The pure hatred is shocking..who does he think he is?
AND not only that, he puts down Star Wars?!!!
Oh the blasphemy..I hope Luke gets that pointy head, big glasses geek.
Friday November 5, 11:33 PM
Bush Would Be Perfect Kids' Villain - Author Pullman
LONDON (Reuters) - For children's fantasy writer Philip Pullman, George W. Bush would make a perfect villain in his epic sagas of good and evil.
"He would fit right in," said the British author of the trilogy "His Dark Materials" which now looks set to follow in the cinematic footsteps of Harry Potter and The Lord of The Rings as the next blockbuster franchise.
"Bush has this baying certainty and has imposed this fervent zealotry," said Pullman whose books have been condemned by church groups for attacking organized religion.
"The Christian right in America is the mirror image of the Islamic fundamentalists," he added.
For the seven million readers of his fantastical trilogy, Pullman has good news to offer -- he is embarking in the New Year on the fourth book about his feisty young heroine Lyra.
"It's a sort of sequel that takes Lyra four years on and to a different part of her world," said the author, who cannot wait to get started on "The Book of Dust."
While he spends the next two years behind closed doors, the first film from the trilogy -- "Northern Lights" - is being made with a script by British playwright Tom Stoppard.
Pullman, whose trilogy has already been successfully adapted by Britain's National Theatre, is phlegmatic about its fate as a movie, confident that the film will not be overcome by special effects.
The temptation is certainly there in the books which boast armored bears, soul-sucking specters, Arctic witch clans and a knife that cuts magically through from one world to another in a sweeping Miltonian adventure of betrayal and destiny.
"It is a good story and it is going to survive unless they do something absurd with it -- which they won't," Pullman told Reuters in an interview.
"If they stick to the story, it won't need special effects. The trouble with Star Wars was that special effects became the entire thing."
Since 1998, global sales of children's books have risen by almost 25 percent with JK Rowling leading the way with Potter.
Pullman's trilogy is riding that wave and he is the first to pay tribute: "With Harry Potter, suddenly these books are seen to make millions and millions of pounds.
"They are hot in a financial sense. That is very good but it does distort things. Nine out of 10 books don't succeed."
Crossover books that appeal to both children and adults have become the great new publishing phenomenon.
Publicizing his latest children's book -- "The Scarecrow and His Servant" -- at a London bookstore, Pullman put the trend down to the failure of modern-day novelists to concentrate on plot.
"People like stories. That has been overridden as if it was shameful," he complained. "Children passionately want to know what happens next. That is a very good discipline for me. I enjoy the pressure of having to tell a story."
Pullman, 58, who like Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien is an Oxford academic turned fantasy writer, comes across in interviews as courteous and thoughtful.
But as he stares at a giant pile of books he has to autograph before giving a talk to adoring fans, he did confess: "If I started all over again, I think I would tick the box marked 'No Publicity."' |
