In a
collection of
new interviews from the set of
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which took place last month, producers David Heyman and David Barron, director David Yates, and actors Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, and Jessie Cave spoke about the series, from the first days of filming
Sorcerer's Stone to the current final battle sequences in
Deathly Hallows, which, Heyman said, are rooted in the characters involved.
David Heyman gave a bit of a teaser about both
Deathly Hallows movies, talking about Part I: the road movie, and Part II with the final battle scenes.
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“Ultimately, what makes these books work, what I love about the books, is that for all the spectacle, for all the adventure, (there are) the characters.” Part I will be “the road movie” with the young stars on the run, Heyman says. The final battle comes in Part II. “And what we are trying to do in this final battle, as much as we can, is root it in characters! For me, it’s really all about the characters and it’s about the people who are battling and, if you’re invested in that, that is what will make it work!”
Heyman explained the reasons behind why the earlier DVD sets had very few extra footage, while the later ones, including
Half-Blood Prince, reveal more about the production inside Leavesden Studios:
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“I have very mixed feelings about it,” Heyman admits. “I made — we made — a conscious decision early on to reveal very little. If you look at the early DVDs, there is very little behind-the-scenes materials. That was for a couple of reasons. We wanted to preserve the mystery. And I think there is real validity to that, although we are probably the only film in the world that now takes that position. The other reason that we withheld is that we didn’t want to put anything on the DVDs that would show how things were being done in the upcoming film. We wanted the pleasure of the new film not to be interrupted. Now that we’ve come to the end (with the production of Deathly Hallows), we’re a little more comfortable. On this sixth DVD, for instance it is much more open in terms of what we are showing.”
Tom and Heyman spoke about working as and with young actors in the earlier movies:
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“We were so young,” Felton says about the first Potter. “We weren’t actors. We looked like the characters they were trying to portray and we showed a certain element of willingness, I guess. But I am absolutely stunned at how well everyone has developed. I am not being patronizing in the slightest, but Daniel and Rupert and Emma are all phenomenal actors now. And they carry the films on their own shoulders (as much as) all the big adults we have, as well.”
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“It was literally: ‘Chin up, look left, look right. Come on Dan — Rupert, stop laughing!’ It was literally that. And now they give as good as they get. They ask questions about motivations, about characters. They’re more active collaborators and that evolved over time.”
Tom, Bonnie, and Jessie spoke about how working on a huge franchise hasn't boosted their egos and has kept them rather grounded:
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“You’re bang on,” Felton says. “Really, no one has gone Hollywood, as we say. No one has gotten ahead of themselves. Everyone is still really normal, whether it is one of the crew members or one of the higher cast members. Everyone seems to get on fairly well. And I think the adults find it kind of refreshing coming in on a set where everyone feels equal. It doesn’t suddenly feel there is an awkward hierarchy on set where certain voices should be heard over others.”
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“For me,” says Wright, “obviously the character has grown as the films have gone on.” The same applies to Felton’s Draco, she says. “In the sixth one, it was very much a chance to show what we think they were all about and show what Jo Rowling put them in there for, I guess.”
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“They’re very professional, everybody here,” Cave says. “There is a good work ethic and that was another reason why it was quite comfortable to come in and to get down to the work. You’re just surprised because they are such nice people. Maybe I was cynical but I didn’t expect them to be so nice and I didn’t expect them to be so warm and so lovely. They were really nice to me. I mean, it’s just the dream come true — and Lavender is such a great character.”
David Yates considers where he sees his three stars in the future in terms of their professional career:
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“Dan will continue acting and maybe directing. I think he’s interested in that.
“Rupert will continue acting. Rupert is one of the most original people you will ever meet, really lovely. He’s a one-off. And I think Rupert is a really talented actor with great comic timing.
“Emma, if she wants, can be a movie star. She is hugely talented and incredibly in touch with her imagination. She is fiercely intelligent and I think she could do whatever she chooses to do.”
J.K. Rowling's documentary released in 2007,
A Year in the Life, is part of the Half-Blood Prince DVD features. David Barron contemplated over how the author would separate and move on from Harry Potter's world.
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“I’ve never actually asked her but she may well have found it a way of exorcizing the ghost of Harry Potter,” says Barron. “As much as all of us will find it really hard when this comes to an end, for her — having spent 17 years giving birth and raising this idea and then it being so phenomenally successful — (it is tougher). How you walk away from that I have no idea.”
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released on November 19, 2010 and July 15, 2011.
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David Heyman: Deathly Hallows final battle scenes are rooted in characters involved 
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lovin' life 
Wonderful interview. 
