Philip Pullman has updated his web site with some brief comments on the status of the movie, including the casting of Lyra and the recent change of director. He again defends his decision to sell the movie rights and opines that “the latest script, from Chris Weitz, is truly excellent; I know, because I've just this morning read it. I think it's a model of how to condense a story of 400 pages into a script of 110 or so. All the important scenes are there and will have their full value. I'm sorry to say goodbye to Anand Tucker, whom I liked, but glad that the film will go forward in such good shape.” Read more.