The Golden Compass (film)

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The Golden Compass
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chris Weitz
Written by	Philip Pullman (novel) Chris Weitz
Starring	Dakota Blue Richards Nicole Kidman Daniel Craig Ian McKellen Ian McShane Sam Elliott Eva Green
Music by	Alexandre Desplat
Editing by	Anne V. Coates
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	UK December 5, 2007 USA December 7, 2007 AUS December 26, 2007
Running time	113 min.
Country	United Kingdom/ United States
Language	English
Budget	$180 million
Gross revenue	$321.5 million (as of January 26, 2008)
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Golden Compass is an Academy Award-nominated fantasy film based upon Northern Lights (also known as The Golden Compass), the first novel in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials, and was released on December 5, 2007 by New Line Cinema. It is part of the His Dark Materials film series. The project was announced in February 2002, following the success of other recent adaptations of fantasy epics, and at $180 million is one of New Line's biggest-budget projects ever after a series of box office disappointments preceding the release.

The story concerns Lyra, an orphan living in a fantastical parallel universe in which a dogmatic dictatorship called the Magisterium threatens to dominate the world. When Lyra's friend is kidnapped, she travels to the far North in an attempt to rescue him and rejoin her uncle.

Before its release, the film received criticism from secular organizations and fans of His Dark Materials for the dilution of the religious elements from the novels, as well as from some religious organizations for the source material's perceived anti-Catholic and atheistic themes. The film was met with mixed reviews, and failed to meet expectations at the U.S. box office, but its international performance more than tripled the U.S. figures, surpassing $250 million for a total of $321.5 million worldwide.

Plot

Lyra Belacqua (Richards) is a young orphan girl who lives in a parallel universe in which a person's soul resides outside the body in the form of an animal called a " dæmon." The land is controlled by the Magisterium, an authoritarian organization that restricts freedoms in order to impose its own systems of belief upon the populace. A ward of Jordan College, Lyra spends her free time with the local children and her best friend, Roger (Walker). Lyra and the others tell of the "Gobblers," whom they hold responsible for the disappearance of several local children.

When Lyra's uncle, Lord Asriel (Craig), visits the college, Lyra saves him from assassination at the hands of a Magisterial representative, who wants to prevent Asriel from presenting evidence to the college which indicates the existence of particles called "Dust", in opposition to official Magisterium doctrine. Asriel obtains funding from the college to mount an expedition to the far north in order to investigate the substance, which he believes originates in a parallel universe to his own, entering the body via a person's dæmon. Fearing the effects of Dust, the Magisterium is conducting experiments on children in order to find a means of inoculating them against it.

After Asriel departs, the college is visited by Marisa Coulter (Kidman), who offers to take Lyra north as her assistant. Lyra assents and, before she leaves, is entrusted with an alethiometer by the master of the college. The last remaining since the Magisterium forbade their use, the alethiometer is a device that is able to reveal the answer to any question asked it by a trained user. While unable to operate it, Lyra accepts the gift and takes it with her to Mrs. Coulter's home. When Mrs. Coulter arouses Lyra's suspicions by delaying their journey, Lyra discovers that Mrs. Coulter is head of the General Oblation Board – the "Gobblers" who have been kidnapping children, and that Roger and her Gyptian friend Billy Costa (Rowe) have been taken by this group to the north. Mrs. Coulter learns of Lyra's possession of the alethiometer, but Lyra escapes.

The "Gobblers" pursue her, but she is saved by the Gyptians, nomadic boat people, who are planning to travel north by sea in order to rescue the kidnapped children, many Gyptians amongst them. Lyra travels with them and comes to an understanding of the alethiometer's use with the aid of Farder Coram ( Courtenay) a Gyptian and Serafina Pekkala ( Green), the queen of a witch clan who appears during the journey. At a Norwegian port, Lyra befriends aeronaut Lee Scoresby ( Elliot), who advises her to hire Iorek Byrnison (McKellen), an exiled prince of a race of armoured polar bears, who is employed as a metalworker in the port after being tricked by the local townspeople and his armour (which houses his soul) stolen. Lyra uses the alethiometer to discover the armour's location, which Iorek recovers. He pledges his service to Lyra's cause, while Scoresby is hired by the Gyptians to aid them on the trek north.

The alethiometer guides Lyra to Billy Costa, who has escaped from a Magisterium research station. Finding him dazed and without his dæmon, she returns him to the Gyptians. The group is attacked by a tribe of Samoyeds and Lyra is captured. Taken to the king of the armoured bears Ragnar Sturlusson (McShane), Lyra tricks him into fighting Iorek for the throne. Iorek wins the fight and becomes king. Iorek carries Lyra to the Magisterium research station at Bolvangar, but the two are separated by the collapse of an ice bridge. Pretending to be lost, Lyra is welcomed into Bolvangar by the Magisterium scientists and locates Roger, instructing him to have the other kidnapped children prepared for escape. Lyra eavesdrops on a group of scientists talking with Mrs. Coulter about the experiments they do on the children, discovering that they attempt to prevent Dust from entering a child by severing the bond to his or her dæmon. Discovered by the scientists after Mrs. Coulter departs, she is taken to a room where the scientists intend to perform the procedure on Lyra. At the last moment before it is completed, Mrs. Coulter intervenes, taking Lyra to her rooms.

Mrs. Coulter explains that the procedure is to prevent the flow of Dust into the child when he or she enters puberty, saying that the Dust causes bad thoughts as children near maturity. She also tells Lyra that she is her mother, and Lord Asriel her father. Lyra learns that Asriel is engaged in his research further north and that assassins have been sent to kill him. When Mrs. Coulter asks for the alethiometer, Lyra incapacitates her and escapes. Lyra destroys the severing apparatus, leading to a series of explosions, which begins to tear down the facility, and she leads the children outside. Magisterial guards block their escape, but a battle ensues when Iorek, the Gyptians, a band of witches and Scoresby arrive. The guards are defeated and the children are rescued.

Instead of travelling back south with the Gyptians and the rescued children, Lyra and Roger choose to travel north with Lee Scoresby, Iorek Byrnison and Serafina Pekkala to find Lord Asriel, at which point Serafina points out to Lee "The magisterium doesn't just want this world, they want every world in every universe".

Cast

• Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra Belacqua, who embarks on a voyage to battle the forces of evil and rescue her best friend. New Line Cinema announced 12-year-old Richards' casting in June 2006. She had attended an open audition after watching a stage production of The Golden Compass, and was picked from 10,000 girls who auditioned, for what is her first acting role.
• Nicole Kidman as Marisa Coulter, Lyra's caretaker and the antagonist of the film. Kidman was author Philip Pullman's preferred choice for the role ten years before production of the film, and despite initially rejecting the offer to star as she didn't want to play a villain, she signed on after receiving a personal letter from Pullman.
• Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel, Lyra's ruthless and mysterious adventurer uncle.
• Ian McKellen as the voice of Iorek Byrnison, an armoured bear who becomes Lyra's friend and comrade. Nonso Anozie had recorded lines for the part of Iorek Byrnison, but was replaced by McKellen at a late stage as New Line wanted a bigger name in the role. New Line president of production Toby Emmerich admitted he "never thought [Anozie] sounded like Iorek" and while he initially trusted director Weitz's casting decision, he "never stopped thinking that this guy didn't sound right." The recasting was against Weitz's wishes, though he later said "if you're going to have anyone recast in your movie, you're happy it's Ian McKellen."
• Ian McShane as the voice of Ragnar Sturlusson, the armoured bear king. Ragnar's name in the book was Iofur Raknison, but the name has been changed to prevent confusion between him and Iorek.
• Sam Elliott as Lee Scoresby, a Texan aeronaut who comes to Lyra's aid.
• Eva Green as Serafina Pekkala, a witch queen.
• Freddie Highmore as the voice of Pantalaimon, Lyra's dæmon.
• Ben Walker as Roger Parslow, Lyra's best friend, who is kidnapped and taken North.
• Clare Higgins as Ma Costa, member of a Gyptian family which aids Lyra.
• Jim Carter as John Faa, the king of the Gyptians.
• Tom Courtenay as Farder Coram, Gyptian second-in-command and advisor to John Faa.
• Kathy Bates as the voice of Hester, Lee Scoresby's dæmon.
• Kristin Scott Thomas as the voice of Stelmaria, Lord Asriel's dæmon.
• Jack Shepherd as Master of Jordan College.
• Simon McBurney as Fra Pavel.
• Magda Szubanski as Mrs. Lonsdale.
• Christopher Lee as the Magisterium's First High Councilor. Lee's casting was also at New Line's behest, rather than that of Chris Weitz.
• Derek Jacobi as the Magisterial Emissary.

Development

On February 11, 2002, following the success of New Line's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the studio bought the rights to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Directors Brett Ratner and Sam Mendes expressed interest, and in July 2003 Tom Stoppard was commissioned to write the screenplay.

A year later, Chris Weitz was hired to direct after approaching the studio with an unsolicited 40-page treatment. The studio rejected Stoppard's script, asking Weitz to start from scratch. A fan of Stoppard, he decided not to read the adaptation in case he "subconsciously poached things from him." After delivering his script, Weitz cited Barry Lyndon and Star Wars as stylistic influences on the film. In 2004, Weitz was invited by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson onto the set of King Kong in order to gather information on directing a blockbuster film, and to receive advice on dealing with New Line Cinema, for whom Jackson had worked on Lord of the Rings. After a subsequent interview in which Weitz said the novel's attacks on organised religion would have to be softened, he was criticised by some fans, and on December 15, 2004, Weitz announced his resignation as director of the trilogy, citing the enormous technical challenges of the epic. He later indicated that he had envisioned the possibility of being denounced by both the book's fans and its detractors, as well as a studio hoping for another Lord of the Rings.

On August 9, 2005, it was announced that British director Anand Tucker would take over from Weitz. Tucker felt the film would thematically be about Lyra "looking for a family", and Pullman agreed: "He has plenty of very good ideas, and he isn't daunted by the technical challenges. But the best thing from the point of view of all who care about the story is his awareness that it isn't about computer graphics; it isn't about fantastic adventures in amazing-looking worlds; it's about Lyra." Tucker resigned on May 8, 2006, citing creative disagreements with New Line, and Weitz returned to direct.. Weitz said "I'm both the first and third director on the film ... [B]ut I did a lot of growing in the interim."

According to producer Deborah Forte, Tucker wanted to make a smaller, less exciting film than New Line wanted. New Line production president Toby Emmerich said of Weitz's return: "I think Chris realized that if he didn’t come back in and step up, maybe the movie wasn’t going to get made ... We really didn’t have a Plan B at that point." Weitz was attracted back to the project after receiving a letter from Pullman asking him to reconsider. Since his departure, blueprints, production design and visual effects strategies had been put into position, and while Weitz admitted that his fears didn't vanish, the project suddenly seemed feasible for the director.

On October 9, 2007, Weitz revealed that the final three chapters from The Golden Compass have been moved to potential sequel The Subtle Knife to provide "the most promising conclusion to the first film and the best possible beginning to the second." Author Pullman has publicly supported these changes saying that "every film has to make changes to the story that the original book tells - not to change the outcome, but to make it fit the dimensions and the medium of film."

Title

For some time during the pre-publication process, the series of novels was known as The Golden Compasses. The word Compasses referred to a pair of compasses—the circle-drawing instrument—rather than a navigational compass. Pullman then settled on Northern Lights as the title for the first book, and continued to refer to the trilogy as The Golden Compasses.

In the USA, in their discussions over the publication of the first book, the publishers Alfred A. Knopf had been calling it The Golden Compass (omitting the plural), which they mistakenly believed referred to Lyra's alethiometer, because the device superficially resembles a navigational compass. Meanwhile, in the UK, Pullman had replaced The Golden Compasses with His Dark Materials (a title that Pullman had taken from a line in Paradise Lost) as the title of the trilogy. But according to Pullman, the publishers had become so attached to The Golden Compass that they insisted on publishing the US edition of the first book under that title, rather than Northern Lights, the title used in the UK.

Production

Filming began at Shepperton Studios on September 4, 2006, with additional sequences shot in Switzerland and Norway. Filming also took place at the Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich in London; and in Radcliffe Square, Oxford, on the 14th and 15th of June. Night filming took place in The Queen's College and Queen's Lane in Oxford on the 24th, 25th and 26th of June.

Production Designer Dennis Gassner says of his work on the film: “The whole project is about translation – translation from something you would understand into something that is in a different vernacular. So, it’s a new signature, looking into another world that seems familiar but is still unique. There’s a term I use – called 'cludging' – it’s taking one element and combining it with another element to make something new. It’s a hybrid or amalgamation, and that’s what this movie is about from a design perspective. It’s about amalgamating ideas and concepts and theoretical and physical environments.”

Rhythm and Hues Studios created the main dæmons, and Framestore CFC created all the bears. British company Cinesite created the secondary dæmons.

Alexandre Desplat composed the soundtrack to the film. Kate Bush recorded the track Lyra which plays over the end credits.

Controversies

Several key themes of the novels, such as the rejection of religion and the abuse of power in a fictionalised version of the Catholic Church, were diluted in the adaptation. Director Weitz said "in the books the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic Church gone wildly astray from its roots", but that the organization portrayed in his film would not directly match that of Pullman's books. Instead, the Magisterium represents all dogmatic organizations. Weitz said that New Line Cinema had feared the story's anti-religious themes would make the film financially unviable in the U.S., and so religion and God ("the Authority" in the books) will not be referenced directly.

Attempting to reassure fans of the novels, Weitz said that religion would instead appear in euphemistic terms, yet the decision has been attacked by some fans, anti-censorship groups, and the National Secular Society (of which Pullman is an honorary associate), which said "they are taking the heart out of it, losing the point of it, castrating it..."and "this is part of a long-term problem over freedom of speech." The Atlantic Monthly said also "[W]ith $180 million at stake, the studio opted to kidnap the book’s body and leave behind its soul." The changes from the novel have been present since Tom Stoppard's rejected version of the script, and Pullman expected the film to be "faithful" although he has also been quoted as saying "They do know where to put the theology and that’s off the film."

On October 7, 2007 the Catholic League called for a boycott of the film. League president William A. Donohue said he would not ordinarily object to the film, but that while the religious elements are diluted from the source material, the film will encourage children to read the novels, which he says "denigrate Christianity" and promote "atheism for kids." He cited Pullman telling the Washington Post in 2001 that he is "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief." The League hoped that "the film [would fail] to meet box office expectations and that [Pullman's] books attract few buyers," declaring the boycott campaign a success after a North American opening weekend which was lower than anticipated. One week after the film's release, Roger Ebert said of the campaign, "any bad buzz on a family film can be mortal, and that seems to have been the case this time."

R. Albert Mohler, Jr., the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, agreed that the broad appeal of the film was a dangerous lure to the novels, which he criticized for carrying a clear agenda to "expose what [Pullman] believes is the tyranny of the Christian faith" and for "[providing] a liberating mythology for a new secular age." The Rev. Denny Wayman of the Free Methodist Church made the assertion that The Golden Compass is a "film trying to preach an atheistic message." Other evangelical groups, such as The Christian Film and Television Commission, adopted a "wait-and-see" approach to the film before deciding upon any action, as did the Roman Catholic Church in Britain. Some religious scholars have challenged the view that the story carries atheistic themes, while in November 2007, a review of the film by the director and staff reviewer of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting appeared on the website of the Catholic News Service and in Catholic newspapers across the country. The review suggested that instead of a boycott, it may be appropriate for Catholic parents to "talk through any thorny philosophical issues" with their children. However, on December 10, 2007 the review was removed from the website at the USCCB's request. On December 19, 2007, the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published an editorial in which it denounced the film as godless.

Pullman has said of Donohue's call for a boycott, "Why don't we trust readers? Why don't we trust filmgoers? Oh, it causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world." In a discussion with Donohue on CBS's Early Show, Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, said that rather than promote atheism, the film would encourage children to question authority, saying that would not be a bad thing for children to learn. Director Weitz says that he believes His Dark Materials is "not an atheistic work, but a highly spiritual and reverent piece of writing", and Nicole Kidman defended her decision to star in the film, saying that "I wouldn't be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic". Some commentators indicated that they believed both sides' criticism would prove ultimately impotent and that the negative publicity would prove a boon for the film's box office.

Reception

Reviews of The Golden Compass have been mixed. As of January 2, 2008, review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 42% of critics gave the film positive write-ups, based on 171 reviews, with a 54% rating from selected "notable" critics. At the similar website Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to each review, the film has received an average score of 51, based on 33 reviews.

Manohla Dargis of the New York Times said that the film "crams so many events, characters, [...] twists and turns, sumptuously appointed rooms and ethereally strange vistas [...] that [it] risks losing you in the whirl" and that while The Golden Compass is "an honorable work," it is "hampered by its fealty to the book and its madly rushed pace." James Berardinelli of ReelReviews gave the film 2½ stars out of 4, calling it "adequate but not inspired" and criticizing the first hour for its rushed pace and sketchily-developed characters. James Christopher of The Times was disappointed, praising the "marvellous" special effects and casting, but saying that the "books weave a magic the film simply cannot match" and citing a "lack of genuine drama."

Time rated it a "B" and called it a "good, if familiar fantasy", saying "The find is Dakota Blue Richards [...] who's both grounded and magical." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian rated it four stars out of five, praising Nicole Kidman's casting and saying it had "no other challengers as [2007's] big Christmas movie." Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert awarded the film four out of four stars and called it "a darker, deeper fantasy epic than the Rings trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia or the Potter films," saying that it "creates villains that are more complex and poses more intriguing questions. As a visual experience, it is superb. As an escapist fantasy, it is challenging [...] I think [it] is a wonderfully good-looking movie, with exciting passages and a captivating heroine."

The Golden Compass was nominated for two Critics' Choice Awards in 2007: "Best Family Film," and "Best Young Actress" for Dakota Blue Richards. It was also nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects).

The North American opening weekend return of $25.8 million was "a little disappointing" for New Line Cinema, though its performance outside the United States has been described as "stellar" by Variety, and as "astonishing" by New Line. As of January 23, 2008, The Golden Compass has earned $68,530,210 in North America and $252,991,908 elsewhere, totaling $321,522,118 worldwide.

Blu-ray disc and DVD

New Line Home Entertainment announced that the movie will be released both in the high definition Blu-ray format and on DVD on April 29th, 2008. A special double disc DVD edition will also be released featuring almost three hours of extras. The Blu-ray version will also include all the extras, in addition to a "visually enhanced commentary."

Possible Extended Cut

Weitz has suggested that an extended cut of the film could be released on DVD, saying "I'd really love to do a fuller cut of the film"; he further speculated that such a version "could probably end up at two and half hours." (His Dark Materials fan site Bridgetothestars.net has posited that this proposed running time does not include the original ending.) Cast members Craig and Green have echoed Weitz's hope for such a cut. So far, however, no official announcement has been made.

Video game

The video game for this film was released December 4, 2007 for the PC, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and the Xbox 360. It was developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Sega.

Players take control of the characters Lyra Belacqua and Iorek Byrnison in Lyra's attempt to save her friend Roger from the General Oblation Board.

Sequels

New Line Cinema commissioned Hossein Amini to write a screenplay based on the second book in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife, potentially for release in late 2009, with the third book of the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass, to follow. However, New Line president Toby Emmerich stressed that production of the second and third films was dependent on the financial success of The Golden Compass. When The Golden Compass failed to meet expectations at the United States box office, the likelihood of a sequel was downplayed by New Line. According to studio co-head Michael Lynne, "The jury is still very much out on the movie, and while it's performed very strong overseas we'll look at it early [2008] and see where we're going with a [sequel]." If sequels are produced, Weitz has said that he intends to "protect [their] integrity" by being "much less compromising" in the book-to-film adaptation process.