda Swinton, pictured as the evil White Witch, in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Produced by Moore, it grossed $330m in 2006
His father added that his son was awaiting news on a new screenplay.
He said: ‘He was set to do some mighty good things. Parents are not meant to bury their children’
The doorman to the producer's building said: 'I was talking to him last night. He was such a sweet guy.
They're saying it was drugs, but I didn't know him to be that way.'
The 39-year-old had a career spanning all aspects of his industry.
He first approached the CS Lewis Estate in 2000 to begin negotiations for making the film - something the author was believed to be set against before his death in 1963.
But with advances in CGI and the successes of other fantasy films including Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Moore managed to persuade Lewis's stepson Douglas Gresham to sell the film rights.
Filming started in 2004 and Moore kept a diary of the process, culminating in the book The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe: Official Illustrated Movie Companion which became a bestseller.
The Narnia films have been incredibly successful
After Narnia, the avid surfer wrote his first novel, Heroes, a fantasy about an athletic gay high school student who develops super-hero powers.
Moore, who grew up in Virginia Beach and struggled to come out as gay in a deeply religious area, based the Heroes character on some of his own experiences.
In an interview in 2009 he explained: 'I thought I’d have to kill myself because I grew up going to church in the south and the pervasive message was that I had this terrible secret that I liked men and consequently I would go to hell for it and ruin my family’s life.
It was his mother, Nancy, who encouraged him to read books and comics - taking him to the local library twice a week as a child.
Before becoming a producer he even interned at the White House during Bill Clinton's administration, aged just 20.
As news of his untimely death broke social network websites became awash with tributes.
Comic book writer for Wonder Woman, Gail Simone, called Moore: 'One of the kindest, most generous men ever.'
An NYPD spokesman declined to speculate on whether Moore died from an overdose, saying this was something for the medical examiner to determine.
He added: 'Police arrived to the scene and the individual was unconscious.'
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