HP does not better in the summer than Fall

[Carol]

md wrote: 
> A director should know when a line on paper doesn't play when actually being spoken. Yes, JKR can get away with things on paper that, when actually spoken  do not work, or, have to be spoken a specific way. Even Shakespeare in the misguided hands of Leonardo DeCaprio can sound like so much gibberish. Like I said, I've never seen a 10 yr old girl gush and swoon like that. I think, maybe a tired, panting, weary Hermione as supposed to the loud, exaggerated one on screen could have pulled it off. But again, the director has to stop the actor and direct them to what will work, which is why I can't stand CC's mind-candy movies.

Carol responds:

A technicality here: Book!Hermione is twelve at this point and Film!Hermione is probably eleven, the same age as Harry. If Emma was still ten at this point (and I haven't checked), the problem may be simply her inexperience and immaturity rather than the line. the point that Hermione is making is important both to an understanding or her as a character and to a central them of the books/films. Hermione is not just any little girl--she's Harry's loyal friend and what the British call a swot. The line is perfectly in character for both the book and film versions of Hermione, but it might have been slightly beyond the talents of Emma Watson at that time. A director can only do so much. (BTW, she *doesn't* swoon [faint]. *That* would have been too much!)

OTOH, it's possible that Columbus was aiming at a younger audience than the members of this list. I you're aiming at eleven-year-olds, you're going to create mind candy.

Speaking, though, of lines that could fail drastically if played badly, I wonder how the writer/director/actor team will handle "I, the Half-Blood Prince?" If anyone can pull off that line, Alan Rickman can.

Carol, who likes the SS film despite flaws in the acting