What this means is that as well as the grand orchestral stuff that accords with the big cosmic themes of the book, there was an intimate and childlike element of the story as well, a coming-of-age. I was introduced to Alexandre by Ileen Maisel from New Line, who had worked with him on "Birth." He was very sensitive to the themes of the book, and most importantly to the fact that the film is seen very much through Lyra's eyes. It's been a real pleasure working with Alexandre, not only because he is an exceedingly charming and pleasant fellow but because he is enormously talented. I think that, besides his good nature, he recognizes how much I care about the books. I usually try to avoid meeting my heroes because they so often end up disappointing you, but in Philip's case it has just been an extremely pleasant relationship. He is a very gracious man an so his opinions were always couched in the most generous way possible. I have to say I am extremely grateful for his support and the support he gave the actors, especially Dakota. Philip came down to Shepperton to look at the production design and costumes in process, and he came to the set during shooting several times. Often we would pass scenes back and forth and there are a couple of scenes on the film that are basically Philip's writing, give or take a bit of stage direction on my part. Sometimes it was to check if something I was making up fit into his general scheme of things, sometimes to ask advice on how to tell the story. Thereafter, I was in touch with him all the time, usually through email but sometimes in person (for a tour of Lyra's Oxford, for instance, to get a feel for the place and how Philip saw it). I found there was no need for any "horror" style makeup to convey the horror of the experience. Much of it is in the playing of the actor, as well as the reactions that the character evokes in the characters around him.
Ironically, although I worried a lot about this issue, people tended to pick up on it instinctually, just through the visual language of the film it's pretty obvious, for instance, that for a child to lose his or her daemon is a terrible thing, even though in theory such a child looks no different from a "normal" child in our world. When the golden monkey attacks Pan, not only does he hurt Pan physically, but he drags Pan away from Lyra, which obviously provides a psychological component to the pain as well as establishing the deep symbiotic bond in that it hurts Lyra so much. In the film, for instance, Lyra explains that something is "worse than touching a person's daemon with your bare hands," and though the reference is quick, it's obvious that this is a bad thing indeed. The key I think is to find good occasions for being expository when you are.
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