Philip Pullman News Archives

“My books are about killing God.”

Iwould like to commend the Diocese of Metuchen for its recent cautionary statements regarding 'The Golden Compass.' The book that the movie is based on was written by Philip Pullman. via Home News Tribune

“But the Magisterium was just a metaphor for the church, suppressing the free will of spirited children.”

THE multiplex foyer was buzzing as the audience filed out of the fantasy adventure The Golden Compass on Boxing Day. via The Sydney Morning Herald

“The worlds are not spatially separated, but exist as kinds of 'parallel' universes.”

Is the universe - correction: "our" universe - no more than a speck of cosmic dust amid an infinite number of parallel worlds? A staple of mind-bending science fiction, the possibility of multiple universes has ... via Independent Online

THE Golden Compass, parts of which were filmed in Oxford, is the top-selling black market DVD this Christmas. via This is Oxfordshire

After seeing the success of "Lord of the Rings," "The Chronicles of Narnia," and the "Harry Potter" movies, studios appear to be combing the children's book aisle for the next cash cow. via Green Bay Press-Gazette

They do not do housework or answer the phone - so what are they good for? It always sounds exhilarating, how the Internet is going to liberate us from the mundane shackles of a single existence. via The Hindu

“Yippie-ki-yay, (expletive deleted)”

You may have heard that "The Golden Compass" came close to tanking - at least by movie franchise standards - in its opening weekend in U.S. theaters. via KansasCity.com

It's rare to get a mainstream fantasy that grapples with as many ideas as promised by this one VIDEO: The Golden Compass trailer An exorcism has been performed on Philip Pullman's novel and its anti-clerical ... via The Sydney Morning Herald

I saw this on Peter's Blog: Toronto-area Catholic school board bans Pullman fantasy trilogy reports the CBC: At a board meeting Tuesday evening, the trustees of the Halton District Catholic School Board voted ... via Robert Paterson's Weblog

“Is Pullman trying to undermine anyone's belief in God? Leaving the books aside and focusing on what has ended up on screen, the script can reasonably be interpreted in the broadest sense as an appeal against the abuse of political power”

The Golden Compass may have pleased neither general audiences nor fans of the Philip Pullman book nor the bean-counters at New Line -- but the only person who may lose his job because of the movie is a critic ... via Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch

There is so much going on that the viewer never achieves a comfort zone. The beginning voice-over narration setting the stage for this parallel world seems rushed. via KCCommunityNews.com

Pullman raises issues which we should be embracing, such as the importance of free will and the danger of religious oligarchy.

Weeks before the film adaptation of the Philip Pullman book The Golden Compass was scheduled to open, Christian groups began plastering newspapers and in-boxes with dire warnings of a hidden anti-Christian agenda. Editorials began appearing in newspapers encouraging boycotts and FOX News picked up the drumbeat, dovetailing neatly as it did into... Read more

“Peace on earth, good will to man”

Category: War on Christmas Posted on: December 19, 2007 1:52 PM, by Greg Laden A conservative commentator recently editorialized: For centuries, atheism has been the rake lurking around the edges of the ... via ScienceBlogs

“Being part of this film has been an amazing experience. At last being 4ft 10in tall has been an advantage. Because of Dakota's age, she could only work certain hours - as a result I was used to establish every shot in which Lyra appeared.”

AT just 4ft 10in, her diminutive size usually holds her back from getting the best acting parts. via The Daily Echo

Philip Pullman: 'I wanted to go north' In this month's Christmas book club , John Mullan turns his attention to Philip Pullman's expansive, magnificent His Dark Materials trilogy. via MediaGuardian.co.uk

'The Golden Compass', the film based on Philip Pullman's novel 'Northern Lights' and starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, continues to be the biggest box-office draw arpind the world, but the Vatican has ... via Irish Independent

“In Pullman's world, hope simply does not exist because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate events.”

The Vatican has slammed the new movie 'The Golden Compass' and asked New Line film studio not to distribute it. via Earth Times

In this fantasy comedy, a 243-year-old store owner runs a living toy shop full of magical happenings. via SFGate

“I used to think about having children and how important it is to raise children with a sense of respect for their individual personalities, and I think that has something to do with it”

Filmmaker Chris Weitz tells Clarence Tsui how he brought an epic fantasy novel to life. via South China Morning Post

A couple of weeks ago, the children's film The Golden Compass debuted on screens across America, kicking up a bit of a brouhaha among grown-ups. Those who didn't like the film, which was based on the first book in a trilogy by atheist Philip Pullman, worried that it would 'hook children into Pullman's books and a dark, individualistic world where all religion is evil,' as one AP news report stated. On the other hand, among those defending the film was the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which called it 'intelligent and well-crafted entertainment.' Read more

“The Golden Compass"? Audiences will probably need a compass of some kind to give them directional assistance to find their way through the mountains of minutia that are part of "the year's most anticipated fantasy film”

NEXT Rated: C+ Why does everyone want to get their hands on "The Golden Compass"? Audiences will probably need a compass of some kind to give them directional assistance to find their way through the mountains ... via Times Record News

“That's what schools are all about is critical thinking”

The debate over "The Golden Compass," both the Philip Pullman book and the new movie based on the novel, has spilled over to the halls of a local middle school. via Pueblo Chieftain

“Northern Lights". The Vatican newspaper said "honest”

The Vatican on Wednesday condemned the film "The Golden Compass," which some have called anti-Christian, saying it promotes a cold and hopeless world without God. via Reuters

Many fans of Philip Pullman's books were annoyed upon watching New Line's film of The Golden Compass that the movie ended on an upbeat, sequel-ready note, with Lyra and Roger imagining the great adventures ... via New York Magazine

“I play a villain in this film, so to all the little kids don't stay.”

SHE might play a villain in her latest movie but Nicole Kidman gave an audience of sick children a reason to smile tonight. via AdelaideNow...

James Bond actor Daniel Craig plays Lord Asriel Fantasy adventure The Golden Compass remains top of the UK and Ireland box office chart in its second week on release, with takings of 12.2m. Daniel Craig stars ... via BBC

Barnes and Noble , 47 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville, 630-579-0200 1. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert : A memoir about trading the trappings of modern American success for what one truly wants ... via Chicago Tribune

Philip Pullman has written a new book, aimed at fans of his award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy. via Book trade news from Book2book

“I don't think it warrants this alarming response”

Comments The film might be called The Golden Compass, but Nicole Kidman had a different precious metal on her mind. via Daily Mail

“I'm an atheist. There is no God here. There never was.”

End of the year moviegoers, and especially parents of pre-teen children, need to know that what promises to be the most alluring blockbuster of the Christmas season -- "The Golden Compass" -- is a dose of ... via LifeWay

December 14th, 2007 at 16:00 by hecklerspray staff Anybody revelling in the recent revival of the epic fantasy flick and expecting similar repercussions with The Golden Compass will be pretty unnerved by the ... via Hecklerspray

OXFORD author Philip Pullman has written a new book, aimed at fans of his award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy. via This is Oxfordshire

The Golden Compass is truncated and falls short of promise.

With The Golden Compass, New Line Cinema has attempted to strike gold in the fantasy/adventure/epic genre once more. Considering The Lord of the Rings trilogy has been fully adapted, New Line has placed all of its eggs into one basket — Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Hoping that The Golden Compass picks up where Frodo... Read more

“I mean, my decisions are so erratic, I just choose off the cuff a lot of times, but primarily this was because Philip Pullman wrote me an amazing letter telling me that when he was writing the novels he had me in mind”

Rain couldn't dampen the pulling power of Australian superstar Nicole Kidman, as nearly a thousand fans showed up at the Sydney premiere of her latest movie, The Golden Compass. via The West Australian

“But what do the boat owners matter? We can't make money out of them. Let them go, and good riddance - those words are printed on every one of their plans and documents in invisible ink”

Kevin Whately and Philip Pullman are campaigning against a scheme to replace a historic canal boatyard with a block of flats Caroline Davies Sunday December 16, 2007 The Observer Kevin Whately, the actor famed ... via Guardian Unlimited

“I think in a week after the movie opens we'll know”

Sam Elliott has played his share of hardscrabble characters, plenty of them in the Old West. via Baltimore Sun

Orphan Lyra Belacqua visits with her uncle, Lord Asriel , in a scene from "The Golden Compass." "The Golden Compass" One and a half stars Rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence Starring Nicole Kidman, ... via Reading Eagle/Reading Times

“If I hear the slightest noise, I'll make you wish you were dead.”

'It tells the truth.' So says the Master of Jordan College of the alethiometer, the title device of the movie The Golden Compass.

And if such instruments existed in real-world science, moviegoers might be tempted to pull one out, turn the little needles to the proper settings and ask: What didn't drift to the silver screen's surface from Philip Pullman's 1995 fantasy novel?

That's not to say that the New Line Cinema adaptation isn't a pretty faithful one. But not surprisingly, director Chris Weitz's film is not a precise duplication of Pullman's vision. Read more

“My books are about killing God.”

The debate raging in some Canadian school dioceses over the presence of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass on media center shelves has expanded from Canada to the United States, where a public school in ... via American Libraries

“I don't think Pullman will shake the faith of anyone with a faith worth having.”

You've been having a tough time lately, huh? Folks who don't believe in you have been grabbing headlines and talk show minutes. via The News-Journal

“The religion is quite diluted in the first one, but, as it goes on, I think they can't really avoid it because that's what it is - it's all about God. So, good luck to the studio with Book 3.”

The producers of hit new family fantasy film THE GOLDEN COMPASS are heading for a huge clash with the Catholic church over future installments of the fantasy franchise, according to one of the movie's stars. via PR-inside.com

All dressed up and nowhere to go. Sir Ian McKellen gives voice to a bear in a film that completely lacks a voice. via Prague Post

It's pure introductory adventure, meant to immerse readers in Pullman's richly complicated fantasy universe. via Chicago Tribune

I'm looking forward to more fantasy stories in the future, and it sounds like I won't be disappointed. via Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter

“The bad guys in the book are the Magisterium. Every religious character in these books is an evil terror”

Area religious leaders don't think there's anything "golden"about New Line Cinema's "The Golden Compass." The movie opened on Friday, addressing atheism, the portrayal of the church and the concept of original ... via Northwest Arkansas Times

At least we're not wasting our time talking about "American Gladiators'" return to T.V. Last week, the national discussion over the book and film version of the book "The Golden Compass" took root in Oshkosh ... via Oshkosh Northwestern

Despite the fantastical scenery, talking armor-wearing polar bears and even a swarm of flying witches, "The Golden Compass" is getting more attention not for its use of fantasy, but instead for something very ... via WRQX

“Beowulf"($4.4 million) Lord, have mercy! With just $26.1 million in its opening frame, "The Golden Compass”

Dakota Blue Richards in "The Golden Compass" The Box-Office Top Five #1 "The Golden Compass" #2 "Enchanted" #3 "This Christmas" #4 "Fred Claus" #5 "Beowulf" Lord, have mercy! With just $26.1 million in its ... via VH1 News

“We want the councillors to say that the development is out of keeping with the area in terms of scale and design, and that access to public space is not good.”

Kevin Whately, with co-star Laurence Fox during filming in Oxford Actor Kevin Whately, famous worldwide as Sgt Lewis in the Morse series, is backing the campaign against a new waterside development in Jericho, ... via This is Oxfordshire

“We were hoping for a little bit better numbers domestically, but the international numbers were really good”

New Line Cinema's "The Golden Compass" didn't do as well as expected in theaters last weekend, but did protests over the books on which the movie is based have anything to do with it? "Compass" made an ... via MarketWatch

“In other words, avoid the movie.”

Beware the marketing of atheism in the form of a fantasy movie, says the Catholic League and some local churches. via RecordOnline.com

Does the cineplex really need another fantasy trilogy? The imaginary universe is getting so crowded these days it's hard not to suffer from epic fantasy fatigue. via Metro Times

“Look, here's another reason to extend my contract beyond 2008!”

What is it with New Line and trilogies? Bob Shaye had originally planned to film all three of Philip Pullman's Dark Materials books -- hard to say if that will come to pass now, after the weekend grosses -- and ... via Cinematical

“The movie has been watered down but seeks to get into the minds of children and parents -- convincing them to go out and buy the books where in the end the children kill God”

Close your eyes, pretend it isn't there and it'll go away. Sound like a good approach? Maybe when you're 4. So why do institutions hundreds and thousands of years old continue to do it? Religious groups have ... via Racine Journal Times

With a solid foreign debut of $51 million -- revised down from a weekend estimate of $55 million -- "The Golden Compass" makes up for its disappointing opening in North America. via Scotsman.com News

“While many of the environments created were matte paintings, some were also created using rendered, texture painted geometry in BodyPaint 3D including the environments of Ragnar's palace - interior and exterior - as well as the bear fight arena.”

Framestore CFC worked intensively for over 15 months to create the film's bears and environments in which they appear. via PR-inside.com

The Golden Compass is the first book in a controversial but wildly popular British trilogy by Philip Pullman. via Chicago Sun-Times

“As someone who's read the books, I felt there wasn't enough character development. I can't imagine what you must have felt like.”

I've never read the books, in part because I wanted to critique The Golden Compass for what it is: a film. via Buzzsugar

“Philip is one of the great thinkers of our generation and we are hugely excited to have him as a supporter and collaborator.”

The acclaimed fantasy writer Philip Pullman, the creative genius behind the epic fantasy The Golden Compass, has pledged his support to the Eden Project's campaign to build the Edge. via This is The West Country

“I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief”

Left; Philip Pullman, atheist author . Right: The Golden Compass , atheist movie? Philip Pullman seems, perhaps wisely, to be backtracking a little bit on the whole atheism front. via New York Magazine

Category: Books Posted on: December 8, 2007 10:41 PM, by Greg Laden I don't know about you, but I always wait until the last minute to get obligatory holiday gifts. via ScienceBlogs

“It definitely challenges traditional religion - especially Christianity, no doubt. But it's not anti-religious. It's very iconoclastic in its approach.”

The e-mail landed in Fran Moran's inbox back in October. Already well-traveled, it was a tip passed along from a friend: Beware an upcoming Christmas children's movie called "The Golden Compass." The film, the ... via Sun-Journal

Based on Philip Pullman's best-selling novel comes the story of Lyra , a 12-year-old girl who has been raised in a university by her uncle . via Beep!

“Transformed by the Tonic of 'Einstein' ”

Re "Unholy Production With a Fairy-Tale Ending" by Charles McGrath [Dec. 2]: Your article says that Philip Pullman 's trilogy "His Dark Materials" is frequently compared to the Harry Potter series, but that Mr. via New York Times

“A meets B, they go to C, then D turns up with E and F, and they have to find G, then H loses interest.”

A>150M MOVIE FALLS MYSTERIOUSLY FLAT THE GOLDEN COMPASS ADVENTURE Cert:PG *** Man, aren't kids today spoiled? When I was growing up in the mid 1980s, readers, things were very different. via Sunday People

In a 2001 interview with the Washington Post, Philip Pullman, author of "The Golden Compass," is quoted as saying, "I want to undermine the basis of Christian belief." But in more recent interviews Pullman has ... via KTKZ-AM Sacramento

“The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all.”

My fantasy book club at school chose to read The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, the movie treatment which is now in theaters. via Waco Tribune-Herald

“Tolkien is not interested in the way grown-up, adult human beings interact with each other. He's interested in maps and plans and languages and codes.”

" The Lord of the Rings is fundamentally an infantile work," Philip Pullman famously told The New Yorker back in 2005, drawing an unflattering comparison to his own epic fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials . via New Republic

From Bach to Coronation Street, our critics' choices of all things festive will leave you feeling Christmassy all over More reasons to be jolly: The Golden Compass Chris Weitz's film adaptation of the first of ... via Telegraph.co.uk

“It's set on an alternate Earth dominated by the Magisterium, an oppressive religious institution akin to the Catholic Church, whose God is a distant, nebulous deity known as the Authority”

Another fantasy movie, another controversy. When author Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass" was released, the first in his "The Dark Materials" series, some Christians and religious groups decried it as ... via Carroll Co. Times

“In this movie, we'll see what they shoot in the future and I hope they remain faithful to the books.”

Artist: Green, Eva It's one of the oddities of moviemaking. Daniel Craig and his Casino Royale "Bond girl" Eva Green both have significant roles in The Golden Compass, the kickoff to yet another movie-making ... via Slam Sports

“The Temptation and Fall (are) not the source of all woe and misery, as in traditional Christian teaching, but as the beginning of true human freedom, something to be celebrated, not lamented.”

'The Golden Compass' has big stars, big money and a big following from its book series, but the movie needs a heroine with big charisma, and that it's lacking. via Asbury Park Press Online

“I looked online and read the first chapter. The more I read, the more I thought, 'this is probably not something I'm interested in exposing my daughter to at this time. ...I'm not even big on her reading Harry Potter books.”

Some local Roman Catholic schools have sent warnings to parents suggesting that the movie The Golden Compass, which opens Friday, subtly pushes atheism and sends dangerous messages to children.

'Be alert!' said a memo to parents from Holy Trinity Catholic School in Grapevine. The film 'wants to have children and young people rebel against parents, teachers, the Church and anyone in authority,' said the warning, printed in the school's weekly bulletin Nov. 26.

The film has drawn varied responses from Catholics and other Christians. Read more

“I think that would be the best way to do it, for certain”

The Golden Compass is based on Northern Lights , the first book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. via SCI FI Wire

“The really explosive stuff comes in the last volume. I think an awful lot of people will see the first movie, not get it all in terms of an attack against Christianity and get hooked.”

"The Golden Compass" movie set for release this weekend is a direct attack against Christianity that concerned Christians must meet with biblical truth and see as an opportunity to engage people with the ...