I just got updated by phone by a very enthusiastic Lord Asriel. Our beloved admin has had a great day at Shepperton Studios today, meeting with Chris Weitz and Dakota Blue Richards, and he's seen a huge lot of things.
First of all, he stressed to me that he's now 100% behind Dakota Blue Richards in every way. According to him and I quote: "Dakota's a prodigy, she's simply a stunning actress”.
He's seen the shooting of a scene from the end of The Golden Compass where Lyra says goodbye to Iorek. Dakota was talking to a simple square block that was supposed to be Iorek but still it was "heart wrenching" to look at.
He's also met Dakota's stunt double who's a multi-times Karate champion and “simply amazing”. Overall, Lord Asriel is now completely behind Dakota Blue Richards and even stressed it by saying: "I will personally permaban anyone who still criticises DBR after this". You have been warned.
After the auditions, Philip Pullman received a DVD with samples from 40 girls and New Line Cinema expected that they’d need one week to pick the right one from them. However, Philip Pullman responded within 48 hours that Lyra had to be one of two girls he picked, one of them obviously being Dakota Blue Richards.
Dakota told Lord Asriel that she found out about the auditions watching BBC Newsround, and that she wouldn’t have gone to them if it had rained. When asked about how she felt about working with stars like Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig she didn’t seem to have an answer prepared. She responded rather neutrally, but she’s obviously used to it by now.
Chris Weitz said to Lord Asriel that he’d like his dæmon to be a hawk or another cool animal but that “in reality she’s a sloth”. When asked about working with kids he said that the trick is to treat them in the same way as adults. This obviously works because Dakota is acting brilliantly. Chris Weitz also said that His Dark Materials are his favourite books, that he’s been a long-time fan and the he thinks of Philip Pullman as a genius.
Lord Asriel also quizzed Weitz about the numerous screenwriter and director changes. Weitz said that he initially left the project because he was “afraid to land in a place like this”, referring to the enormous green screen area they were standing in at the moment. About Tom Stoppard’s script he said that he always writes his own scripts and that he only saw Stoppard’s after he had written his own. New Line representatives on the other hand said that Stoppard’s script “simply didn’t work”. Overall, the story is still not quite told yet and it’s going to be interesting to see if we can recognise some of Stoppard’s characteristic touches.
Filming is still in progress at the moment, but they’re going to wrap it up this week. One interesting thing to note is that after Dakota was finished with shooting the scene, she was quickly ushered into a waiting car to go to “school”.
The press were also presented with a 10 minutes long, raw and unprocessed teaser trailer with footage of when Lyra meets Iorek. All the CGI was still missing so Iorek was simply a dot on screen, and dæmons were no more than coloured patches. Still, Dakota’s acting was very convincing and it’s almost unbelievable that a young girl with no previous experience can be this good.
The costumes and Lyra’s world is fantastic and not over the top. The fighting is beautifully choreographed and very tense. New Line is going to promote the movie with a huge campaign. They’re planning one movie for every two years (The Golden Compass December 2007, The Subtle Knife December 2009, The Amber Spyglass December 2011) and Inkheart movies in between (December 2008, December 2010).
All in all, this movie has all the makings to become a brilliant movie with tremendous success!
Lastly I’d like to mention that even though there’s no official merchandise yet, the film crew has His Dark Materials coats and caps. Be sure to keep your eyes open for the opportunity to win one of these rare items!
Update
Just adding, New Line has filmed the whole event but I'm not quite sure if we'll get the footage. A huge amount of photographs have been shot by a camera crew, we'll probably receive those pictures in a week or two.
Lord Asriel was also picked to be strapped to some wired stunt installation, and fly around like the witches do!
26 comments - Add yours
#1
Ahh! I'm so happy for him. It sounds amazing!
# January 23, 2007 21:31 by Abby
#2
that is so wonderful to hear! i am excited now! and i am very happy for LA
# January 23, 2007 21:35 by Bekster
#3
Very exciting! This just makes the wait for the movie that much more unbearable.
# January 23, 2007 22:05 by Miss_Parker
#4
"...like the Next Star Wars"
Wow. I'm amazed *__*
# January 23, 2007 22:44 by Francesco
#5
I am so pleased at the way this is coming. So many book adaptions have been screwed up, but finally they seem to be taking to right attitude to one.
# January 23, 2007 22:48 by Slughorn
#6
Oh my gosh! I'm even more excited now! I simply cannot wait! It would be awesome if we were able to see that trailer even if the CGI hasn't been put in.
# January 23, 2007 23:11 by Miss Bear
#7
Sounds brilliant!
# January 24, 2007 00:38 by Eulaca
#8
Awsome. I can't wait untill they release the footage. GOOD JOB, LA!!
# January 24, 2007 04:27 by Ondaeronge
#9
this is everything really great, but… 2011?! she will be 17 by that time! :| omg…
# January 24, 2007 04:29 by daemon_hadevir
#10
Lucky you!
# January 24, 2007 08:19 by anna11
#11
Awesome! :-)
# January 24, 2007 11:10 by Cephaler
#12
Haha, LA, witch.
# January 24, 2007 11:37 by Nagini
#13
wow, that sounds so amazing! what an extraordinary experience! lucky, lucky duck lol. thanks for sharing!
# January 24, 2007 13:31 by fbi_woman
#14
Cool.
Hope Weitz's enthusiasm leads to good story telling and not just a merchandising hype-aphon
# January 24, 2007 14:56 by iPad
#15
Great to hear. I must admit I was quite afraid because of DBR, I mean if she is a good actress. I`m glad to hear news like that !
# January 24, 2007 17:48 by Fran
#16
Congrats LA… lucky…
*grumbles
# January 24, 2007 22:46 by pommie
#17
" this is everything really great, but… 2011?! she will be 17 by that time! :| omg… "
Not true - they'll finish the filming probably late 2010 or very early 2011, so she'll only be 16. And that's barely much older than the Harry Potter crew will be relative to the movies if they make it all the way to the last one. As long as she doesn't get too ridiculously physically mature…
Anyway, sounds totally awesome! I'm so happy for LA, so happy they respect us, so happy to hear DBR is amazing, and so excited for the pictures and stuff!
# January 25, 2007 00:15 by JParry
#18
Also, if I were them I would follow the LoTR model and shoot the next two as soon as the first one is a hit. They can shoot all the actor scenes, especially the stuff that requires kids. Then they can do pick-ups, locations, and CGI over the next few years, as they release them every other year. That's by far the safest bet, in terms of aging.
# January 25, 2007 01:51 by JParry
#19
teh_AWESOMENESS!!! Especially meeting DBR and stuff. And who said we doubted her? All the people who hated her are the people who didn't get the part. :) Hopefully, they'll shoot it all before DBR grows too old—we'd hate to see some other Lyra after her, and LA's opinion and all. I only wish that the movies wouldn't be released so late—I don't like Inkheart, obviously, as I love HDM.
# January 25, 2007 02:00 by Asha
#20
Lucky Lord! I think they should follow the LOTR model too...They will not be children at all in the 2011!!Apart from this,seems that Weitz really love the project, and that's undoubtedly a good thing for all of us…
# January 25, 2007 16:07 by Lyrael
#21
They'll follow the LOTR model, I'm sure. The screenplay is supposedly already being written. Once they finalize it, it will be filmed immediately, and then begin on the third as quickly as they can. As said, it'll probably be 2009 or 2010 when all the scenes featuring the child characters are finished. They'll just hold off on releasing them. For editing, CGI, allowing anticipation/hype to build up, etc.
# January 25, 2007 22:28 by Optik
#22 Remember
Having the characters age might not be that bad.
Remember, quite some time passes from the beginning of [i]The Golden Compass[/i] to the end of [i]The Amber Spyglass[/i].
Also, Will en Lyra mature, their dæmons settle etc. Having them look older from movie to movie might not be that much of a bad idea.
# January 26, 2007 00:54 by Lord Asriel
#23 True
"Lord Asriel was also picked to be strapped to some wired stunt installation, and fly around like the witches do!"
Sweeet.
I'm so happy to hear all of this good news! I'll be going into college after TSK is made. :) I can't wait to see what they send :D
# January 26, 2007 01:52 by AryaAurora
#24 Well
It'll be interesting to see the B-roll of the flying ...
# January 26, 2007 16:40 by Lord Asriel
#25
So exiting to hear about!
Having the Lyra and Will aging a bit throughout the movies, could be good. They both goes from child to teenager, and, as Lord Asriel said, have they're dæmons settle.
Ofc, they cant be 17 years old, but 14 would not be a problem. Unless Lyra looks like a 12 year old girl in the last scene in The Golden Compass, to a 13 year old girl in the first scene of The Subtle Knife.
But I dont doubt that this movie is going to be great!
# January 26, 2007 17:25 by John Faa
#26
Oops, I've started a discussion very intersting, but over my will!I mean, it will be in some way easier to see Will and Lyra growing up both physically and psycologically, but...Still they're young in the "Golden Compass" too.By the way, if they are going to shoot all the scenes with the two in few years...No problem!As I said, I'm pretty optimist abot this movie…
# January 26, 2007 22:37 by Lyrael