OF HUMANS AND DAEMONS:
The Story and Cast of The Golden Compass

The film tells the story of precocious 12 year-old Lyra Belacqua, whose curiosity and willful nature open the door to mysteries upon which the fate of her world comes to rest. An orphan, Lyra and is being raised among the mostly paternal company of the Master of Jordan College in Oxford (Jack Shepherd), where her best and most trusted friend is a kitchen boy named Roger (Ben Walker). “The Golden Compass is about free will and free choice, and Lyra is the ultimate example of that,” says executive producer Mark Ordesky. “Lyra is going through her life doing her daily activities with no knowledge that the decisions she makes are going to ultimately save or doom not only her world, but all the other parallel worlds that exist. But essentially, she is still forming, and she is wild, willful and precocious.”

To find the right young person to embody the critical role of Lyra, casting directors Fiona Weir and Lucy Bevan cast a wide net across the UK, ultimately seeing over 10,000 young actresses. “We had casting sessions in multiple cities,” recalls producer Bill Carraro. “Literally thousands of young girls came out, really brave, wonderful personalities, and it was then honed down to a core group for the director. And when we found our Lyra, she just seemed born for the part.”

Overwhelmingly, one young actress stood out – Dakota Blue Richards. “Dakota had a particular spirit that made you sit up and take notice,” recalls Weitz. “I was looking at the tapes and there was this waif of a girl whose hair was unkempt, and there was something very strong and interesting about her.”

“She is an extraordinary young woman,” says Forte. “She’s just 12 years old, and has never acted professionally before, but when she gets in front of the camera, she possesses that intelligence and feral quality, a little bit of wildness, that is perfect for Lyra. Even Philip, when we sent him the tapes, identified Dakota as the one.”

Adds Pullman, "I'm delighted with the casting of Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra. As soon as I saw Dakota's screen test, I realized that the search was over. She has just the combination of qualities that make up the complicated character of this girl.”

Dakota Blue Richards had read the books and seen the stage adaptation of The Golden Compass and jumped at the opportunity to play a character for whom she had a passionate affinity. Richards particularly admired Lyra’s bravery and determination. “Because Lyra never had parents, she thinks no one can tell her what to do, so she never really does what she’s told,” explains Richards. “She does things other people would be scared of, like climbing the roofs of Jordan College, where she lives, and getting into fights with people. She likes to give the impression that she is better than everybody else because she’s braver and more intelligent, and if she doesn’t actually have a story to tell she’ll make something up.”

Lyra is accompanied every step of her life by her daemon (pronounced DEE-mon), Pantalaimon. A daemon, explains Philip Pullman, is “the person themselves. They’re not separate from them. They are part of them, so much so that if your daemon was a cat and a real cat came along, the real cat would look at your daemon as a human being rather than a cat.”

Throughout her journey, Lyra is constantly given strength, comfort and occasionally wary admonishments by Pan. “I think it’s a very enticing concept, this notion that you have a running dialog with your soul for your entire life,” muses Weitz.

But Lyra’s life changes dramatically when she meets Mrs. Coulter, the beautiful and bewitching head of the Magisterium’s General Oblation Board, who visits the college on business. A scholar and an explorer, Mrs. Coulter embodies everything Lyra hopes she’ll someday be. “I don’t think there are many people in the world who could convincingly play this character,” says Weitz. “I believe that Nicole Kidman was the first person that everyone on the creative side wanted for Mrs. Coulter.”

Executive producer Maisel had worked with Kidman on the film Birth and remembers that Pullman had sent a gift of signed copies of the novels to the actress and her family. “Nicole immediately understood the nature of Mrs. Coulter,” Maisel notes. “She understood the power of the character; she understood the charisma of the character, and ultimately she understood the vulnerability of the character.”

Adds executive producer Miano, “Nicole was the only actress that we ever talked about for the role. I believe Philip had her in mind years ago, and Chris’s script went to Nicole first. We never entered into a discussion of anyone else because she was the only choice. Luckily for us, she shared our enthusiasm for this project.”

The Academy Award-winning actress embraced the intricacies of Marisa Coulter, who has kept her true relationship with Lyra hidden from the child. “I’ve obviously played characters before that have done despicable things,” Kidman relates. “Rarely do you judge the character you’re playing. You have to work from within and try to find the motivations as to why she feels that what she’s doing is right, and you hope that her humanity bleeds through.”

“The chemistry between Mrs. Coulter and Lyra is a very specific one,” says Chris Weitz. “Mrs. Coulter’s allure and glamour draw her in, but there are other dimensions which Lyra will not discover until later. Nicole brings such experience, compassion, intelligence and insight to this role, and her style just meshed perfectly with Dakota’s very natural, instinctual performance. Their relationship, while incredibly tricky, worked out seamlessly on camera.”

Mrs. Coulter serves at the pleasure of the Magisterium, an all-encompassing government body that seeks to tighten its control on the people of Lyra’s world. “Every society has felt the tension between the life-giving force of awe and wonder, and the political power that comes as soon as you have human structures,” notes Philip Pullman. “As soon as you have human organizations you have people who have got the power and who wield it over other people, and you have people who are oppressed by that power, or who want to join the power themselves. You’ve got all these human structures, which work against the natural human impulse, which is one of wonder and delight at being alive and being part of this beautiful universe.”

Seeking to create a rift in the structures of his time and place is Lord Asriel, Lyra’s powerful and enigmatic uncle, played by Daniel Craig, whose performance in Casino Royale revitalized the James Bond franchise. Craig, a longtime fan of the books, leapt at the chance to portray Lord Asriel. “He’s an explorer and scientist,” explains Craig. “He has a mission. It’s the most important thing, he thinks, in his life, and probably the most important thing in the history of the world that he lives in. He has discovered this connection between the worlds, and believes that there are millions and millions of worlds running in tandem, and that you can access these worlds if you know the way. And he is hell-bent on going out and finding out what it is, which is against the wishes of the Magisterium.”