HBP

[Carol]

> > Carol responds:
> > 
> > That's what I thought, too, until I read the Gambon interview. Now I'm not so sure that Gambon is mistaken (or joking, as you suggest). Surely, if Alan Rickman had read HBP, he would object to the way the tower scene is handled in the film.
> > 
> > Of course, if Gambon *is* joking, it's very irresponsible of him to make such misleading statements.
> > 
> > Do you by any chance have a link to that Rickman interview stating that he's read the books? If so, I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd provide it.
> > 
> > Carol, not knowing what to believe at this point and wondering why Rickman would agree to such an illogical, out-of-character scene if he has indeed read the books
> >
> 
> Montavilla47:
> 
> But you could say the same for the writer and the director.  Presumably, they've
> read the books, too!  Wouldn't they object to such a scene?
> 
> I just think you're putting a lot of responsibility on the actors.  They can 
> protest, but it wasn't Alan Rickman or Michael Gambon who staged that 
> scene.  It certainly wasn't either of them who designed a honkin' big set element in the middle of the tower that prevented the actors from
> actually seeing each other--thus making any kind of dramatic eye
> contact impossible.
>
Carol responds:

But other actors, for example, Patrick Stewart and Ted Levine in the making of the 1998 "Moby Dick," objected to scenes in the screenplay that seemed to conflict with the original story, and the director and screenwriter listened to them (though the film was still not sufficiently canonical, IMO.)

Rickman, et al, could have spoken up right after reading the screenplay, before those sets were constructed. And JKR, in particular, should have objected. I think we can be pretty sure that *she* read the book, or at least remembered what she'd written in the manuscript.

*Somebody* should have indicated that the whole business of Snape already being there, Harry hiding under some platform without his IC and without being petrified, and Snape and DD both being calm, with DD hardly affected by the potion, was A) out of character and illogical and B) much less emotionally powerful than the original scene.

Why take something absolutely brilliant and terrifying and heart-rending and make it blah?

But the point of my post was that I don't know whether to believe Gambon or not. Has Rickman read the book or hasn't he?

I would not have kept her mouth shut had I been one of the actors involved in this apparent travesty (I know; I know. I haven't seen the film yet, but I'll be very surprised if that scene makes me feel anything remotely resembling the grief and fury and sense of betrayal--not by Snape but by JKR--that I felt on first reading that scene, or the dim hopes that were aroused when Snape saved Harry from the Crucio, another scene that they've apparently decided to drop.)

I hate change for change's sake, and the *only* rationale I can see for this whole fiasco is omitting Madam Rosmerta's involvement for simplicity's sake. 

Carol, hoping that the whole series will be remade in ten years or so by someone who *gets* the story and knows what's important and should be retained