Today is the day. At long last “The Golden Compass” has arrived. Certainly one of the most eagerly awaited films of the year, director Chris Weitz has kindly answered your questions the last three weeks (be sure to check out Parts I, II, and III if you missed them). Now, in this final series of questions and answers, Weitz talks about living up to “Lord of the Rings” and his plans for the potential sequels.
QUESTION #1 (from Brian):
How much of a help was it that New Line had done “Lord of the Rings”? Was that a factor in getting you on set with Peter Jackson to observe how a big fantasy franchise would work, or securing Christopher Lee for a cameo, or getting Ian McKellan to do the voice of Iorek? Or was that all independent of the studio, just a happy coincidence?
ANSWER:
I think the fact that New Line had gambled and won on a massive fantasy franchise helped them contemplate the sort of risk that “The Golden Compass” entailed. There was also the fact that Lauren Richie, New Line’s in-house head of visual effects, had been through that arduous process and was able to negotiate with the effects houses and smooth things with the studio when the going was difficult in the post process. In the case of Peter Jackson, it was more an act of kindness on Peter’s part rather than anything arranged by the studio; he and his wife Fran Walsh and his writing partner Philippa Boyens were familiar with the books and liked them and probably had a sense that I had no idea what I was in for. I think they probably took pity on me. In the case of Christopher Lee and Ian McKellan, the studio’s relationships with those actors was definitely instrumental in our getting them to appear in the film.
QUESTION #2 (from Rachel):
Is it a relief that in the next installment, Lyra comes to our world? Will it be easier to realize our world than it is to create a new world, or does that present new challenges in its own right?
ANSWER:
Well, on the one hand there is the simple fact if our world that makes certain things easier from a post-production point of view (although the actual shooting days, because they will be outside of soundstages and thus less easy to control and harder to manage in terms of weather and crowds, will be more difficult). Still, there are some real challenges in terms of production design and vfx that the second book throws up — the Knife and what the effect of cutting through the worlds looks like, for instance, or the spectres. These sorts of effects have been done before, but tyou never want to do things the way they have been done before, and the audience deserves an entirely original view. And, of course, there is CittaGazze. Short of taking over and remodeling an entire Medeiterranean seaside town, I think we would face the same sort of issues of hybridization that we entertained in depicting London in Lyra’s wold.
QUESTION #3 (from Carl):
If the series is a raging success, would you want to see it all the way through to “The Amber Spyglass,” perhaps even make versions of “Lyra’s Oxford” and “The Book of Dust” and (once it’s finished) “Once Upon a Time in the North”? Or would you want to be like Chris Columbus for “Harry Potter,” and hand it off to other directors after you got the ball rolling?
ANSWER:
Well, it could go either way. I’m keen to see “His Dark Materials” through, in a manner that’s faithful to the books, in one role or another. Frankly it doesn’t matter if it’s me so long as it is executed by someone who cares about the material first and foremost. I think the key thing is to deliver the whole of the trilogy; whether the other stories have the heft of individual movies or not is another question.
QUESTION #4 (from Vanessa):
Freddie Highmore does the voice of Pan, Lyra’s daemon… But he’s a little older than Dakota Blue Richards. So what happens when his voice starts changing? Are Pan and Lyra supposed to age at the same rate?
ANSWER:
Frankly, I don’t have the answer to that one. Obviously we don’t want it to sound as though Pan’s voice is “breaking”; there’s something a bit awkward about that. There’s all sorts of audio manipulation we can do to mold the sound of Freddie’s voice, and there would be some experimenting tio do. I’m not sure whether it would be a very clever idea to have Pan’s voice get deeper towards the end of “The Amber Spyglass,” or an absolutely terrible one.
QUESTION #5 (from Jennifer):
There are rumors that there was a curse jar on set, that if someone swore, they had to put a pound (two dollars) in it. True? Who was the worst offender, and why?
ANSWER:
The curse rule was instituted by Dakota in aid of Oxfam (a British charity); one pound per swear. As the average set is a fairly bumptious place, there was some good money to be made, although people did try to rein it in a bit because of Dakota’s age. Some, like myself, made flat fee deals so as to keeo from having to search for pound coins every day. I think the greatest offender may have been Terry Needham, our First Assistant Director, who may in fact have lost money on the film as a whole.
QUESTION #6 (from Jack):
If you had an alethiometer, what would you ask it?
ANSWER:
Will people go to see the film on December 7th so I can get some sleep that night?
December 7th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
WE the Catholics are boycotting yr flim
December 7th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Is the Maker of this moveie against god? if so it might be bad for little kids, rumor goes around that they kill god in the moveie
December 7th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
tell chris if I see him ill kick him in the nuts….. ruin a great book with a bad film, and a bad film with a TERRBILE ending, seriously, wtf?
and btb, althought it pains me to do this I must defend the film as defended the film defends the book, which I love, so here goes.
CHRISTIANITY IS NOT MENTIONED IN THIS FILM, neither is god of any kind killed, nor does he even come to any kind of harm….nor is he even in it. The later films go deep into deep philosophical ideals, but guess what, God is not mentioned, The Authority is, and he’s A god, but he is no God, of christian fame, no more so that he is any other diety of any other religeon, so guess what God Squadders GET OVER YOURSELVES, NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU, Bakayarou…
December 8th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
will there be a sequal to find out what happens to the uncle/dad
December 8th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
I thought the film was great, but then again i am not a biased religious person.
December 8th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
I must say I am pleased with how you handled one of my favorite books ever, Chris, and I believe you’ve been true to your assertion so long ago that “those who understand will understand.” I applaud the efforts and your ability to (somewhat) keep your sanity after being barraged by all sides throughout this whole process.
I’m very very very excited for the next two films!
December 8th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
I saw your movie, Chris. Twice.
Not that the opinion of a random poster on the internet can mean very much to you, or that the chances of you seeing this message are at all high, but I have had faith in you for a very long time, and you have, overall, proved yourself deserving of it. So has your wonderful cast or dedicated crew.
I hope that the new two films do get made, and I hope that we are allowed to see more of your vision on the screen instead of the studio’s fears. I very much look forward to a director’s cut. Fingers crossed.
December 8th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Before you start criticising the director, Chris’ cut runs for more than 30 minutes longer than the studio’s, and is a lot more faithful to the books.
Even though in his cut the ending is still part of the Subtle Knife (which is a workable change in my opinion) some of the other weird cuts - ice bridge moved from final scene to Bolvanger scene - will be changed, which will rid the film of its choppiness.
Let’s all watch that before we start complaining about the movie’s likeness to the books.
December 9th, 2007 at 12:56 am
Qustion if the movie makes over 800 million or by some chance 1 Billion. Will New Line Give you complete Freedom?
December 9th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
Patricia,
If you’re upset that there are anti-Christian themes, you must be referring to the fact that the Magesterium tries to control what people do. The film even says that there is a war over free will. By boycotting the film, aren’t you just making that point? Go see it and decide for yourself, stop banning and boycotting films/books/art, isn’t this America?
It’s a movie, and it doesn’t say anything about the church. If you think that the Magesterium compares to the Catholic Church, that says something about the Church, not the movie.
December 9th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
This is supposed to look innocent. The message can’t be too blatant or people won’t buy it. The author is an atheist who hated Chronicles of Narnia. This is his way of combatting what he sees as the “negative” affect of Christian themed literature. The question remains, “Who will buy it?” And I mean really “buy it.” Do you want to risk your children getting confused by anti-authoritarian messages, and where will there compass end up pointing. I don’t mean to sound melodramatic, but there are too many other movies and books out there to risk taking my kids to this one. No thanks, “New Line.”
December 10th, 2007 at 10:50 am
I loved the movie and will buy the dvd when it comes out. Can’t wait for the other two to be made. I will also be reading the books.
December 12th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
The critics that blame Chris Weitz for having eliminated the book’s message from the film seem to be afflicted with blindness. It is still there, it’s just encrypted. The movie itself is an alethiometer! To understand the symbols you either have to read the book like Fra Pavel or to be as open-minded as Lyra. Evermore there are several hints: The headquarter of the Magisterium looks like a huge cathedral, an ultra-modern variation of the St Peter’s Basilica, while the story about the first disobedience of man Mrs. Coulter tells Lyra deals with Adam and Eve. “Magisterium” stands for the dogmatic Teaching Authority of the Catholic Church in our world, and “Fra” is a form to address friars. Personally I think the movie works for the most part and I loved to see it at last even though I had to discover that the non-used footage in the trailers allude to a much bigger and more faithful picturization. (I’d die to know if there’ll be an Extended Cut on DVD.)
Dakota is a phenomenon: she embodies Lyra so authentically as if she was born as her. I suppose I fell in love with her! Nicole Kidman is perfect in her role, too. Regarding Daniel Craig, I am positively surprised how many scenes he gets, considering the book. The CGIs can be identified easily, and the daemons don’t look like real animals either, but they are nonetheless fondly created and blend seamlessly into this exhilarating fantasy world.
The musical score sounds pretty but it is not as awesome as the background music of the trailers.
I am a little bit disappointed that Billy Costa didn’t die. Don’t call me sadistic, but in this case the intercision of the daemons would have had a much stronger disgusting effect. Does the audience get that Billy is horribly crippled? After he had returned to his family it rather looks like he could recover from it.
The conclusion of the film irritated those viewers who didn’t read the books in a different manner than the book readers, as I noticed, but for them it seems more pleasing than the original ending. So I am willing to accept it, but only if a sequel would follow. Otherwise, all efforts would have been useless.
December 14th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
I hate Chris Weitz with all my heart. I wanted the Golden Compass movie to be so much more.
Where was Peter Jackson during all this? When I cried during “Lord of the Rings” it was because those movies were beautifully crafted, mostly ACCURATE interpretations of a truly fantastic story.
The Golden Compass and the rest of Phillip Pullmans trilogy even rivals J.R.R. Tolkan’s books in grandeur and creativity. (not to mention readability) Yet the Golden Compass movie can’t even touch on the caliber of the work done by Peter Jackson in LOTR. The movie is disjointed and confusing (not to mention out of order.)
Lyra’s world is poorly realized and fake feeling, with far too much computer animation getting in the way of the true, natural feel that I am sure most fans of the book were hoping for. This movie could have been beautifully rendered, in a natural setting with less than half as much green screen work as they did.
New Line Cinema must think they needed to dumb down the story, in order to reach a wider audience. AMERICA they just called us stupid! What they don’t seem to understand is that the book sells its self. If the movie was good, everyone who has read the book would want to see it, and people who hadn’t read it, would at least still enjoy a fantastic story. Because the movie is jumbled and lacking both in good direction, as well as good writing, it will undoubtedly loose a potential audience. They just don’t get it! Make the best movie you can make, and people will watch it! (over and over too, which means good DVD sales)!! What is so hard to understand about that? When they make shitty movies, sure they could trick people into seeing it once, if they build it up a lot in the previews, but the Golden Compass will not make the money that Lord of the Rings made.
Chris Weitz and New Line Cinema have destroyed this books cinematic potential and given rise to a bastard, soulless version of the one of the greatest fantasies of our time. All in the quest for money. This movie would have made money no matter what. Thanks to them, now it just sucks, and will just make far less.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
I can’t wait to see the movie! Here in Brazil we have to wait 25/12 to came!
Just would like to say it is very strange to see people telling they don’t want children have the free will the trilogy inspires…
Makes me think modern cristianism really is like Magisterium…
I am glad we seen to be more free here in Brazil.
Sorry for may bad English.
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Hey Chris, thanks for making the Golden Compass so bad, no one went to see it! You helped us Christians greatly! Thanks! But I feel sorry you had to get your butt kicked by Alvin & The Chipmunks. Oh well, thanks again for sabatoging the franchise, so the other films will never get made, and no one will go buy those crappy books!:)
March 5th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Hi. I love the Dark Materials books-they’re among my favorite books. I was hesitant about seeing the film, but I watched it, thinking it would be good. It wasn’t that good. On the positive side, the effects were very nice, and the acting was well done. I think the best part was the casting. Now, onto everything else. IT WAS SO RUSHED! I couldn’t keep many things straight, even having read the books. The movie is one place and then springs to a whole other section of the story, missing countless lines of dialog and events. I’m going to list a few things that come to mind:
1) The master of the college tried to poison Lord Asriel in the book, but a Magesterium person (who wasn’t in the book) did it, and also the skull of the Shaman (later known as John Parry) wasn’t shown, and the character wasn’t mentioned at all
THE ENDING! I do agree that it might have been jarring to end PROPERLY, but it definitely would have created more hype for a sequel!
2) The scene when Lyra ran from her mother was changed completely, for no apparent reason
3) The gyptian leaders were not supposed to be on the boat, but on an island that the boat sales to
4) Things are given away right away, rather than slowly (and properly) like the book did
5) Billy Costa was not the kid that had his daemon cut, it was another child that Lyra didn’t know, and this took place in a village with people, not a single random shed
6) The order was changed completely!!! Why was she dropped at the bear’s palace first? She was supposed to be taken to the Bolvangar station, then go to the palace
7) The scene where Lyra is discovered and put into the Intercision Machine is changed completely and her time there was too short
Being a fan of the books, I was utterly disappointed. The scripts was just WRONG! It was too fast and left out way too many parts. They should have kept more of the actual dialog, so that at least what they said would be recognizable. I can only hope that New Line finds someone else to write and direct the sequel, someone who actually cares about the source material and who can write worth a damn! I am ashamed that Pullman allowed this butchery of his amazing work!