Line #6 Trivia/TheGoldenCompass


1	* AbilityOverAppearance:
2	** Creator/PhilipPullman had this reaction when Creator/NicoleKidman was cast as Mrs. Coulter. The character has dark hair in the books but was depicted as a blonde in the film. Pullman later admitted, "I was wrong, she has to be blonde" (Kidman had long been his personal choice for the role). Pullman has subsequently written the character as being fair-haired. The TV series, however, restored Coulter’s dark hair.
3	** Serafina Pekkala was the opposite, with a brunette Eva Green playing a character written as blonde, though Green’s performance was praised. The subsequent TV series retained this change.
4	** At the time the film was made, Magda Szubanski seemed a perfect fit for Mrs. Lonsdale, a character who was not given much description in the original trilogy. [[spoiler: Subsequent revelations in ''Literature/TheBookOfDust'' revealed Alice Lonsdale to be much younger and quite slender.]]
5	* AllStarCast: Featuring a cast of stars such as Creator/NicoleKidman, Creator/DanielCraig, Jim Carter, Creator/SamElliott and Creator/EvaGreen (although more famous nowadays, she had just come to prominence with ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' and ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven''). The daemons are also voiced by Creator/FreddieHighmore (enjoying a very high profile thanks to ''Film/FindingNeverland'' and ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory''), Creator/KristinScottThomas, and Creator/KathyBates. And of course Creator/IanMcKellen and Creator/IanMcShane voicing the armoured bears. Creator/ChristopherLee also appears in a small role. Dakota Blue Richards was on her first role as Lyra but would be more recognisable now to ''{{Series/Skins}}'' fans.
6	* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/EvaGreen signed on to play Serafina Pekkala because she has a great interest in witches and the occult, and loved the idea of playing one. She has played [[{{Series/Camelot}} several]] [[Film/MissPeregrinesHomeForPeculiarChildren more]] [[Series/PennyDreadful since]].
7	* BillingDisplacement: Creator/ChristopherLee is given prominent billing, yet says a grand total of one line.[[note]]His part was added in during reshoots, and the prominent billing was an attempt to appeal to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' fans.[[/note]]
8	* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $180 million. Box office, $70 million (domestically), $372,234,864 (internationally). Due to selling off all international profits to get the film made, New Line could only rely on the domestic proceeds for revenue, firmly making this one of the biggest bombs of 2007.
9	* CelebrityVoiceActor: For the daemons - Creator/FreddieHighmore as Pantalaimon, Creator/KristinScottThomas as Stelmaria and Creator/KathyBates as Hester. Additionally Creator/IanMcKellen as Iorek and Creator/IanMcShane as Ragnar.
10	* CreatorBacklash: Creator/ChrisWeitz disowned the theatrical cut due to all the ExecutiveMeddling it went through. He especially regretted having to replace Creator/NonsoAnozie's voice as Iorek with Creator/IanMcKellen.
11	* CreatorChosenCasting: Creator/NicoleKidman was Creator/PhilipPullman's preferred choice for Ms. Coulter ten years before production started and despite initially rejecting the offer to star as she did not want to play a villain, she signed on after receiving a personal letter from Pullman.
12	* CreatorKiller:
13	** This was part of a bad spell that led to Creator/NewLineCinema losing their independence, becoming a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Pictures, as well as its founders Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne being dismissed; this also led to '''their''' subsidiaries getting crushed in the remolding of the firm.
14	** This was also the fate of Creator/ShinyEntertainment, the studio that made the game tie-in, and Creator/{{Sega}} had to abandon them to Double Helix.
15	** Subverted for Chris Weitz, whose career was not dented at all by the failure of this. He landed the job directing the first ''Twilight'' sequel ''Literature/NewMoon'', and got to write the screenplays for ''Film/RogueOne'' and ''{{Film/Cinderella 2015}}''.
16	* DarkHorseCasting: Dakota Blue Richards had never appeared in a film prior to being cast as Lyra at the age of twelve.
17	* DeletedRole: Serafina's daemon Kaisa doesn't appear in the finished film, but [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/hdm/images/0/07/The_Golden_Compass_serafina.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111210105629 photos]] exist of him with Eva Green.
18	* DeletedScene: According to Chris Weitz, a whole ''hour'' of footage was deleted from the film:
19	** The entire ending sequence, where Lyra and Roger travel to find Lord Asriel and [[spoiler: he kills Roger to open up a portal to a new world]]. This was cut partly due to test audiences mistakenly thinking that [[spoiler: Lyra had died and was going to {{Heaven}} rather than just crossing into a new world]]. Two clips of the ending are in the trailer, and some of the sequence is included in the video game. This ending was also featured in the official movie storybook.
20	** Creator/EvaGreen claims she had more scenes filmed. She listed her favourite as one where Serafina flies alongside the Gyptian ship, sees Farder Corem and hides so he won't see her.
21	** The scenes of Lyra staying with Mrs. Coulter were longer but got cut down into the montage shown in the film.
22	** The Bolvanger sequence was shortened as well - footage of Lyra setting off an alarm and rounding up the other children was present, along with them [[spoiler: witnessing her destroy the intercision machine]].
23	** Tom Courtenay claimed his role as Farder Coram was "cut to the bone" in editing.
24	* DisownedAdaptation: Subverted. Philip Pullman supported the film initially and was fine with the decision to change the ending in anticipation of the next film. While he admitted he was disappointed with the final product, he reaffirmed it was the studio's interference he wasn't happy with, and expressed a desire to merely see the director's cut. Even when the TV series came out and was received better by fans, he affirmed that there were parts to the film he liked as well.
25	* EarlyDraftTieIn: Some of the merchandise accompanying the film included photos and references to deleted scenes and the original ending, such as the tie-in storybooks. Most notable was the video game, which also retained the third act's original structure (Lyra visiting Bolvangar before Svalbard). To date, the game is the only means, apart from trailers, where portions of the cut footage can be seen.
26	* ExecutiveMeddling:
27	** The director attempted a faithful adaptation. The money men differed. See the main page for the result.
28	** The producers also demanded to replace the original voice of Iorek, a Shakespearean actor virtually unknown in Hollywood (though he's since gotten more recognition with his role as Xaro Xoan Daxos in ''Series/GameOfThrones''), with the instantly recognizable voice of Sir Creator/IanMcKellen. The latter and Christopher Lee were added into the film by New Line, hoping to recreate the success of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''.
29	** The original opening - seen in an early trailer - had a cat crossing through a portal into our world, encountering Lyra and Pan. The latter would be in the form of a mouse, and then turn into a cat to scare the cat away - before remarking to Lyra that the cat looked "like she'd never seen someone's daemon before". The studio insisted on a voiceover by Serafina Pekkala explaining things instead.
30	* FakeNationality: French (with an English accent) Creator/EvaGreen as a Scandinavian witch.
31	* FollowTheLeader: The initial trailers sold this as the next ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' (as both were produced by New Line Cinema), and the books themselves were a response to ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''.
32	* HypotheticalCasting: Creator/PhilipPullman wanted Creator/JasonIsaacs to play Lord Azriel, but that role went to Creator/DanielCraig.
33	* IronyAsSheIsCast:
34	** Creator/NicoleKidman is a devout Catholic playing someone who ends up rebelling against the Church.
35	** Creator/EvaGreen plays a witch who flies through the air. In reality, she is terrified of heights, and could only do so many takes in the harness.
36	* LoopingLines:
37	** "Golden Compass" is very obviously dubbed in several scenes where the Alethiometer is mentioned. No characters say the words in shot.
38	** Dialogue in the bear sequence had to be dubbed to fit the new order of events.
39	** Lyra’s arrival at Bolvangar was a particularly obvious offender, as again new dialogue had to be recorded to accommodate the re-ordering. The camera only shows the person who is not speaking.
40	* MissingTrailerScene:
41	** The first teaser showed a completely different opening - where a cat would cross from our world and meet Lyra and Pantalaimon. Pantalaimon would change shape and scare the cat away - to which he would respond "you'd think she'd never seen anyone's daemon before."
42	** Portions of the original ending can be seen in some trailers; one includes a clip of Lyra screaming "I'm not yours. I'll never be yours!" as the ice shelf breaks.
43	* NoStuntDouble: Creator/DanielCraig did his own stunts in the scenes at the Swiss glaciers.
44	* OrphanedReference:
45	** Notice how dramatic the ice bridge scene is between Iorek and Lyra? That was filmed as part of the ending sequence, and she's crossing the bridge to meet Asriel and Roger. In the final cut, it's a bridge to Bolvangar.
46	** A trailer example: Lyra’s line “I’m not yours! I’ll never be yours” was going to be a CallBack to [[spoiler:Mrs. Coulter saying “Yes, Lyra. You’re mine”]] before the ending was cut.
47	** The design for the London Magisterial Building was changed sometime during development, evolving from glass to white stone. For some reason, the original glass design was used on most home video covers, long after the change had been made.
48	* TheOtherMarty: Different voice actors were originally chosen for Iorek and Hester, Iorek's even making it into the teaser trailer. They were recast with Creator/IanMcKellen and Creator/KathyBates. Earlier in production, Adam Godley was going to voice Pantalaimon, but got replaced with Creator/FreddieHighmore.
49	* PromotedFanboy:
50	** Both Creator/DanielCraig and Dakota Blue Richards were big fans of the books. The latter in fact was inspired to become an actress after seeing the stage adaptation and wanting to be like Lyra.
51	** Chris Weitz was a fan too, and in fact rejected the original script because it wasn't faithful enough - and ended up writing it himself.
52	* RealLifeRelative: Dakota Blue Richards's mother makes a cameo in the scene where Lyra and Mrs. Coulter are having dinner - where Lyra spits the wine out.
53	* StarMakingRole: For Dakota Blue Richards, despite the film's box office failure.
54	* StillbornFranchise: They were willing to make a trilogy. However, criticism from the Catholic church and middling box office return killed those plans and led to the film's ending cliffhanger being unresolved. There would be a new LiveActionAdaptation in the form of a series 12 years later, ''Series/HisDarkMaterials'', with no connection to the film whatsoever.
55	* TroubledProduction:
56	** Chris Weitz was first signed on to direct but withdrew from the project anticipating backlash from ''His Dark Materials'' fans about the toning down of the book's more overt anti-religious elements (that the studio insisted on, having rejected his initial treatment). Anand Tucker was set to replace him, but he too resigned over CreativeDifferences - he wanted to make a film smaller and "less exciting" than New Line wanted. Seeing that the film was unlikely to get made otherwise, Chris Weitz returned after getting a letter from Philip Pullman.
57	** Chris Weitz's final screenplay would have had a running time of nearly three hours, including lengthier scenes of Mrs Coulter's London party and Lyra meeting with a witch representative. Most of this was filmed, but the studio demanded a shorter two hour run time - convinced a shorter film would be more marketable.
58	** In post production, the studio insisted on several recuts of the film, and had several scenes re-shot and rearranged. Weitz's original cut allegedly had an entire ''hour'' of extra footage. Lyra travelling to Bolvangar, the Gobbler's Outpost and Svalbard was swapped around, so that she sees the bears first (and the original order shows up in the movie's novelization). As a result, Roger had to be digitally removed from the bear fight. The ending was abruptly cut and given a more uplifting climax, which happened so late in production that clips from it can be seen in the trailer and the tie-in video game. The intent was for the final three chapters to now serve as the opening to ''The Subtle Knife'''s film. This did admittedly have the approval of Philip Pullman, saying it was for the good of the film.
59	** The film ended up being a domestic failure, although its worldwide gross was sufficiently high enough to warrant a second. Screenplays for ''The Subtle Knife'' and ''The Amber Spyglass'' were written but, despite the film winning an Oscar for its visual effects, the 2008 recession and protests from the Catholic Church meant that they never materialized. The novels ended up being remade as a TV series beginning in 2019.
60	** This film's failure was what resulted in ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Creator/GeorgeRRMartin had been skeptical about having his books adapted for film, and this one proved to him that it would be better suited for television.
61	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
62	** Dr. Lanselius, the Witch Counsel, did appear in some script drafts but was eventually written out. He was featured in the video game adaptation, however.

Context Trivia / TheGoldenCompass