If you speak to people who read books a lot (unlike me who never reads anything beyond Harry Potter and Clive Barker) they will probably tell you about the supposed wonder that is Philip Pullman's highly successful and slightly controversial trilogy of books entitled His Dark Materials.

From what I can gather the rather complex story revolves around a young girl who discovers that the Church is conducting experiments on children in an attempt to destroy original sin. From there it spirals into a battle to overthrow the Authority, which apparently is a dude not a lot unlike God.

The success of the book, mixed with the box office draw of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings meant that New Line snapped up the rights to turn the trilogy into movie-form. They rather bizarrely hired About A Boy director Chris Weitz to write and direct and the project was underway for a 2006 release date...

The BBC has told how it seems that New Line has very belatedly developed cold feet over the subject matter of the book and now wishes to dodge the inevitable ire of the religious groups in the US that has already dogged the books...

"They have expressed worry about the possibility of perceived anti-religiosity," said Weitz. Is "anti-religiosity even a real word, or just one some drum-beating rights group made up to garner sympathy in a campaign?

Weitz claims New Line thinks the subject matter is "unviable financially" and goes on to say, "All my best efforts will be directed towards keeping the film as liberating and iconoclastic an experience as I can... But there may be some modification of terms."

I always get suspicious when the way people defend something is to whip out the thesaurus for some added "big word" emphasis. It's usually used to make a really stupid decision seem meaningful and serious.

Weitz also says he has discussed the matter with author Pullman who said the Authority could "represent any arbitrary establishment that curtails the freedom of the individual, whether it be religious, political, totalitarian, fundamentalist, communist, what have you".

He adds: "I have no desire to change the nature or intentions of the villains of the piece, but they may appear in more subtle guises."

Pullman's agent stirred the political pot by saying; "Of course New Line want to make money, but Mr Weitz is a wonderful director and Philip is very supportive. You have to recognise that it is a challenge in the climate of Bush's America,"

I long for the 70s when directors had the balls to make movies about potentially controversial subject matters and saw those movies become successes. Someone's watering down my cinematic vodka and I'm not happy.

His Agnostic Dark Materials: The Golden Compass of the Commies is not due until 2006 - I suggest you use this time to go read the books instead.

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