Final HARRY POTTER Movie to Receive Double the Screentime
Arguably the world’s biggest literary success, Harry Potter is once again in the news. For the final installment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it appears two movies are needed.
An LA Times article brought this to my attention and managed to get the word out of some of those involved with the movie.
"I think it's the only way you can do it, without cutting out a huge portion of the book," said Daniel Radcliffe, the teenaged star of the series. "There have been compartmentalized subplots in the other books that have made them easier to cut -- although those cuts were still to the horror of some fans -- but the seventh book doesn't really have any subplots. It's one driving, pounding story from the word go."
Some may say Radcliffe, who is only 18, wouldn’t actually have a clue as to the inner workings. So that’s why Producer David Heyman also stepped up to the plate to comment. "Unlike every other book, you cannot remove elements of this book," Heyman said. "You can remove scenes of Ron playing Quidditch from the fifth book, and you can remove Hermione and S.P.E.W. [Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare] and those subplots ... but with the seventh, that can't be done."
"This way, we have an extra hour and a half, at least, to celebrate what this franchise has been and do justice to all the words and ideas that Jo has put in the amazing story," said Alan Horn, president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment. "This is the end of the story too. We want to celebrate it. We want to give a full meal."
However it seems to me that WB lost the right to say that they wanted to “do justice to all the words and ideas that Jo has put in.” After Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was condensed so tightly it failed to register what book we were watching, and its big brother Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was similarly cut, I can’t help but be skeptical.
I am fully behind the idea to split the movie in to two; don’t get me wrong. I love the Potter series in book form and always will (although don’t get me started on book 6). But it seems that they’ve lost their credibility in making these movies, and are now just out for more money.
I’m also worried about how the actors will hold up to their fictional counterparts. Daniel Radcliffe is 18 years of old, a year younger than the actor who plays Ron, Rupert Grint, and a year older than Hermione, Emma Watson. By the time they begin filming for the final movie young Grint should have finished university!
Nevertheless, good news if you want more and more Potter in your life. Let us hope that they treat the book with the respect that it deserves, and not the respect they are known for dolling out.