This week’s Time-Turner Tuesday takes us back to 2001 with an interview with a very little Dan Radcliffe at the premiere of the first film in London. Watch that below:
David Yates talks HRH final scene, J.K. Rowling in new interview
Potter director David Yates recently spoke with Manila Bulletin about his experience making four of the HP movies, about Dan, Rupert and Emma's final scene together, J.K. Rowling, and his future plans. Here are some excerpts (he gives a bit of a spoiler about the end of Deathly Hallows Part 2):
You came into the series at sort of that middle point. When did you realize the magnitude of the fan base. And what did you think about it? It was probably a phase in the cycle around about this stage when you do your interviews and you meet the press and walk up the red carpet. Obviously, you notice the fact that it’s globally popular, but it’s just when the fans come from Mexico or Argentina and camp out all night, you realize what it means to them. And it’s a huge responsibility, actually. Also, there are massive expectations on every movie, and in a curious way, you do your very best with the film. And I’m very proud of this film.
On the last day with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, when they were on set together and filmed their final scene, what was that like? We shot the scene on the viaduct, outside Hogwarts, and it was really peaceful. It was a really sunny day. It was all backlit. And it’s a very tender scene where they sort of reflect on everything that’s happened, all the battles and everything, and they hold hands, and the camera falls away. It’s a really tender, lovely scene. I said to them, ‘Look, guys, this is the last scene we’re all going to do with you three together in front of the camera. So, it’s not just the last scene of these three characters in the movie, this is your last scene in this series of films. That’s what today is about.’ And it infused it with a kind of emotion which was really moving actually.
Did you ever talk to Jo Rowling about adapting these books and the choices you made, particularly in terms of its contemporary feel? We never had a big conversation about that because it was very present in the book. She read the script and she was totally cool about the way we’d adapted it. She was always just very enthusiastic about the whole first script, generally. But she’s been really helpful and we had a good chat about a couple of scenes in Part 2. I asked her, ‘What were you thinking when you wrote these scenes?’ And she was really helpful.
Jo was a producer on this film, so how was that? How was her expanded role on it? You know, it hasn’t really changed from the other movies, honestly. She’s just always our biggest supporter. And always very graceful and kind and I think, because she’s been there throughout, it was time her name was up there. She wants to be up there with us; it’s a real privilege.
Do you have another movie brewing after all this? I’ve got so many scripts coming in, I can’t tell you. In fact, I told them to stop sending them. [Laughs] Because I haven’t read any of them. They’re just all piled up. But I’m so ambitious, I can’t tell you. It’s a strange thing about Harry Potter because I don’t feel any sense of ownership, in a way. I don’t feel territorial about it. I feel it’s a bit of a national treasure that I’m curating. For everything I can enter, I try and do my very best. And I’m very proud of the work I’ve done. But post-Potter, my career sort of starts again really. And I won’t feel like I’ve made four of the biggest films in the world. I’ll feel like, ‘Well, that’s it. I’ve done Potter now.’ And I’ll have all these beautiful scripts and I can begin in a way. That’s my plan. And I’m going to do big things and tiny little things. And they won’t have wizards in them.
No wizards? No wizards.
You can read the whole interview here. Thanks to Snitchseeker for the tip.
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Feb
21
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Time-Turner Tuesday: An adorable Daniel Radcliffe at the world premiere of Philosopher’s Stone
Feb
19
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Vanity Fair looks at Stuart Craig’s production design on Harry Potter films
Ahead of next week’s Oscars, Vanity Fair has been publishing a series of articles examining the ‘most visually enticing’ nominees. This week they looked at Stuart Craig’s fantastic work with the production design for the Harry Potter series, and spoke to him about the Hogwarts exterior, the Room of Requirement, Gringotts, Diagon Alley, the Boathouse for Snape’s death and more. You can read some excerpts below or read the whole thing at this link.
“In the early days, every time you saw the exterior of Hogwarts, it was a big miniature, a physical miniature,” Craig says. “In the final film, for the battle, our first miniature was scanned and that became the basis of a new digital model. It was retextured in fantastic detail so that the camera could get into it much, much closer.”
“The consequence of filming real locations was that we were obliged to incorporate the locations into the model of Hogwarts. Often real places are disappointing. They’re not of your choosing. So, the skyline of Hogwarts was not as I would have wished in the early films, and I really did care about that—I was struggling with that,” he says. “As time went on and the books required a new space that we’d never seen before, like the Astronomy Tower that Dumbledore dies from, then I would grab that opportunity with both hands to change and improve the skyline of Hogwarts. I felt happy about it in the end, and most happy about it in its ruined state, actually.” Get the whole story
Feb
16
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100 Greatest Books for Kids
USA Today uncovered the Scholastic Parent & Child Magazine’s “100 Greatest Books for Kids” and Harry Potter made the list. JK Rowling is featured on the cover of the March issue, which features the list, and when asked why Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was only #6 (and the only one on the list) P&C’s editor-in-chief Nick Friedman said “although it is undoubtedly one the of the greatest in history, it is only 15 years old and hasn’t had time to become established”. This reporter feels a little differently.
Topping the list at #1 was Charlotte’s Web, and at 60 years old the story emerged as “sophisticated”. Friedman and four other editors made the final list from nearly 500 titles. Editors added The Hunger Games to the list but felt that Twilight was “too mature”. I can’t argue with that, but I can’t help but feel that the violence in THG is more accepted than the love scenes in Twilight. What do you think?
The full list of winners can be seen below.
