New Line has finally made their decision on a director for the first installment of the Philip Pullman fantasy trilogy “His Dark Materials.” The first film will be The Golden Compass with Anand Tucker at the helm, and as Variety points out, this is a bit of an odd selection considering Tucker’s resume is not exactly one you would look at and then hand over the first installment of a multi-million dollar trilogy.
The only high profile film to Tucker’s credit is the yet-to-be-released Shopgirl starring Steve Martin, Jason Schwartzmann and Claire Danes, which is set to be released on October 21st through Buena Vista. Apparently Tucker won the position with a presentation that included a 20-page outline, conceptual art and visual effects demos.
New Line co-chairman-CEO Bob Shaye, told Variety, “We’ve been convinced by Anand’s background and presentation that he is the ideal craftsman to deliver this project.”
The Golden Compass is about a girl who travels to the far north to save her best friend, encountering shape-shifting creatures, witches and other fantastical characters along the way. In the second and third books, the action moves between parallel universes as the girl meets a boy from our world and they join forces to overthrow the repressive authority that rules everything.
