Fresh footage from The Golden Compass was shown at Cannes today and here’s our report from our man on the ground, Duncan. We’ll have more detailed thoughts on the new footage in the days to come.
”The footage was to be aired at the Olympia 1 theatre. I of course arrived early, expecting the place to be besieged. It was quite the opposite however; a modest A4 with the title ‘Golden Compass’ in black marker was pegged to the door, indicating the small line, where I took second place.”
”Everyone was frisked for electronic devices, then sat in the main theatre. As I waited and watched, I recognised many people. For example, none other than Lizo from Newsround sat behind me. Whilst I contained my glee, Chris Weitz swiftly introduced the footage, mentioning that the CGI was still being worked on by around 500 artists. At this point I’d like to state that this is from memory, my cunning plan to note things down backfired when the lights went off. Suffice to say when I came to write this report, my notepad read only ‘NL, London, Dinner, Holy and Gibble.’ ”
”Even more to the point, when Chris finished, the theatre darkened and an anticipating silence fell on the audience. The New Line icon glimmered on screen joined by a sweeping score (unsure if it was the soundtrack by Desplat, the film’s composer). Then suddenly we were in Lyra’s World.”
”What followed was a comprehensive 10 minute run-through of the plot, in spectacular and dramatic form. It began with a sweeping view of London with a voice over explaining the world, the Magisterium and so fourth. Then we met Lyra, and Pan fully animated and voiced, hiding in the wardrobe as Asriel confronted the Scholars in the Retiring room. Dakota is in all respects Lyra. Her acting was exemplary in each appearance. She even boasts the lively accent.””Then we were in the expansive dining hall of Jordan College, sitting with Lyra at the Masters Table as she spoke to Marisa. Kidman presents Coulter with flawless malign beauty, as she should be. Pullman was not misinformed when he conceived her to play his villain. We are also shown inside her lustrous Romanesque abode, where we see her try to domesticate Lyra, and the confrontation between them.”
”Then there was the matter of a certain armoured bear. Iorek is … large. Although not quite as expansive as previously thought. For example, you may remember the promo trailer showed Lyra riding him across the horizon – a shot created to convince New Line to make the film. We were now presented with the actual shot where he is considerably smaller. He is also voiced, gruff and deep. We were shown Lyra calming him outside the priests house after regaining his armour (although notably missing one bloodied guard).”
”One worry of mine was the witches, whom from what I saw, did not use Cloudpine. Instead they glided in a graceful windswept way. This does raise questions however, as there has been images of Cloudpine released by New Line. It is plausible that they will be added digitally later, but we shall have to wait and see.”
”The scenes that I saw were taken directly from the books, as was a decent part of the dialogue. There were a great deal of new scenes, such as Marisa interacting with Fra Pavel and other members of the Magisterium, and a scene showing Rogers abduction. Elliot is cracking as Lee of course. Daemons, as some will be pleased to know, do lip-sync. I imagine I have forgotten something, but no matter, I will be seeing it again!”
”Plenty more to come, stay tuned over the next few days.”
-squeals in excitement-
I envy you so much! I look forward to hearing/seeing the daemons speak.
Omg! X3 I can’t wait to hear and see the daemons talk either!!!
Come on, Duncan! You’re telling me you couldn’t sketch us a replica of every frame of footage? Shame on you. You’re not a true Sraffie.
Seriously though, it sounds pretty good. I hope that this was an objective view of the film, and not influenced by “OMG LYRA AND DAEMONS.” As usual, I can’t wait to see some footage. Pirates, my friends. It’s only 5 days away.
Thank you for the information :).
Wow, thank you. Found myself imagining it all and it sounds fantastic.
They also have a complete transcript for the footage over at http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org
From what I’ve read, it seems they have changed a few things but overall it looks like a very faithful adaptation. I’m so excited. I can’t wait to see the official trailer!
Good work, Duncan. Thank you. 🙂
You have your job cut out for you though, HDM.org managed to scribble the script in the dark, you’d better work on your night vision. 😛
Ashe, I’ve read hisdarkmaterials.org’s transcription, and even though it sounds cool, I think it isn’t like the book at all -I mean, practically. And by the way, did you now that the actor supposed to voice Pantalaimon was replaced by Freddie Highmore?
What I meant by faithful is that the story, as a whole, is kept intact. Oh course they weren’t going to go exactlty by the book because film is a different medium, but I think that all the important parts are represented from what we’ve seen/read so far. That’s all. =)
Practically, it IS like the book. If it were not, we wouldn’t be able to figure out the scenes and reading the transcript, you know exactly what scenes they are refering to.
It is an adaptation, a faithful adaptation is never 100%.
Thank you so much! But what was the reaction of the other people in theatre?
From the hisdarkmaterials.org transcription:
“Music cuts back in and rises as Iorek wacks Ragnar’s jaw straight off!”
Okay, this is going to be a badass movie. Case closed.
excellent. i as well am highly anticipating the trailer….can’t wait til friday. i almost (but not really, muaha) feel bad about being more excited for the trailer than the actual pirates film….hehe. anyway, that makes me smile about Iorek and Ragnar. badass = good. if i had to pick the lesser of two evils, i’d much rather this film gets intense and strays from the book a bit, rather than retaining a verbaim book script and turning out to be a Star Wars Phantom Menace cotton candy smiles and cartoons fest of disgustivity (and yes i just made up a word).
good report though, i’m pumped. keep it coming!
DAMN YOU!!!im sooooooo jealous!!!!
still cant wait-a question though.:was the narrator for the movie really “stupid sounding”? or did it “fit in”?
wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh god it sounds gr8!!! i’m glad dakota can do the acsent 😀
that was in the Sunday times yesterday. The article read, ” Pullamn’s dark film gets screen test in Cannes”.
Apparently Pullamn stands to hold very little from the movie, as he sold the film rights in 1996 for very little.
Gabriel- Um…what do you mean Freddie Highmore? Isn’t he that kid? Whyyyy? T__T I don’t believe it until you give me proof or something!
Ok, I just got over the fact that he replaced Adam. >.> Maybe his voice will fit Pan-chan better anyway. I did always imagine his voice as an adult oddly enough. But it’s best to keep it about Lyra’s age, I guess. ^_^
But ur, if Pan-chan’s voice isnt done by Adam..then that means someone has to change the cast list on Imdb. And on here too. O.O
500 computer nerds/FX artists seems a little light on. I’d have thought closer to 1000.
-FB
I am totally jealous of you for being able to see this footage. With all that you described the movie, it totally sounds like a majestic work. I can’t wait to hear more about Cannes. 🙂
Yes, Highmore is replacing Godley, if this story from the Los Angeles Times is to be believed.
http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/cl-et-cannesweitz21may21,0,1011810.story?coll=cl-movies
At the very end, it says “After having initially cast the adult Adam Godley as the voice of Pantalaimon, Weitz recast the part with the high-pitched 15-year-old Highmore. It changed the entire relationship between the Lyra and Pan, making it more intimate, and Pan more vulnerable.”
Highmore is really talented if you watch Finding Neverland, you’ll see what I mean. I think people are afraid that since a child is cast as Pan’s voice that the movie will be more childish, however in recent reports such as here:
http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=32696
It is stated that the movie is not a kid-flick, and will be rated PG 13 in the US.
Ah, that’s good! I knew it was going to be somewhere in the PG-13 region but I wasn’t sure because Eragon was PG and the book had loads of violence. ^^;
I have seen Finding Neverland and yes, Freddie is pretty talented, not bad at all. ^-^ I do hope we get to hear Pan-chan’s voice in the teaser trailer ’cause I hwonder if he sounds right. Don’t want his voice to sound childish or anything.
every body watch newsround tomorrow…………..
they are inter veiwing dakota…………
THEY ARE INTERVEIWING DAKOTA BLUE RICHARDS SO WATCH IT AND SOMEONE TAPE IT……………..
Did anyone see newsround???? They mucked the footage up so u didn’t see it!!!!! >:( >:(>:(>:(>:(
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!
but tommorow on newsround there is an interview with Dakota Blue Richards!!!!!!!
i know….. can’t wait for that…. it is judgement day tomorrow………….
lizzie, u better watch it too……… i need someone to talk to about it when it comes on………