[HPFGU-Movie] Scheduling GoF

[GulPlum]

At 21:28 13/02/03 , ArtsyLynda at aol.com wrote:

>What doubts about Dan wanting to be involved?  I thought the only doubts were
>from the producers side, if Dan got too mature looking in that amount of
>time??

No. Columbus implied during one of the CoS press conferences that Dan (and 
Rupert & Emma) might not be back for GoF. He later clarified that by saying 
that he thinks they'd prefer to give up the HP movies and get on with their 
lives, to "get back to being kids". Columbus further said that the kids 
were welcome to continue in the parts for as long as they had fun playing 
them.

There was ABSOLUTELY no implication that the production team wouldn't want 
them anymore - on the contrary, Columbus & co would love for them to stay on.
Frankly, they'd be crazy to WANT to replace any of the central characters 
regardless of how they were growing up - fan reaction is quite clear that 
Dan, Rupert and Emma *are* Harry, Ron and Hermione, and any change wouldn't 
necessarily be well accepted by the viewing public.

I can see the kids' (and their parents') POV, and they do indeed have 
serious decisions to make.

For example, it seems that Tom Felton no longer finds acting "fun" and has 
decided what he wants to do with his life (follow his brother into fishing) 
and regardless of what anyone thinks of his talents or his portrayal of 
Draco, it is his decision to take and we all have to live with it (although 
he's said that he's prepared to continue playing Draco for the time being). 
Remember that Tom is a couple of years older than Dan, and has reached that 
time in his schooling when he needs to be making these decisions. Also, 
he's not required on screen as much as the Trio, so he's in a much better 
position to get on with his life while spending only a few days a year on set.

I expect that Columbus has simply recognised that once PoA is done, Dan 
(and the others) will have similar decisions to make, and considering he's 
spent most of the last three years with these kids and has got to know them 
pretty well (a heck of a lot better than any of us lot, for starters!) I'm 
not quite as dismissive of his opinions as some people.

Note: For next school year (2003/4), Dan, Rupert & Emma are going to have 
to go through similar selection criteria their characters did in the books 
and will have to start thinking about which GCSEs they're going to be 
taking (i.e. what they're going to be doing with their lives). Their 
parents will be wary of surrendering huge chunks of the school year to 
on-set tuition (regardless of how good it is) and I fully expect the 
Radcliffes to devote some serious think-time to what's best for Dan (I 
don't know about the others, as the kids are on set a lot less).

That said, I suspect that Rupert & Emma certainly will want to continue 
with GoF at least, and Dan *seems* still to be enjoying the role and will 
do his utmost to continue, regardless of whom he has to convince...