The film adaptation of His Dark Materials finally has a director, Toby Emmerich (New Line's president of production) has announced. The British director Anand Tucker (imdb biography) will helm the direction of the first film in the trilogy. “I warmly welcome Anand Tucker as director of the first His Dark Materials film,†says Philip Pullman. “He respects the integrity of the narrative and will maintain that integrity in the film-making process. His ideas are exciting and well thought out, and I greatly look forward to seeing the project go forward in his hands.” Read more on what Pullman has to say.
“The opportunity to turn Philip Pullman’s extraordinary story into a film is literally a dream come true,†says Tucker. “I instantly fell in love with His Dark Materials when it was first published, and have been a huge fan ever since. I was entranced by the way the books reminded me of those first magical experiences of reading books when I was a kid. Philip has created an incredibly universal story about a reluctant hero whose destiny is nothing less than to save Mankind.â€Â
Click here for the full press release. Coverage from BBC, Coming Soon, Reuters, Rotten Tomatoes, and Empire. Continue reading →
The Independent today features an article, spurred by how a new book about a teenage suicide bomber has become a surprise bestseller, on how children's books are now at the forefront of tackling some of the most controversial aspects of modern life: a view which Pullman has often expounded; His Dark Materials here gets a mention as tackling the “perils of hate-fuelled religious righteousness“. Read more.
“There are only two [writers], Philip Pullman today and CS Lewis in Tolkien's day, who have managed to break into the imaginations of grown-ups as well as children with irrefutable force…” writes Natasha Walter for the Guardian. This article on the popularity of fantasy devotes a couple of paragraphs to His Dark Materials and Pullman's atheism. Read more.
Pullman has posted his June newsletter on his site. He details his trip to Stockholm to jointly receive the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award; where he delievered a speech to the Swedish Members of Parliament and met the Crown Princess – with his thoughts on monarchy, the British in particular, following. Read the newsletter.
Noir from the boards spotted what appears to be a poster for the His Dark Materials movie in the background of this photo (originally from rangerboard.com) that has the line “the fantasy comes to life in 2007”, along with some other unreadable text (“shape-shifting animals, mystical dust…?”). We'll update as soon as we know more. Update: There's a better shot of the poster (though the top text is out of view) over at aintitcool.com (scroll down about half-way –thanks to Will).
