The change in running time came because of a limited notion of what a children’s movie can be, and what a younger audience can cope with.
GOLDEN COMPASS 2 RELEASE FULL
In short, it feels more like a bullet point list of things half remembered from the book than an actual film.Īnd we come back full circle a little here. What really killed the film off it seems was the drive to get it under two hours, and the ensuing studio-imposed reworking of the movie. Actor Tom Courtenay confirmed that his role was drastically reduced in post-production, with the studio editing the full-length version down, removing its original ending and staging reshoots to exposit information now lost. Ultimately, there were problems as a result of religious pressure and the studio being unwilling to risk wrath (wrath that would probably have descended on them at any rate), but this was far from unsalvageable. While only a hint of the religious subtext was left in that script, much of what made Weitz’ first draft work was cut to bring down that running time.
GOLDEN COMPASS 2 RELEASE SERIES
Read more: His Dark Materials TV Series Creator Discusses Religion in the Adaptation He apparently turned in a more faithful draft than Stoppard, whose script was apparently less about Lyra and more about meetings (according to a Philip Pullman interview with The Atlantic,which is well worth a read). He left the project-replaced temporarily by Anand Tucker ( Red Riding, Indian Summer), who himself then left over creative differences-before Weitz returned to finish the movie he’d started.Īccording to Vulture, the faults of the film do not lie with Weitz.
Weitz trod lightly around the religious aspects of Pullman’s books, but still found himself having to remove even mentions of “sin” from the script, leaving an important part of the story flailing amid woolly and ridiculous euphemisms.
You’d have thought that the studio who made Lord of The Rings would have more faith. This came despite Harry Potterbeing successful with lengthier running times. This is partly down to a studio imposed running time of two hours, cutting around an hour from Weitz’ first draft. The end result is dialogue telling us that Lyra is special in a film that doesn’t always remember to show us the same thing. Read more: His Dark Materials’ Major Differences From The Golden Compass Book Weitz, having co-wrote and directed About a Boy, seemed a sensible choice after producing a seemingly light film punctuated by moments of melancholy and darkness, and got the job after making an unsolicited pitch. Ian McKellen was also brought on board to have a fight with Lovejoy, but like the rest of the film it was a bloodless affair. With Rogue One writer Chris Weitz both writing and directing, you’d be forgiven for thinking he should take the bulk of the blame, especially when he chose not to use a draft by renowned playwright (and Star Wars prequels dialogue polisher, yes, I know) Tom Stoppard. Christopher Lee is brought in to say a new line by New Line, whose own dust-strewn fingers are all over the final edit and some of the casting. Read more: His Dark Materials’ Serafina Pekkala & The Witches Explainedĭerek Jacobi almost salvages lines such as: “If we can save our children from the corrupting influence of Dust…” but ultimately can’t do anything to stop it sounding like a line from Brass Eye. His Dark Materials was also occasionally categorized in shops as a children’s book, unlike Lord of The Rings. The two stories are very different high fantasies, however, and The Golden Compass contains concepts less familiar to audiences than wizards, monsters, and swordplay.
Critically acclaimed, award-laden bestsellers with a young heroine in the form of Lyra Bellacqua, the trilogy seemed an obvious choice to follow Harry Potterand Lord of The Rings and become a blockbuster movie series. New Line bought the rights after bringing Lord of The Rings to the screen, hoping for a similar success. Pullman’s His Dark Materialswas much praised for its rich, imaginative fantasy world, nuanced and ambiguous characters, and powerful anti-religious themes. With His Dark Materials currently making waves on HBO, we’re taking the time to look back at what went wrong the last time someone tried to adapt Philip Pullman’s beloved trilogy of fantasy novels to the screen in the 2007 flop The Golden Compass.
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