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Golden Compass to Start Sept. 4

New Line Cinema has officially greenlit production on THE GOLDEN COMPASS, the highly anticipated adaptation of the first of author Philip Pullman's bestselling HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy. Production on the $150 million film is scheduled to begin Sept. 4, 2006, in the U.K., with Oscar-nominated writer/director Chris Weitz (ABOUT A BOY, ANTZ) at the helm. Digital Domain reportedly will handle vfx with Oscar nominee Mike Fink (CONSTANTINE, X-MEN, X-2) serving as visual effects supervisor.

Based on the bestselling and award-winning Pullman novels, the HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy is comprised of THE GOLDEN COMPASS, THE SUBTLE KNIFE and THE AMBER SPYGLASS. It revolves around a young girl who travels to the far north to save her best friend. Along the way, she encounters shape-shifting creatures, witches, and a variety of otherworldly characters in parallel universes.

"THE GOLDEN COMPASS is the most ambitious film that New Line has undertaken since THE LORD OF THE RINGS' trilogy," remarked New Line's Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, co-chairmen and co-ceos.

Newcomer Dakota Blue Richards has been cast in the lead role of Lyra Belacqua. Richards landed the role after filmmakers conducted an extensive casting search throughout England, during which they saw more than 10,000 young girls. Open calls were held in Oxford, Cambridge, Exeter, and Kendal, before Richards was chosen from the Cambridge call for an audition and subsequent screen test.

Helping to bring THE GOLDEN COMPASS to the big screen will be an all-star production team that includes Oscar-winning production designer Dennis Gassner (ROAD TO PERDITION, BIG FISH) and Oscar-nominated costume designer Ruth Myers (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, EMMA).

THE GOLDEN COMPASS is being produced by Deborah Forte of Scholastic Ent. and Weitz's Depth of Field production company. Weitz and Andrew Miano will serve as exec producers on the film. Bill Carraro will also serve as a producer on the film.

Founded almost 40 years ago, New Line Cinema is arguably the most successful independent film company in the world. In addition to the production, marketing and distribution of theatrical motion pictures, the fully integrated studio has divisions devoted to home entertainment, television, music, theater, merchandising and an international unit. In 2005, New Line partnered with HBO to form Picturehouse, a new theatrical distribution company to release independent films. A pioneer in franchise filmmaking, New Line's Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most successful film franchises in history. New Line is a division of Time Warner Inc.

Scholastic Media is a leading producer of quality, family-oriented feature films, television programming, videos, and websites and is a major developer and marketer of children's brands worldwide. A division of Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company, Scholastic Media produces the award-winning, top-rated animated series CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG (PBS KIDS) and the Emmy-award-winning spin-off to this hit series, CLIFFORD'S PUPPY DAYS (PBS KIDS), among many others.

Bill Desowitz's picture

Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.

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