Deathly Hallows Confirmed to Be Split Into 2 Movies
After months of speculation, Warner Bros has revealed officially to the L.A. Times that they plan to split the final Harry Potter book into two films. One will be released in November 2010, the second in May 2011, and will simply be titled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I / Part II.
Aware that this looks like a grubby money-maker by cynics, Daniel Radcliffe insists that’s not so.
“I think it’s the only way you can do it without cutting out a huge portion of the book. There have been compartmentalized subplots in the other books that have made them easier to cut — although those cuts were still to the horror of some fans — but the seventh book doesn’t really have any subplots. It’s one driving, pounding story from the word go.”
Producer David Heyman says it was a difficult decision to make for the studio.
“I swear to you it was born out of purely creative reasons. Unlike every other book, you cannot remove elements of this book. You can remove scenes of Ron playing quidditch from the fifth book, and you can remove Hermione and S.P.E.W. [Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare] and those subplots . . . but with the seventh, that can’t be done.”
Author J.K. Rowling has given her approval, much to everyone’s relief. Still, I’m not sure I would agree with this direction. I was down with 7 books, 7 movies. There’s been a great screen translation for each novel, and I don’t see why this would have to change. All 5 books after Chamber were long, relatively speaking - and could all have been split into multiple parts easily. Any Potter fan would have loved it too. Of course, we’re talking something upwards of a dozen movies there, so not really plausible.
Frankly, it’s terribly subjective to pick and choose what stays and goes in these novels. After all, lets be honest here: there is a lot of wandering around, camping, and talking in the Deathly Hallows novel. You can see a decent amount of material getting condensed there — whereas events (especially in Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince) seem more “split” worthy. For example, plot point would end the first part of Hallows?
Again, the editing sense used when creating the cinematic, audience friendly saga worked all this time… so why break the mold now? It’s hard not to be cynical. Even so, as a fan, it’s difficult to be spiteful. Instead of 2 more movies coming, I now have 3 to look forward to. The nagging question remains for now: even if inspired by creative direction, will the series suffer because of this move? Rumors of Phoenix director David Yates keeping the reigns though series close keeps me optimistic for now.
Filed under: Books, Geek, Movies
