The Importance of Being Flint

[zephyrjaid7]

I've been following this discussion with the idea that I should just 
stay out of it, but there are a few comments that have me a bit 
shocked. Thus... 

Kyle said:

> It doesnt seem that way with Alfonso that he wants to stay loyal to 
the fan 
> base!  I had an image of Pettigrew as small and bald not big ass 
and tall!!

I say:

First of all, I wanted to ask where you get the idea that Alfonso 
Cauron does not want to stay loyal to the fan base - I have several 
interviews, including Cauron's, saved on my computer for references 
and I've found nothing that seems upsetting, especially concerning 
his loyalty to the fans. I'm actually very pleased with him so far. 

Now, you seemed to think because Timothy Spall (who is playing 
Pettigrew in the film) is a rather large man and doesn't cater to 
your vision of his character, this somehow has *anything* to do with 
Cauron as a director or his loyalty to the fan base. First of all, 
very rarely does a director cast a film - overseeing it, yes. Actual 
casting, no. At this point no one knows who casted Pettigrew, why he 
was casted, or if he will be good in the role. Our knowledge of him 
comes from only his past works - we've seen absolutely no footage of 
him in POA and I think we should reserve judgement until then. You 
may be pleasantly surprised - I know very few people who thought 
Kenneth Branagh would be the perfect vision of Gilderoy Lockhart 
before seeing CoS, and now he's widely accepted as THE Gilderoy 
Lockhart, hands down. 

So my point is...Cauron's loyalty is moot when compared to casting 
choices. Even if he *did* personally cast Spall, I'm sure he had a 
very good reason for doing so and would undoubtedly think that Spall 
was the best choice for Pettigrew, and thus the best choice to please 
the fans. And even if he didn't feel Spall was the best choice, he 
might have been the only available choice - actor's schedules can 
have them very tied up indeed, especially the caliber of actors that 
are consistently being cast in the HP films. Or maybe JKR herself 
said, "Spall's the man." Whatever the case, I think you should 
reconsider your thoughts here. 

Kyle said:
 
> No we can't but we can raise our voices and be heard and possiably 
change the 
> script!!  Its not too late now but every day we don't do anything 
its going 
> to get harder and harder.  Since there well on their way of making 
the 
> movie!!  

I say:

Even if you got half the world's population to sign a petition and 
presented it to WB, your efforts would be fruitless. During pre-
production of PoA, hundreds of people banded together and set up an 
elaborate schedule that will allow them to bring their script to life 
over the next few months. Their script is their guide - no one is 
about to change it. It's like a map - and they have to get from point 
A to point B, A being the first day of shooting and B being the final 
cut. Say A-1 is the Hogwarts Express. This shoot involves clearing a 
railway for a certain amount of time, renting camera equipment, 
renting a helicopter, transporting cast and crew to the location, 
feeding them, etc. And all of this is a carefully manipulated plan 
that messes with hundreds of people and their schedules. And this is 
just the first week. Then we move on to A-2 in our pseudo-world. This 
is filming the Knight Bus scenes, which (again) involves hundreds of 
different schedules, including the people who live in the houses seen 
in the foreground, the workers who built a brand new playground, the 
people who actually transport the bus...and these are relatively 
unimportant people that I'm naming. And then A-3, A-4 and so on and 
so on all the way up to point B.

WB doesn't have the complete power to dictate everything. They're 
manipulating thousands of different schedules all over Great Britain 
and it all has to come together to make a film by 2004. And a lot is 
at stake, some of which we don't even realize. And all of this is 
controlled by the script. It takes a lot of work to change a script 
and I would bet on anything that they wouldn't change it. 

And say the original plan was to cut Quidditch and then they suddenly 
decided to throw it back in again. This means that they'd have to 
draft a new version of the script to involve a segment which they had 
not budgeted for, which would take away money from other 'areas' of 
the film. And now imagine that the scenes they've already filmed 
(Hogwarts Express, Knight Bus, London) have an element that the new 
draft of the script eliminates, thus allowing Quidditch to have a 
space within their time frame. They've just wasted tons of money and 
time. And not only would they have to rearrange their carefully set 
schedules, they'd also have to hire special effects companies, spring 
it on the Art Department to rapidly come up with all of the Quidditch 
essentials, hire back actors you previously told would not be 
appearing in the film and say, "Oh darn - you'll be working on the 
West End then? I guess we'll have to replace you." Imagine the 
backlash *that* would cause. I think it's completely unreasonable to 
suggest changing the script. I truly don't mean to be rude, but like 
you've said - it's a business and that's how they run it.      

Kyle said:

> Yes its very tempting to blame them for everything!!!  Well okay 
Tom the 
> innkeeper is a mote point but I am just worried who is next!!  It 
starts with 
> the little people then the big people!!

I say:

WB wants to keep the same cast as much as we do. It's like Chris 
Columbus was always spouting, "Why change something that's already so 
successful?" The actors they've chosen for HP are obviously greatly 
loved and fuel their sales. Look at Sean Biggerstaff - he had barely 
any screen time and turned into a wildly popular actor. My little 
cousin is not a huge fan of HP, but saw CoS six times just to see 
Biggerstaff. And WB knows what their audience wants - they aren't 
stupid people. 

Kyle said:

> (Cut some examples of what actors might be required to do)

I think that is 
> uncomfortable but its the business their in!  My point is there not 
always 
> going to like what they do in the acting business but they have to 
remember 
> its a weird artistic business!!  If you boss asked you to remove 
you clothes 
> would you do it!!  Proalby not but in the acting business they are 
habutially 
> asked to remove their clothes and be miserable or not comfortable!!

I say:

Whoa. I think you're going a bit overboard here. And true, actors are 
very rarely comfortable - but what *is* comfortable in this business? 
I'm fourteen and haven't yet had the opportunity to work on projects 
as big as Harry Potter, but I know what acting involves and I know 
what Dan, Rupert and Emma have comitted themselves to. But in this 
case, they have the power and that's a huge responsibility. We're not 
talking about the *normal* pressures of an actor, we're talking about 
thirteen-year-old kids whose every movement is scrutinized. They're 
the *stars.* They are the emotional weight. They represent the entire 
franchise. In Tokyo, Dan was greeted by a mob of obsessive people 
that wanted to get a piece of him and he's still in school. They've 
given up their privacy. I should think that they have the right to 
control their own lives - most importantly their privacy. And the 
only obligation they have to WB is their contract, which will be done 
once PoA is done. This isn't about people who are iffy about acting - 
they've already crossed that line a long time ago. It's the fame. 

Kyle said:
> > No its not but on the other hand do you really think the last 
film is going 
> > 
> > to be as hot as the first and 2nd one???  If they care about 
there fans 
> > they 
> > will still.  
> > 

I say:

So you're saying that they should put their own emotional well being 
on the backburner just to please a bunch of people they don't know? 
Their number one priority is their own health, education, and future. 
And what have their 'fans' given them that would make them want to 
sacrifice their own lives to simply entertain a few people? They're 
*children* with mega responsibility. They haven't even decided 
whether they want to stick with acting or not. I can possibly see 
what you're saying if they wanted to further their careers and stick 
with acting, but they're still deciding. I think Dan has got the 
right idea - deciding what he feels like doing one film at a time. 

He said:
 
> But you don't!!  I mean lets raise our voices before its too 
late!!  They 
> already have some of the movie done but not all!!  If we do our 
damnest to 
> get wood and Flint back in we can but no one wants to!!  They just 
want the 
> movies made!

I say:

Everyone wants the movies made - and we want good movies. That's a 
given. And contrary to popular belief, WB *does* want to please the 
fans because we're the ones paying them. Films make their money by 
getting people to see them repeatedly - and who does that? Us, the 
fans. So they want to make the fans happy to get their money. They're 
not going to take huge risks when it involves billions of dollars. So 
I trust WB because the films that they have turned out have been good 
ones and I just can't see WB doing something so blatently risky when 
it involves so much money. I think we should trust their decisions, 
even if you feel that maybe they aren't the best decisions. But it's 
far to early to judge anything - we don't even know if Quidditch is 
cut at all. We can't come to conclusions yet because there aren't any 
facts - other than that two characters are not appearing in the film, 
which can mean a number of things. I feel that it's useless to fret 
about this when we really don't have any control - WB will *not* 
listen. Perhaps a little, but not enough to change anything drastic. 

Kyle said:
 
 Its never too late!!!  If we raised our voices high and long enough 
we could 
> change the script a little bit!!!  But no one wants to!!

I say:

I think you're right about this - no one does want to, because their 
efforts would be fruitless. And we don't even know what the situation 
is - there's nothing to fight *against.*

Kyle said: 
> Elijah Wood is still considered a child actor!!  He didnt want the 
Kids 
> Choice Award anyway.  How many shows are adult themed in the Kids 
Choice 
> awards??  I dont remember!!  I am sure the movie Hannibal wasnt at 
the Kids 
> Choice Awards !!

I say: 

Elijah Wood is not considered a child actor because he won an award 
chosen by children. Lord of the Rings is decidely *not* a children's 
film but it was very popular with younger people because it had all 
of the elements of a film that would appeal to younger people: 
action, adventure, friendship. And so many children saw this film 
because parents felt comfortable letting their kids see it. You're 
right; that is rare. But that doesn't mean that Elijah Wood is 
considered a child actor because his character, Frodo Baggins, 
appealed to kids enough that they would want to vote for him. Some of 
them probably don't even know that Wood is even an actor - they liked 
Frodo. 
 
Kyle said:

> Not what I heard!!  I heard Dan said the director or powers that be 
may not 
> want him back!!!  I also heard that Rupert says he want to 
possiably stay 
> until the 6th movie comes out!

I say:

You took that out of context. Dan was being fecetious when he said 
that they may not want him back. He was demonstrating a point: that 
things change, and that he would encounter the decision to stay/not 
stay with HP later, when he had more of a perspective of his feelings 
regarding that particular decision. 

And the "powers that be" would have to be blind, deaf and stupid to 
want to get rid of Dan. He's talented, he's definitely something to 
look at, he's charming in interviews...he's the ultimate crowd-
pleaser. Trust me on this one: they don't want to get rid of Dan. 
He's the soul of Harry Potter and they know that. They're probably 
desperate to keep him - but it's all up to Dan. Period. 

Kyle said:

> Huh???  If your saying its real big then why do you think the adult 
actors 
> career's will continue after the movie!

I say:

This makes absolutely no sense. Susan said the movie is huge and you 
wonder why she thinks the adult actors will continue to have acting 
gigs after HP. Ummm...

*sighs exhaustedly* I remember why I usually stay away from stuff 
like this.

Zeph