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Weitz Hopes To Make A Director's Cut

December 8, 2007 03:32 by Sachith Nilaweera

Tagged with The Golden Compass 13 comments

MTV reports that director Chris Weitz and cast members Daniel Craig and Eva Green are hoping that an extended version of the film will be made available on DVD. A couple of scenes cut out from the theatrical cut are mentioned including emphasis on the relationship between Serafina and Farder Coram and more time with the Gyptians. Weitz also suggests that a moment of the footage shot for the final three chapters of the books, which is to be destined to form the start of The Subtle Knife, could work as a teaser in the director's cut of The Golden Compass

'Golden Compass' Leftovers Pointing To A Potentially Packed Director's Cut

Filmmakers who adapt books into movies often run into a little problem: too much material to deal with. No less so than with "His Dark Materials," the first installment of which, "The Golden Compass," clocks in under two hours onscreen. But in case fans of the book find the film version a little rushed, don't despair — director Chris Weitz is hoping to make an extended version for the DVD.

"It's really a ride, the film we have now," Weitz said. "I think there's a longer version to be had which spends more time and breathes a bit more."

Much has already been made of the deleted scenes from the book's ending — the last three chapters were filmed but not included in the film version of "The Golden Compass." While that footage is still destined for the beginning of "The Subtle Knife," the second volume in the series, Weitz thinks a moment of it could work as a teaser in the director's cut of "Compass."

"We'll have to tell it," said Daniel Craig, who plays Lord Asriel. "There's only so much time in the movie, and it's an awfully big story to tell, but finding out what happens [in those scenes] is hugely important to the story. I'd like to see that happen, because that's where we learn what [Lord Asriel's] ambition is. He wants to expand the universe, and he doesn't care how he does it. That's his fault, that's where his faults are. And that's the bit where Lyra's world is turned upside down, so it's really just the beginning."

Also shot but not included in the theatrical release of "Compass" — and therefore available for inclusion in the extended version — is more back story relating to the love narrative between the witch Serafina and Farder Coram.

"She had a love affair 50 years ago," explained Eva Green, who plays Serafina, "when Farder Coram was 30-something. They had a child together, but the child died, and she had to go back to her world and become queen, while he just became an old man."

In the world of "The Golden Compass," witches live for hundreds of years, so while Farder Coram got old, she did not. So in the scene that was shot (but not used), she doesn't wish to remind him of their heartbreak when she visits the boat he's on, so she turns invisible for a moment.

"He can't see her, and it's painful for her too," Green said. "So when he goes up on deck, she disappears, and he can sense her, or at least he senses something, but he goes back under, and he's very sad. It makes her cry."

Green says she understands why the scene was cut from the film. "You can't have everything in a movie like that," she said. "You have to make sacrifices." But she's hopeful it'll be returned to a director's cut. "It's such a sad story," she said.

"There's a lot of those little kinds of detours along the way that didn't serve the movie or move the plot forward. There can't be that many more versions, like the X-rated version," Weitz joked, "but there are some aspects, like more time with the Gyptians, that can be brought out in a director's cut. It would be fun for the readers of the books."

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