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Yates & Kloves on Potter Films Being Social-Realist and Epic

David Yates, who is the director of the last four Harry Potter films, and screenwriter Steven Kloves, recently spoke with The Baltimore Sun about working on the epic films. In the interview they give us quite the insight on how they make decisions on what to include in the films and how they see the over-all style of the films. Yates also speaks about how he's really enjoyed watching the trio grow into their acting skills.

Read more to see some of what they had to say.

Kloves says that Yates isn't afraid to make difficult decisions. "He is willing to do the heavy lifting, to make the difficult decision when necessary - something which many directors are not willing to do."

When he makes his first adaptation of one of the Harry Potter books, he says they tend to be both wishful and practical. "Wishful in the sense that I want to get the entire book on the page and practical in the sense that I know the wishful side of me is insane."

When working with the memories in Half-Blood Prince, Kloves said that Yates didn't feel they were satisfying on a whole, he didn't feel they were satisfying within the whole. In other words, they diluted the dramatic experience from his point of view and he felt we needed to concentrate exclusively on those memories that informed one particular thread of the story - the story I was, by and large, telling."

Yates says he truly regrets when he has to let parts of the book go and they often take the fans' thoughts into consideration. "We often have conversations which go along the lines of 'Will the fans really like it if we lose that?' Some choices may be right for the framework of the film but will put the fans out." Yates wants "to make sure the fans are happy" and says he always lets pieces of the book go "regretfully," but his goal is to make "the best adaptation that will warrant spending two-and-a-half hours in the dark."

Yates sees each of the films in a certain genre; some social-realist and others more epic or v�rit� (truthful). "I'd wanted Order of the Phoenix to be an intense journey with a troubled young kid, more social-realist than the other films. But The Half-Blood Prince is more heightened, and if Deathly Hallows Part I is quite verite and goes back to that social-realist style, Part II should be epic and operatic."

He's enjoyed watching Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint grow into their acting skills.

He loves the "comic gear changes" he's been watching Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson pull off as Harry and Hermione grow into adolescence. And he's particularly proud of the way Rupert Grint has filled out the part of that archetypal Brit public-school scamp Ron Weasley.

"He's always been the funny one, but he has so much more as an actor than that. In Prince, he has lovely stuff that's funny and true, but in Deathly Hallows, he must be defensive and haunted, and Rupert took to that like a duck to water. I'm always thankful that Jo Rowling gave us a world that allowed us to turn corners with the actors."

Thanks much to Ivana for letting us know!

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by @ 30 Apr 2009 - 11:59

If you look on the movies as ads for the books, they ain't so bad.