His Dark Materials - looking good!

This very cool poster for the 'The Golden Compass', the upcoming adaptation of the first of Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, was revealed a few days ago. The official site has been up for some time and does a pretty good job of introducing the world of the story as well as providing a few glimpses into the production. Particularly amusing is the section on daemons, which are physical manifestations of people's souls - a glorified personality quiz can tell you what your daemon is. My daemon is an ocelot named Hypatia, who is apparently 'modest, solitary, dependable, assertive, and spontaneous'... hmm, there's a couple that don't seem quite right there, Doc.

My previous posts on the books (here and here) were positive but not exactly glowing with praise. My main complaints had less to do with the story, characters, themes, and worlds Pullman created and more to do with his writing style, which just didn't connect with me, especially in the third book. The film could potentially have all of the good stuff from the books told in a way that's more to my liking, so I'm looking forward to it in a big way. The cast looks impressive (although the actress playing Lyra, the series' protagonist, is an unknown factor) and everything I've seen of the film so far looks spot on. It comes out at the end of the year, so a trailer ought to be forthcoming.

On a slightly related note is another fantasy film, 'Stardust', which is out in a few months. Based on a book by Neil Gaiman, 'Stardust' looks to be a whimsical fairy tale in the vein of the classic 'The Princess Bride'. The offical site has a wee bit of basic content, including the trailer which looks interesting if unspectacular. The cast is mighty impressive though, and some of the early word has been good, so I'm eagerly anticipating it.