Will the Golden Compass movie be spectacular?

It seems that fans of the His Dark Materials books have nothing to worry about. The movie version of their favorite series of books is well underway, and author Philip Pullman has given his nod of approval. "I think it`s going to be - at the very least - spectacular," Pulman said on his personal website, and when the author of the book you are making a movie of is giving you his nod of approval, you know you are on to something good.

Whenever an announcement is made that Hollywood is going to make another book-based movie, fans of that book are flushed by mixed emotions. On one hand: It's cool! You will see the book that you love so much being brought to life, and with all the insane amounts of money that Hollywood throws at these things, you know that at the very least you are in for something spectacular. Plus, you will find that your friends, that normally don't read books, and who look at you with a look of "here we go again" when you tell them how wonderful the book is, will suddenly be more interested in what you have to say when Hollywood has started bombarding them with their usual hype. But then there's the bad things...

A movie version of a book you have read can seriously mess with your own views of what the characters and the locations look like. I had read all the Harry Potter books before the movie came out, and had a very clear picture of how everything looked, but now, after having seen the movies several times, I cannot remember anything of what I thought Harry and friends should have looked like. And then there's always the chance that the movie will suck, that the heart will be ripped out and replaced with something that's more 'audience-friendly'. And if the movie does suck, there goes your chance of convincing your friends to also read those wonderful books.

However, several months into production, it looks like fans of His Dark Materials have nothing to worry about. "I can`t go on speaking in superlatives, but it all looks better than I would have thought possible," is Pullman's conclusion at the end of the set report on his website. He was amazed at what the Hollywood-wizards have come up with, and marvelled at how everything looked. "I can`t imagine a better cast, and the sets and costumes are just astounding."

As is par for the course when Hollywood-studios have a big money maker on their hands, they are still very reluctant when it comes to showing us anything. To be exact, we have one official picture from the movie, while there have been a handful of secretly taken pictures that don't really show that much. It's enough to drive a fan mad. What do the actors look like in their costumes? What are the daemons going to look like? Will Dakota Blue Richards be well cast for the role of Lyra? Who knows? Well, Pullman at least has a clue.

"There`s a long way to go yet. I know that people are curious to see the stars, and especially to see Dakota. You will, but not yet. It will all be worth the wait."

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Comments

[no-one]

the removal of the "church" from the plot due to the fear if backlash from the consevative christian community has severly dampend my opinion of this movie but as it is the purpose of making movies is to make money. it is a understandable move, but the fact is it twists the entire meaning of the story. That being said i have no doubts the the quality of the movie itself and the acting will be superb

[Patrick]

You know, as long as Philip Pullman says that he is happy with what they have done with the movie, it's fine by me. It's a shame if they indeed had to change things because of a fear of backlash, but I don't think we want to have a huge anti-hype against this movie. It's always difficult to choose between the integrity of the story and what makes a movie most accessible. Personally, I would never want the story to be altered in any way, but we all know what the people who make the big decisions want. Then again, I'll follow Pullman on this one.

[katie]

I want to know wether or not the concept of deamons is still in the film, since it played a massive part in the books. I would be rather dissapointed if they were not in the film?

[ScribbleKing]

Yes, the daemons will be in the film, luckily! So far, there haven't been any images released with any daemons in them, so we'll have to wait a little bit longer to see what they will look like. I'm very curious myself!

[Zmajrfi]

http://supergirlsex.info x

[hugh]

Removing essential plot elements from a film because of a possible "conservative christian backlash", eh? So much for artistic integrity. Put them back in, I say, and bring on the backlash - these god-botherers are only making themselves look ridiculous. It sometimes takes a brave artist to expose the inanity of their beliefs.

[Johnothan]

The movie looks amazing, doesn't look like they have missed anything except little things like the colour of Mrs Coulter's hair, but who cares about that?? lol. Roll on December!! : )