Referendum on the Director

[oz_widgeon]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., Shannon Compton <srae at m...> wrote:
> At 03:46 AM 12/12/2001 -0000, Cindy wrote:

> >And that is my question.  If you were the producer of PoA and GoF, 
> >and the only information you had to go on was his work in PS/SS, 
> >would you hire Columbus for PoA, GoF, both, or neither?
> 
> Absolutely, I'd hire him for both, and I'd hope I could keep him
>for the whole series.

I think it would be strange if a different director took over.  The 
movies wouldn't "mesh" right.

 
> >1.  I'm not fond of the idea of splitting GoF into two movies.  I 
> >just don't think it can work.
> 
> Even considering the amount of things that could be cut, I can't 
>imagine how else this movie could be made any other way. There are a 
>lot of things that could be cut, yes, but there are also so many 
>things that simply couldn't be cut at all.  There is so much in the 
>details.


I am all for splitting the movie into 2 if it means keeping more of 
the book content.  Heck, I'd even be willing to go to a 3 parter (1
at Thanksgiving, 1 at Christmas and 1 right after the New Year).  At
2 1/2 hours each, that would make for a total of 7 1/2 hours worth of 
HP movie.  What a DVD that would make! <wipes the drool form the 
keyboard> (Just got a DVD player and am currently in love with the 
'extras' on them)


> >2.  I think he made far too many mistakes in PS/SS.  We've beaten 
> >this to death of course, but for me, the glaring blunders include 
>the coaching of Emma Watson, Snape's sprint to the front of the
class 
>for his potions speech, the boring opening sequence, having all of 
>the kids do a "Home Alone" scream in the troll Great Hall scene and 
again when they confront Fluffy.
> 
> Oh dear, I disagree with all of those things!  Emma was wonderful
>as a snotty/insecure little girl, and I've already gone over my 
>reasons for liking the Snape scene.  I didn't think the opening 
>sequence was boring at all.  Certainly no moreso than in the book.  
>And, really, if you saw a giant three headed dog about to bite you
in 
>two, you'd probably scream too. :) 

I absolutley LOVED Emma.  She was so spot on for the Hermione I've
had in my head for the last year or so that it was spooky.  And I 
agree, if faced with a 3 headed dog, I'd probably let out a good old 
Home Alone scream too.  (quickly shoos the dogs away from the screen
before they see this and give me a severe tongue lashing or licking).
I personally liked the opening sequence .  It clearly introduces the 
element of magic into what we first see as a perfectly oridinary 
street.

 
> >4.  He is not very good at deciding what to keep and what to cut, 
> >which will be critical in the next two films.  Keeping Norbert and 
> >the Troll wasn't wise given the important things that were
> >deleted. 
 
> >If JKR "wouldn't let him" cut certain things, then we need a 
> >director who can be a bit more persuasive.
> 
> I can almost see cutting out Norbert, but if they had then they'd 
>have had to write a whole new reason for our Heroes to be out at 
>night and get detention. And it was also an important key in how
they 
>worked out the whole mystery about the Stone.  The Troll definitely 
>needed to be in  there.  It's a turning point in the relationship 
>between Harry, Ron and Hermione, not to mention setting in motion
the 
>Snape misdirection.
 
Can you imagine the schreeching that would be going on if they had
cut Norbert and the Troll?  Good grief!  My ears ring at the very
thought. I think, given the choice of cutting, Peeves, the Troll or 
Norbert, I'd have ousted Peeves too.  He served no purpose in the 
first book (or any really) other than to draw attention to the Trio 
when they were out of bed and to drop the cabinet over Filch's office 
in CoS.  BTW, did anyone catch that Ron mentioned Peeves' name in the 
movie?  When they are going to the common room after Quirrel faints
in the Great Hall (LOVED THAT SCENE!), they are talking about how a
troll would get in, and Ron says something to the effect of "Probably 
just Peeves playing a joke."
As for getting a director who's more persuasive (in getting JK to let 
him cut out certain things), I don't see how anyone _could_ persuade
her to cut anything she thinks is a must.  After all, we only have the 
first 4 books.  What if Norbert is important in a future book?  What 
if the Troll scene is important in alater book?  (Not that I think it 
will be, but you never know).  JK is the ONLY person who knows right 
now what's REALLY important and what's not.
 

> Personally, I'm tickled with how he handled it.  I like a lot of 
>Chris Columbus' movies. He also did Young Sherlock Holmes, which is
>easily one of my favorite movies from my youth.  I think he handled 
>the necessary trimming and rearranging with remarkable grace.

And here I thoguht I was the only person in the world who had ever 
seen Young Sherlock Holmes!  One of my FAVORITE movies from my youth 
as well!  

> I have a very few quibbles, but only a few, and they are fairly 
>minor. 

Very few quibbles here , except I WANTED the Sorting hat song, and
why did they show the Choc Frog cards if they didn't use that to find 
Flammel, and I didn't like that everyone in the Great Hall could hear 
everything the Sorting Hat said.  Other than that, Dandy.  Seen it 3 
times, will probably go again. 


>Actually, the level of general disappointment and outright dislike 
>I've seen on this list is 
>startling. Until I joined, I hadn't heard of one single person who 
>didn't love it, readers and non-readers alike.  

I'm not surprised by the outright dislike, as I figured it would be a 
love it or hate it movie.  Those who hate it, generally seem to hate 
in comparison to the books (I'm being GENERAL here from the varying 
post I've read-please no howlers or undiluted bubotuber puss for 
this).  The ones who like it, seem to like it on it's own merits, not 
in comparison to the books.  We went with a friend who had not read 
the books and he loved it.  He had no preconcieved notions about what 
it should be though.  He did borrow my books though after seeing it, 
and has become a huge fan of them (smart boy he is!).  His main 
comment about the characters in the books vs. the characters in the 
movie is the fact that Neville's role in the movie was too small.  As 
a major Neveille fan, I strongly agree!  
I have (mostly on hpgalleries-main board and HOL) seen tons of people 
griping about the movie and the reasons they dislike it, and honestly, 
what I've read here is really rather minor in comparison to some of 
those rants.  I think it's important to remember that the 
movie is a film adaptation of the book, not the book on film. 
There's a huge difference.  I mainly feel that if JK is okay with it, 
I have very little room to gripe.  It's her baby not mine, so if
she's good with it, I can be.

So that's my sickle and 2 knuts worth.