[HPFGU-Movie] Re: OoTP cuts -Quidditch

[Karen]

On Thursday, February 2, 2006, at 01:10 PM, Steve wrote:

> Umbridge shows how foul and loathsome she is in many way and certainly
> they will not show each and every way found in the book. So, is Harry
> being banned from Quidditch sufficiently important and cinematic to
> warrant staying in the movie? Personally, I think it is. If it stays
> in then I suspect Hagrid will corner Harry and Hermione on their way
> to the next Quidditch match and we won't see Ron at all.
>
> I don't envy those who have to trim these books down. Deciding which
> scenes stay and which go has to be an extremely difficult process. I
> think, like Mike Newell, we need to find the central thread of the
> story and stick to that, but even starting with that assumption, it is
> still a difficult task.
>
> The central story seems to be the Ministry's denial that Voldemort is
> back that their extreme efforts to discredit Harry and Dumbledore's
> claim that he has indeed returned. All this leads to the final battle
> where it is confirmed beyond any doubt that Voldemort is back. In a
> sense, that is what Umbridge symbolizes, the Ministry's efforts to
> bring every aspect of the wizard world under there control and in line
> with their belief. In that sense, the Quidditch game in which Harry is
> banned is not that important. But on the other hand it is one of the
> more cinematic moments in the book. It is visually appealing and very
> dramatic.
>
> On the other hand, Harry and Hermione meeting Grawp is the setup for
> Grawp to be introduce into the story so he can later save Harry and
> Hermione from the Centaurs. In the process of doing that, Grawp bleeds
> on Harry and Hermione and that draws the Thestrals to them which in
> turn allows them to travel to the Ministry of Magic to rescue Sirius.
> So, from a plot perspective, Grawp is more important than Harry being
> banned from Quidditch.
>

kchuplis:
I don't envy them either. But so far they've done a fair job, which is 
hopeful. I do think the quidditch banning is important, not just 
because of Harry, but the Twins banishment leads to the big exodus, 
which is the turning point of Umbridge losing control, completely of 
her little dominion. Grawp really could be brought in at any time, and 
Ron doesn't really have to excluded for any reason, so at least that is 
a free floating bit. Honestly though, time time time! I suppose even 
some fairly large moments are going to be cut.

Unfortunately, the biggest casualty, as I see it, is bound to be all 
the expository material after the battle at the MoM. There are certain 
things though that I certainly hope they fit in. We have to have some 
explanation of the prophecy (I can't see that going away) and as far as 
a small thing but IMO an important thing in setting up the death of DD 
at the end of HBP, is Dumbledore's admitting that he didn't make Harry 
prefect because he rather thought he had enough to be going on with, 
and the single tear. It's small thing, but it could really act as a 
huge bridge. Still, as we saw at the end of GoF, some of the things 
that could have been done, without extending running time, were not, 
mostly, I believe, because it would have been too dark (supposedly) for 
the ending. I really hope that the executives can understand now that 
all is not happy cheery but a piece can still be complete on it's own. 
I can understand being a bit fussy when a franchise is not established, 
but it is pretty clear that this one is not in danger. I hope they go 
for it.