OMG that's so exciting!!! My cousin's studying abroad in Oxford, he goes October 2nd…think filming will still be going on…?

But OMG THEY'RE FILMING IN EXETER!!!!!! :smile:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Um, Alewyn. There aren't actually that many colleges, Oxford is a small place. Hardly surprising

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I live in Oxford Check out Exeter College on tuesday the 12th september for the filming of the golden compass

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

to Ian there are many colleges in Oxford I live their they emply well over 5000 people :laughing:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Whatever Carl We have 300,000 people in Stockport, and we're just a suburb to Manchester Get down there and take photos! On another topic

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Ian you live in stockport?? So do I!! Awesome. Anyway, yeah, this is good news, I thought they'd never get started :p. This is going to explode HDM though, I liked it as it was, with it's small but closely knit family of loyal fans. Ah well, it happens

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

The Bard: Yes, I agree somewhat… But think of all the new people we'll get who just haven't chanced upon the books! Just because someone isn't a loyal fan doesn't mean they couldn't be. I know the LoTR movies definitely opened me up to the books. I hadn't read them before, but now I have the trilogy, the Hobbit, and the Sillmarillion. (If that's how you spell it. :P)

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Finally! Carl, post some pics!

Oh, BTW: Will, you misspelled the RSS feed: "Movie Filiming in Oxford".

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Thankee Ilya; thought it looked odd but all those upright letters seemed the same..

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Ian- The only news of filming at Oxford was said to be at another college, not Exeter, and that was sad. So that's why I'm excited

Somebody, GET PICTURES!!!!! Maybe we'll finally get to see Dakota as Lyra! OMG SOMEBODY SHUT ME UP I'M GIDDY.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Nicole filmed in London today.

Will: I emailed you about it.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Exciting stuff! Hopefully pictures will follow soon

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Report on Oxford filming. More photos will go up very soon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_5330000/newsid_5337500/5337504.stm

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Whoop, whoop, woopity! This must mean they're finally getting on with it… before we know it, bam, the pics of Dakota will be out too and we'll all be happy again.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

If btts ever gets a photo of the actress playing lyra, I hope they put it befind a link or something like that, because it would be a spoiler. I want to keep it as a surpise for when I go to the movies, or at least when I see the previews. Dose anyone agree with me on this? :wassat:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I'M GOING TO THE PITT RIVERS MUSEUM ON A SCHOOL TRIP IN A FEW WEEKS!!!!

i only got the letter today and then i come home and see it posted on the internet. freaky. BUT SO KWL.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

oooooooooo! i wonder how dakota's doing. bet she's hvaing fun

I'M SO EXCITED.
strange as it is, everytime i hear something like this, about the film, i get completely excited and goo haywire before i calm down again! :laughing:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

to be honest Mike, nobody I know agrees with you! :laughing: We all are desperate to see her!lol
And werecatweirdo (hi) that's so cool, you have to take tons of pictures okay! :laughing:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Hold the phone. Those are pictures of Nicoke Kidman in costume? I'd like this clarified before I start tearing into her hair color and anachronistic clothing etc…:tongue:.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I seriously hope that's NOT her costume or the hair color she'll have in the film. Maybe she'll have a wig or something if she's wanting to keep her hair blonde, and maybe she's just dressed nicely (she usually is anyway) on her way to the shoot or something. I mean, most recent fantasy adaptations have been pretty faithful in terms of making actors look like characters. But this does make me a bit uneasy.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

OMG i mean, they've started filming for like, 8 days and they've still not released a pic of Dakota! i'm soz if i'm the only one whos worried about this, but its my comment.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I hope that they keep her character faithful because I really can't imagine Marisa Coulter being anything but a Brunette. That outfit doesn't look entirely right to me for the period of the book either so hopefully she isn't in her actual costume. *sigh* Perhaps I am hard to please…

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I'm also disappointed a little bit and shocked.I'm glad they finally have started filming,however,I also hope this is neither her costume,nor her hairstyle/colour.I see her also always as Brunette and more fashionably dressed.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Hmm…that coat is fur-lined. I bet this is a costume. It's kind of like they're emulating the original stage play costume for Mrs. Coulter, at least the period/style. I imagined an earlier period style. But then again, it's not like Pullman outright says, "It should look like the 1930s" or anything, so I guess we just have to watch how everything's interpreted.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

But… but… Mrs. Coulter isn't blonde. If they don't care about the little details then how are they going to handle the major ones? I am a bit disappointed, I have to say.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Love the "sensible" shoes. LOL.

I think she works as Mrs. Coulter. Don't sweat the little details, people.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I am going to check out The Golden Compass Bass Camp Tommorow as I've heard Dakota's been spotted getting into a posh car their will take good camera and hopefully release photo before the press. I brought the news of the locations out in the public domain first.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Don't be stupid guys. That is both her costume and her hair colour. If you look at anything else Kidman wears those are nothing like it making that a costume and her hair is all done up, not ready for a wig. If you freak out over small things like this you'd better not go see the movie because you're in for a whole world of hate for these movies.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

well said kayla

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

The coat is exactly as I'd pictured it in my head. The hair and shoes, not so much. It's weird, but when I was reading the books, I pictured Patricia Velasquez, who played Anck Su Namun in "The Mummy" as Mrs. Coulter.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Is that Stelmaria under the daemon link???

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

She looks amazing. Like Grace Kelly.

And I knew as soon as I saw that she had blonde hair, people around here were going to FREAK. But I don't see why everyone is all sad because of a little hair change. Was brunette hair the only thing about Mrs. Coulter? No. It was her character and her beauty. Nicole has the beauty even if her hair is a bit different then what a few fanboys wanted. All that matters is if she will do the character justice. Which I think will happen.

Grow up people.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I used to work literally 20 seconds walk from where they are all filming but now we've moved premises I'm 25 miles away - so gutted! Over the years working in Oxford city centre I seen several of the Harry Potter crew but not being a fan it never interested me.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

And once again, I have a huge feeling of disapointment with this film.
I love the books, but nearly everything I've seen and heard about it is making me dread its realese. I know I may sound like I'm fussing, but I'm worried that those who see the films from an outsiders point of view and thinks it to not be very good, will think the books will be the same without reading them, and the name HDM will be remarked on as bad literature.
I really, truely hope that the final product lives up to everyones expectations and is fantastic.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Hey, i'm in ICT in school here, so must type fast. Philip Pullman gave a report in his website, no pics but it's quite detailed.
Here:
http://www.philip-pullman.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=127

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I'm like obsesed with the coat. As for the rest of the costume, I'm not a huge fan. But still, that coat…wow.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Nobody's stupid,freakin out,hate the movie or must grow up. I could state what you write is superficial,only because you do not interest in the small details.But if you likes what you see and you are contented, nevertheless, this is great.But there are enough people not contently with the first photos.We are not only here to praise the movie every day,there is also criticism.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I know! The coat=awesome design.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I think it's natural we're each going to have a different reaction to seeing this production evolve. We love these stories…and we each have a unique idea of how things look to us, etc. Any adaptation could challenge a broad group. It just means we feel strongly about the stories, which is not a bad thing. Sure, this Mrs. Coulter is blonde. She's also stunning, and I'm glad it's Nicole actually, she's a terrific actor. And we can be assured that this Mrs. Coulter will have the highest fashion sense…seems right to me. I'm enjoying everything I'm seeing, whether it's how I imagined it or not, and am so grateful for those who are providing these images and details, and grateful for everyone's opinion. Cheers!

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Hi! Was lucky enough to see Lyra and Lord Asriel together from an upstairs window at the Bodleian Library yesterday - the scene was shot in the garden of Exeter College below and seemed to consist of the pair walking and having a solemn chat (I couldn't make out the dialogue). Daniel Craig (assuming it was the man himself and not a lookalike stand-in) was dressed in a very fine greenish '30s style suit and looked somewhat like an english Indiana Jones (the academic Professor Jones that is, not the leather-jacketed Indy) whilst Lyra's costume consisted of a simple dress that looked like it could come from any era. Both looked FANTASTIC - Lyra exactly as I imagined her, Asriel less so but a very interesting surprise. Also scattered around were a few Daemon props that were lying to the side rather than being used as stand-ins for future CGI or something. I'll be wandering around the Radcliffe Camera tonight to see what I can see (they're currently setting up an elaborate lighting rig on a crane, so I assume they'll be shooting there this evening).

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Oh dear, if you're telling the truth (and I'm sure you are), that's very exciting! Can you please tell us what Dakota looks like, because we don't know how you imagined her :smile:.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

AAAAAAAAAAAAAI!!! Did you take photos??????????Remember, show me first; I am the masterful KittyKat/Amz.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I WANNA SEE DAKOTA!!!!! :angry:
Ah well - patience is a virtue…
Still, doesn't look like we young hopefuls are gonna get a chance to audition as extras now, does it?

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Screw patience!!! I WANNA SEE DAKOTA!!! although you have to give the press/paparazzi credit for not bombarding her…
i can't believe they're not dyeing Kidman's hair black. COULTER HAS BLACK HAIR!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Oh my! Nicole looks like a Godess! I'm so glad she is playing Mrs. Coulter. Blonde hair aside, she looks perfect and is gonna be brilliant.

Now I'm ready to see Daniel Craig and Dakota in costume! Come on people, find some pictures!!!!! I'm so excited!!!! :laughing:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Liam- first off, you're FRIGGIN LUCKY AND I HATE YOU FOR IT.

second, I started writing a book about a month ago, and it's written in blog form and one of the main characters who comments on the blog is Liam. Actually, MaiLiam, but Liam. Weeeiiirrdddd.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

First off, I agree with those who have said that the most important thing about Mrs Coulter is her essence - her dual personality, both beautiful and wicked. I don't think hair colour matters if Kidman pulls that off.
As for the outfit - it is costume, but the shoes might not be. :p Knowing British weather they could just be a pair of sensible flats to keep the outfit ones nice and dry and non-ruined.

Can't wait for photos of Daniel Craig and Dakota!

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I'm looking forward to seeing Dakota… But what I really want to see is a CGI sequence of a daemon talking. Doesn't have to be Pan, just any daemon!

As for Mrs. Coulter's hair, I never picture the hair color of a character when I'm reading. It's more their face that's important.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Skye- that's so weird, I always focus on the hair instead of the face. Coulter had brown hair to me…but I love Nicole so…I'll just have to deal.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Wow georgeus!! Calm dawn everybody, the pictures behind the sets always are very different of what the movie will look, you all have to caught only the concept of the carachter, and i think that is very good….

I'm dying for see the posters, marketing, etc. I imagine a poster for Coulter, one for Asriel, one for Serafina and one for Lyra…This tipe of adverts are always very beautifull………!!

I can't wait….

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Film crew is setting up at Mansfield College Oxford. This is more open hope to catch a glipmse of Lyra!!!!!!!!!!!! :laughing:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

wow its just taken me ages to read these posts. i only missed 2 days on here.
ok
i want to ask. does it REALLY matter what colour hair anybody has?
and does everybody have to SCREAM at anybody who makes an opinion, like if they think the hair should be blonde, why does everybody else have to yell and insult them?
then again i'm not any better. i'm just particuly calm for some odd reason, i dont know why :laughing:

also! i dont think i can probly take many pics. cos its an art trip, but i'll defintly bring a camera and have a go!!!!!!!! who knows! i might see the set or something. if i'm VERY VERY lucky :laughing:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

the cast are now filming at the queens college on the high street,the last day at queens is saturday,

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I THINK I might have seen Dakota Blue Richards in an Oxford pizza restaurant last night…

I just got a funny feeling about this girl who was there with an older woman who was reading a magazine. I spent most of the meal looking over my boyfriend's shoulder to try to work out how I could find out. I'm now looking forward to seeing if I'm right! If it is her, she has darkish blonde, wavy hair, is quite slight, and has a great smile. I thought she might be looking at a script but it was just a puzzle book!

She definitely looks as if she could be the child of Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

wow, really? that's so cool

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

You should have casually snapped a picture of her on your camera phone and pretended you were taking a picture of your boyfriend. Then if you turn out to be right, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you stalked her first :tongue:.

I really can't wait to see the first pictures of her. I think we're going to get them from our stalker-sraffies before we get them from press releases.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Yes! I can either wait! It's really long time since we all know that she is cast

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Mwahahah..I love that…Stalker-sraffies :laughing:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Hi everyone. Please can someone tell me whether Nicole Kidman is going to be blonde or dark-haired in the movie??? Mrs Coulter was supposed to be dark haired- isn't that important? :wassat:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

This is a bit off topic but who is writing the script for HDM?, i think i got confused somewhere (or IMDB are being their usual idiotic selves) but i thought Chris Weitze was writing his own script for the movie, IMDB has Tom Stoppard still listed as the writer.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Chris Weitz is the writer!!

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Alanna - she'll be blonde, see in the photos.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I don't particularly think it matters whether Mrs Coulter's blonde or dark-haired or what she is, but I always thought of her as blonde. I think it would be good for her to be blonde, because it loses the stereotypical image of the dark-haired seductive female villain. Making her blonde gets rid of that and makes her seem more scary and, if possible, more dangerous. It also makes more sense, then, for Lyra to be blonde, because that would be far less likely if she had two dark-haired parents.
Please don't shoot me!

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

MCH-I agree with you and um how can we shoot you if we wanted to.Wish I lived in Oxford, sounds like there getting HDM productions on a role. http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/exetercollege/map.htm that site gives you a virtual tour of Exter collage so you can get a Idea for thee sets.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I couldn't have taken a pic of her as my phone doesn't have a camera and taking pictures of twelve-year old girls in a pizza restaurant is a bit dodgy anyway :smile:. Besides, I actually don't think I'd want to be the person who breaks the mystery - it's all quite fun!

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Damn it, I hope that those producers and makeup artists and whomever else wind up dying Nicole's hair dark brown, or black, or something like that–because in the book she was supposed to have very dark hair, I think, and I just never imagined her as being even remotely blonde, somehow, I guess because of that. :wassat:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Okay…um…where are more pics? It's been like a week, surely SOMEone got SOMEthing.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Bah, I don't think hair color is a big deal at all. Sorry for not being a purist, but if Lyra can be blond, so can her mother, for chrissakes.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

If I may weigh in, I'm taking a biology class, and I can say that the child of a man with blond hair and a woman with dark black hair will ALWAYS have black hair. Not that this detracted in any way from me enjoing HDM, but they are being scientifically accurate by making Nicole Kidman blond. Just my 2 cents

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

claire-what I would have done was said "my favorite state in the U.S. is (then shout) DAKOTA!" if she looks up you go crazy like a stalker-sraffies and hug her! :laughing:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

I don't really think that would have worked… Most normal people would look around to see who the crazy person shouting was.

My favorite state is Arkansas, by the way. Since I live there. :laughing:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Have I coined a new phrase? Frood!

~*copyrights*~!

As someone on the messageboard pointed out, have you seen her nails? Close up on them…

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Actually, a man who knows what he's doing, there is no such thing as naturally black hair. It may appear black, but nobody has it. Maybe Coulter herself has dyed hair…we may never know.
~KK~

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

:laughing:
I agree with Skye (14 Sept). I too never picture hair colour when reading a story. Read Schopenhauer who has a lot to say about the greater importance of shape than colour! I'm sure Philip Pullman never imagined Nicole Kidman would change her hair colour to black. He has likened Mrs Coulter's temperament to Mrs Thatcher's - and SHE never needed dark hair to look strong and wicked.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Mockingbird- what's up with the nails? I can't/am too lazy to zoom in

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

:smile:yeah you did make a new new phrase. Know when ever we use stalker-sraffies (Mockingbird) we need to put your name after the word. And are you new to BTTS, just wondering. Sorry if you weren't new. What is it with Kidman's nails?

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

How do you define 'new'? :tongue: I've been here since March, I believe, so if thats new, then I'm new. (I'm only an armored bear). Go to photographs–> actors in costume–>third picture, top row from the left. Girls in my ghetto arse high school used to have nails like that…

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

first off, A Man Who Knows What He's Doing:
my mother is dark brown/brown haired, and my father has dark blonde/light brown hair.
and i am veryyy blonde.
i got my blonde hair gene from my grandpa. you are so wrong. a child from a black haired mother and even a dark haired father can still be blonde.
its called recessive genes, babe. mrs. coulter having blonde hair for the movie is not scientifically correct. your comment SO made me laugh.

to everybody else:
coulter has a beautiful coat! but the shoes DEFINATELY have got to go.
aaand omg!! the hair! i admit, i would like to see dark hair, but i can deal. the only thing is:
HER HAIR IS SO UGLY IN THAT PICTURE.
dear god i hope she doesnt wear it anything like that for the movie.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

@blue eyes:Thank you

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

whats up with this brown & blounde hair making black thing? i must say everyone in a family can have differant coloured hair. mine changes with the weather (believe me, i never get tired with it, summer blounde, winter light brown,)dad's is black/dark brown, big bro's is lighter then dads and mum's bright blounde. but thats just how my family is i suppose.

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

my guilty confession is that i always imagined Mrs. Coulter with blonde hair anyway despite the description in the book(s). Having said that I think the colour of a character's hair is totally unimportant, and, as many people have said, it is the way the actor portrays the "essence" of the character that matters.

On a kinda unrelated side note, I've just finished reading the play 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead' for a course I'm doing, and then came here and read about who was doing the script (or the original script or whatever) and finally knew who Tom Stoppard was. I kinda wish they were still using Stoppard's script as after reading his great play, I think I have a little more faith in Stoppard as a writer than Chris Weitz…

Just something to think about.
:wassat:

November 30, 1999 12:00 am | link

Was in Oxford Yesterday (9th June 2007) and outside the Radcliffe Camera were signs to say filming is taking place on 15th & 16th June! I guess they are just doing extra bits, not with actors, but worth a look, maybe if your around there?

June 10, 2007 10:51 pm | link

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June 21, 2007 10:34 am | link