Dan Radcliffe on Harry Potter Book Purists and Fans of the Films
Radcliffe Interviews
Posted by: sue
January 10, 2009, 04:51 PM
The Australian Herald Sun has released a new interview with Dan Radcliffe, where the Harry Potter gives his thoughts about the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and the two Deathly Hallows films. Of HBP he says he thinks they have struck a type of balance between the darker, intensity found in the sixth book and a bit of humor. Dan says "I mean, the one thing when I read the script I could always yearn
for was more darkness and more of that real intense stuff, because I
enjoy doing that more, but hopefully this time we have struck a balance
between that darkness and a certain comedy in this film. "And what I think we've managed to do is not make it that kind of comedy that is farcical and pulling faces.
"It's not that kind of comedy at all, it's much more subtle than
that and hopefully people will find it funny - that's the aim anyway.''
Of particular interest are Dan Radcliffe's comments on the the two Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows films, and book purists feelings about the Harry Potter films. Quotage: "I think when the fans came on to the first film there would have
been a section of the audience that didn't want to like it because they
were the purists of the book,'' he says.
"There are still those people out there, but you are never going to change their minds so just don't even try.
"So
I think the majority of the people out there, because the fan base has
grown at about the rate the films have come out, we've managed to keep
making them darker and dark enough to maintain the interests of these
people.
"And I think actually through making the films darker
we've gained a lot. And also through people like (director) David Yates
directing them, a certain amount of respect has been gained for the
films as cinema.''
82 Comments
I know the article isn’t entirely accurate, but the Dan quotes sound like him, just from hearing and reading so many of his interviews. It sounds intelligent thus, it’s Daniel lol.
Like many previous commentators I agree that film and literature are two different media and it would be pointless to expect an exact translation from book to movie. My biggest concern is when a character and what he/she represents gets lost. Ron has been reduced to hopeless, whimpy sidekick from PoA onwards. When Cuaron/Kloves decided to turn bookish, tough Hermione into super-Hermione in PoA, one of the key scenes they changed was ‘The Shrieking Shack’ where Ron (in the book) stands up on a broken leg to defend Harry. In the movie Ron’s line is given to Hermione while Ron’s sitting pathetically in a corner hanging on to Scabbers. This was done without any replacement scene to show that Ron is in fact brave (except when it comes to spiders lol). I understand that Ron is used (even more than in the books) as comedic relief and that’s fine, but those very important sides of him, as the heart of the trio (in JKR’s words), Harry’s best friend and number one defender is lost. Watching the movies you’d almost think Hermione is closer to Harry than Ron. Does this make me a book purist? I don’t necessarily think so, I just don’t think that a character’s essential function in the story should be lost and I don’t understand why there’s a problem with that in the movies (Ron is the most obvious example).
Yeah they do get darker and darker. I can’t wait for the last one!
As a purist, I love to hate the films.
Essentially, they’ve destroyed what I loved most about the books — the realism of the magic world with their traditions, histories, and character, the friendship of the Trio, and the themes of racism that is so like our own world. The movies are nothing like that.
Anyway, I don’t blame Warner Brothers, as much as I like to insult them. They are taking this cash cow, and maximizing their profits by giving audiences what they want: instant-Romance/Comedy/Action with a twist — Magic. It’s not WB’s fault that the larger population can’t seem to appreciate depth in films.
Karin,
Thank you, cause I’m on my lunch break and now I don’t have to say anything…..
You hit the nail on the head for me….
But to add, I don’t have any issues with Hermione or Harry, but darn it if they didn’t mess with Ron…
But that’s ok, RG works that thing out anyway!!!!
Gotta love these reporters…..
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sees Potter return for his sixth year at Hogwarts where he discovers a book that seemingly explains the past that will help him battle with Lord Voldemort. "
So Harrys potions book is going to help him defeat Voldie by showing him the past….hmmmmm??? Bless,someone should have read a book first :-)
Looking forward to July! Only 185 days to go :)
You got it exactly right, Karin. PoA was a beautiful movie. No one can argue that. It was a cinematically stunning film. Unfortunately, the characters and plot were horrifically skewered. Even were I not a huge Ron fan, I would be horrified by what he was turned into in that film. I mean, Hermione was his bodyguard against Malfoy in front of the Shrieking Shack on the Hogsmeade trip. What is that about? I know several people who started reading the books because they were utterly confused by that movie and wanted to know what in heck was going on. It’s great that they got into the books but they shouldn’t have to read it in order to figure out what was going on in the movie. A movie is a multi-level experience. A beautiful movie does not a good movie make. Cuaron (and I do enjoy his other work) should have placed the plot and the characters on the same level of importance as he placed the cinematography. Both are essential. (And don’t even get me started on that ending!)
You’re always going to have that group of folks who never like books turned into films, yet they keep going to see them. It’s mind boggling. If you can’t separate the two, which isn’t to say you can’t be upset if one of your favorite parts of the book is left out, then why would you keep shelling out $10 or $12 for movies tickets?
um…i liked the interview material with dan but i got the feeling that the author didn’t know much about it. i don’t know why, i just thought that. god, that’s so embarassing, we (by this i mean americans) are crap at english accents:)
someone brought up the dress thing, and i thought i’d comment there. i always thought it was interesting that hermione never wore dress robes in the films, but did in the books. and then, in dh, mione wore a dress, which always reminded me of the one she wore in the GoF film. i always thought that how they did the costumes in the films was kinda odd. it was weird to me how the minister of magic wore a sterotypical buissness-man suit in 5. i dunno, i’m just weird and notice this kinda thing:):):)
For me, part of me wants to be a book purist because I think that if the movies were done exactly like the books they’d be just as good (if not better) but obviously this isn’t possible and I’ve gotten over the fact that they are different for the most part. I’ve come to consider the movies as a form of FANFICTION in that they are essentially fans of the books making their on interpretation/adaptation of them and often times it won’t stick to canon but the basic elements are there.
Posted by kay on January 12, 2009:
“god, that’s so embarassing, we (by this i mean americans) are crap at english accents:)”
LOL yes, we most definitely are!! ;-)
For the record I dislike Ron as a character, I want to slap him a lot, but it’s not due to the films. I do agree with DeliaDee re Ron’s film character, though it’s actually COS when I noticed how pathetically whimpering he is made to be, so I don’t blame Cuaron. It does get worse in POA (still one of my two favourite HP films) but better in GOF and OotP; in GOF he is just as petulant as he came across in the books, perfect. There wasn’t enough of him in OotP. His reduction to a comic sidekick does take away some of the less pleasant aspects of his character, which they are going to have to improve on in time for DH when he most definitely isn’t comic.
I can’t wait till HBP comes out!!! I hope it lives up to the books and isn’t too dark. I can’t wait to see the love triangle between hermione,ron and lavender and the stuff between harry and ginny. i have been a fan of Harry potter books and movies for liek ages and can’t wait till HBP comes out at the cinema!!! will be there on the first day to watch it!!!
I know the article isn’t entirely accurate, but the Dan quotes sound like him, just from hearing and reading so many of his interviews. It sounds intelligent thus, it’s Daniel lol.