Brett Ratner Interested In 'His Dark Materials' Trilogy

Playwright Tom Stoppard is writing the screenplay for New Line Cinema. "There's not even a script, so it's a ways away, but New Line, the studio that I'm in business with, is developing it," Ratner said in an interview. "I'm just hopeful."

The trilogy, which begins with The Golden Compass, centers on an 11-year-old girl who tries to rescue her best friend from kidnappers. Along the way, she encounters witches, talking bears and a truth-telling compass. "It's kind of like Harry Potter [or] Lord of the Rings," Ratner said.