Starlog – “America’s SciFi Magazine,” has put together a heavy feature on the Golden Compass for its January issue. Joe Nazarro reviews the entire production, revisiting the original casting calls for Lyra and last January’s set visit. He also speaks to Chris Weitz about his experience and the final changes in the film. Click on the thumbnails below for scans of the article.
Two interesting nuggets:
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If there’s a significant difference between Pullman’s book and Weitz’s screenplay, it’s the portrayal of religionâ€â€Âor, more accurately, its perceived anti-religious message. The studio was reportedly less than enthusiastic about emphasizing those themesâ€â€Âparticularly in a big-budget commercial projectâ€â€Âbut Weitz insists that most of them are still present in the finished film, albeit in a subtler form.
«There are elements in the film that should satisfy fans of that aspect of the book, he elaborates. But we absolutely didn’t need to bang people over the heads with it. To me, what Philip is really talking about is any kind of autocratic system, wether it be a theocracy or whatever. People also get very upset about what they perceive as religiosity, but the book isn’t really about that. If you [wanted to compare] a real-world institution to the Magisterium, it would be something like the Soviet Communist party of the 1970s, or the mullahs in Iran, not the Catholic Church of today. So I felt I could work in those themes in a subtle wayâ€â€Âwhich the fans would appreciateâ€â€Âwhile at the same time not insult people.»
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«As for the Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass, that really depends on the fansâ€â€Âand not just the fans of the books. Unfortunately, they aren’t enough to push this one over the top financially. It depends on the fantasy movie fans and people who are willing to engage with the story because of their interest in the actors and the story itself.»
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My reaction: what story? A fantasy story of the underdogs taking over $AUTOCRATIC_SYSTEM? How generic does it get?