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4th Harry Potter book appearantly butchered for the movie
IMDB's News:
Now if the line about "will just begin with him at school" is true, then that means that some 4 or 5 whole chapters of the book, including the professional Quiddich match and the whole introduction to the Death Eaters has been cut, kinda making their importance in the 5th book (and heck, at the end when Voldemort returns) pretty much a moot thing. This is probably going to be the first case where the movie seriously deviates from the book because with all the material cut, they're going to have to write quick short new scenes to introduce concepts/characters because their formal introduction scenes were cut.
*sigh*
they really should have just filmed the whole damn thing (at once) and released it in two parts or something.
Harry Potter Family Left Out of Fourth Film
Boy wizard Harry Potter's evil uncle and aunt have been cut from the fourth movie in the fantasy series. British actors Richard Griffiths and Fiona Shaw were shocked to discover scenes involving their characters Vernon and Petunia Dursley have been scrapped from the film adaptation of JK Rowling's fourth book Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. Sleepy Hollow star Griffith explains, "Filming had already started on the fourth and Fiona and I asked the producers, 'Are we in it?' and they said, 'Oh, did no one tell you?' The problem is that the fourth book is just too long for a film, so they've done away with our bit - where Harry is at home with the Dursleys - and will just begin with him at school." The 56-year-old even begged Rowling to write a special scene for the scheming pair. He adds, "I said to JK Rowling, 'Couldn't the Dursleys turn up to an open day at Harry's school or something?' But she said, 'I don't think so.'" Griffiths, Shaw and Harry Melling - who plays the Dursleys' indulged son Dudley - have yet to find out whether they will be reappearing in the fifth movie.
Now if the line about "will just begin with him at school" is true, then that means that some 4 or 5 whole chapters of the book, including the professional Quiddich match and the whole introduction to the Death Eaters has been cut, kinda making their importance in the 5th book (and heck, at the end when Voldemort returns) pretty much a moot thing. This is probably going to be the first case where the movie seriously deviates from the book because with all the material cut, they're going to have to write quick short new scenes to introduce concepts/characters because their formal introduction scenes were cut.
*sigh*
they really should have just filmed the whole damn thing (at once) and released it in two parts or something.
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I thought that Rowlings editor needed to sit down with her and say, "Cut this book down." In general, the book needed tightening and revised pacing. Now that we are hitting film, the director is saying, "We have to cut this book down." He's doing this for the same reasons.
Could they have made two films out of the fourth book? That's a good question. Is the studio willing to fund two films out of a franchise that's in it's fourth film, where box office takes are usually down? Is there enough filmable book material to support the four hours of filming necessary to produce two films? How do you juggle all those actors? These aren't trivial questions. Add in the fact that your actors are aging fast, and time becomes even more critical. Do they do two films now, or one and then film the next, to keep the actors in the right age range? Will the Harry Potter fad be over when the film comes out?
This will only get worse for book five, six, and seven.
I do feel for the actors who are cut. I do enjoy the Dursleys. I'll miss them. But I also understand how the director has to make decisions.
do like Matrix & LotR
The LotR actors were primarilly only all in a group for 15 months. Then different subsets were recalled for ADR and additional shooting as needed, but in ways that didn't require the whole team to be re-assembled, so the issue of juggling dozens of schedules became a non-issue.
Now that the kids are at least past the major growth spurt (and voice-changing) years, a delay of 8 months isn't an issue between principle and later shootings given a touch of makeup.
is there enough material in book 4? I think so. trying to trim it down to 2 1/2 hours is just going to make some scenes be too short for what they deserve, IMHO.
As for "the fad", after a billion book sales, I really don't see that ending anytime soon.
and i've already ranted about "aging fast" before, but i'll repeat it again: Michael J. Fox was 25 when he played 17 year old Alex Keaton. Chris Ruck was 30 when he played 18 year old Cameron in Ferris Beuller. The kids are supposed to be 15 in book 4 and they're not going to look all that different as 21 year olds (potentially) playing the characters at 18 in book 7.
The idea that, like a comic strip (Doonesbury and Bill Holbruck's 2 mainstream comics being major exceptions), things should be "frozen in time" and the characters perpetually 12 years old is absolutely wrong in this case, and Rowling has said so herself.
Re: do like Matrix & LotR
My original rant on the topic of the kids ages.
Re: do like Matrix & LotR
Re: do like Matrix & LotR
Given that five is filming on the backs of four, I suspect that the director is reusing some sets and keeping the various teams together. That's another questions that I'd like to ask the director about. The producer, too.
The debate of "translate" or "transliterate" between book and screen will always be here. As you can tell, I'm solidly in the "translate" camp. Good storytelling in one format is not easy to take to another format.
Heck, people still edit Shakespeare. If it happens to The Bard, it can happen to anyone else. :P
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I was thinking about the movies for GoF and OoF yesterday...and today (we're listening to OoF in the car). I can't see how they could split Goblet in two parts... The various story lines overlap too much. And by the time the contest is over, the story may have somewhere to go, but it's not a whole movie worth.
On the other hand, I actually *could* see Phoenix being pared down to a reasonable length. There's quite a lot that is great in the book, but could be chopped in favor of a 'background' bit (like most of the OotP Headquarter stuff, as well as much of Harry's 'poor me' internal stuff)
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"I said to JK Rowling, 'Couldn't the Dursleys turn up to an open day at Harry's school or something?' But she said, 'I don't think so.'"
i agree they should do this in two parts. but, they don't write carryover segments on sesame street anymore because they think kids can't remember the beginning of the episode by the time they get to the end. they probably assume that kids won't be interested in a movie with two parts to it and won't remember the first part when they see the second.
very sad.
I've thought about this
If kids have trouble with a particular skill, one which will eventually be important to their lives, don't cater to it and dumb it down so the skill isn't necessary. Teach the skill through positive reinforcement. Make the kids learn that having a longer attention span, and being able to recall details after a distraction time period is critical. Make them LEARN that knowledge and recognition of causaility is absolutely essential, and is absolutely NOT instantanious.
Things take time to play out, people need time to witness and realize the consequences of their actions. A disagreement will not be resolved in a minute of dialog (or in Barney's universe, a big purple dinosaur coming in with exactly the right answer and you know that answer's right because the big purple dinosaur said so).
*sigh*
I wonder if, when reality hits this generation of kids, will they even notice it?
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