How to Film The Subtle Knife [Text]

-By Alex Shaw

Back in 2007 New Line Cinema, released The Golden Compass, an adaptation of the Philip Pullman book; Northern Lights, the first of a trilogy named His Dark Materials. The film was clumsily executed, sterile, blunted and betrayed many signs of executive interference. Combine that with unreasonable box office expectations from the producers and what followed was a period of vain hope for an improved sequel followed by a whimpering admission of defeat.

This film may have begun production as an earnest attempt to adapt a difficult book series for family audiences but it ended as a gutless, money-grubbing, empty and perfunctory translation. I remember interviews with Empire magazine, where the cast and crew spoke of redefining fantasy, effectively filming it as serious drama, a tone perfect for the books. What we saw in December 07 did not correspond with what they described. Everybody spent the first half of the film engaged in expository tracts and the second half rushing back and forth from one lackluster greenscreen action sequence to the next.The biggest issue was that it wasn’t really about anything. The best stories aren’t even what they’re about but about how they are about what they are about. This film didn’t even manage anything more than simply throwing out scene after scene from the book, with fabulous actors mulling through their dialogue.

The reason Harry Potter is insanely successful is that at its core it is a story about a boy and his friends growing up. Lord of the Rings is about finding courage when all around you are in despair. To make this film and not have a story in there, other than what is going on starves the viewer of all that is nourishing at the the heart of this tale. It is a story of a wild girl finding her self-discipline, a determined, ruthless man, pushing aside the boundaries of applied physics and the nature of individuals who wish to control the masses.

It looked amazing. Every penny of the $180 million had been spent well on costumes and set dressing. The effects hold up and each character was perfectly cast, that’s what makes it so galling to watch these elements come together and then fall apart.

One of the chief issues is that the story from the book was not completed. We got 80% of the overall tale, but were denied resolution. The last twenty minutes or so that followed Lyra and Roger’s hopeful journey to Lord Asriel involved a terrible betrayal and the death of a child that Lyra blames herself for. Both her parents abandon her and she is left in a cold, remote and loveless place with her journey cut tragically and unexpectedly short. She has the choice to simply head home, but spurred on by her guilt, her anger, her curiosity and her determination to do what she can to prevent further calamity she proceeds through a portal to another world in pursuit of her treacherous father. It is a perfect ending and we get none of it.

 The idea was to keep the film very much a PG, hit the maximum amount of families, end on a sweet note, satisfy the screeching religious protesters by removing any reference to Azriel’s true motives,  and holding back the circumstances of Lyra’s next step for the beginning of a second movie that now will not happen. The hope was that Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman would bring in the older audiences that would usually be repelled by a PG and save the more bankable PG-13 material for a follow-up. However you cannot satisfy religious protesters with compromise, in this case they considered the theology-free movie to be bait for the blasphemous literature it was based on. I would say audiences respond to characterization and great stories, but the ever-growing returns for the increasingly terrible Transformers pictures would suggest otherwise.

This article is about what New Line, Warner Brothers or another studio could do if they ever develop the stones to actually film The Subtle Knife. New Line backed themselves into a corner with The Golden Compass. Without an end, the creators of a sequel would be left with three choices…

1. Film Northern Lights. This will cost $150 million plus marketing. The benefits include being able to make it properly, make it about something and keep the actors consistent throughout the series. Considering Dakota-Blue Richards is 18 years old in April 2012, her chances of playing 12-year-old Lyra Belacqua at any point in the future are almost nil, so you’ll need to start again. The drawbacks are of course the unlikelihood of a huge audience paying to see the same story that disappointed them years ago. This is the sharpest cut of poor adaptations, it often takes decades to remedy them.

Chances of actually happening within the next decade: 1/10

2. Start Subtle Knife at the moment you left off in The Golden Compass, switching out the actors and delivering the proper ending. The benefits being that you fill people in on the close of the original story and bridge the new one, the drawback being that everyone would have to have seen The Golden Compass to get what’s going on.

Chances of actually happening within the next decade: 1/7

This could be done more cleverly by a combination of  commissioning an extended edition of The Golden Compass on DVD and Blu Ray, recreating the intended finale for the original fans and the following possibility…

3. Start Subtle Knife with Will. When he meets Lyra, have her explain briefly who she is and how she got to Cittagazze as though to a newcomer. Operate under the assumption that if the audience don’t know the first story, the events will at least make sense, and if they do then it will be a gratifying reference.

Chances of actually happening within the next decade: 1/5 (Depending on the success of The Hobbit)

To the prospective producers…

• Make sure the film is shot from Will’s perspective. Treat it as a brand new story.
• Do not patronize children. This is a dark, upsetting and exciting tale. It is not a light-hearted romp about a girl and her weasel.
• Pay close attention to the actors you cast as Will and Lyra. A lot of how they interact with the rest of the world is through body language. They have to be able to say what they feel without speaking a word.
• Will if constantly observing, quiet and intense. His mother is mentally ill and he has had to grow up too fast. He believes himself capable of murder. The focus should be on the dichotomy of the man he is forced to be and the boy he is. Lyra is wrestling with her own misgivings, since her actions have enabled many of these unfortunate situations.
• Keep the budget sensible. Audiences will respond to powerful drama among children, that does not cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Much of the first half takes place in regular old Oxford. There are plenty of inexpensive European locations for the more exotic Cittagazze. Order of the Phoenix cost $150 million.
• Retain as many of the original adult actors as is possible for your budget, specifically Daniel Craig and Sam Elliott. If Kidman is unavailable, the less costly and more talented Naomi Watts would be perfect.
• Make sure you get a directer seasoned in dramatic work with children. David Yates, if he has finished Doctor Who would be perfect of course, veteran of the best four Harry Potter films.
• Do not flinch from the darker themes. A child is mutilated in this story and suffers greatly, but manages to pull through. Do not cheapen his journey by glossing over the wounds. As for the religious themes it is important to remember that the characters with nefarious plans, setting themselves against the Almighty, are quite, quite mad. If you cannot tackle these genuine issues in a mature fashion, do not even start. This is a PG-13 / 12A picture.
• I cannot say enough good things about Weta Workshop. At least have them make the knife itself.
• The script needs close attention. Choose one talented, serious person to adapt the book and have them consult with Pullman this time. Again with the Potter series, keeping JK Rowling close did nothing but benefit the overall story and relationship between the books and film series.
• Give Lee the end he deserves.

As for the final book; The Amber Spyglass, yes it is enormous, yes it is thematically frightening and yes releasing it in two parts seems like a brilliant plan, but focus first on making The Subtle Knife the best film it could be. One final thing; do not bow to the bullying of church groups. Create the film that needs to be made, with no input from them. If they make a colossal fuss and picket your movie, millions will come and watch your movie, purely out of curiosity.

Producer and host of Digital Gonzo and chief editor of Gonzo Planet. Spent four and a half years making the Digital Cowboys podcast. Alex is a futurist and a dreamer, interested in how we got to be the way we are and where we’re going. Sometimes he’s too honest and sometimes he’s downright abrasive, but most of all he wants to share how he feels with others and find out what makes them tick. Prone to fits of rage when he encounters exploitation, laziness and hypocrisy, but fits of passion when he finds similarly enthusiastic people and their work.

Click here to see all of Alex’s work for Gonzo Planet [Aside from Digital Gonzo & Digital Cowboys]