[HPFGU-Movie] Re: Regulus in HBP????

[Valerie Flowe]

Carol,
Thanks for clarifying and rectifying some of my earlier points.
- I guess I never liked Slughorn because he was such a brown-noser and 
a name-dropper (IMO). So I assumed he was hiding some clandestine past.
- I know I saw a photo or illustration of the full Black tapestry (was 
it on a DVD extra???) I'll search for it.
- I hope they do start HBP with the Dursleys and the wine. That was 
funny and I liked that the movies (except Goblet) always started 
end-of-summer at the Dursleys.
- The HP Lexicon...hmmm...we'll have to see what the results are on 
that case! I, for one, don't quite get the controversy. There have been 
plenty of HP companion books that others have profited from. How is the 
Lexicon different? I think JKR is just bummed out that someone is 
trying to beat her to her HP Encyclopedia. Though certainly HP fans 
would be much more likely to buy one of HER books on her stories, 
rather than a third party.
Valerie

On Apr 11, 2008, at 6:17 PM, Carol wrote:

> Carol earlier:
>  > >Someone else asked about Regulus's appearance in the books. He's
>  described as having the same dark hair and slightly expression as the
>  teenage Sirius but smaller and slighter and not quite as handsome. (He
>  played Seeker, a fact that Harry notices but no one else pays any
>  attention to.)
>  > >Carol, who prefers Regulus to Sirius, handsome or not, and thinks
>  that his death is one of the saddest and most horrifying parts of DH
>
>  Carol again:
>
>  Oops. "Slightly expression" should be "slightly haughty expression."
>  The Black arrogance, also seen in Bellatrix and Narcissa, you know.
>
>  Valerie responded:
>  > Awww...that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said about Regulus!
>
>  Carol:
>  You're welcome. I like Regulus a lot and was glad to find another
>  "good Slytherin" besides Snape and Slughorn. I hope they keep
>  Kreacher's rallying cry and that his reference to "my master, champion
>  of House-elves" clearly refers to Regulus and not Harry. (Too bad
>  Phineas Nigellus probably didn't know that his great-great-great
>  grandson "played his part.")
>
>  Valerie:
>  <snip>
>  > Yeah, Slughorn never mentioned Regulus at all in the books, right?
>
>  Carol:
>  I was sure I said in an earlier post that Slughorn *did* mention
>  Regulus (he would have liked to collect the brothers as "a set," as if
>  they were salt and pepper shakers or a pair of matched pillowcases).
>
>  Here's the exact quote (from the "Horace Slughorn" chapter of HBP):
>
>  "The whole Black family had been in my House, but Sirius ended up in
>  gryffindor! Shame--he was a talented boy. I got his brother, Regulus,
>  when he came along, but I'd have liked the set" (HBP Am. ed. 70).
>
>  That's the passage I expect the filmmkers will use, possibly expanding
>  on it a bit to point out Regulus's picture. Slughorn certainly doesn't
>  know that Regulus became a DE or he wouldn't have mentioned him.
>
>  Valerie:
>
>  > But was Slughorn a Deatheater? Or did he just consort with those
>  sordid types?
>
>  Carol:
>  the only indication that Slughorn was a DE is his seeming ability to
>  cast a Dark Mark (DD mentions that detail as giving away the fact that
>  Slughorn hadn't really been attacked by DEs). However, since he's been
>  running from the DEs for a whole year (they want to recruit him, and
>  probably kill him if he doesn't join up), and since he rejects Theo
>  Nott as a member of the Slug Club after finding out that his father is
>  one of the DEs arrested for breaking into the MoM, I don't think that
>  Horace either is or was a DE. Nor does he "consort with those sordid
>  types." He's charmed by the young Tom Riddle just like everyone else
>  except Dumbledore, and he's shocked that Snape, whom he sees,
>  apparently, as one of his brilliant protegees, has (apparently)
>  murdered Dumbledore in HBP: ("I taught him! I thought I knew him!")
>  Slughorn consorts with students that he thinks will be successful,
>  including the Muggle-born Dirk Cresswell, who becomes head of the
>  Goblin Liaison Department, and who will be grateful for his backing
>  and do him favors in return, but there's no indication that he likes
>  "sordid" types. (See the collection of photos on his piano in "Horace
>  Slughorn" and the people he recruits for the Slug Club, most of whom
>  have famous or influential relatives, such as the Ravenclaw Marcus
>  Belby, whose uncle Damocles invented Wolfsbane Potion. When he finds
>  out that Marcus's father isn't on good terms with Damocles, Slughorn
>  drops Marcus like a hot potato.)
>
>  Valerie:
>  > I'm wondering if Regulus WAS on the tapestry and just ended up on
>  the cutting room floor?
>
>  Carol:
>  In the film, you mean? I have no idea; I'll need to watch that scene
>  again. Personally, I think that if Steve Kloves rather than Michael
>  Goldenberg had written the script for OoP, he'd have figured out that
>  RAB was Regulus and kept both him and the locket in, with more of
>  Kreacher than just him muttering to the curtained portrait of Mrs.
>  Black (moviegoers who hadn't read the book must have wondered what
>  *that* was about).
>
>  Valerie:
>  I'm guessing yes, considering that they had Tonk's family and
>  > other obscure people on there. That was an amazing prop! <snip>
>
>  Carol:
>  Probably they used the Lexicon (do I dare mention that site now?) as a
>  source for the names to put on it. Does anyone have a still of the
>  tapestry scene that actually shows the names and dates, so we could
>  compare them?
>
>  Valerie:
>  > How in the world are they going to backtrack the locket in there?
>  Maybe Dumbledore will be with Harry at Grimmauld Place, telling Harry
>  Sirius has left it all to him, including grumpy ole Kreacher, (who, of
>  course, the film neglected to mention was responsible for the lie that
>  almost gets Harry killed by V and ultimately gets Sirius killed). Can
>  you imagine how much Harry would despise him!?!
>
>  Carol:
>  Well, considering that Harry managed to blame Snape for Sirius's
>  death, I don't think that his hatred or loathing of Kreacher is all
>  that strong, and there's plenty of blame to go around. (Bellatrix
>  actually killed Sirius; Voldie sent the DEs there in the first place
>  and planted the vision in Harry's head; Narcissa passed on Kreacher's
>  information to LV (or Lucius did); Sirius should have been more
>  careful and less arrogant in fighting Bellatrix--you don't stand on
>  the dais of a veiled archway in the Hall of Death when you're fighting
>  a deadly opponent; and Harry himself should have listened to Hermione
>  rather than Voldemor. So Kreacher's role, injuring Buckbeak to get
>  Sirius out of the way when Harry came to check on him and lying to
>  Harry is important in getting *Harry* to the MoM, but Kreacher never
>  expected "master" actually to show up there. Harry was just supposed
>  to *think* he was there and run off to rescue him.
>
>  Anyway, since it wasn't even clear in the film that Snape had sent the
>  Order members to rescue Harry et al. and Kreacher's role in the
>  conspiracy isn't given at all, I guess the writers will have to find
>  ways of making up for their ill-judged omissions by adding scenes to
>  HBP. In the case of Kreacher, maybe Kreacher's loyalty to Sirius's
>  hated family and his dislike of Sirius will be sufficient. (Too bad
>  they left out lines like "Master was a swine who broke his mother's
>  heart" and "Comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around. They say
>  he's a murderer, too." Or, at least, I don't remember those lines
>  being in the film.)
>
>  But why would DD be at 12 GP? Do you know for sure that they're
>  cutting the scene of Harry and DD at the Dursleys', with the glasses
>  of mead hitting them on the head and Kreacher showing up all filthy
>  and having a tantrum on Petunia's rug? Since they're emphasizing the
>  comic aspects of the HBP story (with sinister elements involving Draco
>  in between--and, I hope, most of the crucial Snape subplot), surely
>  they'll keep that scene? It's almost our last chance to see the
>  Dursleys. (I realize that the Dursleys aren't listed in the cast list
>  on the IMDb, but has it been definitively announced that the scene has
>  been cut?) I don't see how DD could show up at 12 GP to tell Harry
>  that he's inherited the house. He wouldn't be staying there if he
>  hadn't. I suppose he could be at the Burrow. Maybe it's part of the
>  added scene that incorporates the information about the Muggle bridge
>  and the "hurricane" and the various murders.
>
>  Sigh! At least they seem to be incorporating most of the scenes that
>  occur at Hogwarts, as well as the "Spinner's End" and "Horace
>  Slughorn" chapters.
>
>  Valerie:
>  > Then perhaps Molly, or even Dumbledore would attempt to pick up the
>  locket in the parlor, in an effort to clean the place up/out after
>  Sirius's death?
>
>  Carol:
>  Not Dumbledore: he'd know Slytherin's locket when he saw it and know
>  that it was a Horcrux. He'd also suspect that Harry could open it by
>  speaking Parseltongue.
>
>  I just realized that the OoP film left out Mundungus, too (including
>  Mrs. Figg beating him up with catfood cans. Too violent for the
>  kiddies; that was it! <eg>). So how can they bring in Kreacher going
>  after him (and hitting him on the head with a sauce pan, another great
>  moment) and Mundungus informing them that a toad-faced female Ministry
>  employee took the locket from him.
>
>  Ouch! The OoP writer and director really shot themselves in the foot,
>  as Steve (bboy_minn) says, by cutting that film too short. Didn't they
>  realize that those incidents and characters were in the book *for a
>  reason*?
>
>  Valerie:
>  > Or else I guess it could just appear in the cave for the first time
>  and Dumbledore will have to explain it's significance.
>
>  Carol:
>  Oh, dear, no. that will ruin everything. That scene needs to be as
>  close as possible to the book, with no added elements that will
>  detract from the suspense and horror. Besides, by the time that DD
>  discovers that the "Horcrux" is a locket, he's too far gone to realize
>  that it's a fake, much less give its history. He only rallies
>  (temporarily) long enough to get to the Astronomy Tower and have his
>  little talk with Draco.
>
>  Valerie:
>  But Who knows? Have we heard whether or not they've added actors for
>  Merope, and the other Gaunts? They MUST have that in!
>
>  Carol:
>  I agree that they *must* keep the Merope and Morfin scenes, but I
>  haven't heard a word about the Gaunts (or Hepzibah Smith or Bob Ogden
>  or Caractacus Burke) and they're not listed on the IMDb. OTOH, there's
>  a rumor of some character called Wendy Slinkhard, possibly some
>  relation of the author of the useless DADA text that Umbridge used in
>  OoP, being cast. My only question is, why?
>
>  Carol, wishing that the filmmakers would focus on the events leading
>  to DD's death or foreshadowing DH, which are far more important than
>  Quidditch or snogging in the corridors