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| Deathly Hallows: The End is Near |
Of course they knew it was coming. Yet it wasn’t until the final
day of filming that the three Harry Potter stars fully understood
that the most significant chapter of their lives so far was
ending. “Somehow, I wasn’t prepared for how emotional it was,”
says Rupert Grint, who has played Ron Weasley for almost half his
life. “It hit home how much it all meant to us.”
After the trio finished their last scenes for Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows this past summer, the crew asked them to sit down
for a little going-away presentation: A video montage of images
from their decade on set and goodbyes from the hundreds of artists
– the makeup and costume teams, the set decorators and prop
designers – who had watched them grow up.
“The three of us were just in pieces by the end,” says Emma Watson
(Hermione Granger). “It was our lives played over on tape, and all
these people that we’ve known, in this place where we’d spent more
time than in our actual homes. It was overwhelming.”
Not least of all for Harry Potter himself. “I was sitting there
thinking, ‘What am I going to do without all these people that I
love and who love me?’” Daniel Radcliffe says. “I will miss them
all very, very much.”
For tens of millions of Potter fans, the long goodbye will begin
this month. The Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final novel in JK
Rowling’s record-obliterating book series, has been split into two
films. Part 1 opens on Nov.19. Part 2 opens next summer, on July
15. (The studio recently scrapped plans to release Part 1 in 3D,
citing quality concerns, but will release Part 2 in both formats.)
The cultural and financial impact of the movies has been nothing
short of staggering. The previous six films have earned more than
$5.4 billion worldwide, making Potter the highest-grossing global
franchise in history, and have put the series within a wand’s
length of overtaking the Star Wars films domestically.
“It’s so satisfying,” says Warner Bros. Entertainment president
Alan Horn, who snared the Potter rights not long after he took
over the studio (which shares a parent company, Time Warner, with
EW) and who recently announced his plans to step down next April.
“Not only has it been good for our company and made a lot of money
and all that, but it’s been a wonderful creative journey. I think
we converted the books to film respectfully and honored them.”
The decision to halve Hallows for the screen frustrated some fans,
who accused the studio of corporate greed, but the upside, at
least, is that much more of Rowling’s final tome will make its way
into multiplexes.
The life-or-death showdown between Harry and Voldemort (Ralph
Fiennes) won’t happen until Part 2, naturally, but that doesn’t
mean this first installment is sleepy. In Part 1, Voldemort and
his Death Eaters have taken over the Ministry of Magic, and are on
the hunt for Harry.
Forced to live as fugitives, far from the protective walls of
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry, Ron, and
Hermione must discover and destroy the remaining Horcruxes –
objects that hold pieces of Voldemort’s shattered soul.
Friendships fray, commitments are tested, and Ron and Hermione’s
relationship...evolves.
“The emotional stakes are more complex and intriguing,” says
director David Yates, who also helmed the previous two Potter
films. “You put these characters in the big, wide world and have
them pursued by people who want to kill them. Suddenly, they seem
very fragile.”
The three stars are now heading into the big, wide world as well.
They still face another nine months or so of premieres and press
interviews, but their days within the protective walls of
Leavesden Studios outside London, where all the Potter movies have
been filmed, are over.
“It has been weird adjusting to not going in every day,” says
Grint, 22, the oldest of the bunch. “It’s been nice, the freedom,
but a bit strange.”
For the adults who’ve watched them grow up and now need to let
them go, it’s a bit poignant too. “I’ve known them for 11 years,”
says producer David Heyman, who first spied a young Radcliffe in
the audience at a performance of Stones in His Pockets in London’s
West End and thought he might be right for Harry.
“I think they’ll all be fine, they’ve got good heads on their
shoulders, but if anything happens, they know that I will be on a
plane or train, that I’ll be there for them. A lot of people feel
that way.”
--
They knew it would end, but now how. The three Potter starts had
filmed one final scene together, but their last shots ever as
Harry, Ron, and Hermione would be alone.
In turn, each of them would run and jump into a massive fireplace,
vanishing from the Ministry of Magic via the Floo Network. The
fireplace itself would be added digitally later, so they were
running toward a giant green screen and landing on a green crash
mat.
“It seemed like the best way to go out, because it was physical,”
director Yates said. And symbolic as well. Free-falling. Taking a
leap. “To be honest, I did not get the significance of that,”
Radcliffe says months later, laughing. “Maybe I should call David
and apologize.”
It will barely register in the film – mere seconds of screen time
– but as their final act, after a decade of childhood spent in
their own ministry of magic, they each ran, and leapt, into the
great green unknown.
“It was really strange,” Watson says. “And then it was wonderful.”
~Reporting for Entertainment Weekly: Sean Smith, Jeff Jensen and Adam B. Vary
day of filming that the three Harry Potter stars fully understood
that the most significant chapter of their lives so far was
ending. “Somehow, I wasn’t prepared for how emotional it was,”
says Rupert Grint, who has played Ron Weasley for almost half his
life. “It hit home how much it all meant to us.”
After the trio finished their last scenes for Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows this past summer, the crew asked them to sit down
for a little going-away presentation: A video montage of images
from their decade on set and goodbyes from the hundreds of artists
– the makeup and costume teams, the set decorators and prop
designers – who had watched them grow up.
“The three of us were just in pieces by the end,” says Emma Watson
(Hermione Granger). “It was our lives played over on tape, and all
these people that we’ve known, in this place where we’d spent more
time than in our actual homes. It was overwhelming.”
Not least of all for Harry Potter himself. “I was sitting there
thinking, ‘What am I going to do without all these people that I
love and who love me?’” Daniel Radcliffe says. “I will miss them
all very, very much.”
For tens of millions of Potter fans, the long goodbye will begin
this month. The Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final novel in JK
Rowling’s record-obliterating book series, has been split into two
films. Part 1 opens on Nov.19. Part 2 opens next summer, on July
15. (The studio recently scrapped plans to release Part 1 in 3D,
citing quality concerns, but will release Part 2 in both formats.)
The cultural and financial impact of the movies has been nothing
short of staggering. The previous six films have earned more than
$5.4 billion worldwide, making Potter the highest-grossing global
franchise in history, and have put the series within a wand’s
length of overtaking the Star Wars films domestically.
“It’s so satisfying,” says Warner Bros. Entertainment president
Alan Horn, who snared the Potter rights not long after he took
over the studio (which shares a parent company, Time Warner, with
EW) and who recently announced his plans to step down next April.
“Not only has it been good for our company and made a lot of money
and all that, but it’s been a wonderful creative journey. I think
we converted the books to film respectfully and honored them.”
The decision to halve Hallows for the screen frustrated some fans,
who accused the studio of corporate greed, but the upside, at
least, is that much more of Rowling’s final tome will make its way
into multiplexes.
The life-or-death showdown between Harry and Voldemort (Ralph
Fiennes) won’t happen until Part 2, naturally, but that doesn’t
mean this first installment is sleepy. In Part 1, Voldemort and
his Death Eaters have taken over the Ministry of Magic, and are on
the hunt for Harry.
Forced to live as fugitives, far from the protective walls of
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry, Ron, and
Hermione must discover and destroy the remaining Horcruxes –
objects that hold pieces of Voldemort’s shattered soul.
Friendships fray, commitments are tested, and Ron and Hermione’s
relationship...evolves.
“The emotional stakes are more complex and intriguing,” says
director David Yates, who also helmed the previous two Potter
films. “You put these characters in the big, wide world and have
them pursued by people who want to kill them. Suddenly, they seem
very fragile.”
The three stars are now heading into the big, wide world as well.
They still face another nine months or so of premieres and press
interviews, but their days within the protective walls of
Leavesden Studios outside London, where all the Potter movies have
been filmed, are over.
“It has been weird adjusting to not going in every day,” says
Grint, 22, the oldest of the bunch. “It’s been nice, the freedom,
but a bit strange.”
For the adults who’ve watched them grow up and now need to let
them go, it’s a bit poignant too. “I’ve known them for 11 years,”
says producer David Heyman, who first spied a young Radcliffe in
the audience at a performance of Stones in His Pockets in London’s
West End and thought he might be right for Harry.
“I think they’ll all be fine, they’ve got good heads on their
shoulders, but if anything happens, they know that I will be on a
plane or train, that I’ll be there for them. A lot of people feel
that way.”
--
They knew it would end, but now how. The three Potter starts had
filmed one final scene together, but their last shots ever as
Harry, Ron, and Hermione would be alone.
In turn, each of them would run and jump into a massive fireplace,
vanishing from the Ministry of Magic via the Floo Network. The
fireplace itself would be added digitally later, so they were
running toward a giant green screen and landing on a green crash
mat.
“It seemed like the best way to go out, because it was physical,”
director Yates said. And symbolic as well. Free-falling. Taking a
leap. “To be honest, I did not get the significance of that,”
Radcliffe says months later, laughing. “Maybe I should call David
and apologize.”
It will barely register in the film – mere seconds of screen time
– but as their final act, after a decade of childhood spent in
their own ministry of magic, they each ran, and leapt, into the
great green unknown.
“It was really strange,” Watson says. “And then it was wonderful.”
~Reporting for Entertainment Weekly: Sean Smith, Jeff Jensen and Adam B. Vary
| Entertainment Weekly Feature Article |
| Copyright © 2007 | www.booksandwands.com | All Rights Reserved Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Warner Brothers Entertainment. No copyright infringement intended of any and all source material. No profits were made from this site. |
| Entertainment Weekly's DH Part 1 Review |
We all know the end is near. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -
Part 1 breaks the seventh and final book in JK Rowling’s epic
modern literary classic into two movies, and haunting every frame
of this assured and beautiful first half is the knowledge that
soon, in 2011, the screen journey will be over.
I don’t know which had the greater effect: my real melancholy at
the thought of looming finality, or the elegance of this
necessarily dark and serious penultimate film, in which
characters/actors we have watched since childhood are now
resourceful young adults.
But I do know I felt a swell of love and awe wash over me from the
very first wickedly creepy scene until the profoundly moving last
one. Under the direction of David Yates – in Goldilocks terms,
he’s Just Right, having gently guided the series to more
consistent excellence in pace and tone with the last two
installments – Part 1 is the most cinematically rewarding chapter
yet.
What a marvel it is, this Harry Potter movie business! What a
spell the experience casts, now that every detail is so familiar
to us, from the ghostly sound of the signature minor-key musical
theme to the sight of Voldemort’s hideous nose-less face!
All the grand British thespians who bring Rowling’s convocation of
wizardly characters to life, from Alan Rickman and Imelda Staunton
to Michael Gambon and Robbie Coltrane, do so with utterly serious
gusto.
As for Hogwarts besties Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron
Weasley, we’ve lived side by side for so long with Daniel
Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint that their (re)appearance
carries honest emotional weight: We’ve known them since they were
kids!
In the Deathly Hallows, of course, Harry, Hermione, and Ron are
deep in their struggle toward adulthood, truly on their own and
unprotected, except by one another. (Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry is nowhere to be seen this time.)
The final showdown between the Chosen One (Harry) and the Dark
Lord (Voldemort, embodied with chilling, hairless silkiness by
Ralph Fiennes) is still to come. Meanwhile, the schoolmates are on
a continued mission to find and destroy the Horcruxes, those
magical bits of his black soul that Voldemort has hidden in order
to hang on to immortality.
The world is an anxious, paranoid place, what with the Dark Lord’s
Death Eaters on the loose. The look of the movie is
apocalyptically desolate too – when it’s not baroquely sepulchral,
as it is in the bowels of the Ministry of Magic. An early scene at
Voldemort’s dinner table, surrounded by his senior Death Eaters,
is terrifying.
All this takes a toll on Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Or maybe, as
Rowling so astutely weaves into her books, it’s the not-so-
magically dispelled fears, doubts, and longings of true adulthood
that weigh the trio down.
Either way, Yates, working with cinematographer Eduardo Serra
(Girl with a Pearl Earring), keeps the picture poised between the
gaping future (i.e., Harry’s scheduled showdown with Voldemort)
and the groping present, as the three friends test their adult
support of one another.
In one of the movie’s sweetest wordless moments, Harry comforts
Hermione. Ron has stormed off after a fight with Harry, Hermione
is sad and troubled, and Harry spontaneously leads his dear friend
in a dance.
The scene isn’t in the book; it’s the rare deviation of an
addition to the sacred text, rather than an unavoidable cut made
for Muggle-driven movie purposes. Yet the gesture is so tender,
and such a welcome breath of warmth in such a dark time, that the
grace note demonstrates an integrity I feel sure Rowling would
applaud.
This is who Harry Potter has grown up to be: a young man strong
enough to love his friends (including dear, devoted Dobby the
house elf; O Dobby!), clever enough to outwit his foes, and brave
enough to face his future.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 also bravely faces
the future, slipping with expert ease among the thrilling mass of
complications (and complicated set pieces) that Rowling throws
fans in the final sprint, then guiding the faithful to the fate
that awaits everyone in this world, the moment called The End.
A-
~Reporting for Entertainment Weekly: Lisa Schwarzbaum
Part 1 breaks the seventh and final book in JK Rowling’s epic
modern literary classic into two movies, and haunting every frame
of this assured and beautiful first half is the knowledge that
soon, in 2011, the screen journey will be over.
I don’t know which had the greater effect: my real melancholy at
the thought of looming finality, or the elegance of this
necessarily dark and serious penultimate film, in which
characters/actors we have watched since childhood are now
resourceful young adults.
But I do know I felt a swell of love and awe wash over me from the
very first wickedly creepy scene until the profoundly moving last
one. Under the direction of David Yates – in Goldilocks terms,
he’s Just Right, having gently guided the series to more
consistent excellence in pace and tone with the last two
installments – Part 1 is the most cinematically rewarding chapter
yet.
What a marvel it is, this Harry Potter movie business! What a
spell the experience casts, now that every detail is so familiar
to us, from the ghostly sound of the signature minor-key musical
theme to the sight of Voldemort’s hideous nose-less face!
All the grand British thespians who bring Rowling’s convocation of
wizardly characters to life, from Alan Rickman and Imelda Staunton
to Michael Gambon and Robbie Coltrane, do so with utterly serious
gusto.
As for Hogwarts besties Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron
Weasley, we’ve lived side by side for so long with Daniel
Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint that their (re)appearance
carries honest emotional weight: We’ve known them since they were
kids!
In the Deathly Hallows, of course, Harry, Hermione, and Ron are
deep in their struggle toward adulthood, truly on their own and
unprotected, except by one another. (Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry is nowhere to be seen this time.)
The final showdown between the Chosen One (Harry) and the Dark
Lord (Voldemort, embodied with chilling, hairless silkiness by
Ralph Fiennes) is still to come. Meanwhile, the schoolmates are on
a continued mission to find and destroy the Horcruxes, those
magical bits of his black soul that Voldemort has hidden in order
to hang on to immortality.
The world is an anxious, paranoid place, what with the Dark Lord’s
Death Eaters on the loose. The look of the movie is
apocalyptically desolate too – when it’s not baroquely sepulchral,
as it is in the bowels of the Ministry of Magic. An early scene at
Voldemort’s dinner table, surrounded by his senior Death Eaters,
is terrifying.
All this takes a toll on Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Or maybe, as
Rowling so astutely weaves into her books, it’s the not-so-
magically dispelled fears, doubts, and longings of true adulthood
that weigh the trio down.
Either way, Yates, working with cinematographer Eduardo Serra
(Girl with a Pearl Earring), keeps the picture poised between the
gaping future (i.e., Harry’s scheduled showdown with Voldemort)
and the groping present, as the three friends test their adult
support of one another.
In one of the movie’s sweetest wordless moments, Harry comforts
Hermione. Ron has stormed off after a fight with Harry, Hermione
is sad and troubled, and Harry spontaneously leads his dear friend
in a dance.
The scene isn’t in the book; it’s the rare deviation of an
addition to the sacred text, rather than an unavoidable cut made
for Muggle-driven movie purposes. Yet the gesture is so tender,
and such a welcome breath of warmth in such a dark time, that the
grace note demonstrates an integrity I feel sure Rowling would
applaud.
This is who Harry Potter has grown up to be: a young man strong
enough to love his friends (including dear, devoted Dobby the
house elf; O Dobby!), clever enough to outwit his foes, and brave
enough to face his future.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 also bravely faces
the future, slipping with expert ease among the thrilling mass of
complications (and complicated set pieces) that Rowling throws
fans in the final sprint, then guiding the faithful to the fate
that awaits everyone in this world, the moment called The End.
A-
~Reporting for Entertainment Weekly: Lisa Schwarzbaum