The Golden Compass - "His Dark Material" trilogy being filmed? (1 Viewer)

[TheLongshot]

Been a while since there was some news, but it looks like Chris Weitz is back on as director.
http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=23246
Jason

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Considering how many helmers have left because of "Creative Differences" I'm left severely fearing that New Line is going to bland the hell out of this.

 

[Adam_S]

Stoppards script was perfect, and a brilliant negotiation of the various blurry lines of religion the story requires without ever dumbing it down or overemphasizing it, that they threw it out because they needed it more bland makes me almost uninterested in the final films. It could have been so incredibly good, a better script than any Harry Potter or the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. It's very frustrating.

 

[Sean Laughter]

Was Weitz ever associated with the film while the Stoppard script was in contention? Maybe they could bring it back, at the very least I'd like to read it after I read the novels - yes, I still haven't gotten around to that yet, though they've been sitting on my shelf for a year.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Weitz wrote his own script, which Anand Tucker was to direct. So I'm guessing -- no.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

AICN has a whole slew of pictures up from the film. I think the look and feel of the universe is spot on. This image:

in particular perfectly captures what I imagined for the beginning of the book. That said, I always pictured Lyra as looking both more naturally refined and also less naturally groomed that the tyke they have playing her is. My only other concern is with Craig's hair. Lord Asriel needs a long flowing mane, not the closely cropped Bond cut. The biggest success is making a world that feels believably real. That's what sets the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potters apart from the Eragons.

 

[Adam_S]

i was playing on the website today.
Is there anyplace that reveals w what the alethiometer combinations are? there are 46656 possible ones.
Sigh where's the Leaky Cauldron equivalent for HDM to try them all and tell us how to access it? Or I suppose I could check the books for combinations, but I don't have my books with me.
I'm convinced, after those insanely awesome AICN pics I went from annoyed and 'maybe see', to 'want movie now!' now I just need to get my books shipped out to me.
that pic of Roger and Lyra, just wow. and the Lyra 'eye' picture, the two shot of her and Lee looks like a painting. uncanny how exciting this looks. This is the palatte and lighting I always sort of had painted in my head for Harry Potter.

 

[Phil Florian]

I loved the stills but I want to see finished ones...the ones that have to have the daemons in them. As I am currently re-reading the series this month, I am most looking forward to how they integrate these aspects of each person into the film. I assume it will be all CG critters, which is why none of these stills have any animals in them.

I was most excited about the Scoresby casting. Sam Eliott seems to be a cool addition to the team. He is a grounded sort of character actor, well versed in the Western genre, that will be a nice twist to all the fantasy stuff going on around them. I was excited to see Ian McShane in the cast list but who in god's name is Ragnar Sturlusson?? Is this a re-named Bear? His gravelly voice will be a welcome addition, too.
I was reading some stuff that the religious stuff hasn't been 'blanded' out but emphasis on "church" has been reduced by calling organizations by their names from the book, like Magisterium and Oblation Board and such. It avoids any real Church comparison. That said, the book works as a great rip-roaring adventure yarn, too. The witches, chases through Oxford, armored bears, gypsies, Tartars, magic, daemons, and so on. If they have a good director with a good eye and a fair hand with actors and story then I think we will be all right. Hopefully.

 

[Keith Mascarenhas]

Is there anyplace that reveals w what the alethiometer combinations are? there are 46656 possible ones.

Here you go:
candlestick, compass, globe
cauldron, thunderbolt, horse
walled garden, griffen, baby
chameleon, beehive, angel
bull, globe, cornucopia
dolphin, griffin, horse
horse, compass, beehive
Apparently New Line Cinema have released some footage:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/c...entryid=396184
This is actually looking to be half-decent and if those gorgeous stills are an indication of things, this movie could rock! I love the books, they're so much better than the very Blytony Harry Potter series, IMO.

 

[DavidPla]

Teaser is up
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplayli...&sdm=web&pt=rd
At first it looked like it was a preview for "The Hobbit".

 

[James_Kiang]

I liked the trailer. Now, they did only film The Golden Compass, right? So, unless this movie makes a decent amount of money, the rest of the trilogy could remain sight unseen?

 

[Ray H]

Haven't read the books, so I don't really know what to expect, but the trailer looked pretty good. Don't think the LOTR intro was necessary though.

 

[Adam_S]

excellent.

 

[Jose Martinez]

New trailer up:
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/theg...ml?showVideo=1
The Coca Cola bears get to kick some ass! Awesome!!!!

 

[James_Kiang]

Definitely looking forward to this one. According to Garth at Dark Horizons, they are adjusting the ending somewhat. They are going to end the movie before the end of the book so they can move that part to the second movie. I don't have a problem with that, though there is at this point no guarantee that we will see a second (or third) movie.

 

[Adam_S]

http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org/news...materials-fans
the link to the director discussing moving the ending.
they're going to try to compare this to the shelob move, but to me this is more like moving everything post cave troll to the beginning of Two Towers:
Mega spoilers:
correct me if I'm wrong (it's been about ten years since I read it) but don't the last three chapters contain the reversal of Asriel into the true villain, have Asriel kill Roger during the daemon castration scene in order to open the portal, have Asriel revealed as Lyra's father and have Lyra manage to thwart Asriel and escape into the other world? To me that IS the climax of the story, and every bit as devastating to lose as the sacrifice of Gandalf going missing from Fellowship.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The real reason from what I've heard is that New Line balked at such a downer of an ending. The only upside is that the real ending has been shot and is in the can. We'll see it intact at the beginning of Subtle Knife if it gets made or we'll see it in an extended cut DVD down the road if it doesn't.

 

[Adam_S]

it's so silly because the ending is what could make the film a major awards contender and box office smash and really cause the story/film to resonate with audiences. Otherwise you just have eragon with polar bears and better cinematography.

 

[Ray Chuang]

it's so silly because the ending is what could make the film a major awards contender and box office smash and really cause the story/film to resonate with audiences. Otherwise you just have eragon with polar bears and better cinematography.

I wonder has New Line shown a rough cut of the film--including the original ending--to test audiences? That could tell if we keep the original ending or not.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I wonder has New Line shown a rough cut of the film--including the original ending--to test audiences? That could tell if we keep the original ending or not.

The director already announced the change on the film's official site, so I think the decision has already been made. It's not really speculation at this point.