David Yates Talks Burrow Scene, Deathly Hallows Film, and Life after Harry Potter
Yates Interviews
Posted by: sue
July 24, 2009, 09:09 AM
Director David Yates has given a new interview to Vanity Fair, where he discusses again the decision to add the attack on the Burrow scene to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, as well as weigh in with some thoughts on the look of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two and his career plans after the series has concluded. Notable quotes are as follows:
Can you give me an example of a particularly difficult choice you had to make in this last film? "One of the things we did was we added a sequence in the middle of
the movie—the sequence in the reeds when death eaters try and attack
Harry—and that sequence never existed in the book. In one sense it
seems mad to add something to Jo’s [read: J.K. Rowling’s] world and
Jo’s book. It’s already full of pretty rich, fantastic stuff—why on
earth would you add anything? But in the sort of two-and-a-half hour
structure of a screenplay there was a lack of a sense of jeopardy from
the outside. We were in all these romantic entanglements and I needed
to audience to be reminded of what the threat was from the outside
world. Jo talks about those things in the background in the book but
halfway through our book we needed our audience in the theater to be
aware of them and to experience them. So we added a sequence that
didn’t existed in the book but was there, I guess, in spirit because it
was happening beyond Hogwarts."
Did you run it by J.K. Rowling? I’m sorry: by “Jo”? "Yeah, Jo was totally cool about it. She recognized the challenge of it and the need for it."
On Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: "It’s just edgier. It’s a little rawer. It’s more contemporary. It
feels more modern. Shooting in the way we’ve been shooting, doing a lot
of hand-held camera work, all that stuff, I’ve never got a call from
the studio. They just phone up or email and say we love the dailies
even though I am doing things that feel very not Harry Potter. So I
feel I have a freedom and the elbowroom to do what I feel the story
requires.
So you’re hearkening back to your gritty days of State of Play? "Yeah, indeed. In Harry Potter Seven, part One, very much so. But, of course, Hallows
part Two brings that fantasy world back in full cinemascope. It’s full
of dragons, and big wizard battles, and magic. To keep the thing
interesting for me as a filmmaker, I want to serve the wonderful
stories Jo has given us but I need to move it around a bit. I can’t
feel that I am making the same film. Tonally, I need to shake it up a
bit. Like Half-Blood Prince had a lot more humor in it than Order of the Phoenix and that was important for me, and I think it was important for the audience to not get the same journey. And Hallows part One will feel very different than Half-Blood Prince."
What’s the first thing you are going to do next? "I’ve got a couple of things. I want to do a war picture. I’m developing a war picture called Saint Nazaire that’s about a reckless commander raid in the Second World War. I want to make a movie version of the TV thing I did called Sex Traffic, about trafficking. There’s a whole pile of stuff coming out. I am reading stuff all the time."
140 Comments
112 Points
But the Burrow was DESTROYED and then it’s just left there. Hanging. No mention ever again. So…..WTF?? Now everyone is left with “……but, what happens with the Weasley family? Where do they live now?”
There may have been a need for it, but it should have been thought through MUCH better and perhaps given a mention or at least SOMETHING at the end of the movie to close it. It’s now a big gaping plot hole. I hate falling in plot holes.
muggle..andproudofit , the only thing I can say about your comment is: “Spoken like a true Weasley!”
;-)
Jillxoxo said: “Gritty? I don’t like the sound of that. And why is he making decisions on the film based on what’s good for him? Shouldn’t such judgements be based upon what is good for the story?”
I could not agree more! I guess I don’t like the sound of “gritty” because that’s what everyone says about PoA, and it’s the one that strayed furthest from the Harry Potter “feel” IMO. I think—and I hope—that what Yates actually means by “gritty” here, though, is that it’s a lot of location shooting and will have more of the “Blair Witch” feel with the hand held camera (which I liked in OotP as Harry chased Bellatrix just after she killed Sirius). I am OK with that, because in all honesty, book 7 felt much different from the others, so the movie should too. I hope that’s what he meant by not feeling Harry Potterish: that it’ll be unlike the other movies, but NOT unlike the book! It does bug me that he thinks it helps HIM as a filmmaker to make the changes. While I fervently believe that audiences would love a movie that sticks to the book every bit as much as much (if not more) than one that deviates, unfortunatley, the filmmakers don’t get creativity points from their peers for that and take criticism. It’s really a shame.
I thought the Burrow burning scene was silly and made no sense at all. I suppose they did need a bit of action in that point of the film, but that was way too drastic a change! Maybe they could have shown Fenrir attacking a child or something? Now THAT would have been dark and action packed, and it would have actually explained who and what he was.
That said, I did truly enjoy HBP and have been very encouraged with what I’ve heard about DH and how they really want to try to include EVERYTHING.
2799 Points
I agree with Phylis, it is nice to know why they put that in there.
24135 Points
so excited for DH! :O)
10839 Points
Vote for HALF BLOOD PRINCE for the Teen Choice Awards!!!!!!!
These are the nominees :
Summer: Movie-Action Adventure
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
STAR TREK
TERMINATOR SALVATION
TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
X MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
Click on “Make a Suggestion” : and suggest Tom Felton for Movie: Villain
These are the nominees:
Cam Gigandet – Twilight
Liev Schreiber – X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Eric Bana – Star Trek
Ken Jeong – The Hangover
Hank Azaria – Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
HERE IS THE LINK:
http://www.teenchoiceawards.com/vote-summer.php
PLEASE PASS IT ON!! AND VOTE EVERY DAY! SHOW HOW MUCH OF A HARRY POTTER FAN YOU ARE!!
10839 Points
Vote for HALF BLOOD PRINCE for the Teen Choice Awards!!!!!!!
These are the nominees :
Summer: Movie-Action Adventure
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
STAR TREK
TERMINATOR SALVATION
TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
X MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
Click on “Make a Suggestion” : and suggest Tom Felton for Movie: Villain
These are the nominees:
Cam Gigandet – Twilight
Liev Schreiber – X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Eric Bana – Star Trek
Ken Jeong – The Hangover
Hank Azaria – Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
HERE IS THE LINK:
http://www.teenchoiceawards.com/vote-summer.php
PLEASE PASS IT ON!! AND VOTE EVERY DAY! SHOW HOW MUCH OF A HARRY POTTER FAN YOU ARE!!
428 Points
Will it be rude of me to say to David Yates to stop reading around, and focus more on the movies??…
4452 Points
cant remember if i commented already :( !! i liked the attacking of the burrow :) !! cant wait for DH!!!
I thought the HBP film was fantastic and by far the best adaptation of these books to date, with superb performances from the entire cast, no exceptions! I am dying to see it again. It had the right blend of humour and darkness and for the first time had the same amount and type of humour as is found in the books. Gambon and Broadbent were fantastic and cemented the film together, and the teenagers were all wonderful. The acting from the Trio really made me look forward to the next two films, especially Emma, who was my least favourite but is now starting to show some of the sensitivity that she needs to portray in the next films.
The one thing I disliked though was the added Burrow scene which I though was unnecessary. Instead I would have liked one extra memory, probably the best for the plot would be Hep Smith’s house. That said though, for the first time I am not niggled by cuts in the story. Although I’ve loved all the films there is always something that annoys me about each of them. This time I thought Kloves did a great job with the screenplay and script.
Just to add, now that I’ve read a few comments;
I disliked HBP as a book for at least the first half of it and the reason why is that I felt it had too much slushy romance in it. The only bits of the book I liked were the memory scenes and the cave onwards. So I don’t understand why people are moaning about the focus on romance in the film. It IS in the book for a good half of it. In fact I think the time constraints of a film have helped the story this time round because they had to reduce the romance down, compared to what was in the book. They’ve managed to turn my least favourite book into my favourite film by reducing the romance to its humorous aspects and still keeping most of the rest of the story.
I wasn’t bothered about the missing battle scene. One more memory would have been nice.
1267 Points
Ok I understand now but I really wish you would have put more to the battle scene.
32 Points
I think the Burrow scene did the most for developing Harry and Ginny’s relationship too, because they just didn’t feel that believable in the movie, but that helped a little that she ran after him…
@levi-OH-sa: Also, they left out the battle at the Astronomy Tower at the end of HBP so that it wouldn’t feel so similar to the end of Deathly Hallows, part 2.
32 Points
I think the Burrow scene did the most for developing Harry and Ginny’s relationship too, because they just didn’t feel that believable in the movie, but that helped a little that she ran after him…
@levi-OH-sa: Also, they left out the battle at the Astronomy Tower at the end of HBP so that it wouldn’t feel so similar to the end of Deathly Hallows, part 2.
39 Points
Seems stupid adding scenes when all other scenes were TOO SHORT!
But the Burrow was DESTROYED and then it’s just left there. Hanging. No mention ever again. So…..WTF?? Now everyone is left with “……but, what happens with the Weasley family? Where do they live now?”
There may have been a need for it, but it should have been thought through MUCH better and perhaps given a mention or at least SOMETHING at the end of the movie to close it. It’s now a big gaping plot hole. I hate falling in plot holes.