{"id":2658,"date":"2005-08-08T23:17:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-08T23:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director\/"},"modified":"2005-08-08T23:17:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-08T23:17:00","slug":"his-dark-materials-gets-a-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html","title":{"rendered":"‘His Dark Materials’ gets a director"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Move over, Da Vinci Code<\/a><\/i>. A potentially bigger and even more controversial movie adaptation of a popular anti-Christian novel (or, rather, series of novels) could be in the works.<\/span><\/p>\n

Variety<\/a><\/i> reports that New Line, the studio that hired an obscure indie director named Peter Jackson to make the Lord of the Rings<\/a><\/i> films, has now turned to another obscure indie director, Anand Tucker, to direct The Golden Compass<\/a><\/i>, the first installment in Philip Pullman\u2019s \u2018His Dark Materials<\/a>\u2018 trilogy (my review<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Tucker has directed only three other films so far: Saint-Ex<\/a><\/i> (1996), which starred Downfall<\/a><\/i>\u2018s Bruno Ganz as Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry, author of The Little Prince<\/i>; Hilary and Jackie<\/a><\/i> (1998), which starred Emily Watson as famed cellist Jacqueline du Pr\u00e9; and the upcoming Steve Martin film Shopgirl<\/a><\/i>. The IMDB also lists him as a producer of Peter Webber\u2019s Girl with a Pearl Earring<\/a><\/i> (2003).<\/p>\n

Reports Variety<\/i>:<\/p>\n

New Line had interviewed 50 directors since December, when Chris Weitz ankled, citing the daunting technical challenges of the epic. But nobody wanted the job as badly as Tucker, who won it with a presentation that included a 20-page outline, conceptual art and visual effects demos.<\/p>\n

Though they still canvassed vets like Ridley Scott<\/a> and auteurs like David Cronenberg, New Line brass ultimately gave Tucker the chance to follow the path from indie-style pics to blockbuster franchise assignments previously taken by the likes of Peter Jackson, Bryan Singer, Chris Nolan<\/a> and the Wachowski brothers<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The paper adds:<\/p>\n

New Line\u2019s plan is to shoot the Weitz-scripted \u201cThe Golden Compass\u201d as a stand-alone movie. Assuming it works, the studio may shoot the second and third installments, \u201cThe Subtle Knife\u201d and \u201cThe Amber Spyglass,\u201d back-to-back.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Methinks this could almost work. Almost.<\/p>\n

The Golden Compass<\/i> is a rather exciting novel in its own right, with very little of the explicitly anti-Christian propagandizing that becomes a little more explicit in the second book and then overwhelms the third book. The books were released a few years apart, and if I had read each one when it was brand new, the first one would have had me waiting breathlessly for years for the next installments, while the third one \u2014 in which the storytelling is sidetracked by Pullman\u2019s anti-religious sermonizing \u2014 would have filled me with a profound sense of betrayal. As it is, I went into the trilogy with a vague sense of how it would all end, so I was already kind of on my guard; but even then, that first book was such a vivid piece of world creation that I kind of fell in love with it.<\/p>\n

So. If they made a stand-alone movie of the first book, and then never got around to filming the others, I couldn\u2019t be happier!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Move over, Da Vinci Code. A potentially bigger and even more controversial movie adaptation of a popular anti-Christian novel (or, rather, series of novels) could be in the works. Variety reports that New Line, the studio that hired an obscure indie director named Peter Jackson to make the Lord of the Rings films, has now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n'His Dark Materials' gets a director<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Move over, Da Vinci Code. A potentially bigger and even more controversial movie adaptation of a popular anti-Christian novel (or, rather, series of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'His Dark Materials' gets a director\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Move over, Da Vinci Code. A potentially bigger and even more controversial movie adaptation of a popular anti-Christian novel (or, rather, series of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-08-08T23:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html\",\"name\":\"'His Dark Materials' gets a director\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-08-08T23:17:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2005-08-08T23:17:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\"},\"description\":\"Move over, Da Vinci Code. A potentially bigger and even more controversial movie adaptation of a popular anti-Christian novel (or, rather, series of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"‘His Dark Materials’ gets a director\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/\",\"name\":\"FilmChat\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\",\"name\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\"},\"description\":\"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'His Dark Materials' gets a director","description":"Move over, Da Vinci Code. A potentially bigger and even more controversial movie adaptation of a popular anti-Christian novel (or, rather, series of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'His Dark Materials' gets a director","og_description":"Move over, Da Vinci Code. A potentially bigger and even more controversial movie adaptation of a popular anti-Christian novel (or, rather, series of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html","og_site_name":"FilmChat","article_published_time":"2005-08-08T23:17:00+00:00","author":"Peter T. Chattaway","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter T. Chattaway","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html","name":"'His Dark Materials' gets a director","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2005-08-08T23:17:00+00:00","dateModified":"2005-08-08T23:17:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde"},"description":"Move over, Da Vinci Code. A potentially bigger and even more controversial movie adaptation of a popular anti-Christian novel (or, rather, series of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/08\/his-dark-materials-gets-a-director.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"‘His Dark Materials’ gets a director"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/","name":"FilmChat","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde","name":"Peter T. Chattaway","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter T. Chattaway"},"description":"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}