Filmonic » Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I

John Hurt talks Deathly Hallows and the British film industry

Liam — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:35:00 +0000

John Hurt appeared in the very first Harry Potter film back in 2001 and he will be returning nearly ten years on to reprise his role of Ollivander in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II. His character appeared briefly in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, however he was being abducted by Death Eaters and had a bag over his head, so it probably wasn’t John Hurt.

Hurt spoke to Rotten Tomatoes about playing the wand shop-keeper again, and he also had a mini-rant about the British film industry.

JH: I’ve filmed one, which actually is the last one, and now I’ve got the penultimate one to do which is in November, and that wraps it all up. It’s a big loss for Britain in terms of having a big studio movie here, but it’s not representative of our culture in terms of the films that we make. I am convinced that though Pinewood and Shepperton — the big studios — playing host to big movies is very important, our film business is in the independent world. Of that I’m convinced…
Do you think the big franchise movies shooting in the UK give a false impression of the health of our industry? All these productions move in and hire local talent, but they aren’t British films.
JH: No, they’re not British films. Even Harry Potter isn’t a British [franchise]. We gave it to Warners, we just sit and collect. That always infuriates me. I do think huge areas of the industry are being neglected and we’ve lost the ability for middle-budget films. When we did have a stronger industry — and not just a business — we did have room for middle-budget films. They’ve gone out of the window, as they’ve done in America as well, but a $20m picture would be wonderful to make every now and then. We could do a lot for that.
But it’s like any country, if you don’t have a lot of money to spend. And it’s interesting seeing how much money gets spent on Harry Potter. It’s quite absurd, really. I watch it and think it’s just the same as Hollywood. I look around and you’ve got three costumes there, none of which are likely to be worn, and they’re all replicas of each other. It’s a vacuous waste of money and it drives me insane.”

I’ll have to agree with Hurt on this one. If you watch any behind the scene feature on any big movie you see lots of waste. Before Half-Blood Prince came out I saw a behind the scenes TV special on the joke shop set which Fred and George Weasley own in the film. Warner Bros. had craftsmen and designers working for weeks on background props that weren’t even shown on-camera. The scene itself lasted less than a minute. However, I suppose they did provide work for local people who needed it.

The ‘British’ thing is also quite annoying. Harry Potter was created by a British author, the movies star British actors with mostly British directors, producers and crew, and it’s shot in Britain. Yet when each movie makes $900+ million 95% of is goes into the bank accounts of Warner Bros. in America. I appreciate that without Warner Bros. ploughing $150+ million into each film they wouldn’t have happened in the first place, however it’s a shame the movies will have no major long lasting impact on the British film industry. The industry doesn’t have a lot of money floating around and it could have benefited from some Harry Potter coin.

Big Deathly Hallows scene to be filmed tomorrow

Liam — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:04:19 +0000

Most of the filming for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I is complete, however now the cast and crew have to work on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II which is expected to finish filming next April.

Chris Rankin who plays Percy Weasly updated his Twitter account today, informing his followers that he will be woken up at 5am tomorrow morning for filming…along with 43 other cast members!

excited for filming in the morrow, but not excited for the 5am wake-up call… 43 principal cast on set tomorrow…!

43 cast members? That’s just about everyone! From the book I can remember a few big parts towards the end which feature a lot of the characters. The scene is probably related to the Battle of Hogwarts which is basically one huge wizard battle. It’s going to be one busy day (of many i’m sure) on the Deathly Hallows set!

Helen McCory talks Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Liam — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:55:38 +0000

A few days ago we heard that Maggie Smith would “stagger through” filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows due to her battle with breast cancer, and now actress Helen McCory, who plays Draco’s mother Narcissa Malfoy, has spoken about the films to Rotten Tomatoes. She says the final two movies will be “huge”, however as this is the last time a Harry Potter movie will be filmed there is a different feel on set.

“It’s got a full stop,” she told us. “I think up to now, every director who has done a Harry Potter has had to do a dot-dot-dot. They know it’s a sequel, they know there’s another film coming out. But with this one, we can actually make everything have an epic ending. It’s going to be final. And it’s going to be huge. There doesn’t have to be any more pauses or dot-dot-dots. So they’re letting out all the stops with this one.”
“We finish in April and it does feel different on set actually,” she explained. “Some people have been doing it for 10, 11 years. It’s part of their lives. So although I’ve just joined them at the end, a lot of people have a huge emotional commitment to it. There are children that have grown up with the people on the set, like the directors and the costume designers backstage. It’s a very big occasion for those people.”
McCrory told us she was due for a table read of the script for the second part of the film today. “You don’t know what to expect until you get there,” she said. “Something written down on paper could be completely different on the screen. On Monday we’re just going to sit down with various people around a table.”

In Half-Blood Prince we saw Narcissa Malfoy ask Snape to help Draco fulfil the task Voldemort had given him, which we eventually found out was to kill Dumbledore. In Deathly Hallows Voldemort preys on the Malfoy family once again by deciding their house will be his headquarters, and he places them under house arrest by his Death Eaters. Charming bloke.

Maggie Smith talks Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows

Liam — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:04:53 +0000

When Warner Bros. decided to undertake the Harry Potter adventure one of the most important requirements was to put together a strong cast. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have come into their own now, but back during the first few movies they were basically learning on the job, and more experienced actors were needed to help carry the films. Thankfully Warner Bros did just that by bringing on-board legendary British actors such as Alan Rickman, Richard Harris, and two time Oscar winner Maggie Smith to play supporting roles, and over the years it has been these actors that have made the movies special, for me anyway.

Nothing like the Harry Potter franchise had been undertaken before and it would require everyone involved, especially the actors, to keep spaces in their diary’s free for the next decade. Things were running smoothly cast-wise until Richard Harris unfortunately died in 2002, and the role of Dumbledore was then taken on by Michael Gambon in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

For the past 5 years the same actors have been appearing on our screens again and again, although fans of the franchise may have noticed something was different about one particular actress in the latest outing Half-Blood Prince. Maggie Smith who plays Minerva McGonagall wasn’t as ‘active’ on-screen as we had seen her in past instalments. I knew from previous reports that Smith had breast cancer and was undergoing treatment, although I didn’t know how bad it was for her during filming. Smith recently spoke to The Times about her cancer battle, and on filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Last year Dame Maggie found a lump on her breast. “I had been feeling a little rum. I didn’t think it was anything serious because years ago I felt a lump and it was benign. I assumed this would be too. It kind of takes the wind out of your sails, and I don’t know what the future holds, if anything. I don’t think there’s a lot of it, because of my age — there just isn’t. It’s all been. I’ve no idea what there will be.”
She revealed that she made Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince — playing Professor Minerva McGonagall — during her cancer treatment. “I was hairless. I had no problem getting the wig on. I was like a boiled egg.”
The cancer was “hideous”, the chemotherapy “something that makes you feel much worse than the cancer itself”, she said. “You feel horribly sick. I was holding on to railings, thinking ‘I can’t do this’.” Dame Maggie is planning to “stagger through” filming the final Harry Potter film, The Deathly Hallows.
“The last couple of years have been a write-off, though I’m beginning to feel like a person now,” she said. “My energy is coming back. S*** happens. I ought to pull myself together a bit.”

Cancer isn’t kind to anyone, especially 74 year old’s, and while we didn’t see McGonagall marching around after students like we usually do, Maggie Smith gave another great performance given the circumstances.

It’s good to hear that her energy is coming back, as she will need it for Deathly Hallows. Fans of the books will know that McGonagall plays an important role in the final film. Now that Dumbledore isn’t around she is appointed Headmistress of Hogwarts, and during the Battle of Hogwarts she has wizarding duels with Snape (Alan Rickman) and Voldemort. While I don’t expect Maggie Smith to be doing anything too physical i’m sure these scenes can still be done. I mean it wasn’t actually Ian McKellen (70) and Christopher Lee (87) throwing themselves around the room during their battles in The Lord of the Rings.

The next time you hear young actors and actresses complaining about how hard it was filming for 10 hours a day or how tough it was running away from those planned explosions, block out their bull by admiring the tough cookie that is Dame Maggie Smith.

Half-Blood Prince crosses $300 million mark in the US

Liam — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:15:03 +0000

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has crossed the $300 million milestone in the United States according to Box Office Mojo, making it the only Potter movie to do so after the first movie back in 2001. Overall Half-Blood Prince is the third highest grossing Harry Potter movie with $927 million, behind Order of the Phoenix with $938 million and Sorcerer’s Stone with $974 million.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows began filming in January and is expected to shoot for a total of 250 days as the film will be split into two. We will be getting Part I in November 2010 and Part II in July 2011. I have a feeling the final movie will be the one that finally knocks Sorcerer’s Stone off the top spot as the highest grossing Potter movie.

Splitting Deathly Hallows was probably one of the best decisions Warner Bros. made as it will allow the franchise to draw to a close in an epic fashion (the big battle at the end will apparently last 30 minutes, compared to around 10 minutes if it were one movie). Warner Bros. will also make another $900+ million. Everyone’s a winner!

Deathly Hallows split confirmed

Liam — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:35:14 +0000

Over the past 3 weeks I’ve been on a Harry Potter marathon and have read all 7 Harry Potter books, so expect to hear a lot about the Deathly Hallows movies over the next two years on Filmonic. Today’s Potter news involves the split between Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II. A few months ago director David Yates said they have “three or four different ideas” where to end the first film, and that it will most likely be a cliffhanger. Well Joshua Herdman, who plays Darco Malfoy’s tag-along Goyle, has let slip where the break will occur. As the book has been out for a few years and you can read what happens on Wikipedia it’s not really a spoiler, however if you don’t want to know how the first film ends I suggest you stop reading now.

From MTV:

According to Herdman, part one of “Deathly Hallows” will close right after Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are captured by the Snatchers. Part two will open as the trio and their captors arrive at Malfoy Manor. So that’s that.
Herdman also confirmed — and here’s that aforementioned SPOILER — that his character will be the Slytherin henchman who dies, not Crabbe (played by Jamie Waylett), as it is written in the book. MuggleNet states that the change came after Waylett was arrested and convicted of cannabis possession, and that he is not expected to have a part in “Deathly Hallows.”

Having finished the book a few days ago I think this would be a good place to end Part I. There were a few other places where I could image the break occurring such as SPOILERS Dobby’s death, or when they escape from Malfoy Manor, or even half way through Hermione getting tortured. If they stick with this Snatcher plan than that means Part II is going to be epic from the start all the way to the end. I can’t wait.

Will John Williams return to score Deathly Hallows?

Liam — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:28:58 +0000

Not only did composer John Williams produce the legendary music for Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, he is also the mastermind behind the well known Harry Potter theme tune. You know the one. It’s all twinkly and makes you feel special. John Williams scored the first three Potter films, and his music gave the franchise a magical feeling that I think has been lost in more recent scores. After Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Williams opted to score Memoirs of a Geisha and has since worked on a few Steven Spielberg films such as War of the Worlds and Munich, however there is a chance he could return to score Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.

From The Leaky Cauldron:

Richard Alexander: In a recent interview John Williams said that he would love to come back and bring his musical storytelling “full circle”. Will he come back for Deathly Hallows?
David Heyman: The question is will John Williams come back? I’m a huge fan of John Williams he did three of the scores and I think he is amazing. He came up with some of the themes that have carried on. We have talked to John Williams and a lot of it will depend on his schedule for [Harry Potter] seven part two. If we can make it work, and that’s a big if, for his schedule and ours then yes.

I would love John Williams to return and score the final film. It would round the franchise off nicely. In case you forget what his music sounds like, here it is below:

David Yates says Deathly Hallows Part I is a “road movie”

Liam — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:53:10 +0000

While on the rounds promoting Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince the Potter gang, as expected, were asked questions about the next film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. According to director David Yates they have shot roughly 85% of Part I, and during the press conference the cast and director all mentioned how different the movie will be compared to the previous outings, and that the film will break a structure that has been in place throughout the franchise.

From ComingSoon.net:

Yates gave an idea about what the feel will be for the two parts of the final movie, which should be very different from Half-Blood Prince or anything that came before. “The first movie is a road movie basically, and it’s quite intense and very raw and we’re way away from Hogwarts, and it’s a bit like three refugees being pursued across the landscape by these terrible Death Eaters. We’re really enjoying it actually. It feels very different. The first one is very verité and documentary and edgy and on the road, and the second part is a big opera basically, a great big epic with huge battles and very oddly moving, because it concludes the whole saga really. So they’re two very different films.”
“It’s not very often that in the middle of the filmmaking process, you stop yourself and go ‘This is going to be awesome’ and I’ve done that on a number of occasions,” Emma Watson confirmed. “We’ve just done this amazing scene in the forest where we’re getting chased by the Snatchers, and I’ve never done anything like it, nothing even close. I’ve never really done any serious stunts or any real action, and it’s so exciting and just really dynamic. Because all of us are now finished with school and we’re all just totally focused on this finale. It’s out of Hogwarts, it’s just about the three of us. It’s going to be… well, I hope it’s going to be brilliant and it feels totally different. I feel like I’m on a different film. The other films have this structure: You know, we come into the Great Hall and there’s the opening talk and that’s just gone, it’s gone.”

Producer David Heyman also spoke about using CGI to make the actors look like they are in their late 30s at the end of Part II. He says that they may use similar technology that was used in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, although they are still in “an exploratory stage”. Click here to read the rest of the interviews.

Rupert Grint recovering from swine flu

Liam — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:13:26 +0000

According to the BBC Rupert Grint who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films is recovering from a “mild bout” of swine flu.

Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, took a few days off filming but has now returned to the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and he is well enough to attend the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in London on Tuesday.
“He has now recovered and is looking forward to joining his fellow cast members,” his publicist said. She said that Grint’s doctor had confirmed the 20-year-old actor had recovered and was no longer contagious or at risk of infecting others.
“Other scenes were shot in his absence which did not require his involvement and thus filming was not disrupted,” she added.

It’s good to hear it wasn’t too serious and he is recovering, however Emma Watson appeared on UK TV yesterday and mentioned that she filmed a kissing scene with Grint two weeks ago, so if he had swine flu two weeks earlier he could have passed it on to her via the mouth. Imagine if the whole Harry Potter cast catch it!

Below is the interview with Emma Watson. In the first video she talks about auditioning for Hermione, growing up with the franchise, and going to University/College in the US. In the second video she talks about Half Blood Prince and filming Deathly Hallows.

Bill Nighy joins Deathly Hallows

Liam — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:01:49 +0000

In an interview with The Independent Bill Nighy (Underworld, Pirates of the Caribbean) announced that he would be joining the cast of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Nighy has been saying for years how he seems to be one of the only (well known) British actors who hasn’t had a role in the franchise, but now he has!

“I don’t think I’m allowed to say it but I’m going to be in the next Harry Potter film,” he tells us. “I won’t say which character, but he’s a goodie. I just got the gig.” If you don’t mind us saying, it’s about time, Bill. The rangy actor has been dropping hints for aeons, once complaining that he was “the only British actor who hasn’t been in Harry Potter”. But has he read the books? “Not yet, but I will!” he says. “It’s rather like being in a Shakespeare that way, you know?”

According to The Leaky Cauldron Bill Nighy will be playing Rufus Scrimgeour, a veteran Auror in the Ministry of Magic who spends most of his time fighting Dark Wizards.