Posted by Oliver on 22:15:51 4/20/2001 from 64.231.69.33:
i think that some british movie company should make a movie on one of the HDM books. They made one on The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter so why can't they make one of the HDM books?? i would definitely see it.

reply if you want to.....^_^

Posted by ladyjacaranda on 23:04:47 4/26/2001 from 208.28.193.182:
No. Just no. Movies usually wreck books. They'd need a love affair in the first couple (Golden, Subtle) to make it a product of hollywood. *Rolls eyes* Probably the witches and someone, or Lyra and Roger. *Winces* Thats gonna happen, yeah right. Also, can you imagine squishing the plot into an hour and a half?

Posted by Alan Early on 21:05:44 5/31/2001 from 159.134.208.226:
A movie version of the books would definately be visually stunning but plotwise and technically, it would be impossible to make a good enough adaption. And you couldn't really fit the three books into three films. You'd need at least six to give all the characters and aspects of the books enough time to progress. There would be another problem- there is a lot to explain in the books, eg. daemons, witches, the knife, etc. etc. etc. You would need one of the characters to narrate. But who? Lyra wouldn't be suitable because there is plenty she doesn't know about in the books. Nor would Will. Perhaps Iorek or the master at Jordan or Serafina could do it.

Posted by Nick on 23:06:45 4/20/2001 from 172.176.156.197:
: i think that some british movie company should make a movie
: on one of the HDM books. They made one on The Lord of the
: Rings and Harry Potter so why can't they make one of the
: HDM books?? i would definitely see it.
:
: reply if you want to.....^_^

I hope you're being sarcastic; the guy who did the Home Alone movies is doing Harry Potter... *sigh*. Pullman *has* sold the movie rights but the question as to whether they'll ever make one is still in the air.

American companies are making those two films; weirdly though I think if someone did make a film of HDM it'd be hard to ruin it. With the controversial aspects and everything, movie companies might shy away anyway.

Posted by Arcian on 7:18:58 4/21/2001 from 161.184.202.27:
Judging by past novel-to-movie adaptations, I honestly can't say that I'm very optimistic about a possible HDM movie. Especially not with all the controversy that the series sparks. My guess would be that if ever a movie was made, it would basically focus on the fantasy (Daemons and Gyptians and Armoured Bears, oh my!) and leave the meat and potatoes of the plot out to dry... I for one, wouldn't be too pleased to pay 10 bucks to see _that_ in theatres.

Not that I'm enthusiastic about paying 10 bucks to see _anything_ in theatres, but that little rant would just be getting off topic. :)

Posted by Adobe Scribe on 1:42:29 4/22/2001 from 63.30.138.31:
: Judging by past novel-to-movie adaptations, I honestly can't
: say that I'm very optimistic about a possible HDM movie

This from the person who said, "Don't you think the Dark Materials Trilogy would make a great anime?!" Ha! (Yes, you may have said it more than two years ago, but what is the Internet for but preserving past foolishness?)

I'd have to strike a balance between the optimism of Nick and the pessimism of Arcian. The movie version probably would play utter havoc with the deeper message Pullman is trying to impart, but the story is *so* distinctive that there's little chance any producer could meddle with the surface plot. I just can't see any way that they could do the movie and not end up with the death, destruction, and bittersweet regret.

While it would be beyond neat to see a movie that portrayed the deeper themes of the series, I would be content for a movie that followed the plot somewhat faithfully.

Posted by egarnaas on 4:44:53 5/3/2001 from 208.26.212.70:
i think that if anyone tried to make a movie out of HDM, not only would they screw it up beyond imagination, they would (like most of you have said) not be able to fit in the main point that HDM is supposed to portray. And it would probably confuse the hell out of most people, because i was a tad confused during the whole trilogy anyway, and people that watch movies aren't usually the type who like to dwell on things. so (in my opinion) making a movie/series out of HDM would pretty much be a waste of time, money, and work that Pullman put into it.

Posted by Isuael on 23:22:41 5/6/2001 from 64.252.72.20:
If they did make a movie, I'd like to see Industrial Light and Magic do the effects. Imagine... a giant armored bear shrugging off bullets as he bounds towards a crack regiment of riflemen with wolf daemons snarling at their heels, saliva dripping from their waiting jaws... think of the big Gungan battle in Episode One, but with specters and ghosts fighting alongside men, witches, and bears. It would be sad if they messed up the plot, but the duels (think Iorek Byrnison versus Iofur Raknison) and the scenery (think Cittagazze and the wheel-roller world) could be worth it if they were done right.

Posted by Nick on 14:04:20 5/12/2001 from 172.173.108.133:
erk, I think that's the way to mess it up. Think Gladiator: it *would've* been a classic if they hadn't used so many effects. Same with Star Wars Episode 1: 70% of everything was rendered, not acted at all. If *I* made a movie out of HDM (I wouldn't, but) it would be three movies and I'd try to use as few Special Effecs as possible... makes it far, far better IMHO.

Posted by celerity on 14:18:16 6/9/2001 from 195.153.89.5:
What's the betting they'd change the ending? ;)
I really don't think they need a movie. All it would do would be to over-simplify the plot, and spark off huge and pointless arguments along the lines of 'Lyra and Will don't look like that!' and 'What happened to that scene?' And I don't think the book really lends itself to being a movie. Of course the imagery would be stunning of they did it right, but scenes which were beautiful in the books (e.g. daemon interaction, Lyra and Will 'going to China') would probably be hard to convey and come across as cheesy in a movie.
Just thoughts... :)

Posted by Sophie on 19:17:30 11/30/2001 from 195.92.168.164:
The only way the movie could be perfect if is *I* was the writer, director etc. and then it would only be perfect for *me*, and would be about 10 hours long...

How the hell would they do naked angels? Or dæmons that aren't laughable? Or armoured bears that don't look computerised? And they'd never get good enough actors, and even if they did, they wouldn't be *right* for me.
Everyone has a different interpratation of HDM, and if there was a movie, I can guarentee I'd hate it.
It's bad enough Scholastic Film have the movie rights to HDM, let's just hope they don't put them to use...

Posted by Nick on 17:43:48 12/30/2001 from 172.189.194.66:
[concerning Scholastic's ownership of the HDM movie rights]
Well.

Scholastic publish HDM in the US of A.

Scholasic sell all their stuff to Warner Brothers (I think)(Harry Potter). WB is owned by AOL (AOL Time Warner) and AOLTW also owns New Line Cinema, which did LotR. (Follow?)

Scholastic may well suck, and WB may well be a huge monolithic gargantuan multinational merciless corporation with no heart or soul, but the sheer amount of money they can pour into a movie's production is A Good Thing. (LotR and HP were both amazing movies- admittedly not everything can be put down to budget, but it counts).

Warner Bros, etc give the money to the production houses to make the movie, put their name on the movie, and distribute and pay for advertising the movie, and in return they get a huge cut of the profits. Which is why some movies get turned down: if WB didn't think it would make money, they wouldn't pour money into its production, and seeing as Scholastic undoubtedly sold HDM to WB, WB has the final say on a movie right now.

Dreamworks, btw, is owned by Steven Spielberg (who wanted to Americanize Harry Potter- very unpopular and JKR turned him down) so HDM might be unsafe in their hands. And Universal did Jurassic Park so must have some links with SS.

And Sony pictures, I belive, published the Final Fantasy movie, and that's all I can think of. Erm.

So, frankly, all hail WB.