The work was greatly facilitated by the fact that even before the work on the film she was already perfectly aware of all the characters.
"For Lyra's costumes in Oxford, I used pre-Raphaelite colors, which I think are present in the book," Ruth said. "And when she moves to London and plunges into the world of Mrs. Colter, she tries to imitate her in everything, to become her reflection. Lyra dips headily into the new world and soon looks and behaves the same as they do. " For Nicole Kidman, who played the beautiful, but ruthless Mrs. Colter, Ruth created the most beautiful outfits.
"In my first scene, I appear in a very sexy dress," Nicole later said in an interview. - If I was offered to wear it in real life, I would refuse. I even whispered to Chris: "I'm very shy!". But this dress helped me understand my heroine, because Ruth, thinking up dresses, thinks on behalf of the hero. " She echoes the costume designer Ruth Myers: "The first scenes with the participation of the characters are very important, because they give an idea of their characters, introduce the audience to them.
In her first scene, Mrs. Colter appears in a dress that glitters and sparkles, emphasizing the beauty of her body. This dress speaks for itself - it's one of my favorites. "
Working with the image of Mrs. Colter, the designer of the costumes Ruth Myers had to build on the descriptions in the novel that represented this heroine as a real glamorous woman. As samples of glamorous women, she took Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. Daniel Craig had to appear in the image of the English aristocrat Lord Azriel. With his physique and grace of movements, it was not difficult, but at the same time the costumes should emphasize the strength and dominance of this character, as well as his fanatical enthusiasm and disregard for conventions. "When I first started making costumes for Lord Azriel, I imagined him as a Victorian romantic hero," Ruth said. But when I learned that Daniel Craig was approved for the role, my vision changed. I worked with him before and I knew that such an image would not suit him. Then my choice fell on tweed: on the one hand, it's very noble material, and on the other hand it's quite liberal, because from tweed we used to sew costumes for traveling and playing sports. "
Thus a new image was born to the costume designer Ruth Myers, a seasoned traveler and polar explorer like Amundsen and Scott. Azriel still looked heroic, but this heroism became more realistic. Ruth liked to work with witches - mainly because of the very concept of these characters. These fearless warriors, armed with daggers and bows, live for centuries, do not feel the heat or cold and can also fly. The images of pre-Raphaelites also lie at the basis of the images - especially their images of fairies and mythical heroines. Since the witches do not feel the cold, they wear light clothing made of black silk, fluttering in the wind.
The work on costumes took a lot of time from costume designer Ruth Myers, but she spared no effort. And the reward did not keep itself waiting. "When Philippe Pullman came to the dressing room," she later recalled, "my forks shook. After all, in his books, the costumes are almost not described, only: "she was in a pink dress" or "she wore a skirt to the knees". I invented it myself and therefore I was very much afraid that he would say that everything was wrong. But he, silently, walked around the room, looking at different suits. I shyly asked: "Do you like it?". And he replied: "They are beyond my imagination. This is what I wanted, but I did not show it in my books. " So, this is the best compliment in my life! ".
End of the trip?
Despite the inspired and dedicated work of the entire film crew, the pressure of the Church played a role. Almost the whole anti-church component was removed from the film, which negatively affected the plot. "The Golden Compass" failed at the box office in the US, and although he collected a good cash in other countries, New Line Cinema refused to shoot the sequel. But the author of the trilogy Philip Pulman was pleased with the adaptation - after all, it enabled millions of people to glance at his wonderful world even one eye. And the end of the story, they can always learn from books!