His Greyish Materials

EoR enjoyed reading Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, in which the deity is the evil force to be defeated (and also written partly as a protest against the cosy religiosity of C S Lewis' Narnia books). There has been a film in the works for a long time, and now it seems not too far away, but this statement worries EoR:

Chris Weitz, its screenwriter and director, used the event to address speculation about whether the books' firmly anti-religious message would be retained. Referring to the Magisterium - the all-powerful religious body that wields total political power in the world of Lyra, the heroine - he said: "In the books the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic church gone wildly astray from its roots. If that's what you want in the film, you'll be disappointed. We have expanded the range of meanings that the Magisterium represents." [...] Weitz said: "Philip Pullman is against any kind of organised dogma, whether it is church hierarchy or, say, a Soviet hierarchy. We often deal quite obliquely with it in the film ... but we have done service to Pullman's books. Those people who read them for their philosophical content will not be disappointed."

Of course, EoR hasn't seen the film yet, and Philip Pullman is quoted in the report as stating he is happy with the screenplay, but EoR hopes that "expanded the range of meanings" and "obliquely" dealing with the central theme of the books doesn't mean that it's been watered down or obscured.

Now, what EoR really wants to see is a screenplay of a Pullman novel written by Richard Dawkins...