http://us.imdb.com/news/wenn/#5


Hollywood studio New Line have banned proposed references to God and the church from new film His Dark Materials. Philip Pullman's screenplay portrays the church as an institution which is experimenting on its congregation in a effort to remove original sin. But the strong religious material terrified New Line bosses, and director Chris Weitz agrees changes were necessary for the scripts big screen incarnation. He says, "They have expressed worry about the possibility of perceived anti-religiosity. "All my best efforts will be directed towards keeping the film as liberating and iconoclastic an experience as I can. But there may be some modification of terms. "I have no desire to change the nature or intentions of the villains of the piece, but they may appear in more subtle guises."

There goes my change to see the screaming outrage as millions of parents took their kids to watch a primer on atheism.

They always gotta do something to ruin a good book turned to movie

If they're going to do that, then might as well stop the movie before they damage the story and repel people from the books. Well, actually, it could work both ways for those who want to compare the movie to the books. Whatever. I still think it's a bad idea to cut anything so significant out.

EDIT: By the way, I think Chris Weitz withdrew, and read this by Philip Pullman. It's from his website (http://www.philip-pullman.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=102).

I don't really understand what "His Dark Materials" really is? :heh:

heh... i just wanna saay i loooooooooooooove dark materials :wub: :wub: :wub: , as in fav of all time book in my short life, and the movie better be good ( shakes fist :ranting: :mad: )


also. i agree entirely with everyone who posted. i am against cutting scenes altogether, even if the movie it 10 hourz long, for the first book ( i wont mind :P ) also, last time I checked, the book didnt insult god. it didnt say he didnt exist eather. it just said they didnt know IF he existed, and plus, even if he did, ITS A BOOK (or mabe movie) "HINT" ITS NOT REAL, also, in the book (hints on word book,not real), its ANOTHER WORLD. like as in DIFFERENT. mabe currupted in some cases. dear old phillip pullman didnt go "I HATE THE F**ING CHURCH AND I WANT THEM TO DIE!!!"
he meant to say, "the chirch and some other organisations are MISLEADED and MISGUIDED."

(god... sometimes, some people can really be a bit stupid... or mabe its me...(sorry if it is me...) :unsure:

dont forget. if this is wrong or if this offences you, im terrubly sorry. :unsure:

That's the problem. Whether it's fictional or not, or entertaining or informative, it's still all the same. There is still an implication of how the Almighty is a tyranical angel that came to power. That may offend people just because that is the belief (and fact) in the books, and so will it be in the movies.

Although it might not be clear in the movie if it happens, but I doubt those who are against the use of religion in the movie will take into regard that when the Almighty died in the books, he gave a "sigh of the most profound and exhausted relief." This may imply that he was happy to finally die. There was absolutely no indication that he was destroyed by any force at all, although it might not have been done that way if anyone else but Will and Lyra had found him. Perhaps Pullman respected God enough to not have him destroyed in a horrible way. Besides, I doubt Pullman is anti-religios.

Reference of religion are such a big thing today, with the Pledge of Allegiance and maybe even the American Constitution. Offended people would dismiss everything noted above and go right to the bashing and maybe even take it to the law. People these days...

I just realized how dangerous this movie may be. What if it actually does offend so many people that the movie and books would be banned in certain places? As unlikely as it sounds, it's still possible. Of course, it can't be entirely banned. There will still be thousands of readers, but the fact of it being banned at all is still bad enough. I think I read that it was actually banned in some church schools.

I loved "His Dark Materials", and have read it over and over again more than any other book. :D I agree that to cut scene's from any part of the book can seriusly hamper the movie. If your going to make a movie of the book you supposed to base it OFF THE BOOK. NOT JUST SOME CENDURED IMAGINATIVE IDEA'S!!!! Srry bout that but i hate when bad things like this happen to good books and stuff. Plus if your sooooo offended by the movie the here's an idea......don't....go. If you know your not going to like it, and you think it's horrible then simply don't go to it. There now thats not that hard now is it. If i'm offended by having to say the pledge of alligiance every day (i'm canadian and aethist) , you know what i do. I don't say it. Simple as that. But plz, there are people that arn't offended and just because it suggestes something doesn't mean you have to take it as a personal offense, and mass propoganda or something, so let them see it. You can just roll your eyes and scoff at them or something. You could say "F*** that movie it should have never been made" and then forget about it. If people keep making such a big deal out of nothing than things like this will continue to happen - people becoming scared to say their mind, or do what they want. And nobody wants that.......right......

got that righ, simpl gamer. also


That's the problem. Whether it's fictional or not, or entertaining or informative, it's still all the same. There is still an implication of how the Almighty is a tyranical angel that came to power. That may offend people just because that is the belief (and fact) in the books, and so will it be in the movies.

phillip pullman didnt say that almighty ways a bad angel in the book. i distinkly remember one of the characters stating that that bad angel way just on of the first angels, and that the one who created him was something else, unknown by all. also, i dont think p. pullman said god is the frail old thing in the buble that dies, just someone else.

I'm terribly sorry if you missed this, but Pullman isn't pro-religious beliefs. The whole point of the series is to expose children to the idea that Man is most heroic and effective when seperated from the poisonous influences of religion. Hence the "Republic of Heaven," in lieu of the Kingdom. He portrays religion and the idea of god(s) as tyrannical and destructive against the progression of the common good.

I thought that all of this was rather obvious.

Any new news about these movies?

It's funny how one person can find something offensive when some else thinks its something harmless........My thoughts is that the film should be done under some indie film company cause if someone finds it offensive they can just rub it as an artistic piece of shit. (sorry for lang.)

seconded

I'm a devout Christian, and quite frankly I'm tired of conservative Church-goers giving us a bad name. I understand their concern but its a movie for crying out loud. Recently the Da Vinci code movie came out and a number of Christians went out and protested the ending (I don't see why). My point is that Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, atheist, or any idealogy for that matter should not be so easily offended by a movie, cartoon or any media outlet.

As for the actual movie, the plot sounds promising...I might just go see the hopefully uncut version soon.