Post by energyuk on Jan 11, 2024 19:59:24 GMT
I wrote an article for Film Stories magazine (issue 25 - I don't post the article as it's an independent one-man magazine that gives lot of writers their first chance at being published) explaining how I know what I know. Also I'm the guy who put the reconstructed ending up on YouTube.
Alternate cuts, this is hard to pin down. Officially there's no finished alternative cut, there's earlier cuts that follow closer the plot of the book... then there's Chris Weitz's directors cut.
The director's cut was a proof of concept that Chris put together himself - it is extremely rough. It uses footage from the dailies dvds, mixed with an oscar screener. There's text over the screen at points, including a placeholder shot to suggest a scene that doesn't exist. Length-wise, minus any form of credits it comes in at 2 hours and 7 mins.
I will stress though that length is not an indication of how much would change on a theoretical alternative cut of The Golden Compass. The studio dug deep into the edit and made changes throughout and expect nearly every scene to be touched in someway. Obviously there is the religions cuts, the Magestrium's signs were modified in post, and when talking about the authority, Nicole Kidman's line about 'they disobeyed the authority', was re-dubbed and she actually was supposed to say 'she disobeyed the authority'. But looking beyond that there is a completely different take on the story... subplots were removed, scenes cut, moments reordered, actors replaced, music changed, buildings redesigned and then large chunks of additional footage added against the director's intent.
Looking at the introduction, the film originally had a cat travelling from our world's Oxford over to Lyra's. The cat would then sneak into Jordan College and try and pounce on Lyra and Pan as they make their way to the retiring room. An early version of this scene was played at Cannes festival for the 30 minute preview. Chris wasn't 100% happy with the beginning of this scene.
With James Bond getting big and the studio taking over control of the film, the studio came in and filmed a new version. At night a cat from our world escaped through into Lyra's world, but instead of coming across Lyra (at least first!) the cat came across Lord Asriel as he tries to "break in" to Jordan College. The magestrium guards are trying to stop his heretical talk about alternate worlds. We see Lord Asriel dive across the Oxford roof tops - we oddly see the beginning and.end of this scene in the final film "are we going to see the Child?" / "Lord Asriel, the master will be happy to see you!". This action scene felt very out of place and considering the film backed away from the multiverse elements it became extra and even the studio agreed they'd gone to far so it was cut.
The final result was the mishmash of clips and an info dump.
Even the lost ending went through the studio meddling and if somehow a copy of the full ending made its way out there it wouldn't reflect the version the director originally filmed. The studio at first decided that Lyra was too sad and a bad place to leave the film, so they tried making her happier, they also tried cutting Nicole Kidman from the ending to streamline it. The version that had the VFX worked upon (I've never been 100% able to confirm how far with the VFX they got, it was close, but I don't think all shots reached final) took the version with Lyra being more determined and not as sad.
I struggle watching the theatrical version now as once you see how much things have been mangled in the studio's desperate attempt to please everyone it's hard to un-see, the fact it's not even a complete story doesn't help either.
Anyway - any questions?
Again, I've discussed this before, but you can really tell that New Line was REALLY trying for their own "Harry Potter" by creating something that appealed to as many people as possible. Of course, Chronicles of Narnia and Series of Unfortunate Events had a go at it too, that was just the times-every studio was digging up what books they could to make Harry Potter box office magic, and that sadly meant a number of creative and unique book adaptations had to be "smoothed over" to make them appealing to wider family audiences.I also find it interesting that even if we DID get that "full alternate ending," it still wouldn't be what the original director wanted.
In terms of the book ending, it has been a hot minute since I read the books, but I do recall TGC ending being cautiously optimistic, or at least that's how I interpreted it when I read the series as a younger lass. Like, sure Lyra is ultimately alone, she's already gone through a lot of trauma and no one (bar Pan) is there to help her...BUT she uses that as her opportunity to find her own answers and be independent/strong. So there's an element of hope to it as well. I STILL remember the last memorable line about her "walking into the sky."
It's odd the additional photography is quite strange - in that it feels like the studio threw in alternative dialogue as much as possible to try and cover as much bases as possible.
To clarify, when I say every scene is changed - I don't mean from the book - but from the directors original take. In some cases there were takes where the director managed to sneak in filming for more controversial takes, like Lord Asriel explaining Dust to Lyra and stating that "Dust is Sin". It's quite frustrating to see Chris Weitz get the blame for the film when it's obvious he tried hard to make something special.
New Line was desperate for TGC to be it's Lord of the Rings replacement - even inviting Chris to meet Peter Jackson on the set of King Kong. They just lost their bravery for it and as you say, aim for creating a film that appeals to everyone and managed to make a film that appeals to none.
As for the ending, your description pretty much hits it dead on. Lyra is devastated over what's happened (trying to avoid spoilers), Pan then comes up to her and comforts. Saying they're not alone when they have each other. The difference is on Lyra's move from that beat to her entering the other world.
The film goes a step further than the book (literally) and you saw Cittagazze and really eagle eyed fans (literally a squint at the tv moment) there is the silhouette of Will in the distance and Lyra runs towards him.
In the main film - some example of the things that were cut - Fra Pavel's plot to get the alethiometer, the gyptian spies, Farder Corham's past love with Seriffina, Lyra stretching the bond between her and Pan. There's lots there that fans would have loved to have seen.
