Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials

[blpurdom]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "caliburncy" <caliburncy at y...> wrote:
> I think Jeralyn is correct, however, that, if done properly, it 
> would make a very interesting and visually stunning film.

While that is true, I have to say I'm somewhat skeptical about the 
screenplay(s) for the trilogy.  Pullman's work is not merely dark; 
it contains many things that will be very, very difficult to sell to 
a mainstream audience, especially if the production company plans to 
market the film to as wide an audience as Lord of the Rings.  A 
thirteen-year-old boy who is a murderer, for a start; the connection 
between sexual awakening and when a person's daemon becomes fixed in 
its form; and the emotional/physical relationship between a twelve-
year-old girl and a thirteen-year-old boy near the end of book 
three, just to name a few things.  There's violence, mutilation, a 
very unconventional view of death and heaven and hell...As a 
trilogy, the books became more and more enjoyable (the first one's a 
bit of a slog).  As film(s) I'm frightened that so much will "need" 
to be changed to be palatable to the general public that it will be 
unrecognizable to those of us who've actually read Pullman.  

In the same way, "The Neverending Story" is rather dark, and when 
they made the film, they only told half of the story, making it as 
upbeat as possible at the end and completely omitting the darker 
themes near the end of the book, such as the boy coming to terms 
with the death of his mother.  Pullman's even darker than this, so I 
have little hope that a screenplay will ever be allowed to do his 
work justice.

--Barb