Your Dark Materials?

Open casting calls are taking place for the lead role in forthcoming blockbuster 'The Golden Compass'.

Mar 15 2006

First, my dreams of movie stardom were destroyed in January, when the open auditions for 'Hairspray' (reported here) invited everyone other than a 28-year-old British film journalist to attend.

Now they've been scuppered again, as I've clearly got no chance of being cast as Lyra Belacqua, the heroine at the heart of the forthcoming screen adaptation 'The Golden Compass'.

You, however, may be in with a shout. If you are a young girl, aged between nine and thirteen, open auditions are taking place all over the UK in April for the much coveted role.

The film, which is the first of Phillip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy to hit the big screen, revolves around Lyra's adventures in a fantastic and astonishing universe parallel to our own, and will be directed by 'Shopgirl' helmer Anand Tucker.

The casting calls will take place at The Cambridge Corn Exchange (April 4), The Cattle Green Hotel in Kendal (April 6), The Examination School (Oxford) and finally at Exeter University's Great Hall (April 13).

Applicants don't need any previous acting experience, but they do have to be UK residents, and must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. They will start at 10am and attendees should come without costume or makeup, dress warmly and be prepared to wait.

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