Harry Potter and His Final Two Movies

As many Harry Potter fans know, the last installment in the J.K. Rowling series will be split into two separate films. This news elated every Potter fan across the globe with the plan to have the final book of the series get twice the screen time of any Potter book yet. The seventh book is the best in the entire series (in my humble opinion). This news stirred up vivid images of seeing the Deathly Hallows narrative coming to life on the big screen. With the book being made into two films, speculation on the split has been circling since the initial announcement. Reports have now come where the two movies will most likely be split.

The current plan is to split Deathly Hallows just after the trio are captured by the Snatchers and right before they are taken to Malfoy Manor. Many fans had speculated this is where the split would be as it will provide quite a cliffhanger between films. Please note: while this may be the current plan – the director and producers have made it clear they could change where they had been thinking of splitting the films if they thought a different point worked better after filming was complete.

One of the biggest concerns for a long term film franchise is getting all the actors from previous films to reprise their roles. Nothing bothers me more than seeing a new actor play a character that another has already portrayed, unless the new actor does a better job of course (i.e. Maggie Gyllenhaal in TDK). Thankfully, early reports from production have confirmed most actors from the previous films will be returning for the final installments of the heralded Potter series.

Most importantly, Ralph Fiennes will be returning to to revamp his role as Voldemort. The world’s most notorious dark wizard plays his largest part in the book Deathly Hallows which translates into more screen time for these two films. This will come as relief to fans because the talented Fiennes and his spot on portrayal of He Who Must Not Be Named was missed in the sixth movie installment (a foolish mistake from my perspective).

Instead of listing all the names of returning actors, here is a list of the characters played by the same stars in Deathly Hallows: Mad Eye Moody, Bellatrix Lestrange (the great Helen Bonham Carter), Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Dolores Umbridge, Cho Chang, Gregroy Goyle, Hagrid, Peter Pettigrew, Tonks, Lupin, all the Weasleys, all the Malfoys, Fleaur Delcour, Viktor Krum, Rita Skeeter, all the Hogwarts staff, Mr. Ollivander, and of course Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Missing from the cast is the actor who plays the character Crabbe. The character Crabbe will not be featured in the films for good reason. Actor Josh Herdman who plays Goyle in the series expands on this decision. Herdman says that his character will be the one who dies in Deathly Hallows instead of Jamie Waylett’s character (Crabbe). This decision was made after Waylett was arrested and convicted of cannabis possession several months ago. Waylett will not return for Deathly Hallows.

Source: Mugglenet

The two films will definitely be darker and more adult themed than any of the previous Potter movies. The actors we saw grow up before our eyes are finally adults now, and the movies will reflect this transition. This final chapter features rebellion, deception, segregation of non pure blood wizards, love, plenty of wizard duels, and the most death by far of all the Potter installments. Deathly Hallows will feature Daniel Radcliffe (Potter) naked twice in the two films. The first when Harry and Ron are attempting to destroy a piece of Voldemort’s soul embedded in an object called a horcrux. If book readers remember, the horcrux taunts Ron by manifesting images of Harry and Hermione embracing in an attempt to prevent him from destroying the piece of Voldemort’s soul. To try and anger Ron (he loves Hermione) and show the evil nature of the horcrux, Harry and Hermione will be getting hot and heavy. Thus, the partial nudity. Producers say the nudity will be done tastefully and with purpose. The second clothes-less Harry comes when he awakens at King’s Cross for his dialogue with Dumbledore.

The last installment of the series will of course feature the epic battle at Hogwarts. Actors from the Potter series Tom Felton (Malfoy) and Matthew Lewis (Neville) are constantly Tweeting about the day to day on the Deathly Hallows set, and more fervently about the final battle scene. Both actors were blown away by the final battle of good and evil on the Hogwarts grounds. Never before in a Potter film has there been an accumulation of almost the entire series’ cast on one set, for one scene. Daniel Radcliffe called the set atmosphere, “absolute madness.” The battle almost features every good and bad character introduced throughout the book series. If the actors are blown away by the filming I cannot imagine what it will look like post production.

Felton stated in an interview with MTV:

It’s kind of cool, because this is the first time we’ve had so many cast members on one set at one time, especially everyone from the evil camp and everyone from the good camp in a Western-style showdown — without revealing too much. It’s an amazing last scene, what we’ve shot of it so far. It’s very exciting.

It’s funny he says “without revealing too much.” We’ve already read the book (most of us that is), we know what happens already!

Another huge asset to the production is the addition of film composer Alexandre Desplat. He has a wealth of experience composing music for movies (mostly foreign) but has recently been involved in some bigger Hollywood projects. Even though I did not love New Moon, I thought the soundtrack for the movie was very good. All the original music from the film was composed by Desplat. He also worked on: Fantastic Mr. Fox, Julie & Julia and The Golden Compass. His most notable work came from the masterpieces he composed for one of my favorite movies, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The original tracks in that movie are majestic and moving; they are some of my most beloved music from any film.

The filming was set to wrap up in April 2010 but now has been extended well into June. When the filming finishes up this summer it will be surreal for all the actors who have worked with each other for eight movies and almost ten years. The trio of Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint were picture perfect in their roles throughout the film series. Deathly Hallows will mark the end of an era. It may be the last time many of us get to see the glorious face of Emma Watson on the big screen. She may be type-cast as Hermione Granger the rest of her career; but hopefully she makes it into more Hollywood projects.

The first film is slated to drop November 19th, 2010 and the second July 15th, 2011. Always keep in mind that Warner Brothers pushed back the release of Half-Blood Prince by nine months a few years back. Don’t be surprised if they do the same with one of these films.

What Do You Think? Discuss.