The first movie based on the bestselling Philip Pullman novels. The “His Dark Materials” trilogy is comprised of “The Golden Compass,” “The Subtle Knife” and “The Amber Spyglass”. It revolves around a young girl who travels to the far north to save her best friend. Along the way she encounters shape-shifting creatures, witches, and a variety of otherworldly characters in parallel universes.
Based on author Philip Pullman’s bestselling and award-winning novel, The Golden Compass tells the first story in Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. The Golden Compass is an exciting fantasy adventure, set in an alternative world where people’s souls manifest themselves as animals, talking bears fight wars, and Gyptians and witches co-exist.
At the center of the story is Lyra (played by newcomer Dakota Blue Richards), a 12-year-old girl who starts out trying to rescue a friend who’s been kidnapped by a mysterious organization known as the Gobblers – and winds up on an epic quest to save not only her world, but ours as well.
A Note From Writer / Director Chris Weitz
For Lyra, the child at the center of The Golden Compass, the journey begins in the relative safety of her Oxford home and takes her to the edge of the world. My voyage with this story began in London seven years ago, when a friend suggested I read Philip Pullman’s books while I was in the relative safety of directing a movie called About a Boy.
I knew immediately that I wanted to translate these books to film. I was absolutely stunned by the imagination, daring and intelligence of the books. Pullman’s insights range from the everyday to the metaphysical, and his great trilogy is a testament to nothing less than the freedom and potential of the human soul. The Golden Compass, the first book of the series, offers everything a filmmaker could want – a compelling story, fascinating characters, psychological and philosophical depth, and an abiding wonder at its heart. For me, there could be no better challenge to turn my hand to over the intervening years.
It takes a great deal of fortitude to watch someone adapt your work to another medium, and I am indebted to Mr. Pullman for trusting me with one of the twentieth century’s greatest works of the imagination, and for being a consistent source of advice and support.
I will always be grateful to New Line for giving me the opportunity to make the Golden Compass, for displaying trust in me throughout its long gestation, and for helping to put together an extraordinary cast and crew. I’m just one of the many people working on the film who have been inspired by these books, and I have been consistently amazed by their dedication, and the effort and creativity they have brought to it. For all of us living with the sheer size and scope of this film, which has consumed our days and occasionally our nights, it has been a labor of love.
Production Information
In a parallel world, where human souls take the form of animal companions, one child stands between the end of free will and the beginning of a new age.
Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) is only 12, but even she knows that doing what you’re told versus doing what you feel is right can yield very different outcomes. A rebellious orphan living as a ward at Jordan College in Oxford, Lyra belongs to a world that is one of many parallel worlds – unseen, intangible dimensions where humanity evolves with subtle differences.
But Lyra is never alone in hers – she goes everywhere with her daemon, a small, ever-changing animal called Pantalaimon. In other worlds, one’s soul resides inside the body, silent and unseen. In hers, a daemon is a lifelong companion.
But Lyra’s world is changing. The all-encompassing governmental body called the Magisterium is tightening its grips on the populace. Its dark work has resulted in a rash of kidnappings of children by a mysterious force called the Gobblers. Rumors among the Gyptian boat people, who have lost many of their own to the kidnappers, is that the children are being taken to an Experimental Station in the north to be subjected to unspeakable experiments.
When Lyra’s best friend Roger (Ben Walker) vanishes, she swears she will travel to the end of the world to rescue him. Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), Lyra’s dashing, gruff explorer uncle, is simultaneously setting out for the same region where he is seeking to harness the power of a mysterious phenomenon called Dust that he believes resides where the Northern Lights play over the icy Arctic Circle.
Desperate to accompany her uncle but denied, Lyra is given a second chance when the college is visited by an associate from the city – Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman). A beguiling scientist and world traveler, Mrs. Coulter spirits Lyra away from her life in Jordan promising tantalizing adventures in London and beyond.
Before leaving, Lyra is given a puzzling, ancient device called the alethiometer – one that is said to tell the bearer only the truth, if she can only figure out how to use it
In Lyra’s world, there is a myth of a child whose fate is to end fate – a child who can write her own tale – and who will play a crucial part in the coming war. In her quest to save Roger, could Lyra be that child?
Banding together an unlikely alliance with a tribe of seafaring Gyptians, a mysterious witch, a great armored bear and a Texas airman, Lyra embarks on an adventure that will take her over sky and ocean, to the wilds of the icy north, and into the mysteries at the very core of the human soul.
A great war is coming – one that threatens not only her world but all the parallel worlds waiting just beyond the northern lights – and Lyra will need all her skill, all her courage, to stop it.
Into This Wild Abyss: Adapting The Golden Compass
Writer / director Chris Weitz encountered the first book in Philip Pullman’s widely read and award-winning trilogy while making his acclaimed film, About A Boy, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (along with his brother Paul). “I had heard from friends of mine about a fantastic and life-changing British fantasy series that was `written for children but really for adults,’” he recalls. “I was absolutely stunned by the imagination, daring and intelligence of the books. As far as ambition and philosophical depth, they left everything I had read previously in the dust.”
To gain the opportunity to adapt Pullman’s immersive tale for the screen, Weitz presented New Line Cinema with a manifesto describing how he saw the film, and then dedicated the ensuing three years to bringing his vision of the film to life. “It offers everything a filmmaker would be interested in – a compelling story, fascinating characters, psychological and philosophical depth, wonder and the chance to make a beautiful film,” Weitz explains. “It’s a fantastic story, about things that matter, like the human spirit, loyalty, kindness and free will. When you are directing a movie, you have to have utter commitment to every aspect of it, and there was nothing about this project that I didn’t feel absolutely passionate about.”
Like Pullman, Weitz attended an “Oxbridge” college – in his case, Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied 17th century literature and developed an affinity for John Milton, whose work resonates throughout Pullman’s books. Pullman, in fact, titled his trilogy from the enticing thematic connections between Milton’s mention of “His dark materials” in Paradise Lost, Book II, and “dark matter” – the very essence of the universe:
“Into this wild abyss, the womb of nature and perhaps her grave,
Of neither sea, nor shore, nor fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mixed
Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight,
Unless the almighty maker them ordain
His dark materials to create more worlds,
Into this wild abyss the wary fiend
Stood on the brink of hell and looked a while,
Pondering his voyage…”
For producer Deborah Forte, the journey to bring Pullman’s novels to the screen had begun nearly 11 years ago when she first read The Golden Compass (called The Northern Lights in the UK) in manuscript form and immediately pursued the rights on behalf of Scholastic Media. “I thought at the time, This is an extraordinary writer, and wherever he’s going, I want to go with him,’” Forte recalls. The Golden Compass unfolds in a world that is, “not traditional fantasy; it’s not traditional science-fiction,” Forte continues. “When people read these books, they are presented with an instantly engaging world that is entirely original and at the same time relatable.”
Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy – comprised of The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass – became a critical success and publishing phenomenon, selling 14 million copies around the world to date. The trilogy also began collecting awards, including the prestigious Whitbread prize, which no novel for children had ever won previously.
Executive producer Ileen Maisel of New Line Cinema discovered the books and found that a number of her colleagues, including Mark Ordesky and Michael Lynne, had also taken the plunge into Lyra’s world. “It’s a story of a young girl’s journey to self awareness and understanding the price of free will,” Maisel describes, “set against extraordinary worlds of fantasy as well as reality. Philip doesn’t call this a fantasy. Philip calls this a reality novel. That’s the way we look at it, and that’s what’s so exciting about it because Lyra does things that all of us wish we had the ability and the courage to do. And that’s why I think we all relate to her and believe in her.”
The ideal synthesis between material and adaptor had been struck. “Chris Weitz is so smart and so thoughtful,” says executive producer and New Line President of Production Toby Emmerich.”He also has great humanism and artistry paired with a real instinct for making fun, entertaining movies. We got very lucky with Chris and have every confidence that he has made a compelling, exciting film.”
“Everyone was fully prepared – each department and every individual working on this movie understood the material from inception,” says Forte. “They appreciated it. They had a vision for it that dovetailed with Chris’s vision for the movie, and so it was off and running the moment Chris walked into this project.”
Weitz, Forte and the entire filmmaking team found a powerful ally and steadfast resource in Pullman himself. “I’m adapting Philip Pullman,” explains Weitz. “So, while there is some compression involved, my commitment is to carry over the spirit of his vision and this world he has created.”
“I’ve done my part,” says Pullman. “I handed it over to Chris and his team to make the film. I couldn’t have people to trust my story to who were more trustworthy, and I know my story is in good hands.”
Weitz met on numerous occasions with Pullman and discussed the film throughout development and production. Weitz also set sail for Svalbard, Norway – 1000 miles north of Oslo and a key location in the story – where he wrote the bulk of his adaptation.
“I believed in the film’s potential when Chris first turned in his 156-page draft 2 ½ years ago,” recalls 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.” Adds producer Bill Carraro, “Chris Weitz adapted the book in such a wonderful manner and carried that dedication and commitment into directing. The writer in him was always helpful to everyone working to put together the movie because he could always focus on the elements that were most important, from design to stunts to acting to effects.
The production would be a vast one, with striking vistas, myriad creatures and next-generation visual effects. But for Weitz, the key factor in his adaptation would always be the truths at the heart of Pullman’s story. “The magic of the piece is as much in the relationships as in the potential for spectacle,” he says. “Though it’s an enormously well-conceived parallel world, it speaks very truthfully about our world, about our lives as children, parents and individuals in society. And although the heroine is a child, there is nothing childish or silly about this story. It must be treated with human sympathy, in terms of the emotions of the characters, and the gulf in scale between the cosmic and the personal must be bridged as well as Pullman bridges it.”
New Line Cinema Production President Toby Emmerich adds, “When I read the book, I fell in love with the relationship between Lyra and Iorek, the armored bear. Chris has beautifully realized this in the film, capturing a great performance from Dakota Blue and marrying it seamlessly with incredible computer technology. It’s an extraordinary relationship that could only exist in Lyra’s world, but it is still very human and very emotional.”
Of Humans and Daemons: The Story and Cast of The Golden Compass
The film tells the story of precocious 12 year-old Lyra Belacqua, whose curiosity and willful nature open the door to mysteries upon which the fate of her world comes to rest. An orphan, Lyra and is being raised among the mostly paternal company of the Master of Jordan College in Oxford (Jack Shepherd), where her best and most trusted friend is a kitchen boy named Roger (Ben Walker).
“The Golden Compass is about free will and free choice, and Lyra is the ultimate example of that,” says executive producer Mark Ordesky. “Lyra is going through her life doing her daily activities with no knowledge that the decisions she makes are going to ultimately save or doom not only her world, but all the other parallel worlds that exist. But essentially, she is still forming, and she is wild, willful and precocious.”
To find the right young person to embody the critical role of Lyra, casting directors Fiona Weir and Lucy Bevan cast a wide net across the UK, ultimately seeing over 10,000 young actresses. “We had casting sessions in multiple cities,” recalls producer Bill Carraro. “Literally thousands of young girls came out, really brave, wonderful personalities, and it was then honed down to a core group for the director. And when we found our Lyra, she just seemed born for the part.”
Overwhelmingly, one young actress stood out – Dakota Blue Richards. “Dakota had a particular spirit that made you sit up and take notice,” recalls Weitz. “I was looking at the tapes and there was this waif of a girl whose hair was unkempt, and there was something very strong and interesting about her.”
“She is an extraordinary young woman,” says Forte. “She’s just 12 years old, and has never acted professionally before, but when she gets in front of the camera, she possesses that intelligence and feral quality, a little bit of wildness, that is perfect for Lyra. Even Philip, when we sent him the tapes, identified Dakota as the one.”
Adds Pullman, “I’m delighted with the casting of Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra. As soon as I saw Dakota’s screen test, I realized that the search was over. She has just the combination of qualities that make up the complicated character of this girl.”
Dakota Blue Richards had read the books and seen the stage adaptation of The Golden Compass and jumped at the opportunity to play a character for whom she had a passionate affinity. Richards particularly admired Lyra’s bravery and determination. “Because Lyra never had parents, she thinks no one can tell her what to do, so she never really does what she’s told,” explains Richards. “She does things other people would be scared of, like climbing the roofs of Jordan College, where she lives, and getting into fights with people. She likes to give the impression that she is better than everybody else because she’s braver and more intelligent, and if she doesn’t actually have a story to tell she’ll make something up.”
Lyra is accompanied every step of her life by her daemon (pronounced DEE-mon), Pantalaimon. A daemon, explains Philip Pullman, is “the person themselves. They’re not separate from them. They are part of them, so much so that if your daemon was a cat and a real cat came along, the real cat would look at your daemon as a human being rather than a cat.”
Throughout her journey, Lyra is constantly given strength, comfort and occasionally wary admonishments by Pan. “I think it’s a very enticing concept, this notion that you have a running dialog with your soul for your entire life,” muses Weitz.
But Lyra’s life changes dramatically when she meets Mrs. Coulter, the beautiful and bewitching head of the Magisterium’s General Oblation Board, who visits the college on business. A scholar and an explorer, Mrs. Coulter embodies everything Lyra hopes she’ll someday be. “I don’t think there are many people in the world who could convincingly play this character,” says Weitz. “I believe that Nicole Kidman was the first person that everyone on the creative side wanted for Mrs. Coulter.”
Executive producer Maisel had worked with Kidman on the film Birth and remembers that Pullman had sent a gift of signed copies of the novels to the actress and her family. “Nicole immediately understood the nature of Mrs. Coulter,” Maisel notes. “She understood the power of the character; she understood the charisma of the character, and ultimately she understood the vulnerability of the character.”
Adds executive producer Miano, “Nicole was the only actress that we ever talked about for the role. I believe Philip had her in mind years ago, and Chris’s script went to Nicole first. We never entered into a discussion of anyone else because she was the only choice. Luckily for us, she shared our enthusiasm for this project.”
The Academy Award-winning actress embraced the intricacies of Marisa Coulter, who has kept her true relationship with Lyra hidden from the child. “I’ve obviously played characters before that have done despicable things,” Kidman relates. “Rarely do you judge the character you’re playing. You have to work from within and try to find the motivations as to why she feels that what she’s doing is right, and you hope that her humanity bleeds through.”
“The chemistry between Mrs. Coulter and Lyra is a very specific one,” says Chris Weitz. “Mrs. Coulter’s allure and glamour draw her in, but there are other dimensions which Lyra will not discover until later. Nicole brings such experience, compassion, intelligence and insight to this role, and her style just meshed perfectly with Dakota’s very natural, instinctual performance. Their relationship, while incredibly tricky, worked out seamlessly on camera.”
Mrs. Coulter serves at the pleasure of the Magisterium, an all-encompassing government body that seeks to tighten its control on the people of Lyra’s world. “Every society has felt the tension between the life-giving force of awe and wonder, and the political power that comes as soon as you have human structures,” notes Philip Pullman. “As soon as you have human organizations you have people who have got the power and who wield it over other people, and you have people who are oppressed by that power, or who want to join the power themselves. You’ve got all these human structures, which work against the natural human impulse, which is one of wonder and delight at being alive and being part of this beautiful universe.”
Seeking to create a rift in the structures of his time and place is Lord Asriel, Lyra’s powerful and enigmatic uncle, played by Daniel Craig, whose performance in Casino Royale revitalized the James Bond franchise. Craig, a longtime fan of the books, leapt at the chance to portray Lord Asriel. “He’s an explorer and scientist,” explains Craig. “He has a mission. It’s the most important thing, he thinks, in his life, and probably the most important thing in the history of the world that he lives in. He has discovered this connection between the worlds, and believes that there are millions and millions of worlds running in tandem, and that you can access these worlds if you know the way. And he is hell-bent on going out and finding out what it is, which is against the wishes of the Magisterium.”
Like Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel’s relationship with Lyra forms the kernel of who she is and who she becomes. “Lyra wants parents like every child does, and the way that Lord Asriel behaves towards her is what forms Lyra and makes her into this wonderful human being that she’s becoming,” Craig explains. “He is very tough with her, but he feels it’s the only way to be because she’s got to be as tough as he is. She has got no choice but to go out there and do it on her own. By the same token, her friendships and her connections become the most important thing in her life. And that’s why people stick with them – because their bravery and their integrity are what always comes through in the end.”
“Daniel has strength and fearlessness and ruthlessness – but it’s a ruthlessness that has a level of emotion to it,” comments executive producer Maisel. “He doesn’t treat Lyra particularly well, and yet you understand that there’s something else bigger that’s going on and you appreciate that with him. In fact, because of how resonant the performances of Daniel and Nicole are, you understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, and you don’t hold it against them. That’s an incredible achievement.”
From Lord Asriel’s lips, Lyra first hears of the evocative phenomenon that he is traveling north to investigate – Dust.
“She doesn’t know what it is because no one has ever told her,” explains Richards. “It’s like the one thing they haven’t tried to teach her. So, of course, she wants to find out everything she can about it. When she mentions it to Mrs. Coulter, she gets a bit scary. And Lyra doesn’t understand because her uncle was speaking quite openly about it but nobody else seems to want to talk about it.”
As all of the forces begin to coalesce around the north, where Lyra’s adventure unfolds, Dust goes from a whispered, forbidden concept to a very real question at the core of her daring adventure. “I pictured it as having some connection with this mysterious substance called dark matter,” Pullman explains. “Scientists don’t quite know what it is, but because it’s such an evocative phrase – dark matter – and because it fit very well with that line from Paradise Lost, I linked the two up.”
Secreted off to London by Mrs. Coulter, Lyra soon finds herself on the run carrying a very sought-after artifact that was given to her by the Master of Jordan College (Jack Shepherd) before her departure – the alethiometer, a compass-like device said to tell the truth to the person who bears it. “It’s a helping hand in way,” explains Richards. “It shows you what to do and where to go when you’re lost. But I also think it’s got a mind of its own because although it answers your questions, it doesn’t always tell you everything you want to know. I think it knows where to stop because it doesn’t tell you more than you need to know.”
“She has been gifted with this alethiometer, this golden compass, which tells her the truth, once she figures out how to read it,” adds executive producer Ordesky. “So, by using it, she is looking into her own wisdom, which is of course still forming, because she’s a child. Throughout the story she must read it from a place of innocence because there are truths she’s not prepared to know.”
Though she considers her a mentor, Lyra is horrified to learn of Mrs. Coulter’s role on the General Oblation Board, which has been secretly kidnapping children from Lyra’s world for use in their secret experiments at a lab in Bolvangar. “The villains of the piece believe these experiments are for the children’s own good,” comments Weitz. “That is about as foul a crime as one can imagine. And for Lyra, knowing that this woman she has admired is involved in the abduction of her best friend is unspeakable.”
The revelation cuts her to the core.
Lyra flees and is scooped up by a band of Gyptians before the Gobblers – the General Oblation Board’s henchmen – can find her. “The tribe of water gypsies have been keeping an eye on Lyra, and when she’s threatened, they come to rescue her and take her north to the arctic circle,” explains Jim Carter, who plays John Faa, the Gyptian king.
Though unaware of the role she is to play in the fate of her world, Lyra enlists the alliance of three people who will help her reach her task and save the children from the terrible fate the Magisterium has in store for them. One is Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green), Clan-queen of the witches of Lake Enara, who helps Lyra see the important role she must play in the coming war. “She’s not a traditional witch,” explains Green, who recently starred in Casino Royale and Kingdom of Heaven. “She’s very maternal, very nurturing towards Lyra. It is quite a mysterious role, which I found very attractive.”
She also enlists the help of an aeronaut from Texas, Lee Scoresby, played by Sam Elliott. “Sam has this extraordinary ability to sum up everything we mean by the idea of cowboy,” notes Philip Pullman. “The grizzled veteran. The white moustache. The eyes that look a thousand yards. All these things. And his has this capacity to be both tough and wise, both threatening, dangerous and warm.”
Her final alliance is with an estranged armored ice bear named Iorek Byrnison. “When she first sees him, she is kind of scared because he’s really big, strong and wounded,” describes Richards. “But she knows he’s her only chance of having an armored bear as a friend.” Eventually, Lyra finds in Iorek a kindred soul on whom she can unflinchingly rely. “Iorek is the only person that Lyra lets be better than she is,” says Richards. “He’s the only person that she truly accepts to be bigger and stronger and braver than she is. She looks up to other people and understands that they’re important, but he’s the one exception to her idea that she’s the best.”
Rounding out the cast are Ian McShane voicing the bear king Ragnar Sturlusson; Tom Courtenay as the wise Gyptian Farder Coram; Simon McBurney as the sinister Fra Pavel; Derek Jacobi as the Magisterial Emmissary; and Clare Higgins as Gyptian matriarch Ma Costa.
In the Arctic Circle, Lyra is reunited with Roger, but in ways she does not expect. She also begins to glimpse not only the truths about her own life, but about her world and the people who surround her. As her fate reveals itself, Lyra will need to muster all her strength, all her will and the help of those she trusts to find a way to change fate itself.
“Lyra travels from the relative safety of her Oxford to the edge of the world, where the aurora place and the space between all the parallel universes is thin,” describes Chris Weitz. “She goes from innocence to experience and wisdom, and is put through enormous physical and emotional trials as she is swept up in this vast adventure. It’s a very archetypal, mythic story about a girl who sets out to do something very personal, which is to save her best friend, Roger, and by the time she reaches her destination, saving Roger has given way to saving not only her world, but every world.”
“It’s a very exciting story about being a human being, and how difficult that is,” adds Daniel Craig. “It’s about growing up and how what happens in your childhood is the most important part of your life.”
Dark Materials: Design and Locations of The Golden Compass
To mount a production that harnessed the next evolution in filmmaking, director Weitz and the filmmakers assembled a team of artists, technicians and craftspeople to hand-craft the parallel world in which The Golden Compass unfolds.
Oscar-winning production designer Dennis Gassner worked with Weitz to conceptualize everything from Oxford colleges to the vast snowy wastes of the far north, home of the armored bears; from the sophistication of Mrs. Coulter’s London to the bustle of the Northern port of Trollesund, and on to the ice palace of the King of the Bears, Ragnar Sturlusson, and Bolvangar, where Lyra finds the kidnapped children. The project would require hundreds of people to create a world with depth and scope from scratch, and bring the characters and their daemons to perfectly syncopated life utilizing a combination of practical and digital effects, as well as a working alethiometer – the golden compass of the title – and zeppelins, carriages, sky ferries, armored bears, spy flies, boats, barges and inconceivable machinery and artistry of a parallel age.
“The whole project is about translation – translation from something you would understand into something that is in a different vernacular,” notes Gassner. “So, it’s a new signature, looking into another world that seems familiar but is still unique. There’s a term I use – called cludging – it’s taking one element and combining it with another element to make something new. It’s a hybrid or amalgamation, and that’s what this movie is about from a design perspective. It’s about amalgamating ideas and concepts and theoretical and physical environments.”
Gassner and his team – headed by art directors Richard Johnson, Andrew Nicholson and Chris Lowe, set decorator Anna Pinnock, property master Barry Gibbs, and construction manager Andrew Evans – set about bringing the book’s diverse world to life.
To conceptualize Jordan College, Gassner utilized exteriors from existing architecture in Oxford, Greenwich and Chatham, along with interiors built from the ground up at Shepperton Studios. “I first came to Oxford with Philip Pullman as my guide and he knows the college and the city better than anyone,” recalls Gassner.
“People who have worked on and read the books and worked on the project, they’ve come to the project because they loved the books. The director and I have discussed the emotional fabric of this film at great length, now it’s just a matter of getting that fabric made.”
Some sets were fashioned practically at the stately Hedsor House, in Buckinghamshire. “We’ve basically used the structure of the house but changed everything to adapt it for the world that we’re creating,” says Gassner. Another essential practical location was London’s Park Lane Hotel, the backdrop for the restaurant scene and the beauty parlor.
Shepperton Studios was transformed into a full-scale Golden Compass production facility, with huge soundstages filled with art departments, a foundry for the film’s considerable brassworks, costume factories and offices, and yet others draped with green screens, flying rigs and painstakingly detailed sets showcasing interiors.
In the foundry, numerous versions of the film’s enigmatic machine called the alethiometer were forged. The alethiometer is “a time piece, a magnetic piece,” describes Gassner. “It’s an emotional piece really. The history of time has been unique in terms of evolution, so we wanted to create a magical piece that belonged in the time family.”
Pullman took Gassner to the Museum of Mechanical Pieces to show him some artifacts that formed the inspiration of the piece. “In a sense, the alethiometer is the fusion of all of that,” the production designer explains. “It’s the sum of all the parts. A lot of people on my team worked out the symbology and how it works and how Lyra uses it. It’s become just one small piece in the puzzle. And our journey on this project is to find the right piece in every case.”
The objects were first modeled on a computer, then processed through a cutting-edge rapid prototype machine, which renders out of resin a 3-D model from the computer. The model was then refined, engraved, acid-etched and painted in varying degrees of detail. “Some of them needed to be read, others needed to be dropped or just carried around in Lyra’s pouch,” says prop master Barry Gibbs. “The alchemical marks on the object needed to be precise, so we went to engravers to create those.”
The bears’ armor was likewise brought to life in the foundry after the bears themselves – and their armor – were carved into life-sized maquette sculptures that could then be scanned into the computer.
Similar maquettes were made for each daemon, from Lyra’s Pan to Mrs. Coulter’s golden monkey. Only dog daemons were performed by trained animals. Designing the artifacts of a parallel world was, for Gassner and his team, “new, interesting, exciting and stimulating for all of us to look at, especially working with the young actor playing Lyra, who gets to take a journey through this world.”
Ruth Myers, a two-time Oscar nominee whose credits include L.A. Confidential and Emma, worked closely with director Weitz and Gassner to create costumes that would be at once unfamiliar yet totally consistent with Lyra’s world. “I talked to Chris Weitz about playing with fabrics so things weren’t quite recognizable, not just home spun and hessian,” she describes. “We were painting and printing and dyeing so the fabrics we used were unique. We’d talked about the Gyptians and wanting to give them some ethnicity, a sense that they came from all sorts of different places. With Mrs. Coulter, we talked about the most glamorous time she could exist, and looked at movie stars of the `30s and `40s. The costumes evolved.”
As chaotic as the robes of Serafina Pekkala, the witch queen, the garment of the Magisterial Emmissary would conversely need to represent the picture of authority in Lyra’s world. Even Lyra’s transformation, from ruffian through her makeover by Mrs. Coulter and eventual bearing to the north, would need to precisely reflect her growing sense of self-awareness.
She found a responsive and knowledgeable collaborator in director Weitz. “Chris has a very sophisticated and intelligent visual reference,” Myers notes. “He is possibly the first director I’ve worked with who you can throw a piece of really esoteric references and his own background of culture is so strong that he picks that up. I’ve loved working with him.”
“Ruth’s work is beautiful,” says Weitz. “I felt that the costumes should feel like the best of every era brought forward and given a hybrid twist. Ruth’s work was detailed to an incredible degree; everything feels lived-in and absolutely right.”
Since everything would need to be created, Myers set up shop on-site in Shepperton. “I thought the only way we could do it was being part of the art department and opening up a huge workshop,” she recalls.
Make-up and hair design were entrusted to Peter King, an Oscar winner for his work on New Line Cinema’s Lord of the Rings, who was well equipped to find the right look for a raft of different characters in parallel universes.
Northern Lights: The Photography and Visual Effects of The Golden Compass
From the inception, the visual palette for The Golden Compass involved varying moods that changed in subtle ways throughout Lyra’s journey.
An Emmy award winner and BAFTA nominee for Shackleton, director of photography Henry Braham worked with Weitz to bring into focus the vast canvasses he sought while never losing touch with the psychology of the individuals in the scene.
“The color at the beginning is rich, golden, warm tones,” Braham describes. “We’re in a parallel world where the night and even the moon is golden, as opposed to a silvery blue moon. That is the Oxford world.”
In London, Lyra is dazzled by the dramatic change in scenery from Oxford. “She goes on this fantastic physical journey to Mrs. Coulter’s London, which is sparkly and seductive,” he explains. “With the practical lights, we burned them out a bit so they’re kind of white and crisp. But when she escapes from Mrs. Coulter, the night-time London in our parallel world has a much greener light.”
As she moves north, the landscapes become “cold, silvery, blue hues, which will be a romantic version of the north,” Braham describes. “I’ve spent some time on the ice in the Arctic and it’s actually very beautiful. There is a lot of color in the ice.”
Planning for the substantial visual effects was worked intricately into the production plan, so that tests could begin even prior to physical production. “Fundamentally, the process of how we were going to do something and, more importantly, why we were going to do something, was decided a lot earlier,” recalls Braham. “Some scenes required a huge load of visual effects painting, and previsualizations helped us all stay on the same page.”
Weitz entrusted visual effects supervisor Michael Fink and his VFX producer Susan MacLeod with helping to realize the film’s complex effects needs. Three visual effects facilities were also employed extensively on the project – Cinesite and Framestore CFC in Britain, and Rhythm & Hues in the United States. Cinesite’s VFX supervisor Sue Rowe, Framestore CFC’s supervisor Ben Morris, and Rhythm & Hues supervisor Bill Westenhofer, and their teams set a pace of 40 effects shots per week from the time they commenced their work until the final mix.
Gassner, Braham and Weitz worked closely with the visual effects department to create a seamless relationship between practical and live action photography and digital effects. “They gave me the freedom to move things around, and continuously make changes as the storytelling demanded,” recalls Weitz. “Nothing was impossible for Mike and his team. Their flexibility and ingenuity throughout this process have been remarkable.”
After the initial storyboarding phase of the film, an animatic was created to help frame each scene for the effects elements that would need to be created and composited. “This is the biggest and most complex film I’ve ever done,” notes Fink. “It took me 30 years to figure out how to do it, and I feel like my whole career has led up to this film.”
“The greatest challenge was the film’s various crowd scenes, with multiple humans and multiple daemons,” says Weitz. “These scenes would not have been possible with live animals because daemons don’t act precisely as animal pets – they are an active part of the human they accompany.”
The most immediate and ubiquitous effects elements in the film are two main characters who are not human – Lyra’s daemon, Pan, who takes many forms as children’s daemons do, and Iorek Byrnison, an armored polar bear.
Rhythm and Hues handled the animation of the daemons and setting the stage for their interaction with human actors. “You need to know how big it is, how much it weighs, how it moves, and you need to communicate this to the actors and find a decent surrogate, whether it’s a green sock or a puppeteer pantomiming in the air,” says Rhythm and Hues’ Bill Westenhoffer. “Mrs. Coulter’s monkey is a cool character, as opposed to Pan, who jumps around a lot. We wanted that reflected in the character so when our puppeteer does his performance it conveys to the actors how their daemon will behave.”
Likewise the character Iorek Byrnison’s performance was critical. “This is not a polar bear – this is a Panserbjørne, which wears armor and speaks,” notes Fink. “So, as we animated each piece of the bear, whether it’s running across a fjord with Lyra on his back, or embroiled in a fight, or having an intimate conversation, its muscles, its expressions, even the movement of its fur all had to be precisely unique to that character in that moment.”
Throughout production, Fink and his team focused primarily on the most important mandate for these digital characters – performance. “They have to perform as well as the human actors in the movie,” explains Fink. “Forget the technical stuff – the fur and armor, the scratches, the dirt under the fingernails – the most important facet of these characters was capturing emotion in their performances.”
All elements were continuously cut together throughout production and post-production by veteran editor Anne V. Coates, who had previously won an Oscar for David Lean’s film Lawrence of Arabia back in 1960, and continues to work today in her 80s. “I think Lawrence of Arabia is the greatest film ever made and I’ve always wanted to work with Anne Coates,” says Weitz. “Coincidentally, she had an interest in the books. For me it’s fantastic – I get to work with one of the greatest editors of all time. Anne brings a wealth of experience in storytelling. She’s very quick; very aware of visual effects.”
The end results bowled over even a diehard fan of the books. “It’s really being done exactly how I imagined it,” says cast-member Daniel Craig. “It’s a testament to Chris’s passion, the work of his crew, and Philip’s incredible writing that is so universal, that this world could be brought to life in such a staggering, cohesive way.”
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Daemons and Dust: The Language of The Golden Compass
Alethiometer
A truth-telling or future-telling device that is able to answer questions formed in the mind of the user.
Anbaric Energy
A form of electrical current used in Lyra’s world.
Bolvangar
The northern Experimental Station where Gobblers have secreted the children they’ve kidnapped.
Daemon (pronounced DEE-mon)
The soul of each individual human being embodied in an animal familiar. In childhood, a daemon alters its form to reflect the ever-changing nature of children. In adulthood, it assumes a permanent form that best reflects the inner nature of its human.
Dust
Mystical particles in highest concentration in the Arctic Circle.
Gobblers
The henchmen of the General Oblation Board who are responsible for disappearing children across the country.
Gyptians
Similar to gypsies, the Gyptians are a nomadic group of water farers who live on canal boats.
Intercision
The process of severing a human being from his or her daemon.
Jordan College
A prosperous college in Lyra’s Oxford that is a center of experimental theology.
The Magisterium
The councils that form the heart of government in Lyra’s world. Now tightening its control over the populace, the Magisterium seeks to eliminate free will and calls Lord Asriel’s research into Dust heresy.
Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)
Storms of charged particles and intense solar rays that cause a luminous radiation in the arctic circle. Lord Asriel believes the Northern Lights cloak a magnificent city in the sky.
North
A place of great beauty, diversity, and danger, it is home to armored bears, Tartars, witches, and innumerable creatures. Lord Asriel has photographed Dust and a sort of other world in the Aurora from an outpost in the North.
Panserbjørne
Armored bears who live in the northern region of Svalbard. While not possessed of dæmons, the Panserbjørne make special armor that they liken to their own souls.
Photogram
A type of photographic image; a slide.
Samoyeds
Northern hunters who kidnap Lyra and bring her to Bolvangar.
Spy Flies
Small mechanized insects rumored to be made from both machinery and trapped souls.
Svalbard
A cold, rugged Northern region inhabited by armored bears.
Tartars
A warlike people who live to the north.
Witches
Female beings that travel through the air and outlive humans by hundreds of years.
Production notes provided by New Line Cinema.
The Golden Compass
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Eva Green, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards, Nonso Anozie, Sam Elliott, Charlie Rowe, Jim Carter, Clare Higgins, Ben Walker
Directed by: Chris Weitz
Screenplay by: Chris Weitz
Release Date: December 7, 2007
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence.
Studio: New Line Cinema
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $70,107,728 (18.8%)
Foreign: $302,127,136 (81.2%)
Total: $372,234,864 (Worldwide)