David Yates has spoken to
Vanity Fair about
Deathly Hallows; how the tones of part one and part two differ to
Half-Blood Prince, why they split the movie and the new ways in which they are shooting the films.
Quote:
I would imagine, because you are already thinking of Harry in a different way and you are already invested in a different part of the story.
Completely. And the characters are getting older, the actors are getting older, and we leave Hogwarts behind in the next movie. We always say—I did it on [installment] five, I did it on [installment] 6—“Oh these films are growing up. They’re getting darker.” That really does feel the case when you leave the school behind and you are outside in the real world. It’s a very different dynamic. It’s really exciting actually.
Quote:
Why did you and Warners decide to split the last installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two parts?
Three reasons. One is it’s a huge book so there’s so much stuff in it. You go through the list of things you want to put in the movie and there’s so many huge set pieces that by the time you get to the end of it you kind of go, “Whoa this would be the most expensive movie of all time.” Far more expensive than any conventional blockbuster. You have to find a way of somehow keeping all the things you want to do, so it is easy to split it across two films. [Screenwriter] Steve Kloves was working on the adaptation as we were shooting Half-Blood Prince and he just rounded us up and said, “Look guys I am having a real problem stuffing this story into two-and-a-half hours. I think narratively this might suit two parts.” There was that. I get frustrated when fans say, ‘Why didn’t you put this in or put that in?’ So it was a combination of the adaptation process and the fact that I just want to give the audience everything we can from the book, basically.
Quote:
I think you will find the next film quite a departure from the sixth film.
Why?
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.