DAEMON SPIRES
JAMES MCAVOY, DAFNE KEEN AND RUTH WILSON STAR IN AN ADAPTATION OF THE MUCH-LOVED NOVELS…
Since the publication of the first novel, Northern Lights, in 1995, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series has sold more than 17.5 million copies globally. But while Hollywood success has so far eluded the tales – movie The Golden Compass underperformed at the box office – the small screen is hoping to make it big, as an epic eight-part adaptation arrives on BBC1 this Sunday.
The books are set in a parallel universe not unlike ours, and follow young Lyra Belacqua as she tries to find her best friend Roger, the latest victim in a series of child kidnappings. But events lead to Lyra getting caught up in a battle, with the future of the world at stake…
“I was quite scared before I started because I hadn’t read the books,” admits Dafne Keen, who plays the headstrong youth. “But then I realised how many huge fans of the stories were working on the show.”
One devotee of the original novels among the cast is James
Mcavoy, who plays Lyra’s uncle Lord Asriel – he’s read the original trilogy three times!
“I never thought of myself as classic casting as Asriel, but I knew how to fake him – hopefully!” shares James. “I did the read-through exactly how I’ve gone on to play him: I knew what I wanted to do.”
One thing the actor wasn’t as prepared for, though, was the incredibly hot weather on his first day of filming – particularly as Lord Asriel is about to head to an icy destination…
“I just remember that I was roasting!” he tells us. “It was unseasonably hot, and I’m dressed for the Arctic North in layers of wool. And I decided to make the ridiculous choice of tucking in my jumper!”
While Ruth Wilson – who plays Lyra’s new guardian Mrs Coulter – wasn’t familiar with the novels, she was quickly persuaded to accept the role.
“I was like, ‘Who’s Mrs Coulter?’, totally ignorant, and my agent said, ‘The all-time greatest female literary villain – you have to do this!’” she reveals. “I had a vast amount of preparation to fulfil what was written on the page. She’s mysterious and enigmatic.”
In Lyra’s world, each human has a daemon – an external manifestation of their inner
SHE’S THE ALL-TIME GREATEST FEMALE LITERARY VILLAIN”
RUTH
self, in the form of an animal that has human intelligence and the power of speech.
The daemons are conjured in CGI in the show, but to help the actors interact with them realistically, a different approach was used in rehearsals…
“We acted with puppets, then they pulled the figure away and we remembered what it did,” explains Dafne.
“It adds a third dimension to the show,” chimes Ruth. “These are not pets; they’re part of your soul, so for me it was vital to understand the dynamic with the daemon, and how we work and move together. It’s much more useful when you have a human behind the puppet who can give emotion and connect – it’s not just a ball on a stick!
It’s an amazing process.”