Batch Two of the GOLDEN COMPASS stills!!! Ms. Coulter! The Golden Compass! & More!!

And that's a good thing.

Kidman looks really good, Craig is bringing some star power, the kids and sets look like they actually exist, there's promise here. I wonder how loud the protest against this thing will get? If you've read the books you know why I'm asking.

it does

Annoyingly apparent in the hi-res versions. (Click on the 2nd and 4th on this page, for instance.)

very nice!

I'm not sure how they're going to deal with it either-- esp. in regards to the whole story (if they end up filming the other two books). But for the first one, I think they're slimming down the word usage of "the church" in favor of all the institutional names that were used ("Magistrate", "Council of blah blah" etc). Still, it's not exactly a side-story of the books. heh.

Is that the OMNI from Voyagers?! I MUST see this movie. From the looks of it, the OMNI's blinking red - history's in trouble!

Would have never thought of Sam Elliot for that role. Awesome choice.

http://www.jointhefuzz.com/linkpost.php?i=450 Holy crap!

Lots and lots of white people. No brothers in never-never land?

Is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen.

If I recall correctly, following the "Lando" principle of semi-racist fantasy trilogies, some brothers show up in the second book.

it is mostly English people (circa industry revolution-type era), with some Polar Bears, Gypsies, witches and a Texan, in the arctic. however in the second or third book, Lord Asrial's Zepplin General is Nigerian.

christopher3 beat me to it.

Movie looks good.

Just awesome. If they can capture the feel of the books, New Line can just start printing money now.

Very imaginative-- I loved the drunken samurai bear-- but I wouldn't dream of inflicting them on a kid until late teens, as they're quite heartless and seemingly dedicated to the message that kids don't matter for shit. I don't know, maybe they're helpful to counteract their self-esteem training from school, but it all seemed decidedly bleak and unpleasant to me.

Shit like this shows why AICN sucks balls and will continue to suck balls in terms of its content....... i dont even think they've reported on the god damn silver surfer trailer yet or if they even know about it

...Because frankly I don't understand how ANY red-blooded man with even the slightest functional hormonal ability would EVER leave a woman as hot as Nicole. I swear she just keeps getting MORE beautiful. She's matured as an actress, seems to be a good mom and have a genuinely good heart and personality, and is one SERIOUSLY gorgeous woman. Who WOULDN'T want to be with her!?

If it means the story is told properly. What I'm afraid of is that we'll get a beautiful, well-acted film that is a savage hatchet job of the source material. Hopefully the filmmakers can keep their wits about them once the crazies start foaming at the mouth.

...no matter how beautiful the girl... someone, somewhere, is sick of putting up with all her shit. ;-)

There's a drunken samurai bear in this??? Holy crap, sign me up!

From what i hear all the religious aspects of the book are being removed for the film anyway (which in my opinion kinda spoils the point, but hey i'm not a studio exec) Loved these books... "Paradise Lost" for teenagers

They're just toning it down a bit (like strictly calling the church "the Magistrate" and stuff like that), which is something I can live with. I can't believe how incredible the casting is on this thing.

Which, admittedly, is maybe because I hated everything she's done since The Others.

Oh thats good news...although i can't see them leaving in "the other use" of the subtle knife from the final book... and agree about the casting especially Lee Scorsby and Mrs Coulter...i just hope the daemons are a good as they are in my head!

You get tired of even the hottest woman after a while, let alone this long. You can only hit it in so many ways, then it gets repetetive.

Looks good, but its still a woeful piece of miscasting

Maybe it was the fact they were badmouthing religion, or the fact they had the big reveal early on...but I was imagining more of an Elegant Gothic Lolita look for Lyra when I was reading it. I'll still see the movie, but I was not a fan of the book.

with Eva Green as Serafina also, I hope the script lives up to the fantstic casting!

I agree I'll need to be convinced by her actual performance. Although I'm really excited by it I don't think the film will be able to do the books justice. Hell, even the books couldn't do the themes they were exploring justice! And godoffireinhell: You know Cruise only ever hit that one way, and it was Greek style!

In the second pic. Or maybe I just need to get laid.

yeah the stills look good too..

Strange that's why I liked it so much! Seriously though, I thought the book was frankly uplifting and had a great message.

Very odd phenomenon at work here, remember when Narnia was going into production and most of the talk backers hoped they would not emphasize the story’s Christian themes? In that case most wanted to ignore the source material. Now on the Golden Compass they want the anti-Christian message to remain true to the source material. Almost as if a lot of people who claim to be tolerant are actually intolerant of religious expression for those of the Christian faith.

She is perfectly cast!!! I can't wait until people are aghast at the turns in this series! I hope O'Liely and his ilk have a (metaphorical) coronary! ;^)

I think my major problem with Kidman is that she looks exactly like she did in the Robbie Williams Music Video http://www.tiny.cc/AIN6d Now seeing as the video is a parody itself it makes the fact they've chosen that look ridiculous. Plus I don't think she's a good actress anyway.

You're sick.

Jesus Christ, when you watch any of her movies where she actually has some weight on her body she is infinitely hotter. My God, I saw Dead Calm the other week and I was just mesmerized by her. Now she's just a white skeleton with makeup... Anyhow, the pics look great.

I'm betting you're a big fan of A Series of Unfortunate Events. or at least of the girl in that. Am I right?

Suspicious lack of anything daemon-like in these pics - surely they're not ALL gonna be CG? Pics look good so far, naturally some things are different from how I imagined, but that's never been a problem for me. Hope they don't screw this one up!

That's "starcam" on Kidman. Aka putting gauze over the lens. Yeah these days you'd think they'd do it in post, but it's probably a vanity issue, to not mess with the goods digitally and just call it cinematography. Plus, cheaper.

You get a good shot of both titties in Dead Calm, it's just a bloody shame that Billy Fucking Smug Git Zane is sucking on them. Bastard.

I highly doubt there will be ANY physical creatures used for the daemons in the film. That would just be WAY too difficult to achieve due to the daemons not just being animals but characters, and in the case of Pantalaimon they morph into other creatures.

Thats a high level of standards you keep, Abomination.

Now I'm intrigued. But all I get are cosmotologists when I google it. And Nichole is beautiful.

I can't spell her name correctly. No wonder she never answers my letters...

Enjoy it while you can babe. This could be your swan song before you dive into old lady territory.

Like an adolecsent hormonal steambath, I'll risk dipping my toe in to at least make one more comment- If you've read the books, you'll realize that the overarching point of the story is one that encourages philosophical and spiritual critical thinking for children. Unlike most popular children's stories, although they promote vague ideals like "be yourself" or "believe in yourself", (which are all well and good, sure) they tend to have a uniform moral tone, complete with evil being punished and a happy ending for the heroes. This formula works, and is popular for a reason, and I don't have any problem with it on principle. The "His Dark Materials" series is a unique kind of children's story, in that there is no happy ending guaranteed for anyone, that even children have to make real sacrifices, not the least of which is growing up, and that "evil" is not such an easily recognizable quality as was suspected. I can understand why some people might have a knee-jerk reaction against this story for some of it's more jarring details, not the least of which is it's questioning of organized religion. All I ask is that you don't immediately fly off the handle and assume that it's "Anti-Christian." Like many other stories that include the mere topic of "the church" in it's pages, there will of course be the obligatory crazies foaming at the mouth, claiming all kinds of slander and harm has been done to them, but I'm appealing to the saner buch who are willing to listen to reason. What the book does is ask children to ask themselves what the difference might be between organised religion, man's construct, and the meaning, and source of their own faith. To believe in God is one thing, but to believe in one church or another is quite another matter. For me this is an ongoing question I ask myself as an adult, and is the source in large measure of my continuing interest in the topic of religion in general. This is a fair question for anyone, including kids. After all, If you're a Christian, who do you put more faith in? Whatever the modern incarnation of your church might be at this moment, or Christ himself? I think it's a wonderful idea to introduce to kids, not harmful at all, and definitely not anti-Christian. Give it a chance, you might be suprised at how much you like the story.

AKA the only reason I'll be seeing Daredevil.

Granted she is a little older than me, but our birthday is onthe same day. I have never read the books so this may be good. Sam Elliot looks like he could play Uncle Sam in a movie as well. It's good to see the giant stache, he doesn't quite look right without it.

The shots so far have definitely got me interested...can't say they look entirely like i had imagined, but then again, they don't look too far off either. i guess i had imagined lyra a bit more tom-boyish. anyhow, the sets look spot on. and as far as i'm concerned, nicole looks perfect, and is perfectly cast. the description in the books pretty well is matched by what i'm seeing here. beautiful but cold. If they can remain truthful to the story now, that will be the big test i guess. To me, that was pretty damn vital (and i'm guessing for most of you as well). i myself didn't see it as anti-christian, but more of a 'don't get trapped in the dogma' vibe. and unlike a previous talkbacker, i thought it had a very positive message over all. I enjoyed it thoroughly...I'm eagerly waiting his next adventures of Lyra...great character and a wonderful story.

**spoilers** a lot of you have been going on abouthow the books are a really intelligent anti-christian, pro-atheist,counter-authority morality tale. Are you forgetting that the ultimate outcome of the story is that the universe is saved by a pair of 12 year olds shagging in a field, after accidentally killing God (call it the Authority or whatever, its meant to be a Divine figurehead of sorts) then after 3 books of them shunning the advice and the orders of Authoritarian rulers, a middle aged hippy scientist and an Angel (from which side isn't revealed) Thats not the best moral message for children is it? **Spoiler end**

****The hippy and the angel start bossing them around and suddenly they decide that they ant to start taking advice from their elders, because... its convenient to the plot**** was all I was going to say but I posted by accident.

Killing people and having sex. It's called Romeo & Juliet. Kids today...

That wasn't my point. What I was getting at is the complete let down of an ending, which doesn't even hold true to the books internal logic. The massive explaination at the end from the angel effectively screws over the two main characters completely, just after they've somehow saved the universe by getting it on. (which made no sense at all) And are told that if they don't do as they're told the universe will end anyway. Its a piss poor ridiculous fait d'accompli thrown in at the end which in done solely to give the series a pseudo-tragic ending. Frankly the boy should have told the angel to go get stuffed and held onto the 'item'.

Hottest in Batman forever? I think you can definitely argue that. Hot damn she's gorgeous in that otherwise turd-of-a-movie.

it's such a festering haggis-shit of a movie. <p> In fact the only thing "hot" in Batman forever was the "hot" pink make-up on Tommy Lee Jones' face. Sad shit.

That alone has sold me more than any pictures ever could. I hate organised religion personally, but think that faith is a positive thing. I hope I haven't opened up a theological can of worms.

meh to the XXXtreme

i wanna see the Armoured Bears (with a u, you Yanks).

If they DARE to include darker shit that happens in the book (the part where Lyra and Pantalaimon are in the cage thing BETTER be in, if only because it will freak little kids out!) and really put the BIG questions out there rather than sugar-coating the whole thing, this'll be worth seeing definitely. It'll beat The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe into dust (or Dust, if you like). People should take note that Craig as Asriel is a small role, even Kidman as Coulter will hardly appear in this flick, it's mostly just Lyra (and Pantalaimon, of course). What I'm wondering is if they have the balls to include the whole idea of Lyra being a potential Eve-like figure. I'm guessing they might ignore it for the first movie.

DirkD13, you wasn't fantasizing, that looks to be about a Kennedy-Half-Dollar-sized left nipple; and in the hi-rez version there's clearly a bit of fur-burger moundage to be had. And dstrbo1, your "...overarching point of the story..." was quite well-spoken and very nearly matched the discussions I and my 12 year-old daughter had on the books. Which we both enjoyed tremendously. Not to sound like I'm any kind of authority, but I've always made sure that my children, when reading, understand that fiction is informed by an author's experience and imagination, and that many times the fictional work includes 'facts' (i.e., stuff from the 'real' world.) to make the fictional world seem more real to the reader. And performingmonkey, your "...whole idea of Lyra being a potential Eve-like figure..." caught me just right - all I could think was "Knees-up, Balls-Out Creationism"

Getting me to click the hi-rez to see the aforementioned "fur-burger moundage" (brilliant wording), has just warmed me up no end, or should that be, warmed up me bell-end?