The His Dark Materials trilogy is to be made into a movie. The first film, The Golden Compass / Northern Lights is currently in production by New Line Cinema – recent producers of the Lord of the Rings movies. At the moment the film is slated for release some time in 2007. The most commonly stated date in the press and from within New Line is December of that year. At the moment, casting has completed and filming is taking place around Britain.
Kidman and Craig star opposite
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Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig are the leading couple in the movie, playing Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel. However, Dakota Blue Richards, an unknown British schoolgirl, will be the real star of the show. She was cast in the lead role of Lyra Belacqua after an extensive casting search through open auditions. You can read in detail about these and the other casting appointments on our cast page.
Filming is currenty going on across Great Britain in numerous locations. We've snaps and reports from all of the principal locations: at Oxford, Greenwich - parts standing in for Jordan; and Chatham - acting as the port at Trollesund. Read more.
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Chris Weitz will be directing the first film in the trilogy. His previous films include American Pie and About A Boy. The American director was initially appointed director in May 2004, after impressing New Line with a dossier detailing how he would handle the movies and a personal statement on his passion for the books. However, he later left the job citing "technical challenges" and Anand Tucker took over. Then, nearly a year later, Mr Weitz took the role again, with Tucker quitting the production. You can read more about this series of events on our crew page.
Open auditions were held in England for the coveted role of Lyra the upcoming films. Thousands of girls turned out - in the pouring rain for most auditions - with the queues winding their way around town. For full details on how the auditions went and reports from girls who attended, see the BttS auditioning page.
In the interminable wait for New Line's film production to get off the ground, several short 'trailers' for the film have been produced. They are produced variously by a small film company, by two His Dark Materials fans and by an undergraduate student for an assignment. These are not official trailers! However, they are very well put together and entertaining to watch. You can view them all on our mock trailers page.
Some BttS Sraffies are having a go at making their own too - see on our boards for details.
The movie's soundtrack score has also attracted fan attention. Chris Byrne has produced an orchestral mock up for The Golden Compass, featuring accompaniments for key scenes in the book. You can listen to it here.