Bigger names + bigger pay = smaller budget?

[huntergreen_3]

Sassy wrote: 
>>I just worry that the financial end is causing a slight
disloyalty to the production - for example - the Gryffindor boy who
was given lines (like who is he - he wasn't in Harry's house from the
start) is a way of telling the secondary characters/actors that they
are easily replaced.

If other non-existent characters are given lines, then the secondary
actors (Seamus, Dean, etc) can be replaced with an interchangable
actor. If you start mixing up faces and lines, but keep the trio, the
fans will not be upset. I for one, was very upset that Gryffindor kid
had lines more than once, and the Slytherin boy also received a
considerable amount of air time. <<

Lynda replied:
>>I couldn't imagine why they added those two boys either. It annoyed 
me quite a bit that they gave lines to those boys that could've 
easily been given to Dean or Seamus (in the case of that Gryffindor 
boy), or Malfoy's usual cohorts in that case. That Gryffindor boy 
annoyed me -- he just didn't belong
[snip] How dumb does WB think we are to be foisting strangers off on 
us and expecting us to accept that these are third-year Gryffindors? 
argh. . . .<<

Rebecca:
Not to mention the fact that its rather clear in the books (and 
mostly clear in the movies...based on this mystery boy not being in 
their dorm) that Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus are the only 
Gryffindor students in their year. If this deviation suited some 
purpose the film, it wouldn't bother me, but as it is there's 
absolutely no point to it. The kid has more lines than Dean does, and 
they show him quite a bit more as well. During my first viewing I 
thought for a moment that they had re-cast Dean (with an exteremly 
different looking actor).
It wouldn't have been nearly as annoying if they were just 'extras' 
that didn't have lines. But this kid not only has lines, he has two 
mini-monologues. It almost makes me wonder if he's someone's son 
(like the girl playing Susan Bones being Columbus' daughter and her 
being in many classroom scenes when she wasn't a Gryffindor...at 
least she never spoke).