Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, will take part in the 18th Annual Chicago Humanities Festival. Pullman will discuss his novels and the issue of global environmental and ecological disruption.

In preparation for his visit, The Chicago Sun-Times interviews Pullman on the subject of anonymity and the film adaptation of the first novel in the His Dark Materials trilogy.

What of The Golden Compass:

“It looks fabulous,” Pullman says. “It was always going to be a very expensive and complicated movie to make because of all sorts of technical difficulties that had to be overcome. How do you make armored bears appear as if they’re real? But computer graphics have come a long way, and it looks absolutely wonderful; the sets, the designs, the costumes are beyond praise because of the richness of detail.”

The cast? “Just astounding. Nicole Kidman gives a magnificent performance, in that she’s able to embody the utter ruthlessness of the character as well as the slowly growing sense that actually she does love this child, something she never thought was possible.”

And as Lyra, there’s Dakota Blue Richards, who’d never acted before and was “plucked out of thousands” who auditioned for the role. “Lyra is at the very center of the story, so her performance was crucial. Fortunately, she’s wonderful.”

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