Articles & Interviews
'Golden Compass' star Dakota Blue Richards is living the fantasy
from NY Daily News, Dec 7, 2007
by Colin Bertram
If there were any doubts that Dakota Blue Richards, the fresh-faced newcomer of "The Golden Compass," has become a celebrity, proof hangs in her home in Sussex, England, where her mother, Mickey, has had to be preoccupied with privacy and installing new curtains.
"Apparently the English paparrazi have been around and are shooting through the window," Mickey says, smiling, while curled up on comfy sofa in the Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South.
Dakota Blue, meanwhile, has been adjusting nicely to life in the spotlight. Like her "Compass" character, Lyra Bellacqua, she is self-assured beyond her 13 years. But if Lyra is always brash and ready for action, the poised teenager who's got the English tabloids in a tizz is more contemplative and analytical.
Not bad for someone who'd never acted before and who beat out 10,000 other hopefuls for the part in the fantasy epic based on Philip Pullman's popular series of novels "His Dark Materials."
"We'd read the books and seen the play before, and I really loved the character," says the actress, adding that a friend tipped her off about the auditions. "So even though I never thought I would get it, I decided to go along for it anyway."
What made the then-11-year-old the one? For "Compass" director Chris Weitz, it is because "she is very natural. The great thing about Dakota was that she was willing to play things quite quietly.
"Usually when you think about a child's performance and a child that can actually carry a movie," he says, "you're expecting 'Annie' - all singing, all dancing, all the time."
For all her hush and reserve, Dakota Blue's animated side comes out when talk turns to her famous "Compass" co-stars, Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman. Richards admits it was Kidman who she was most excited about meeting before filming, but the James Bond actor's adolescent sense of humor made him Double-O-Heaven.
"He is going to hate me for saying this," Dakota Blue says, "but he's like a very big kid when he was around me. He can be very immature and fun, and I liked hanging out with him."
She was far less fond of the furry critters they had on set to use as occasional stand-ins for the CGI daemons (human souls manifesting themselves in the form of animals).
"They had stuffed cats you had to pick up and hold," she recalls, grimacing. "It was like, 'Ewww.' And me being a vegetarian, and I don't wear fur - I'd come home smelling of dead cats!"
Beyond the stuffed Felixes, the whirlwind promotional tour for the $180 million spectacle will have taken her and her mother from London to L.A., New York, Tokyo and finally Hong Kong before they head home for Christmas.
The Richards made the most of their first trip to Manhattan by touring a snow-covered Central Park in a horse-drawn carriage, getting a kick out of "A Chorus Line" on Broadway and hitting Saks (with a personal shopper, no less) for some retail therapy.
"We bought a lot of stuff for all my friends as a kind of 'I went to New York/Christmas present,'" she says.
The strawberry-blond actress' growing legion of fans won't have to wait for "Compass" sequels to see more of her work. Her next film, "The Secret of Moonacre," is a period fantasy set for release next year. She knew she wanted to do the movie by page one of the script: "I read the words 'Moon Princess' and thought, 'God, I have to do that!'"
Quizzed about her career, the young "Compass" star grows philosophical. "It all really depends what comes up," she says, adding that being a substitute teacher is doubly appealing. "It is so flexible - you get to be the teacher, but if there is a movie or something that comes along, you can work around it."
For now, Dakota Blue Richards is enjoying the ride - even if it sometimes means pulling the drapes.