Saturday, March 18, 2006

Order of the Phoenix film news

The film magazine Empire has exclusive news on their website about the fifth Harry Potter movie for which filming is now under way (use the link above to access the full story). Daniel Radcliffe says of David Yates: "The new director’s fantastic. I've never been quite this pushed before, so regularly. He's really pushing Harry's emotional and psychological journey. But he also seems to have an incredible eye for sets and shots and things."

Producer David Heyman reports on what they've filmed so far: "We've done a little bit of action so far. We've done some stuff involving centaurs and Grawp, who is Hagrid’s 16ft brother. The kids have to act against a lot of blue screen for characters like Grawp, but thankfully they’re used to that by now."

The fifth book is not universally popular with the cast; Emma Watson has said she "really didn’t like" it, compared to the others, but Daniel Radcliffe says "It's actually my favourite. The third and the fifth are my favourites, which is a very uncommonly held opinion." He suggests that "the problem is that Harry can be seen to come across as quite petulant in the book, and I don't actually think that's the case. I think when J K Rowling puts things in capital letters I don't think that necessarily means he's shouting. It could just refer to the sort of energy behind what he's saying. I think that's one of the things that people object to about the book, is that they don't want a manic-depressive superhero." Both Radcliffe and Heyman insist that Harry will not be just a petulant teen in the film version.

Filming is due to continue until the middle of May, after which they will take a two month break so the young actors can do their exams (GCSEs in the case of Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe). Filming will resume in July and continue until October or November, and it's expected that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will reach cinemas in November 2007.

6 comments:

Kelly said...

Thanks for this news, Michele.

November 2007 is a long time from now! Since when do child actors have to take exams (kidding!)

In any case, Daniel comes across as more and more thoughtful in interviews, have you noticed?

Michele said...

You're welcome for the news. I'm personally not that interested in seeing the fifth film after hating the fourth one so much, but I know others are interested.

Yes I'd noticed Dan's a lot more thoughful - I don't find it too surprising, he's growing up, after all.

The Poodle's Friend said...

You didn't like the fourth film? I guess I can see why. It did miss out on a lot of the beautiful details on the wizarding world that made the book so good.
What do you think of the fifth book? I'm inclined to agree with Emma on this one, but a lot of people actually loved it.

Michele said...

It would be fair to say I hated the fourth film and have now declared war on film versions of the Harry Potter books since they persist in ripping out the (to me) most interesting bits - eg. the bits that demonstrate Hermione's importance to Harry's "Quest" !

If you're interested in reading my full "review" of the film ("rant" might be a more accurate word !), it's at: http://scholar-blog.blogspot.com/2005/12/harry-potter-and-goblet-of-fire-film.html

I find the fifth book somewhat headache-inducing since JKR persisted in deploying the CAPSLOCK every time Harry got upset, but I enjoyed the story - I haven't hated a single book yet, although the third remains my favourite.

Anonymous said...

I'm a fan of both the books and the films. I have to say I've never really been disappointed to the point of not wanting to see them. As huge,detailed and specific as the books are, I can't imagine all of that crammed into a 2 hour movie that all would understand and appreciate. To that end, I think they did the best adapatation that could be done, and knowing JKR reviews and essentially blesses the script beforehand helps. If she's content with the film version, I am too.
No, there was no S.P.E.W. or Ludo or Winky or Veela, but so what. The adaptation for the movie gave us the core of the story, as well as incredible scenery, special effects, and talented actor portrayals. Yes, it was a bit off the written word, but that's what made it fun. For me, perfect example of this fun was the dragon chase scene for the first task. Re-reading this section of the book, as a read, my vision wasn't nearly as breathtaking or gripping as the movie. Them adding the roof and flying sequences was the right move for the big screen.
Just my take on it. I'll look forward to the next installment of the series, whatever and however it's finally adapted. Heard release date is 7/13/07.

Michele said...

Well I know lots of people who love the films, but as a book person, and a big fan of the HP books in particular, I felt the films didn't live up to their potential. When you consider just what Peter Jackson managed to cram into the LotR films, I see no excuse for the HP films not being far more detailed. There's no reason to doubt fans and film goers wouldn't sit through a 3 hour film, so why try cramming it into 2 hours and rip out the most important (in my eyes at least) plot details. I wasn't so worried about SPEW (although it grates my cheese that it's always Hermione's character development that gets hacked about the most - typical Hollywood), as some of the other stuff that is important in the book for the later books... I've a friend whose husband has not read the books but loves the movies, and he had trouble making head or tail of film four - they don't stand alone.