I would put a spoiler alert here if there was anything to spoil in discussing the progress of a character’s beard in a film, but there isn’t. Still, if you haven’t seen The Golden Compass and would like to remain in the dark about Daniel Craig’s facial hair, read no further.
Craig has only about ten minutes of screen time in The Golden Compass, so why does the film waste our time with an unnecessary shot of him (as Lord Asriel) in the frozen north…shaving? Seriously, the man travels to a freezing cold climate with a full beard — which really added to his character’s rough-around-the-edges persona — only to scrape it all off. Is there any logic in this? Practically speaking, the beard would’ve kept him warm, so perhaps this was an attempt to disguise himself (by doing the opposite of what a typical fugitive might do)? Maybe Lord Asriel decided that he likes the feel of icy wind on his face? Or, maybe the filmmakers decided to indulge the female fans by giving them a better look at at his craggy (and Craig-y) visage? Whatever the reason, the scene had me scratching my head at the climax of the film. Which is pretty sad, considering one of Craig’s last appearances in the movie is a bizarre CG glimpse of him through Lyra’s alethiometer, looking like he’s trying out for the sequel to Zoolander.
What are some other possible explanations for the disappearance of Daniel Craig’s beard? And which look do you prefer?
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Well, I didn’t really think about it at the time, but perhaps the shaving bit was in there to show that he had escaped his captors and was enjoying the luxuries of civilization (foreshadowing what we see later in the book and apparently in the next movie).
When watching the movie I was more concerned at the mystery of the missing climax! Why did they decide to cut out the ending of the book, seriously?
I hadn’t really thought about it. I hope the next two movies come out in the next two years (like LOTR). The first movie intrigued me enough to buy the books, and so far, it’s an interesting read.
I’ll take any Craig screen time I can get in that choppy movie. Cutting out the extra 1.5 hours of movie (including the last couple of chapters) made me try very hard to not notice continuity issues. I did wonder how he grew that beard in the approximate week and a half it took for the story in movie-time.
the zoolander comment made me lol. So true!!
I said the same thing after the movie was over!! Granted he looks hot either way. The extra shots did nothing to help with the absolutely god-awful ending of the movie, though. Why, Chris Weitz, Why?
Hayley-
I know!!!! When the chord at the end of the movie just kept going, I was like, “well, this is a long chord…kind of weird…” And then the credits started, and I literally said, “What the hell?!” Why they chose to stop the movie there when another 20 minutes would have finished out the book and provided a much better ending is beyond me. It’s like there was some mandate that it not be too long, so things were super rushed and then ended too soon. Weird.
Maybe it had something to do with filming schedule and there was some weird reason why he was bearded while they were filming warm scenes only, so they showed him shaving to try to avoid continuity problems?
I was too busy getting lost in his gorgeous blue eyes to pay attention to the beard.
Remember back before everyone loved Casino Royale how we all thought Craig would be the UGLIEST BOND EVER? …Well that’s still true…
Who cares that he shaved his beard in the snow! The Golden Compass has A LOT more problems as a film than that!
This is one the stupidest articles I’ve ever read…
Lord Asriel was shaving because he had to go star in that Bond 22 movie. And that Serafina Pekkala is a beautiful Bond girl…
he looks handsome with the beard
Any Craig is good Craig.
I thought this was a fun, and funny, little post. Pop Watch is all about irreverent little things we entertainment lovers who write and read EW notice! It’s one of the things I love about this magazine!
I’ll take him any way I can get him.
I know very little about the story, but how could Daniel Craig only appear in 10 minutes of the movie when he is almost 50% of the trailer/commercial time?
I’m guessing bad editing might be the cause… and I must agree with Bud.
Hey, Rob Grizzly, no offense, but we didn’t ALL think Daniel was the ugliest Bond ever. I happen to think he was the sexiest, therefore I actually enjoyed this post a lot!
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