It’s been rumoured for a while, but now Nicole Kidman has officially signed up for New Line’s first His Dark Materials adventure, The Golden Compass.
The Bewitched actress will be playing Mrs Coulter, the beautiful yet evil and scheming nemesis to heroine Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards). With $150 million in its budget, the adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass (we know the book by its proper name, Northern Lights) chronicles Lyra’s journey to a parallel universe to rescue a friend.
Chris Weitz – who dropped out, then returned to the film – is writing and directing and will start work on the film at Shepperton in September. Paul Bettany is the current front-runner to play the heroic Lord Asriel, but he’s still only in talks.