Interview Round Table: Room 1
Sunday´s press events included a number of roundtable interviews and scattered HisDarkMaterials.org staff members to three different rooms. Along with Cittagazze.com, HisDarkMaterials.org has transcribed full interviews for each room. Transcripts will be added as they are completed.
Round Table schedule, Room 1:
Eva Green
Q: So what is it like to be a witch?
Eva: It's cool, you know, I feel like a little girl, you know- we all want to be a fairy or witch and it's quite mystical, it's fun.
Q: Did you get to fly? With a greenscreen behind it?
Eva: Yeah, it's quite tricky- it is very high above the ground and it goes very fast and it is very physical - you can think I'm just on a stick and pretending to fly- no, it's really... exercise. I also had to learn how to fire bows and kill people.
Q: Will we see more of you in the next books?
Eva: Yeah, she's much more important in the second one- you go into her world with all the witches and she has a relationship with Lee Scoresby- it's a more ambiguous and loving relationship between the two.
Q: My question kind of ties into that, because basically in the book, Northern Lights (The Golden Compass), Serafina has more screen-time in the end of the movie. Still, in the movie, you play a very important role and your tone is very much in there, especially with the narration in the beginning and the key scenes at the end- how did that appeal to you, having relatively little screentime but still maintaining that presence?
Eva: She's the narrator of the movie- she knows about the prophecy of which Lyra is a part, and when I read the script I thought "my god, that could be quite thankless" because it is quite tricky to tell the story and be a bit serious and I didn't want to say I'm too boring! *laughter* but she's a strong character, very powerful like an amazon, and she's like a mother with Lyra, and I really like the warmth and the generosity and she's more of a mother than Ms. Coulter.
Q: So you're more into the caring aspect than the fighting and killing aspect?
Eva: Yeah, I mean it's not really acting, you know? It's more getting fit, and it's cool, but acting-wise you don't have much to do.
Q: So what did you have to do to get fit, or are you just fit anyway?
Eva: I'm not very fit- I smoke a lot *laughter* I had to exercise with the stuntman- it's quite tricky; like a choreography- I had to fight tartars and if you do the wrong movement you've just f****d up, because you're going to get hit. So that was interesting for me to be an action lady for once.
Q: When you were a child, was it difficult to rebel because your parents were very lenient?
Eva: I've never had a crisis. I'm dark blonde, but I don't think it's a crisis to dye your hair! Q: Like blue?
Eva: No, I've decided to stop school quite early, but otherwise I've been quite wise- I haven't done anything crazy yet...
Q: There's always tomorrow!
HisDarkMaterials.org: You mentioned the flying thing and that you didn't f**k things up, and I tried the flying rig thing myself on the visit to Shepperton, and the worst part is the thing, when you're hanging there, if you make one wrong move you start spinning and you seriously mess up, you can't just correct yourself, it's like a ladder. So did it add a lot of stress to you, thinking you can totally mess this scene up, not something they can just correct with a little bit of imagery
Eva: Well, you have many takes, but it's just, it's quite easy when you have to fly flat and fast, it's more landing, because it's very high, and I had to land very quickly, so I felt like I was in a plane crash sometimes- it's all in the head, you have to be really focussed and calm.
Q: Were you actually in a lot of scenes with other people sort of bashing you or trying to bash you or was it sort of against a flatscreen?
Eva: All my partners were humans, so it was just the surroundings, the landscapes, that were greenscreened- I didn't know where I was looking at really, but it was good to have, actually- I didn't have to talk to a dæmon or a polar bear.
Q: How did it feel not to have your soul with you? Because in the book, you know, he makes an appearance- did you feel a bit soul-less?
Eva: Unlike other dæmons, a witches dæmon can fly a long way from her, so the dæmon, the goose, will appear in the second one, because in the book, actually, it's the dæmon who lands on the boat and gives the information, so...
Q: How's your day-to-day life changed since- obviously you're a lot more high-profile since the last couple of years- is there any obvious difference to you? Is it like a day or night thing or gradual?
Eva: It's, with the Bond machine, of course, more well known, but it's very difficult to get good materials, good scripts.
Q: Well, in terms of just walking around, are you hassled all the time?
Eva: No, not at all, I'm not really recognised- I'm having a complete normal life at the moment.
Q: Still in Paris?
Eva: I live in London.
Q: Since when?
Eva: 3 years.
Q: Before you did American Dreamers (The Dreamers) - that was your film debut, and you did a lot of stage work- you were kind of prepared when you went into film- when you were working with Dakota, here was a girl who's actually made *her* film debut with no background or no real sense of what that all was- did you take that into account when you were around her?
Eva: I was just amazed, you know- because she's actually very professional and she had busy days- you know, her days were broken up by school breaks, and a half- so we're having a break now, okay, she's going to school, she comes back, she's all fresh and focussed, and she's very excited, you know- she's very happy, she was very happy to be on set, and that's a great pleasure- it's not, you know, like "Oh God", sometimes you're a bit scared of not measuring up, and she was just very happy, so that was nice to see, because sometimes we forget that it's just playing.
Q: We just saw you in my hometown Hamburg, when we passed through a department store- I mean, not you, but the picture, you know, for the campaign for Dior. How would you describe playing this part? If you do the shooting, was it just being there?
Eva: It's quite good, because it's not completely natural- it's gothic, you know, gothic Cinderella.
Q: Is there a sense that you don't want to become too famous, 'cos you are in that wonderful place now where you're working but you're not mobbed- must be quite nice.
Eva: Yeah, I mean can you imagine being Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt- I don't know, but yeah, I'm very lucky, but I wish I could get more interesting scripts.
Q: If you get the wrong scripts, what is wrong with the scripts?
Eva: I don't know- cliché, femme fatale, you know...
Q: Can you name a few? :P
Q2: After Bond, did you get scripts that were better or worse, when people saw you- did they change for the better or did they change for the worse?
Eva: Scripts that I received?
Q: Instead of being a stereotyped femme fatale?
Eva: No, it was quite similar, you know, people liked typecast characters and after The Dreamers it was the sexy girl and that type of bullshit, but you know, I just did a movie called Franklyn, and it's very different from what I've done before- I play two characters, one is quite tormented and mad and schizophrenic- she's a bit like Tracy Emin, East -end accent, and then I played another character- red hair, very happy, full of life, and...
Q: Are you going out of your way to make sure people don't put you in a stereotype?
Eva: That would be boring!
Q: What would your daemon be settled as? Or would you rather not think like that because you'd have to commit yourself to a certain set of personality traits?
Eva: You mean, as an actor?
Q: Yeah, as a person- what do you think your dæmon would be?
Eva: I don't know- I think it would change a lot- it depends on your mood and I think I would be more like in the movie- a child, you know, it depends- I can be very angry, so I could be a tiger! I could be completely stupid, so it could be a fish or a frog...
Q: Living in London for a year- what changed you? Did you become more aware of something? Did your interest change?
Eva: There are a lot of galleries that inspire me- I am between Paris and London- my family's in Paris, I travel a lot between the two- I feel more free here, because it's new and I have friends and I have a home and it's not too close to my parents...
Q: Is it work that keeps you here?
Eva: It's work- there's more work here. It's really the good middle between the centre of Europe, then America, and a lot of people come to London to cast.
Q: Usually if you change cities it's a laugh but for you it was okay?
Eva: No, I don't have a British boyfriend.
Q: Are you interested in the British stage?
Eva: I would love to do My Fair Lady, the musical. I did some scenes when I was in drama school, you know, it's quite cool.
Q: Are you a singer?
Eva: Yes, that- I like when she's cockney and she's quite rough-
Q: Like Dakota at the beginning of the film- she's trying to speak like a cockney at the beginning of the film.
Eva: She's not really cockney.
Q: A British accent! But do you think that moving to London- HDM is much more well known- there's a sense of cultural property, whereas in France, HDM isn't very well known. How do you feel? Do you carry that load with you, as in "this is really a big project"?
Eva: Yeah, Before the movie I'd never heard of HDM, so I don't know- I've had a lot of things about the religious thing- a lot of people getting upset, I don't know. It's beyond me, really - it's not really anti-Christian, and people that bored, they're trying to make a fuss about nothing, really.
Q: What do you guys do in your spare time?
Eva: Listening to music having some red wine, seeing some friends.
Q: What kind of music?
Eva: I don't know, classical music...
Q: Golden Compass soundtrack!
Eva: Do I like it?
Q: Yeah
Eva: Yeah.
Q: I mean, do you think that you- does it look like looks might be an obstacle sometimes, because, without making any comparisons, James Bond, you had to performance visually in a way to be accepted as an actor? You have to ugly yourself up.
Eva: Okay, I will.
Q: Well, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Nicole- a lot of them have had to do that.
Eva: Yeah, well, maybe for the Oscars!
Dakota Blue Richards
Q: So we heard about the swear box? How much money was in it when it ended?
Dakota: Um, really, it should have been about £200, but it was about a hundred-and-something, 'cos Daniel still owes me money! He says he's on the tab.
Q: Did you pay any money into it?
Dakota: No!
Q: Your colleagues talked about you being torn between the movie and going to school between breaks. What gave you the confidence to do a movie that rests on your shoulders?
Dakota: Umm, I don't know- it just kind of came. I mean, I don't think there's really anything that can prepare you for something as big as this, but you just have to kind of find a way around it.
Q: How did it feel to do? I know that I spoke to you and you found it weird you had to talk to all these puppets, you had to hug these polystyrene blocks- how does it feel actually seeing it on screen?
Dakota: I haven't seen it yet. The first time I see it will be on Tuesday.
Q: In the theatre?
Dakota: They asked us if we wanted to see it, and we said no, because I mean, it would be kind of more special to see it at the premiere because my friends will be there as well.
Q: How was the audition? Was it frightening, were you eager?
Dakota: I was nervous, but I didn't think I was as nervous as I could have been, because, I mean, of course I didn't expect to get the part- I didn't go into the audition thinking "I'm going to get it", and so I wasn't as nervous as maybe some of the other people were.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about working with Nicole, 'cos you had some pretty tough things with her?
Dakota: Yeah, it was actually very easy to work with Nicole, because she acts it so well, so that if she's playing scary, then she actually is scary, and so that's a lot easier for me to react to her.
Q: What about Daniel? You have to get along with him also, I mean you're playing to get along very well- what was it like?
Dakota: I hadn't seen anything which he had been in before- the Bond film hadn't come out yet, and a lot of the films he'd done were a bit adult for me- and so I hadn't seen him in anything before.
Q: What do your friends at school think of this?
Dakota: They think it's really cool- as far as I know they're all really happy for me.
Q: So it's not that you are bullied or, you know, because you are a star now?
Dakota: No, I haven't been bullied for it.
Q: How about the book? Well, you were 11/12 when you got the part. Did you leave it because it was a challenge?
Dakota: My mum read the book to me when I was about 9, and yes, I was 11 when I first auditioned and trailed when we were shooting, and it was a bit confusing at first, because there's such depth to the book that obviously as a 9 year old I couldn't understand all of it. So to me, it was kind of sweet, kind of children's story about a girl trying to look for their friend and there're loads of cool characters. And then I saw the play, and that kind of helped me understand it a bit more, and we re-read the first book before actually starting shooting.
Q: When Chris suggested you, did he guide you on the journey?
Dakota: Of course, he directed me, but I don't know- there's nothing really that can prepare you for anything like that- it's such a big-scale thing- to go from never having acted before to playing such a big role, I mean, it's very hard to get used to. Chris did help a lot with getting to understand how everything works and helping me and understand Lyra and stuff. But there's only so much anybody could have done.
Q: What do you think of Lyra? Would you be friends with her?
Dakota: If she was a real person? I think, kind of we're too similar in the way that we're both opinionated- we would clash. I mean, I love playing her because I see quite a lot of her in myself, but I don't think we could ever really be friends.
Q: Were you a rebellious person yourself?
Dakota: Not so much rebellious- it's just- Lyra likes to talk a lot, and I do as well, possibly more than I should, and you know, we're both very inquisitive, and I think to be honest we'd both get on each other's nerves, because if you notice a lot of Lyra's friends (and I'm not saying this about my friends)- a lot of Lyra's friends are very gullible and they believe her when she tells her tall tales, and they look up to her, whereas I don't think I'm as gullible as Roger, I don't see much of him in myself. And that could kind of be a bit of a problem.
Q: What are the advantages of staying all day in your hotel where people from around the world ask you questions? Has it been a strange experience?
Dakota: It has, it is still. I think it will be with anything like this, it's really strange.
Q: What helps you staying grounded- I mean you're so young, there must be times when you think you're a movie star- there must be something that keeps you focused and keeps your feet on the ground?
Dakota: I think the fact that I have my friends around me, and I mean, my friends do like to take the mickey out of me, and I've got my mum as well- she's very good at keeping me quiet.
Q: Have you got any scenes from when you read the book or the stageplay that you thought "I'd really like to play that scene"?
Dakota: None that I can particularly remember, just all of it- just Lyra.
Q: What do you like about acting?
Dakota: I like the fact that you get such liberties- you can do anything, and yet it's not going to be you doing anything, it's your character, and you never really have to feel embarrassed, because it's not you.
Q: The likelihood is that they are going to make films 2 and 3, which you know about and Chris talked about- you going all the way through. Are you aware that it's quite a big thing to take on- are you nervous about that- is there anything as a young child, sort of in the middle of growing up and in school, it's going to take a chunk out of that, isn't it?
Dakota: I hope it won't affect my normal life too much, because whenever I'm not working I do just go back to school and I am a normal child, and I hope it doesn't affect that part of my life too drastically- although this is fun I do want to just be a normal child as well and I don't want the people at school to see me anything different to who I am.
Q: What do you like doing? Are you into sports?
Dakota: I don't know... I like, kind of singing and dancing, stuff like that- just generally messing around with my friends.
Q: Do you have any favourite bands?
Dakota: One of the bands I like at the moment is called The Output- they're quite new, and I like Kate Nash as well, Plain White T's... People like that.
Q: Were you a little bit intimidated meeting Nicole Kidman? 'Cos she's obviously a big star, you've probably seen her in something.
Dakota: Yeah, of course, I mean it's very nerve-wracking to meet people who you have seen in things before, and you're not really sure what you're going to find from them, what they're going to be like- you've seen people like acting as characters, and you then think they are like their character, which can be very misleading, like if you saw Nicole in something like this, then you'd instantly think she was very creepy and strange and just nasty, very two-faced, and I mean it's very misleading. All of the crew and all of the cast were really lovely, and there's really nothing to fear about new people.
Q: You spend a lot of time on the screen with Iorek and Pan- how hard was it to imagine what the final thing was going to look like?
Dakota: No, I didn't- that was the part that made it so difficult- we have the green sack and the person reading the voice- other than the voice, you really have nothing to go on. I mean, if you knew what it was going to look like, then it would be fine, because you can kind of imagine it and react from that, but otherwise, there's nothing.
Q: So was Ian McKellan there when you were doing the scene?
Dakota: No, there's lots of big scenes with Iorek and stuff and I've never met Ian McKellan.
Q: What about Freddie Highmore?
Dakota: Yes, I've met him. But no, we had none of them in doing the voice of the bear on set.
Q: I heard in the next part there will be some romance involved- are you looking forward to that- is it embarrassing?
Dakota: Of course, there is that, and then there's also my friends who are going to kill me. It really all depends who it is.
Q: We all remember the Harry Potter thing with Daniel Radcliffe, with there was so much into his first kiss- there may be quite a bit of that before the film, promoting the film on that. Does that make you nervous at all?
Dakota: In some ways, yes, and in some ways, no. I think that it is a strange thing to think about and it is kind of very uncomfortable, but no, I'm hoping that they don't sell the second film based on that *laughter*
Q: What was the best moment during production? Was there a certain scene or certain production that you had so much fun?
Dakota: The scene in Bolvangar- the whole sequence was my favourite bit to shoot- it was just really fun.
Q: Well, you got to work with a lot of people again, instead of just having to talk to some kind of puppet?
Dakota: Yes.
Q: The scene where they were trying to sever pan apart from you, that looked terrifying- was it as scary as it looked?
Dakota: No, the funny thing was I was actually on a bit of a sugar high that day, and so I was kind of trying to channel my giggly hyperishness into screaming and crying and I think that did help, but I don't know- I don't think they shot any behind the scenes stuff on that day.
Q: I'd love to see that.
Dakota: I was just sitting there and I'd probably just say something...
Q: Did you see Daniel Radcliffe as a sort of strength- a brother in spirit, so to speak- do you watch what he's doing?
Dakota: I don't know, I guess so- yes, we do share that, but I don't think I really know him well enough to think of him that way.
Daniel Craig
Q: So I heard there was a swear box on the set, that you had to pay for every time you swear.
Daniel Craig: Worth the money. Every penny. Cost me a lot of money, but it was good.
Q: How much did you have to pay?
Daniel Craig: I don't know.. I mean, a small fortune. It became a bit of a joke after a while, but I just um, you know. Sometimes you'd be on set and you wouldn't know it that's the trouble. And then you'd just say "It's another pound!". [laughter]
Q: What was it usually? Was it f- or what? [laughter]
Daniel Craig: Please! Please! Let's say we lower the tone!
Q: What was it like working with the children?
Daniel Craig: I find it, you know, I get a kick out of it, because... You've got to work very hard and you've got to try and keep them enthused because it's a long day and their energy levels go down. But Dakota learned very quickly... and I teased her all the time you know, just to try to keep her energy levels going so that we can bounce off each other a bit. It was a real pleasure, I don't see where the problem lies really. It's quite easy, just watch them.
HisDarkMaterials.org: Did being such a fan of the books, and I'm sure also of the character, help you or hinder you sometimes?
Daniel Craig: No, no. If you read the books, the back story of Lord Asriel and everybody, it's all very clearly set out, so in fact that was my starting point, that's how I got into it, that's the reason I wanted to do the film anyway.
Q: [inaudible] Was there any kind of reluctance to take the part since Asriel has so little screen time?
Daniel Craig: It didn't bother me at all... I mean, it sounds like I've got some sort of grand plan, but I didn't- it just literally was a happy accident that it came up. The film's not about me-
Q: [interrupts] They'll look for you in the next film though?
Daniel Craig: Yes I may well be in the next one, because we've left a lot of the story untold, so we have to. But I'm not the star of these movies; Dakota is the star of these movies, and the animals that star in these movies...
Q: [interrupts] Is there a time frame?
Daniel Craig: Well if we can squeeze it in, we'll do it. This is one film, I've done three films this year, including this, so it's finding time to do things.
Q: Is part of the reason why you did this movie is because your daughter can see it?
Daniel Craig: Not really, no. She comes to see a few of my films, but that wasn't a binding reason.
Q: Does she have any preferences though? Like, 'I don't like Bond I like THIS better...'?
Daniel Craig: That's a conversation between me and her. I'd rather keep my daughter out of any questions, that nobody's business except mine and hers.
Q: The dæmons play a huge part in the film, how much of a challenge was it to work with them?
Daniel Craig: Well I was lucky, my dæmon was a snow leopard, and as long as we left enough space, then, well that does the talking... Nicole had much more to do, she's got to interact with it, she had to have, as Dakota had to do, is a green blob, that you kind of, have to, you know, do things with. But I kind lucked out really, it just follows me around and sits down and purrs, and Kristin Scott Thomas did the voice for it so it sort of, enough said really, it was just, simple.
Q: Being a fan of the books, was there a particular scene or character you were really looking forward to seeing on the big screen?
Daniel Craig: Well, in the books, the bears is going to be the obvious answer, and I think that they're, they're, well when I saw it the other day, when I saw it projected for the first time with the soundtrack and special effects, I got a big thrill out of seeing the bear fight. You know, the state of the technology has only really just happened- the movie couldn't have been made five years ago. And if we do go again, then there another two movies to be made out of this, and it has to just get better and better. If you look at Pantalaimon, who is Lyra's dæmon, I mean, the characterization is fantastic, that's what makes the movie really stand out.
Q: Are you comfortable now with your level of fame, since Bond and the whole sex symbol, image...
Daniel Craig: I live with it. [laughter...] It didn't last very long...
Q: Did you have a sense of humor about it?
Daniel Craig: [sarcastic] No I was very, very serious about it. [laughter] And I'm having therapy. But no, it's fine really, it's a fickle business, so I don't take it too seriously.
Q: Is there a list that you would like to be number one on? I mean, if you don't care about the other lists, like being sexiest man and everything, is there a list you would like to be number one on?
Daniel Craig: Erm... Off hand I can't think of a clever answer, so I won't make one... [laughter]
HisDarkMaterials.org: Did the parts that you played in the movie, while you're battling in switzerland... Did it comfort you in a sense that you didn't have to stand in front of a greenscreen?
Daniel Craig: Yea well there was a bit of that, there was an arctic bit when you're just standing on a big expanse of snow- but if you've ever stood in those places, then that's all it really looks like. But it was very important in this film that the design of the film crossed over and married into the special effects, so people like Dennis Gassner and Ruth Myers the costume designer, it was really important that they got their part right so we walked onto sets that were full and whole. The only thing that wasn't there were the animals and occasionally there'd be some backdrops that would be put in later. So it wasn't such a huge leap, the only thing you had to do, and I didn't have to do a lot, was talk directly with animals...
Q: In terms of the way your career has gone in the past several years, because it's gone through the roof... Have you got time to sit back and just take stock at what's happened to your career and you life for the last couple of years?
Daniel Craig: The weird thing is, I just have to plan my life in a different way and I'm just busier than I've ever been, and I'm happy about that. I don't think any actor likes to be out of work, but I've had to make time for things like, life, and family and friends. You have to make time and I have to make time and go an visit... you can loose touch, and I don't want to loose touch, because they're the most important things to me. You know a holiday would be nice, but Christmas is coming, so that'll be good.
Q: Do you think, that after Bond, you've been offered something that's after-Bond-ish, because before that you have a very interesting movie like The Jacket, and some voices...
Daniel Craig: Well I've done, this is the third movie I've done this year, this is the first I start after the end of Bond, and it's obiovusly not a huge commitment, it was a relatively short movie at the time, but I produced a movie this year with my best friend and a bunch of people who I've wanted to work with for quite a while, which is a much smaller movie in South Africa, but with not very much money. It's just a great personal thing that I wanted to do. And I've just finished filming a movie with Ed Zwick out in Lithuania.
Q: Do you feel that Bond is allowing you to do that more than before?
Daniel Craig: Yes it has done, I think possibly I wouldn't have been able to make, get the movie made- this movie I've been trying to make for about five or six years, and I think hand on heart, Bond helped it this time.
Q: So it means that now you get the money for projects you wouldn't have done before?
Daniel Craig: It helped, it helped, but you've still got to go through the process. You've got to convince people to spend a lot of money on something, the films that are made like that are not necessarily the ones that appeal to everybody.
Q: You've been signed for four more Bond films?
Daniel Craig: That's what you said... I never said that. [laughter]
Q: You said that you thought about the first one eighteen months ago, before you finally said ‘I'm making this film’, so I thought this was quite a commitment to make?
Daniel Craig: Well, that's what's been said, it's not that it's not true, because I haven't signed up. What I've done is I've signed up on the next movie, after that we'll see. That's the way I'm doing it, and certainly it's not four more- that's the truth. It's certainly not four more.
HisDarkMaterials.org: In The Golden Compass your character seems to be a much nicer Lord Asriel than he is in the books, is this your interpretation, or how you were directed?
Daniel Craig: The thing that's missing from this book, which we did shoot, but didn't make the movie, was the bit where he stops being nice, which is right at the very end of the book, and that didn't make the movie just because of timing and because there's so much to tell. But that'll have to be at the beginning of the next movie.
HisDarkMaterials.org: Also, not nice against Lyra because...?
Daniel Craig: She had bloody awful parents. That's basically it. They were the worst parents, they win the award for worst parents of the month award. But that's part of who Lyra is, I find that quite interesting, I mean, they're very tough and he comes across like that, but we kept that in, and he wouldn't have done, he twisted it.
Q: Do you not think that perhaps means that the film lost an integral part of the book? Because that does give you a different picture of Lord Asriel.
Daniel Craig: You could say that, but it's such a difficult part of the book and the story that we have to put it in the next movie. It will just probably become the beginning of the next movie.
Q: You started working on the new Bond last week, how is the preparation going?
Daniel Craig: All good, all good. Deceptively built up of plywood... [inaudible] ...which is spectacular Dennis Gassner who is actually the designer of this is now designing Bond.
Q: He's one to keep raising the bar...
Daniel Craig: We've got to, we've got to make it better, it's a pain in the arse. [laughter]
Q: Do you have a schedule for working out and dieting, and all that kind of thing?
Daniel Craig: I don't diet, I never diet. I work out, but I don't diet, because, life would just be awful... [laughter]
Q: When you look back at the work you've done in the past, and the stuff that you're doing now, do you feel that you're getting better as an actor?
Daniel Craig: Ah well I think something will come along, and just prove that completely wrong... it will, sometimes I don't know, I think I want to keep learning, I want to keep trying to do the best I can, but I'll do something and it'll just f*****g slide probably, and they'll go; ‘Oh, we lost it...’, but my feeling is that if I'm learning then it's working, and it constantly surprises me and I still get nervous about it, I get wound up about the whole thing, so I think that's to be quite a good thing.
Q: What's it like to work with Chris [Weitz], the director?
Daniel Craig: Very good, he's got an intricate knowledge of the books, and so had put in a huge amount of work before we started on where we had to go, because there were so many ideas within these stories that you have to convey them, well, it's impossible to convey all of them. But I think the essence is there, and if there are going to be two other films, then we've got that right, that part of it's right, we've got that story told. So now we can explore the rest of it in the other books.
Q: So collaborative, did you have the input, did you give him your ideas...?
Daniel Craig: I'm always trying to, weather anybody listens I don't know, but I always try and give my ideas and say what I think should be going on in the movie.
Q: There were not always the times when you could make a living from being an actor?
Daniel Craig: I've always done, actually...
Q: [interrupts] But you waited tables?
Daniel Craig: Well that was before I went to drama school, I worked at tables from the age of sixteen, so that was just food money.
Q: What was the job you hated most before you were acting full time?
Daniel Craig: I used to count components in a factory, building early computers. I worked in the stock room, my job was to measure out parts because there were so many of them.
Q: What stage was that at during drama school?
Daniel Craig: That wasn't at drama school, that was before... Just after I left school.
Q: What's the biggest perk of where you are now?
Daniel Craig: One of them's the travel... I get to go to places that I've wanted to go to, but I'm going with work- so I'm not visiting places as a tourist, I'm visiting places in a working environment. I think that's one of the best things.
Q: But can you go around without being hassled?
Daniel Craig: Sometimes, yea, it's possible sometimes. It depends, we went to a city I haven't been to, I always try and go and do something, we've been lucky enough, I mean, we were in Madrid, and we got a private viewing of the Prado and got taken around. There are things that come up, you've just got to take them, it's a real privilege, so you've got to take advantage of them.
HisDarkMaterials.org: With quite a few people working on the movie, especially Alexandre Desplat and Chris Weitz, or Dennis Gassner, they've all got noticeable little parts of the movie that they wrote in, which is there because they like it. For example Dennis Gassner had his moment with the Airship flying in over London. Do you have a little moment that was your input? That was your personal contribution?
Daniel Craig: No.[laughter]
Daniel Craig: Not really... My relationship with Lyra, with Dakota, that was really what I wanted. I wanted there to be this toughness that he, he's not very fatherly... but he wants the best for her. I want that relationship to be something that spurs her along. And like I said, if you read the book, we did stuff that will be there. What he does, by taking roger away, it's the spur for her to go on and win the day.
HisDarkMaterials.org: So when you're bitching at her at Jordan, that was more fun to do than slapping Tartars with a rifle?
Daniel Craig: Yeah...
Q: What was it like working with Nicole?
Daniel Craig: It's great, I've worked with her a couple of times, and we get on really well... on the whole... [laughter]
Q: Is it nice working with people you've worked with in the past?
Daniel Craig: Completely, I've been doing this for quite a while now, so I tend to not notice just the actors I've worked with, but most of the technical people on the film, behind the cameras, I've worked with. So it just comes with experience and of being forty.
Q: I heard a story about when you were cast, you gave a call to Chris to see what was happening with the adaptation...
Daniel Craig: Not Chris, it was Ileen, one of the producers, she's a friend of mine, so I called her up to see what was going on.
Q: Were you the first person cast do you think?
Daniel Craig: Oh I don't know about that... Don't ask questions like that... [laughter]
Q: Is it a tremendous experience, turning forty?
Daniel Craig: I haven't done it yet... But I'll tell you when I do. [laughter]
Q: Are you worried about it?
Daniel Craig: Not at all... no.
Q: A lot of people have a crush on movie stars, do you remember the first one you had a crush on?
Daniel Craig: Charlotte Rampling.
Q: Did you meet her?
Daniel Craig: No, I haven't met her...
Sam Elliott
So this time you're playing kind of a Character Tour of yourself
Sam Elliott: Bit of a parody, ain't he? It is fun, it is fun. Um, you know, when Chris first talked to me about this thing, he said "classy, iconic, laconic American Cowboy" and I was like "yeah, I can do that".
You've done this before, right?
Sam Elliott: Right!
Lee Scoresby's stands out- he's not really a fantasy character- he's an old-fashioned cowboy in a world of witches and ice bears- did you know he was going to fit in?
Sam Elliott: No, I'm not confident- I was always kinda concerned more than anything else, I think- on some levels- I mean confident in that I can pull it off and being the only American on a, literally, all English cast, you know what I mean?
Were they nice to you?
Sam Elliott: They were decent people, considering I was from the West- that far West.
HisDarkMaterials.org: Even though you mentioned that it was so daunting- I mean you've always been pretty laid back about the whole production, the way things went- do you have the excitement building for Tuesday now?
Sam Elliott: I'm so tired right now I couldn't tell you- I just got off a plane, I ain't got a clue! No, I'm excited - several weeks ago, I wouldn't have said I'm excited- I'd have said I'm concerned. Last time I saw you (Ryan), and I'd seen the movie, and they had a long way to go and a lot of work to do in a very short space of time and I've seen those things at that juncture that will never make it- the difference is that these guys have incredibly deep pockets, and a workforce that was unstoppable and they pulled it off. And I saw it last week and it blew my mind.
That was the finished product you saw? Happy with that?
Sam Elliott: Very happy with that.
Did you ever see yourself as part of such a big franchise, because you will be in the next-
Sam Elliott: -If there is one, I'll be there- he figures quite prominently in the second book, Scoresby does.
And how does it feel for you- your past movies and roles have not been so pivotal as Lee Scoresby- not only have you got the best one-liners in the whole Golden Compass, you've got like the most emotional tear-jerkers in the second movie coming up, so how does it make you feel, you know?
Sam Elliott: Well, it makes me feel, you know, we've talked about this, I know we have, but I'm a really lucky man- I mean forty years in this business, and things are as good now as they've ever been, in terms of working, and that's a great thing. And I mean, yeah, I'm playing- it's not like the leading man thing, I'm not doing that, but I'm getting these incredible characters that I enjoy playing, and I do love those one liners, man, I've had a career of one liners! I've been really really lucky.
Why do you think it is now you get so many?
Sam Elliott: No idea. It's not that I get so many offers, it's just that work keeps cropping up- it's not that people are beating my door down, don't mistake that.
Do you think you are one of these vintage props that are needed?
Sam Elliott: One of the really dusty ones you can't even read the label on!
How much coverage do you think you'd have in movies if you had been born with a high-pitched voice?
Sam Elliott: I don't know- I might just gone to opera or somethin', just right away. I don't know- probably wouldn't have had a career without it, without the voice I've got.
Well you have been in a lot, and the films have been quite different, from Thank You For Smoking to This Film, the Nicolas Cage movie- is that kind of variety just to stop stereotypes?
Sam Elliott: I've talked about that once today but I don't- it wasn't with you guys- there was a time in my career up until, I dunno, maybe 15 years ago- "I'm sick of this Western thing, I've just gotta get out of this- be perceived as something else", and that was right about the time I'd worry a bit "this film can tender what I'm looking for- shave my mustache off, cut hair off that was down to my shoulders, wore a 3-piece suit, was ready to dump the accent, but Rod said "No, I want that", and so I was perceived as something else, other than this character. But, that said, I'd stepped out of it a few times. And I used to be moanin', but I'd finally got to a point where I think that it's nothing more than growing up and being happy with what I've got rather than aspiring for what I don't have or something that's probably not going to come my way and being thankful for having what I do have rather than wishing for what I don't have- and I'm 63 years old.
Do you keep on work?
Sam Elliott: It's a war of attrition, I'm gonna win! I'm not going anywhere! And I've been very very lucky to do what I wanted to do since I was a kid, and since 9 years old I wanted to be a movie actor, and not an "actor" actor, a legitimate actor, a movie actor. I've been very very lucky.
You make a difference between the two?
Sam Elliott: Absolutely! Absolutely. I mean, it's just another world- I mean you do bits and pieces, and you get to do them over again. Numerous times. And you're working with a little bunch of people, not working to a big audience.
And learning Hamlet or whatever and learning to do it- no takes.
Sam Elliott: It's a different discipline- it's just a different discipline, and crossing over both ways is difficult for stage actors to work in front of the camera- and that's the audience you've got to get over. I did some stage work- some civic theatre and that kind of stuff, I love doing that- I did it all the way through school. Loved doing it, but in terms of a career, I was really captured by the film way.
But say you had the chance to portray, for example, Lee Scoresby in a remake of the stageplay, would you say "yeah, I'd like to do this" immediately, because you'd like to play this role?
Sam Elliott: All depends. Never say never- I'm never going to say never to anything until it's real and sitting in front of me, and then that's the time I make the decision.
I mean, since you started your career, I mean, the movie business changed so much in terms of budgets but also in terms of Special Effects- when you were back then plastic-
Sam Elliott: -You couldn't have made this movie when I started in the business.
How do you see it yourself? Absurd, seeing sometimes how much money is spent?
Sam Elliott: I think you've seen it and it's a good categorization for it, you know, $250,000,000 - $500,000,000 by the time you do the marketing, deliver all the prints- that's a lot of money. Made a lot of movies for $500,000,000. It's like, going back to in your career and getting to have a career all of your life, you're not motivated by money when you're 9 years old, know what I mean? Motivated to have an acting career, not to be a movie star, not to make money- but to be an actor.
What are you motivated by now, 'cos you're already into the money?
Sam Elliott: Good work is what gets me- good work. I'm picky. I get a lot of offers but I'm picky and the offers that I do get, I turn more stuff down than I do- 'cos I figured early on that at least I believe, and still believe, the length of your career has to do with the work you do, you know? And what motivates you to work- you're going to work for money, then you're going to do whatever work comes your way, whatever kind of material comes your way, and people are going to get tired of seeing it.
What was it back then when you were 9 years old- did you go to the movies a lot?
Sam Elliott: Whatever that magic thing is, and that sounds like such bullshit at this stage of the game, it's, you know, magic, or magic? I mean, the magic is all what they do with the CGI stuff and they create the magic, but you know, there was an essence of that light streaming through that piece of celluloid and going up onto the screen- that was the magic, the magic of film, and that's what it was and intrigued me, and I wanted to make people feel how that made me feel.
In 1933 what were the kind of movies you were going to see that make you so excited?
Sam Elliott: I don't know. The Creature From the Black Lagoon- true. Red River, you know, all those.
It was a different time?
Sam Elliott: Yeah.
If you got a chance for cast anybody to play yourself in the biography of your own life- anybody in movie history, who would it be?
Sam Elliott: I didn't fill Ben Johnson's boots, in terms of doing it the way I wanted to do it, because he was such a real cowboy, you know what I mean? I mean he could do doubles and all that, but shouldn't be that, because he was the real deal. I don't know, I've never thought about that- that's a tough one. I'd have to mull that over a little bit. It's a good question.
Do you think there's too much CGI in movies now?
Sam Elliott: I just think it's what it is, you know, to all cycles, and it's what makes money. And these trilogies are all, obviously, showing that they're going to fare very well and they make great sense for an economic perspective and a financial perspective.
So is there something that you've totally resigned to? For instance Chris was that movies are moving too much towards computerised property- but then you get a property like His Dark Materials and you have to have the CGI exactly, but do you say if a choice comes up in one sequence- I'm gonna shoot this greenscreen or I'm gonna go out to Iceland, would you say greenscreen because we've consigned ourselves to this path of moviemaking, or would you say "hell yeah, let's get our snowboots and go messing about"
Sam Elliott: I'm always one to go and shoot it for real - not just today in this world, it's the same deal in making Westerns- thirty years I've made them- today you can't shoot a Western in Hollywood- that's where they were born, but you can't shoot Westerns there anymore- there's no place to go. You can go out and shoot them all on the set they built for Deadwood, which is a brilliant set, but you're never going to get outside, like in Deadwood, they never got to go outside.
Could John Ford work today?
Sam Elliott: Yeah, but he'd still be doing it his way, you know- he wouldn't be working with this digital form. He'd still be hanging onto that film. Maybe not, I say that kind of cynically- I hate giving that, but I think it's going to go, you know, it's just a matter of time. I've talked to some great DPs over the years, and all conversations have said "nah, it might happen but won't happen now." Then I go back two years later and they say "It's here. It's as good- I can shoot 50 hours in no light." I can't argue with that anymore, I mean you can go anywhere and shoot anything, so if that's the case...
You have a little weird look- not actually looking forward to the future of moviemaking- it sounds like...
Sam Elliott: I just hope that there's a place for me there for a while longer, you know? I have big hopes for it- you know? It's easy to be cynical and jaded about it, and I tend to be kind of a cynic anyway, because of where it's gone and kind of what it's become, the power that it wields, and this whole fascination with celebrity and all this bullshit and all this pottage the business rely on today, I think it's just such a disservice to our societies across the world, I mean, certainly in the United States- I mean I've got a 22 year old daughter man, that's just victimised by the crap that comes out that television screen, and I resent it on some levels, that's why I'm cynical about it, because it's my industry and I love the industry- I love making films, I love television, and I don't make a distinction- I talk about a distinction to be made, and I think it's virtually unrecognisable now. There's always going to be the snob appeal, but there's equally good material down. But no.
Sam Elliott: I have great hopes for it- there's always going to be a certain amount; that we're going to hang in and be artists, and you're never going to convince the Coen brothers how to make their movies- they're going to make their movies. And they're not going to tell anybody; they're just going to make their movies, they're going to do it on their own the way they've done it and in the end you'll get a great movie. And they're consistent- they've always been consistent- they don't rely on anybody but themselves, and the people they bring to the game- you know, if you're lucky in your career, and that's another reason why I'm *really* fortunate after forty years- that today I'm working for guys like the Cohen brothers, I'm working for Ang Lee for Christ's sake- and the Hulk, that's just bizarre in itself, just to be there, you know? It's, um, I'm very lucky.
Chris Weitz
… presenting the finished movie after all you’ve been through with this movie- what's going through your mind?
Chris Weitz: Tremendous relief- I mean, after 3 years, we're making two movies at once- the movie with the live actors and the movie with the dæmons and the bears and fitting it together in a way that didn't jar, but also, um, the struggle to both deliver a film that a lot of people who haven't seen the book will want to see and that hopefully doesn't betray the expectations of the fans of the book. So that's a lot of psychological pressure for me, as a fan of the book myself.
There were a lot of directorial changes made early on- it must have been terrible pressure for you.
Chris Weitz: It's big drama, it's big psycho drama. It's about 3 years ago when I first got the job to do it- I went to New Zealand to look at Peter Jackson's facilities and what his people do and how involved he is, and I thought "Jesus Christ, there's no way I can do this," you know, and so I stepped off. I knew that I could write the script and I wanted to stay on as screenwriter, and then over time working on the screenplay I came more and more used to the idea of how it could be visualised and more and more people were put in place - the thing is, I was very lucky, I inherited Dennis Gassner and Mike Fink, the production designer, and the visual effects supervisor who were key components in getting the whole thing done beautifully. I inherited that from my predecessor as director and that helped a tremendous amount.
Do you have any internal fight about what to include and what not to include? A lot of the pre-film talk has been about the fact that the church is not mentioned, which you know is going to come up sooner or later- how big a deal was that? 'Cos certainly when you read it there's other stuff as well, but that is a major component of it?
Chris Weitz: Well, pretty early on I kind of let out that I wasn't going to use "Church" and I kind of got whacked for it by the fans. Mostly to me that was about not being aggressive and offending the individual audience-goer who might be religious, because I don't really believe that it comes down to His Dark Materials being an anti-religious or anti-Catholic series of books. Yes, it deals with theology and it deals with religion, but I think it deals with it in a much more subtle way than the people who want to boycot the film regarding it. I feel it's either a mistaken or deliberate misreading of the books to see it the way they are doing. So in terms of what's being called "watered-down", I believe that when the fans are worried about it in the movie they'll feel that their worst fears about the things that Pullman has to say about religion and religion in politics haven't been taken out of the film, just certain things that would jut out and offend an individual audience member, have been toned down- I want the movie, obviously I want the movie, to be seen by as many people as possible, for various reasons- one of them being that the one thing that the pro-boycott people are right about is that yes, I do want people to read the books, and one of the great things about this movie is that it can drive more people to read these beautiful literary masterpieces and that's what I think about these books.
Let's be honest, Magisterium is a Catholic term, for the record for the people who didn't know- you're just not slapping people in the face. And I was wondering, how does it feel, now, that expectation of not only the fan in you but the director in you, how to get the job done, how to bite through certain tough periods?
Chris Weitz: It's quite surreal,actually, because I've never taken three years to make a movie, and to be honest with you, although it sounds rather dramatic, my health is taking a real beating- I've been ill for about the last month or so, just subject to sudden attacks of the flu and earaches and throataches and stuff because I'm simply physically and mentally worn down, but to finally see it up on the screen is an immensely moving experience, and in a way some of the things that happen towards the end of the process, and the most moving, for instance, hearing Alexandre Desplat's score played by 120-piece orchestra for the first time is overwhelming, not only because it's a huge orchestra and you get this kind of depth of sound and this layer to the film you've been waiting for is there, but there's some beautiful themes, it's a beautiful piece of music. So it's immensely satisfying, and I feel that my job was to establish a firm footing for the franchise so that movies 2 and 3 could be more faithful to the books.
And the way that you're doing it is you're doing the next movie, so it's not like the Harry Potter thing that there'll be a new director for each next movie?
Chris Weitz: I don't know, 'cos of course it's up to New Line, for one thing, um, and how they feel it went for them, and in fact, if I'm being honest, it really depends on how well this movie does as to whether they'll embark on the second and third at all, because it's got to the point where, um, these movies are tremendous financial undertakings, and they really risked the farm on this one- one thing you've got to say about New Line is that they take massive gambles.
So you're more nervous about this one than your previous movies?
Chris Weitz: Um, yes, sure, I am- I think that to me there's always a sense of responsibility for the money that's been invested with me- that might sound a bit silly but I am concerned about making it back to the people that lent it to me in a way- and yes, because I love the books and I want to see them fully realised. To me, it's not good enough if we don't get the whole of Pullman's story because he wanted to tell just the one story- and okay, we have to break it up into pieces, but it really is one story.
Is the time pressure with the actress playing Lyra rather like the Harry Potter series? There must be, presumably, because she's so cliched as a massive part as a child?
Chris Weitz: She does and she will continue to- um, I think that there's actually a hidden benefit to her aging a bit between the first and second movies, because the second and third movies involve a romance and I don't think it's a problem for her to appear a bit older in those films, and to me you can do a sort of settled transition when, if you're familiar to the books, she walks through the doorway into the next world, which is really her developing her intellectual and spiritual independence, and she emerges looking slightly older, is kind of okay.
But knowing how hard it was to do this one, are you personally willing to go though this all again?
Chris Weitz: Well, it depends on whether I really get the sense we'll be able to mount a faithful adaptation of the second and third books. To be honest, things get a little bit more controversial in the upcoming books, and I still maintain the people who are attacking the films and the books behind them as atheist recruiting posters as wrong, but life is going to become more difficult if, when we go ahead, and I think there's no way to accurately depict what goes on in the second and third books without drawing that kind of controversy.
Is it fair to follow on from that in explaining why you left the very end of this book out? There's a lot of exposition about Asriel's theories- he becomes far darker and his theories become a lot more complex, and he raises controversies- that's enough for the first film, I'll save that for number 2?
Chris Weitz: Well, I moved Asriel's explanation which is kind of an explanation of Genesis forward so Nicole's character can explain Dust and those terms, but yes, the last three chapters of Northern Lights become really quite ambiguous and dark and haunting in terms of what the lead character has to face, and there's really quite a tremendous pressure on blockbusters, which this *has* to be if it's going to pay back the money that was invested in it, just to be cold-blooded about it, for things to end on an up-note, and in order to preserve the spirit of these last three chapters, we needed to put it at the beginning of the second movie, because I suppose the rather corny example is The Empire Strikes Back, which was the darkest of the 3 Star Wars movies- you can afford in the middle of a trilogy the beginning of a film to be quite dark, whereas I was worried that there would be pressure in terms of the perception of what was going on, especially for people who hadn't seen the books, to polish up the end of the book.
So this is supposedly a family film, too? You need a sense of who the audience is before you film the movie?
Chris Weitz: Well, actually, I'd say you don't- at least, I don't. I try not to have a sense of the audience when I'm making it except when it pleases me and pleases the actors and pleases the cast and crew because that's the world of the people who are making the movie. Now, it's true where the same time, New Line intends it to be a four-quadrant movie, and there are moments when the studio and I are rubbing each other the wrong way, in that sense- my intention is to deliver as faithful a version of the books as I can, and their intention is to earn back their investment, and that's nothing to accuse them of, you know, that's natural.
So did you have to fight for the scene where Ragnar gets his jaw whacked off?
Chris Weitz: Yes, there was a bit of a struggle over that last shot-
There's no blood!
Chris Weitz: Yeah, there was a bit of a scrap over that shot, you know, because if we say we're working on a family film, having someone's jaw ripped off doesn't necessarily fit into that world and there was this moment of shock from the books that says something about the world where these characters live, there was this savagery, so that's an example.
What's up next for you?
Chris Weitz: Um, for me, to be honest, what's up next is sleep, really. It's trying to kind of recover from this, and also I have a five month old baby who was born during the post-production of this film.
So you don't get any sleep?
Chris Weitz: Yeah, attempts at sleep. But I never really have in mind what, say, the next project is supposed to be- it's never particularly been the way with me, since I always think whatever I'm going to make is always going to be my last one, since I don't know if I'm going to be allowed to make another one, depending on whether it's successful or not, and if I'm lucky, yeah, I get to make another one.
When you met Dakota, did you think this was it?
Chris Weitz: Yeah, I was looking at a CD of about 40 girls performing these scenes, and there was just something about her- she looked very, sort of, unpolished and she was this little slip of a girl who had a tremendous amount of spirit and there was something to her and I thought "this is probably going to be the one" and I went through further and further auditions and then eventually you throw the poor girl in front of a camera on a real set and see if they melt or not, because it's very difficult to maintain any kind of performance in front of this baleful eye of a 35mm camera, which is different to a little DV camcorder. And she could do it.
What's the cost to you about working with Daniel?
Chris Weitz: Um, I think he was just very easy, he was just very straightforward about stuff, and I hadn't seen the new Bond at that time- I'd seen Munich and The Mother and Enduring Love and obviously you get the picture of a very intense, kind of dangerous, actor, but he kind of just shows up and kind of does his thing.
Apparently swears a lot.
Chris Weitz: Well, I think Dakota was often around, so I think he might have kept it to a minimum, 'cos he has a daughter himself. There were two surprising things- one was that he was just very easy around the set, and the other was that he was a tremendous encouragement to Dakota, although in retrospect the fact that he has a daughter made it easier, but he was very encouraging.
From American Pie to About a Boy to The Dark Materials now, it's quite a journey. What would you say your movies have covered? What is the theme that is always typical of Chris Weitz?
Chris Weitz: That would be nice, 'cos then I could have an autre take on the whole thing, but I don't think that there is a theme- I suppose I've worked with children quite a lot and there's a theme of growing up, and of how to respect a child's sense of instinct, and I think that's also very important to Pullman- the whole story really is driven by Lyra's sense of justice and decency and loyalty, no matter what anybody else tells her, and it's her stubbornness that makes the whole thing work.