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Girls queue for the auditions at Oxford |
Open auditions were held in England for the coveted role of Lyra in the upcoming His Dark Materials movie. New Line announced the auditions on the 14th of March and you can read the official press release here. Thousands of girls turned out - in the pouring rain for most auditions - with the queues winding their way around town.
The auditions are over. It is unlikely that there will be any more - the casting directors will hopefully have found their Lyra amongst the many thousands of girls they have already seen. The next stage is for the calling back of girls whom they wish to see further and we're awaiting that.
Hopefuls had to be resident in the United Kingdom. Nationality was not precisely spoken of, but it should be assumed from this that only English (and possible those from the Gallic regions of Great Britain) would succeed. Applicants were told to "come as themselves" and that no costumes or makeup were to be allowed.
The producers specified an age range of nine to thirteen for those auditioning. This perhaps allays fears that the age of Lyra would be raised for legal - child actors are more legally restricted in working hours - or for moral reasons, regarding the kiss at the very end of His Dark Materials. However, it is worth bearing in mind that a girl who is 12 now will very likely be 16 or older by the time The Amber Spyglass is filmed, if the latter two films are made.
The casting directors are Lucy Bevan and Fiona Weir, the latter of whom chose the child actors for the Harry Potter films. They say they are looking for a, "talented young actress who embodies Lyra’s loyalty, bravery and mischievous nature," and Fiona Weir said further of the His Dark Materials hunt:
"We want to see children who aren't immersed in twenty-first century culture. We're trying to stay off the suburban track. We want to encourage children from as far afield as we possibly can."
Photographs
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Locations & Dates
Auditions for the role took place solely in England: at Cambridge, Oxford, Exeter, and in the north at Kendall in Cumbria. There were open queues leading up to admission from 1000-1200GMT and the auditions themselves will end at 1700GMT.
The exact locations were:
- Cambridge's Corn Exchange (4 April)
- Kendal's Castle Green Hotel (6 April)
- Oxford's Examination Schools (11 April)
- Exeter's Great Hall at the University of Exeter (13 April)
Contact Details
BridgeToTheStars is naught but a humble fansite and, as such, we cannot answer your further queries regarding auditions! All the knowledge we have is compiled here for your convenient perusal. If you, or a parent or guardian, wish to get in touch further with someone, the phone number and postal address below are where you should direct your enquiries. No email address has been supplied unfortunately.
Casting information phone line: 020 7096 1829
Postal address:
The Golden Compass Casting
PO Box 328
Twickenham TW1 9BW
Write for us
We'd like to cover the auditions here on BttS as fully as we can. To that end, we recruited as many people going to the auditions as possible to write for us. If you went to the auditions and haven't written in already, we'd like to hear from you. We'd love it if you could tell us of your experiences - how you convinced your parents to take you, what the queue was like on the day - and perhaps even taking a few photos for us to put up. Your stories would be featured here on the site for everyone to see.If you went to the auditions and are interested, then you can email us here.