There have been some big names signed up for the upcoming The Golden Compass film, and it seems that it was more the desire of the studio than of the Director Chris Weitz.

According to him he had lined up Nonso Anozie for one of the voice roles, but New Line overrode him as they wanted big names for the voice parts, and so Anozie was dropped and Ian McKellen brought on board.

Chris Weitz had originally taken on the newcomer Nonso Anozie to voice the role of Bear King Iorek Byrnison in The Golden Compass, but New Line wanted otherwise. Here's what he said through Empire:

“It was a studio decision...You can understand why you would cast Ian McKellen for anything...But letting go of Nonso was one of the most painful experiences on this movie for me. I need to say about Nonso that he is one of the most promising and soulful young actors I have encountered in England and I’ve worked here for quite a bit now and he’s actually in the next Mike Leigh...But it was, uh, that was kind of a dark day for me. I kinda wanna go out of my way to point out how much I love Nonso’s work. And that’s that”

Oh dear, still who is going to complain that Ian McKellan is on to voice the character? I wouldn't be. There's also some other casting news with the lovely Kristin Scott Thomas voicing Stelmaria, the daemon of Lord Asriel, Kathy Bates voicing Hester, the daemon of Lee Scoresby, and Freddie Highmore will voice Pantalaimon, the daemon of Lyra.

Wow, now there's a cast list indeed, and those are just for the voices. For those who have read the book I've heard that this is all positive casting, but I wouldn't know having not read the books at all. Come on Dark Materials fans, are these actors the ones with the right voices for the characters?