DH Movie Speculation

[Carol]

steph wrote:
>
> I should be grading papers but I thought I'd procrastinate a bit
more and start a DH Movie Speculation thread. Yes, I know HBP won't
even be out for a year, but hey, we can get ahead of ourselves, can't we? 
> Everything's open to discussion:
> -Director
> -Scriptwriter
> -Length of film
> -Characters in/out
> -Scenes in/out
> -Scenes that will be in but changed
> -Characters who might be given stuff to do that other characters do
in the book (sorry that's so unwieldy, couldn't word it any other way)
<snip>
 
> -Characters in/out: In: Kreacher, obviously.  Out: Dobby. It's
possible that Dobby might be back for HBP, but I doubt it, which means
that there's no way they'll bring him back for DH as it will have been
too long since he's been seen on screen.  I suspect Kreacher will save
Harry et al in Malfoy Mansion and be the one to die. It would in a way
make sense for Kreacher's character arc as well.  Goes from hating
Harry to dying for him.  <snip>

Carol:

You're probably right, but I hope not. I don't care for the House
Elves in general, but Dobby's burial scene was touching in a way that
Kreacher's wouldn't be (that'll be cut, though, even if his death
isn't) and I loved Kreacher's rallying cry, giving the memory of
Regulus its due.

Steph:
> I also think Scrimgeour might be out.  They can keep Fudge since the
filmgoing audience already knows him.  Why introduce another character
who only has, what, four scenes (if that) between HBP and DH?

Carol:
Considering that Scrimgeour has been cut from HBP (he's not listed in
the complete cast, not counting extras, of course), I think he'll be
cut from DH as well. I think that the reading of the will can be given
to him, and it would be nice to have him die heroically off-screen,
refusing to reveal Harry's whereabouts. (Or will they have him
Imperiused, and give him Pius thicknesse's role as well as Scrimgeour's?)
> 
> I'm up in the air about Percy.  He was in OotP but didn't have any
lines and wasn't identified by name.  I hope he's in but I'm not going
to be surprised if he's out.  Same for Charlie, as we've never met him
at all.  Bill I think won't be seen until DH.  I think the wedding's
got to be in, but the writers can have Ginny or Ron say something at
the end of HBP about Bill and Fleur getting married so there's no need
to actually have either of them in HBP.  Plus there's been no word
that Clemence Poesy is back for HBP.  Xeno Lovegood - likely out, see
below.  Viktor Krum - out, especially if XL is out.  They'll have to
just have Ron ask Hermione to dance without the prompt from Krum. I'm
up in the air about Aunt Muriel and Elphias Doge. 

Carol:
Fleur is definitely not in HBP, and neither is Bill, so I have no idea
how they'll deal with the wedding, and ye it needs to be in there if
only for the sake of the dramatic interruption caused by Kingsley's
Patronus and as the impetus for HRH's flight. I don't think they'll
cut Xeno Lovegood, if only because of the comic potential and the need
to introduce the Hallows symbol early on. If Xeno's in, Krum will be
in. (GoF fans will recognize him, and he can introduce the concept of
Grindelwald.) I'd say that Aunt Muriel (or should she be "Great Aunt
Tessie," per GoF) will probably be cut, along with Elphias Doge, who
didn't appear in OoP, despite being a member of the Advance Guard in
the book.
> 
Steph:
> Scenes in/out: Hmmm, hard, hard.  I'm sort of going to punt on this
one for the time being, except to say that I think these will be in: 7
Potters, MoM, Ron's departure, Godric's Hollow, Silver Doe, Malfoy
Mansion, Gringotts break-in, The Hog's Head/RoR, The Forest Again, and
Battle of Hogwarts. The Epilogue will be over the credits.  Lupin's
crisis over Tonks and baby will be out. Ravenclaw common room will be
out, Hermione will figure out the diadem is the last Horcrux; I think
the Fiendfyre scene will be in (very cinematic).  Shell Cottage,
maybe.  They could apparate after Malfoy's Mansion to The Burrow.  But
where will Ron go when he walks out, unless he doesn't?  But how are
they going to find out what's up in the WW if he doesn't?  Hmmm.
> 
Carol:
Ron has to walk out or we won't have the Doe Patronus, which is
absolutely critical to the Good!Snape subplot, not to mention getting
the Sword of Gryffindor to HRH to destroy the locket Horcrux. Shell
Cottage can be cut somehow. As you say, Ron can go home to the Burrow.
We never see him there, anyway. (Potterwatch will probably be cut, BTW.)

Steph:
> Scenes changed: All, but here are some examples: the wedding will be
in but shortened, too much exposition.  Same for In Memoriam.  There
will have to be another way to get the DD info out. Killing of Charity
Burbage will be out, the whole scene will be shortened to maybe Snape
telling Voldie of the day Harry will depart Privet Drive and the wand
discussion.  Camping reduced, but pivotal scenes still in.  Silver
Doe: Ron will still save Harry and pull the sword from the pond, but I
think that all of the Horcrux torture stuff will be gone although Ron
will still destroy it. I hope they don't give that scene to Hermione.

Carol:
I hope they don't cut Ron's conflict with Horcrux!Tom, which is his
symbolic destruction of the demons that have haunted him throughout
the books (envy, insecurity, etc.). It could be very dramatic and
moving. Besides, if they keep Bathilda (and they really can't cut
Godric's Hollow, can they?), Hermione will already have had her turn
saving Harry (and breaking his wand in the process). 

I think they'll keep the killing of Charity Burbage in, just as they
kept the murder of Frank Bryce in GoF, if only because it sets up
Alecto Carrow as Muggle Studies teacher. And they have to make Snape
look like a loyal DE. If they keep his line, "Lately, only those whom
I could not save," they need to keep Charity as a case in point. And
we also need to see a white-faced Draco watching her in horrified
fascination and Voldie demanding Lucius's wand to set up Harry's wand
acting on its own. (They'll probably omit George's lost ear, though.)

steph:
> They'll probably skip the Xeno Lovegood house scene all together and
just have Hermione figure out the story of the wand, the stone, and
the cloak. 

Carol:
You could be right, but I don't think so. They established Luna as a
semi-important and pleasingly eccentric character in OoP. I think
they'll keep her kidnapping and that dramatic attack by Death Eaters
(only they won't be identifiable as Travers and Selwyn--I suspect that
the DEs, with the exception of the Carrows and the Malfoys, will be
largely anonymous. I'm not counting Snape, who *has* to be in the
film, as a DE).

Steph:
Prince's Tale - in but also severly chopped.  Harry has to find out
about the real Snape somehow.

Carol:
Right. Maybe they'll use some of the cut footage involving Lily from
SWM. But, yes, Harry has to find out that DD ordered Snape to kill
him, that he (Harry) has to sacrifice himself, etc.), and that Snape
loved his mother. And I hope he publicly vindicates Snape so that the
moviegoers will "get" it.

Steph:
  I really dislike the King's Cross chapter so I wouldn't be sad to
see it go, but I think it will be in but severly cut. I might be in
the minority but I wouldn't mind seeing the entire Elder Wand
storyline cut.  Probably won't happen, though.  If it's gone, then
Ollivander's gone as well.

Carol:
If the Elder Wand plot is gone, Voldie has no motive for being out of
England or going after Grindelwald, not to mention not motive for
killing Snape. (If he suspected him of being DD's man, he'd AK him,
and then we couldn't have him giving Harry his memories, not to
mention that his death shows how horrible Nagini is and gives
film-goers, who now understand that Snape is good, a reason to cheer
when Neville kills Nagini--more than her just being a Horcrux, I mean.)

I *didn't* hate "King's Cross," which I saw as symbolic of Harry's
cleansed perception (no need for glasses) and which reintroduced the
benevolent, twinkly Dumbledore we used to know, properly chastened. I
think that a great deal of DD's backstory will be cut, though, because
it would slow down the action, and I think the filmmakers will
downplay DD's Machiavellian manipulativeness. And certainly they'll
cut the exposition. (Will they cut the terrible baby under the bench,
which represents what LV will become if he doesn't repent?) At any
rate, the simpler they make the Hallows plot (and you can't eliminate
the Hallows in a film called "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"),
the less explaining DD will have to do. They definitely won't want a
lot of talk so near the (second) climactic confrontation with LV.

Carol, who would happily have dispensed with the Elder Wand plotline
(and Snape's death!), but doesn't see how the filmmakers can safely
ignore either the wand or the other Hallows (can't have "The Forest
Again" without the other two)