SnitchSeeker.com - David Yates, David Heyman talk Harry Potter films at L.A. Deathly Hallows 2 screening

Harry Potter director David Yates, producers David Heyman and David Barron, and actress Helena Bonham Carter attended a screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 on Tuesday evening in Los Angeles as part of their awards promotional period and Variety's Variety Screening Series. Photos of the four during the panel discussion after the screening can be seen below; Variety released a few quotes from Heyman and Yates about their participation in the series.

Helena and Yates are also in L.A. to attend Wednesday evening's 2011 BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards, where the director will receive the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing, and Helena will get recognition for Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year. We will have much more on that later today.

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Heyman and Yates on meeting each other when the director for Order of the Phoenix was being considered over six years ago.

Yates: "I had just made this bleak, intense drama about sex trafficking, so it seemed like a very odd juxtaposition," he recalls. "When I went to see David, it seemed better not to ask why. He said he was a big fan of my work, so I thought let's just leave it there and talk about the material."

"It was a huge challenge for any director coming in," [Yates] says. "I know Alfonso Cuaron and Mike Newell found it hugely challenging, because they told me so!"

"Every day, from the first draft of the script through 20, 30 drafts, you're influencing, shaping," he says. "There wasn't a day when I didn't feel I was doing my thing. I wanted to grow the world up, to make it feel more intense, darker, scarier. I wanted to take it from a kids film to a film that adults would probably enjoy more than kids."

Heyman: "He had a real sensitivity for the material. He had done 'State of Play,' which dealt in politics in a really entertaining and accessible way. By the fifth film, the Harry Potter world was becoming more political, and we were really interested in someone who could set the magical world off against the real world."

"What I love about David is not only that he's a great storyteller, but he's a humanist -- he's always looking for the emotional truth of a character," Heyman says.

"It's as though I've gone through some portal and come out the other side," Yates says. "I've got so many scripts piled up, waiting to be read. It's a very exciting time, and I feel right now that I'm ready to start again.

Yates: "But I feel, oddly, that I've got a lot to prove as a filmmaker. Potter is Potter, there were three other directors who worked on those films, and it's really Jo Rowling's world. I poured my heart and soul into them, I'm really proud of them and they are my films, but now I'm looking forward to showing what I can really do."

Order the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 DVD and Blu-ray sets, out today in the U.S. and December 2 in the UK, at the Amazon links below, or through the official Warner Bros Shop.

Amazon.com (US) - Deathly Hallows 1-disc DVD | Deathly Hallows 1-disc Blu-ray | Deathly Hallows 3-disc Blu-ray triple play | The Complete 8-Film Collection DVD | The Complete 8-Film Collection Blu-ray

Amazon.co.uk (UK) - Deathly Hallows 1-disc DVD | Deathly Hallows 3-disc 3D Blu-ray | Deathly Hallows 3-disc Blu-ray triple play | Deathly Hallows 2-disc DVD | The Complete 8-Film Collection DVD | The Complete 8-Film Collection Blu-ray | The Complete 8-Film Collection BD limited edition

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