Dakota Blue Fans Site

1. Ten thousand girls turned up for open auditions in Cambridge, Oxford, Exeter and Kendal for the role of Lyra Belacqua in the adaptation of 'His Dark Materials: Northern Lights'. In June 2006, twelve-year-old Dakota, a Londoner schoolgirl, was awarded the part after the casting directors' took a shine to her in the Cambridge auditions.

2. Her mother is an American anthropologist.

3. Traveled from her home in Brighton to Cambridge for the Lyra auditions under one condition: that she wouldn't be too upset if she was passed over.

4. She had just come home grumpy from a bad day at school when The Golden Compass (2007) director Chris Weitz called her. Dakota's mother tried to put him on speaker phone, but accidentally hung up on him. Weitz called back and informed them of the good news.

5. Her name, Dakota, is the name of a North American tribe, who are native to the northern plains states of the USA. 

6. Before being awarded the role of 'Lyra' in The Golden Compass (2007), she was a fan of the His Dark Materials series, having read the books and gone to see the stage play in London.

7. The makers of The Golden Compass (2007) sent Philip Pullman (Author of His Dark Materials trilogy) footage of their 40 favored girls who'd auditioned for the role of Lyra. He personally endorsed the two that he favored, one of them being Dakota Blue Richards.

8. She is a vegetarian.

9. Daniel Radcliffe told her that she always should listen to her mother, while she was filming the big budget The Golden Compass (2007).

10. At the age of 14, she was cast in The Secret of Moonacre (2008) without audition.

+ "I feel like I can relate to her. I like to think I'm quite brave. I stand up for myself. And I don't let other people tell me what to do. Well, unless it's my mum." - Talking about Lyra, her character from The Golden Compass.

+ Daniel is very funny and really nice but he does swear a lot. So we had a swear box and he had to put in £1 every time he said a naughty word. By the end he owed me £55.

+ One of the things Nicole taught me was, no matter what happens in a scene, you carry on even if you fall in a dustbin. If you get out of the bin and just carry on they might end up cutting it and using part of that scene anyway. But thankfully that's never happened to me.

+ I walked past the cinema on the way here, and there's a 'coming soon' poster for the film. It's not a particularly big picture of me, which is good because if it was massive I'd be scared and feel like I could never go to my local cinema again.

+ I figured if I did something wrong, they'd be, like, 'Oh my God, why are we working with her?' But they were really nice. (on co-stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig)
 
+ They had stuffed cats you had to pick up and hold, it was like, 'Ewww.' And me being a vegetarian, and I don't wear fur - I'd come home smelling of dead cats!

+ "She's absolutely marvellous - and she looks right. I know Lyra better than anyone. Looking like someone isn't a case of having blond hair and blue eyes: it's about bone structure; the way someone carries herself. She is also a very good actress. At 12, she hasn't had time to be fully trained, but that was not what we were looking for. It a was question of getting someone who can be the part."
- Philip Pullman, author of 'His Dark Materials'

+ "She has just the combination of qualities that make up the complicated character of this girl."
- Philip Pullman, author of 'His Dark Materials'

+ "Dakota made what should have been an extremely difficult decision quite easy. We wanted a completely new face for Lyra, but I was surprised that any young girl, especially one without training, could light up the screen as Dakota does."
- Chris Weitz, director of 'The Golden Compass'

+ "Usually, it's a gut-wrenching decision. You realize the whole time how much rests on the shoulders of this kid. But I didn't have any doubts about Dakota. She looks not quite tamed, and that's Lyra."
- Chris Weitz, director of 'The Golden Compass'

+ "It was hard to cast someone, honestly, because you know that you may be doing them a disservice. I don't know if anyone can prepare Dakota for the kind of exposure that's going to come with this. Especially in England, where the press can be merciless."
- Chris Weitz, director of 'The Golden Compass'

+ "We were not just casting an actor, we were also casting a family situation. She had to handle the strain of acting and, when not acting, going to school. She had the hardest job. And it was not just hard for her, but for her mother, who had to make enormous sacrifices of time."
- Chris Weitz, director of 'The Golden Compass'

+ "Philip called me 48 hours later and said 'It's one of two girls'. And one of them was Dakota Blue Richards. We continued looking for another month, but he knew all along that he wanted Dakota."
- Deborah Forte, producer of 'The Golden Compass

+ "Michaela has brought Dakota up as a single mother. But she is a very well-loved child - her mother is totally devoted to her."
- Michael Richards, Dakota's grandfather

+ "When I saw her at my son's wedding in the summer, where she was bridesmaid, I joked that we needed to keep an eye out for all the paparazzi. But you never would have guessed she was on the brink of stardom. It's strange to think her days of being a modest bridesmaid are almost over, but I know she will cope."
- Michael Richards, Dakota's grandfather

+ "Michaela will help her keep her feet on the ground. I have had an eventful life and I slaved over many publications, but I will probably now best be known for being Dakota's grandfather."
- Michael Richards, Dakota's grandfather

+ "At school she was bright, perky, and had quite strong opinions. She'd always take the lead when it came to addressing the rest of the class."
- Simon Harper, Dakota's teacher