Author Philip Pullman has spoken on his official site about his visit to the set of the movie based on his book "The Golden Compass", the first in the "His Dark Materials" series.
"The set was constructed inside a vast sound stage, a building bigger than many aircraft hangars, and going all the way around the inside walls, from floor to distant ceiling, there was a truly enormous canvas painted with an Arctic panorama of icy mountains under a dark sky.
The gyptian encampment was set up among great blocks of ice and snowdrifts - very convincing snow it was too - the tents and the firelight looking wonderfully real.
Later I visited the Trollesund set. Its unbelievably real. Youd swear these grimy battered houses had stood there for a hundred years or more; and then you walk round the back and see the raw new unpainted wood behind, the props holding it up, the weights holding it down.
And I haven't even mentioned the costumes. I cant go on speaking in superlatives, but it all looks better than I would have thought possible. In short, I think its going to be - at the very least - spectacular."
Funnily enough, Pullman also let slip news that acclaimed acting veteran Sam Elliot is set to play the role of Scoresby.
