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Witches and Armored Polar Bears Battle for 'The Golden
Compass' SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA (British Weekly) 11/30/07 - When Dakota Blue Richards saw the National Theatre production of The Golden Compass in London she told her mother that she wanted to be Lyra, the loyal and brave heroine. The 12-year-old had never acted professionally before. Casting directors Fiona Weir and Lucy Bevan looked at more than 10,000 child actresses across the UK before casting her. "Dakota has a particular spirit that makes you sit up and take notice," says Golden Compass writer-director Chris Weitz. "There was this waif of a girl, yet there was something very strong and interesting about her." More... |
Unknown Dakota Blue Richards, chosen from 10,000 UK child actors, shines in North Pole fantasy epic.
"It's a very exciting story about being a human being, and how difficult that is," says Daniel Craig who stars as Lord Asriel and is not recognizable as James Bond. "It's about growing up and how what happens in your childhood is the most important part of your life. It's really being done exactly how I imagined it," says Craig. "It's a testament to Chris Weitz's passion, the work of his crew and a story that is so universal, that this world could be brought to life in such a staggering, cohesive way."
Twelve-year-old Lyra runs tame as the ward of stately Jordan College. Lyra is accompanied everywhere by her familiar Pantalaimon, a "daemon" that's a small, ever-changing animal who's the embodiment of her spirit and her voice of reason. Lyra wants to go to the Arctic Circle with her adventurous uncle Lord Asriel, who's investigating his radical theory that there are other worlds where people don't have daemons. The treacherous Mrs. Coulter takes her away to London instead.
"It's a story of a young girl's journey to self awareness and understanding the power of her own free will, set against an extraordinary world," says New Line executive producer Ileen Maisel who championed the Philip Pullman books. "I believed in the film's potential when Chris first turned in his 156-page draft two and a half years ago," says executive producer Andrew Miano. "He poured so much of his own heart and soul into the material, along with a deep faith in the universe Pullman created."
The Golden Compass is a beautiful film with spectacular visual effects. It's a great story with clever concepts like personal daemons and armored polar bears. The Golden Compass has been called the anti-Narnia. The Golden Compass is colder, both in its setting at the North Pole (actually Svalbard, Norway, a thousand miles north of Oslo), and in the performances of its actors who are mostly loners. For a family adventure, the greatest weakness of The Golden Compass is it has little sense of family.
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Release date: December 7th, 2007 (wide USA)
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence
2 hrs. 3 min.
http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/