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Sam Elliott on The Golden Compass
By Fred Topel | Image property of New Line Cinema.
The Golden Compass
Sam Elliott is a good, old fashioned cowboy. He's got that deep voice, the full moustache and he just looks right on horseback. The Golden Compass took full advantage of that image casting him as Lee Scoresby, an outlaw figure who helps Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards) on her journey.
The Golden Compass's Scoresby: Sam Elliott
"I thought it was an incredible mix because it was a real daunting thing for me personally to go to London and work with all these English actors like Clare Higgins and Tom Courtenay," said Elliott. "I’ve been a Tom Courtenay fan since The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner because I was a runner at the same time and I’ve been a Tom Courtenay fan ever since. So I haven’t had an opportunity to hang out with them, to work with them. It’s a real blessing but at the same time it’s kind of daunting for this guy who always wanted to make movies to go to work with all these people that have basically a theatrical career with several good movies along the way. These are like consummate ‘actor actors.’ And at the same time, within the piece, the character is the only American in the piece with all these otherworldly figures, lots of them Europeans. So there’s a real kind of a crossover there that worked well."
The magical world of Philip Pullman might be a little much for some audiences, at least the ones that Elliott represents. "I’m confused when I see it. I mean, it was very convoluted on many levels, in and out and back and forth from one world and then the other. Who’s good and who’s bad? Who’s the Magisterium? Still I find it very confusing on some levels. I’m sure that a lot of people are going to be confused initially in seeing the movie. I know a lot of people that were when I talked to them in London. They came away scratching their heads."
Having read the books, Elliott thinks the stories are worth figuring out. "It’s just great literature. This is not just the newest novel around. I think they’re quite an incredible literary achievement. I think Pullman happens to be a really good writer and that said, the first thing that I read was Chris Weitz’s adaptation and I think it was a pretty accurate adaptation. You know it’s always the material The material is what gets me involved in a piece."
Scoresby is a smallish part in The Golden Compass, despite Elliott's second billing. However, he will have a lot more to do in the rest of the trilogy. "He figures quite prominently in the second book particularly. It’s some really exciting stuff that I’m looking forward to doing but I’m not writing the script. Maybe they’ll elbow him out or maybe they’ll embellish him so he can deserve his second billing credit that they so generously gave."
The next film is where Elliott will really have to get physical too. "The next one he’s on his feet on the ground. When you’re standing in an airship, the biggest physical challenge was not getting nauseated. I’m sad that the big sound stage that we were shooting…this gondola on the ship was on a big gimble, a big arm that could be moved around and it’s about, I don’t know, 30 feet off the floor I’d say in a really particularly large sound stage at Shepperton Studios. You just get used to it. I got used to it after a couple hours but initially it was kind of heady. The floor was green, the ceiling was green, and all four of the walls were green. It was like kind of being in a bubble or something."
The Golden Compass opens to theaters on December 7th.
For the trailer, movie stills, posters, full synopsis, set visit, and addition info, go to The Golden Compass
Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of New Line Cinema.
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