DAVID YATES ON "HARRY POTTER & THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE"

With the resounding global success of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix behind him, director David Yates is already at work on the sixth film in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In this exclusive interview, he discusses the appeal of the new project, what made him move from one film to the next and how he hopes to differentiate his two efforts in the Harry Potter universe. . NOTE: If you haven't read the novel, there are some spoilers.

Comments

[Ponette]

Like many of you, I was rather disappointed with the Order of The Phoenix, and I'm not even a book purist, because I absolutely loved GoF and especially Prisoner of Azkaban, which still remains in my mind the best film in the series. All negative feelings aside, I still have high hopes that Yates will pull it off with HBP, and I'm even willing to forgive the sloppiness of OoTP, because he just comes across as such a sweet, sweet man. LOL!

[fay]

how on earth could you think that goblet was one of the best movies in the series they left out the entire plot and focused on the most menial things in the book and they didnt even do that right. Yates has the ability to do for this series what every fanatic has wanted since the begining and thats actually showing who the characters are.

[MR]

All I can say is "Fool me once..." I will try to keep an open mind, but PLEASE may he not botch up HBP as much as he botched the last one. To take away all the little things that make the essence of Hogworts and then add all those totally unnecessary, UNENDING panoramic scenes of trees, not to even get me started on the KEY things he left out plus what was just invented! I cannot believe JK Rowling signed off on that debacle. Any resemblance to the book was purely accidental! A four hour movie wouldn't hurt the feeling of the real fans at all...at least not mine, if that is what it takes to get something one doesn't have to watch with a mouth dropped open from shock and horror at what they'd done to something wonderful!

[Red81Slayer]

I was very disappointed to learn David Yates is back of HBP. I love the books and I have loved all the movies except for OoTP. As a film major and a book lover I understand that certain changes have to be made to make a book work as a movie but Yates took this too far, and I also believe that half of this debacle was because of the new screenwriter. Thank God the old one is back for HBP and DH. In OoTP the scenes never flowed well with each other which made the film jumpy and a little disorienting. GoF worked the best as a film so far, yes i know major plot points were taken out of it but please remember its a movie not a book. Which means it has to make sense AS A SOLO MOVIE, with OoTP you had to have read the book to understand the movie which i believe is bad filmmaking. But Good Luck to David for HBP and please go in a new direction.

[kevin]

I hope that they make it better then film 5 because they could make 6 very good in 2,5 mabe 3 hours. I was hoping that they take back Chris Columbus of film 1 and 2. Sorry for the bad English because I am Dutch.

[Fonda]

I cannot believe that anyone would believe that GoF was the best Harry Potter movie. It left out most of the plot! If one had not read the book there was no way to understand what was going on. Further, it left out plot points that are critical for following movies. OOTP was exciting and fast moving. It was better than GoF. However, it still is missing some key elements that are important to the plot. Further, why is it that Ron has become a nothing? He is Harry's best friend for crying out loud! He needs more to do. Please bring back quiditch. Finally, please make sure that all of the intense emotion that is present in the books is present in the movie(teenage relationships ie. Ginny/Harry and Hermione/Ron/Lavender, loss of Dumbledore, Harry's sadness and anger, Snape's anger and frustration). And don't forget the frustration, love, and heartbreak with Tonks and Lupin. I really hope that the intense emotion and tragedy of the loss of Dumbledore is captured in the movie. We should be able to feel Harry's pain as we did when we read the book. There should not be a dry eye at this scene.

[Ponette]

Um, who said GoF was the best? Still, it was a very witty, watchable move, unlike OotP which, even though it was the shortest, felt like it dragged on too much.
To my mind, Prisoner of Azkaban was the best movie in the series, and if you just look at it as a movie, you'll understand why. Every shot is a work of art, beautifully framed. The movie flows unfalteringly, and it's incredibly atmospheric. Cuaron is truly a master of his trade when it comes to creating worlds on the silver screen.

[Bonnie Radcliffe]

Ponette, I agree with you in one thing: OotP contains lots of little details and hints that the rest of directors didn't include in their films, but that doesn't make it a better adaptation than Goblet or Prisoner. I can't explain what it is, but I think OotP lacked something... Like the personal touch of the director. I'm not sure that Newell focused on the menial things of Goblet, either... The Triwizard Tournament and Cedric's death is the most important part of the film, and that was very well reflected in the film. Yates does also reflects the important things of Order in his film, but it's like the film has no grace or charm, it's kind of plain... It's as if he just limits to relate the story and that's all... Did anyone think the same about Order?? :?

[Dori]

I always go to see the movies, hopeful, but always leave disappointed. 1 and 2 were pretty good, but of course they were much shorter. If I had things my way 4 and 5 would have been 4 hour movies. I didn't think that 4 was great, but it was much more watchable than 5.... I was really excited for 5, and I left able to do nothing but point out its faults. I hate the way stories get maimed when turned into mega-bucks flims, it really pisses me off. All I can say right now is that is he blows of Dumbledore's death the way he did Sirius's I don't know what I'll do. I am skeptical, and am expecting the worst, even though I absolutely love the 6th book (not Dumbledore's death.... but... well you know, it's a good book). As far as I am concerned anyone who has stuck with the flims thus far, and has yet to read the books is a moron, and can;t possibly have any clue about the real story. Rant over.

[fay]

yes the tri wizard tornament was the most important part of gof movie but it wasnt the most important part of the book in the boot the tri wizard was only used to push things along... the most important things in gof was the relationship between the three main charecters and the movie didnt show any of that. all the movie was concerned about was the action and even that sucked. ootp was the only movie i have seen so far that didnt make me want to throw things at the screen