By Andre Dellamorte

THE GOLDEN COMPASS SET VISIT

"That bear better look good!"- Overheard commentary by unknown crew member during the shooting of a key sequence of THE GOLDEN COMPASS.

When you wander onto a soundstage, it's sort of like doing something you've anticipated (be it flying, driving, fucking) for the first time. Yes, there is a certain magic to it, but there's a practical side that is hard to coalesce until you've finally done it – some things have to be experienced. And when it comes to a sound stage, even at London's famous Shepperton studios, as great as it is to be there where the magic happens, you're still simply walking into a large warehouse that echoes and - reflecting the colder days of an English January - isn't particularly well insulated. Such works for the scene director Chris Weitz (best known for the first American Pie and About a Boy, and not be confused with brother Paul) is shooting as it's set in the North Pole, where the main character Lyra (played by newcomer Dakota Blue Richards) has a tender scene with Daemon bear Iorek (whom the IMDb lists as being voiced by Nonso Anozie). We see the cast and crew do three takes on a massive green screen stage (the entire room is wrapped in a green scrim marked with perspective x's). Chris makes nice with everyone (there are way too many of us for him to do much more than acknowledge everyone's existence), though he's asked to make special time for the people behind the fan sites, who also get a moment with Dakota.

The time we were on set was nearly the last week of shooting, but the film has almost a full year of post-production ahead (of this writing it has a December 2007 release date). Phillip Pullman's well received trilogy involve characters who are nearly constantly kept company by Daemons who take the form of animals, and such requires some very labor intensive computer generated imagery. That's the business of making expensive epics meant to fill the vacuum left by Lord of the Rings, and much like those films, His Dark Materials is also a trilogy - though perhaps fearing being Matrixcized, they're waiting to see how this one does before shooting the sequels. So, the bigger names of the cast (Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, and Sam Elliot) have already wrapped, and a sense of relief seems to be kicking in. Spirits - among those who speak to us - seem high.

And definitely one of those in a good mood was producer Deborah Forte, who was assigned to be the taskmaster of giving us a glimpse into the making of the feature. After being ushered out of the green-screen stage, we were offered a chance to walk around and look at numerous pops and costumes from the film and reference images for the production designers and CGI. The Golden Compass is something of a globe-hoping affair, so the variety of imagery gave the sense that the film is shooting for an epic scope. Forte brought out production designer Dennis Gassner - who calls himself "the architect of the film" - and who speaks of the film's specific look, which he dubs "cludging" as it's both a real and fictionalized take on the world's past. As such, he feels he gets to redesign London, which obviously delighted him to no end. Gassner is also something of a Coen Brothers regular. Nice.

Next up we got costume designer Ruth Meyers and prop master Barry Gibbs, who walked us through all the costumes and props they had for showcase. There is a lot of detail put into things that will never been larger than a few centimeters even on the biggest screens in the world, and looking up close at the buttons and miniature designs meant to create the greater reality is always a pleasure. Then again, so is seeing a portrait of Nicole Kidman posed with her monkey Daemon in the fireplace area. Some of the props were so well made up that after I inspected some hand creams I had to ask a female journalist if it was a real product, or another bit of the immaculate set dressings (in this case, she wasn't sure). After our tour, they brought out special effects guru Michael Finke, who showed us some test footage on the bear Iorek and the boat the Norderlicht. Again, some of the work has begun, but they are a ways away from getting the bear to look good.

But to work the collective body of journalists up, we got a rough cut of about a reel of the film, showing us much of what was done, though all without completed effects. Opening with the very first page of the book, and covering much of His Dark Materials, we got a chance to see Nicole Kidman doing her Marisa Coulter (a role she is admittedly perfect for), Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel (which should prove that he's going to have a long career with or without Bond), and Sam Elliot's rootin' tootin' cowboy Lee Scoresby. This looks to be a smartly cast film, though little footage was available of Eva Green… Love of my life, fire of my loins.

At least, not until the final presentation. There we got to see how they planned on having witches encircle a boat and shoot arrows at the same time. This would require extensive wire work, and so they showed us footage of Miss Green practicing and blowing kisses at the cameraman. And then two journalists - whom I'm insanely jealous of - got the chance to play Peter Pan in their 21^st century wire rigs. But while they flew around in a circle, we were given a stunt demonstration, where a young girl who's a ten-time world ass-kicking champ worked as a double for Dakota Blue, and showed us a practice run of one of the more intense action beats. And then we got to see every gun used in the film, from a one bullet pop gun, to a seven barreled shooter. When someone tells you it's an adult load, it means an adult may poop themselves in shock after hearing it.

And, that was that for our experience of His Dark Material: The Golden Compass, as we were ushered into a luncheon as my group waited impatiently for the Oscars to be announced. A couple of the people on the trip were from fan sites. And I have to say I spent a good chunk of my time on the trip thinking about what it must have been like for them. The idea, even at 19, of going on the set of say a Star Wars or a Lord of the Rings film sounds pretty mind-blowing, and not only did they get to go to the set, one of the fan-site ringleaders got to put on a harness and fly. That's got to be a high point of their lives. Hopefully, when the movie comes out, they'll be happy to brag about their chance to see the film being made.

And hopefully the bear will look good.