Goblet of Fire: Film

[Dave]

Film News: Goblet of Fire

No Dursleys in 'Goblet of Fire':

from SciFi Wire

Dursleys Cut From Potter IV

The agent for actor Richard Griffiths, who has played Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter movies, told BBC's CBBC Newsround Online that Harry's reviled relatives, the Dursleys, won't appear in the upcoming fourth Potter movie, The Goblet of Fire. Griffiths was reportedly "very disappointed" not to be appearing as Uncle Vernon in the film, the site said.

Griffiths also said he'd even asked Potter author J.K. Rowling to get his character reinstated, but she demurred. The fourth book is reportedly too long for a movie, and something had to be cut. The fourth movie will begin at the Burrow or the Quidditch World Cup, the site reported.

That actually makes sense. The film would be 3 or 4 hours long otherwise. But what happens when they make 'Order of the Phoenix'? There is enough material there to make two films, but no cliffhanger ending in the middle, so they are more likely to just cut it down to 2 hours. That will miss out on a lot of details.

 

[timdgreat]

it might make sense, but i would wish that if they are gonna make theese books into movies then i wish that they would do them as full length movies. Like LOTR, most people i think would be willing to sit through the full length movie. i know i would:rolly2:

 

[Dave]

These films are for kids though, and I'm not sure my kids would sit through 3-4 hours.

I also like my films to be faithful to the original books, but they always need to make some changes, sometimes it improves it.

Those last few HP books were way too long, they ramble at the start about things that are unimportant to the story. Also the film could do five pages of a description of the Burrow or a Quidditch match in a single visual scene.

 

[Shaun]

Longer doesn't necessarily mean better. For books, I don't mind if they ramble on a bit because I can put it down and come back to it later. Whereas with movies, I don't like to interrupt the flow of the movie by stopping it.

Starting at the Burrow is a good move. Nothing important happens at the Dursleys that can't be spoken about by Harry or Ron.

 

[timdgreat]

well yes i agree it does kinda help shorten the movie its also breaking from things in that all the books and the movies so far have always started at the dursleys, guess i just want it to be a an exact copy of the book i like so much, mores the fool me:rolly2:

 

[Sinistra]

I read somewhere that the run time was going to be 150 minutes, which is only about 2 and a half hours - ok, so that's still fairly long, but there is no way they will fit everything in.

The third film didn't manage it and i was very disappointed with it.

I found something on imdb that said the studio has the idea of splitting the book into 2 separate films, which would be realeased several months apart, so that it would stick to the book a bit more, but the director said no to that idea deciding he could cut enough off to still make it workable, but not too long.

It will still work, and make sense with everything cut out, but i tihnk if you have read the book beforehand the film might be a let-down because so much will have been cut out.


Sinistra :rain:

 

[timdgreat]

yeah thats what really made me not like the 3rd film so much they tried to cut too much and still stick to the story, the first 2 did well i thought but it looks like the 4th is already heading down hill IMHO, and thats stinks too, its should be the best ever.:rolly2:

 

[Dave]

Originally posted by timdgreat
...what really made me not like the 3rd film so much they tried to cut too much and still stick to the story... the 4th is already heading down hill...

Oh! Dear! Tim is not going to like this news then...

from Scifi Wire

Potter IV Is Trim, Hip

David Heyman, producer of the upcoming fourth Harry Potter movie, The Goblet of Fire, told SCI FI Wire that filmmakers, led by director Mike Newell, trimmed the 700-plus-page book by following a simple principle: "Anything that doesn't really relate to Harry and Harry's journey is less relevant." Speaking during a break in filming on the set at Leavesden Studios outside London earlier this month, Heyman added in an interview: "That's not to say that there're not minor detours. Inevitably there are. But there are certain things that we don't spend as much time with as they do in the book, just by the very nature of the material."

One example: The film will not deal with the subplot involving Winky and Dobby, two house elves, and the issue of elf liberation. "It's Hermione's issue," Heyman said. "Not to say Hermione's [not important]. Hermione's a vitally important character. But you have to make some choices. ... One piece of information ... we've put into another character, which feels perfectly organic [and] works. ... The story works perfectly without [the elf story]. And we consulted with Jo [Potter author J.K. Rowling] about it, and she was fine [with it]."

SCI FI Wire glimpsed a bit of filming during the recent set visit, including shooting inside the Weasleys' suprisingly spacious tent at the Quidditch World Cup. New sets for the film include the tent, a massive cemetery (where the film's climax takes place), a trophy room filled with silvered plaques and cups of various sizes, the Ministry Box at the Quidditch World Cup stadium, and a faux marble Trial Chamber, which rises several stories high. Filmmakers also constructed a large tank surrounded by green screens, where Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) and other actors performed underwater scenes, which will be enhanced with computer animation in post-production. And a massive Dragon Arena sits outdoors, where Harry and other contestants in the Triwizard Tournament will try to procure eggs from the flying beasts.

Hogwart's Great Hall, meanwhile, has been redressed for the Yule Ball, a big dance that occurs midway through the movie. Every surface has been silvered, with giant icicles to hang from the beams, and a giant Christmas tree sits at the head of the space. Heyman also revealed that the sequence will feature the Weird Sisters, a band consisting of singer Jarvis Cocker and members of the rock bands Radiohead and Pulp, which will give the movie a more hip feel.

"It's pretty interesting," Heyman said. "It's good. That's most definitely a different twist on the whole Potter thing. I think people will enjoy seeing the world getting bigger. I think the tasks are going to be great. And I think the kids [stars Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint] are better actors. They're just better actors, so you're seeing more nuance than you may have in the first film, and you saw more in the second and you saw more in the third." Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire opens in November.

I think I've heard of the 'Weird Sisters' before. Is the band put together just for 'Harry Potter', or has it been around for a while?

 

[little smaug]

I think I've heard of the 'Weird Sisters' before. Is the band put together just for 'Harry Potter', or has it been around for a while?

"The Weird Sisters" is the name of a wizard band from the book. The people who will be playing the band in the film are all from famous British bands, most notably Jarvis Cocker (lead singer of Pulp).

As for the whole Winky/Dobby/Spew sub-plot... I'm having mixed feelings. I was never that fond of the Spew storyline anyway, so that doesn't bother me. But Winky is tied in with Barty Crouch, and the riot at the Quidditch World Cup, and probably loads of other points I can't remember right now. Which means that either a lot of the story is going to have to be changed to accomodate this, or the story just isn't going to make sense.

Also, if they're leaving out such a major storyline as the Spew campaign, it makes you wonder what else is going to be left out...

 

[Dave]

Originally posted by little smaug
"The Weird Sisters" is the name of a wizard band from the book.

Yes, I think I'm losing it! I think now that I just remember the name from the book.

But there are other supergroups - "The Travelling Wilburys" for instance.

And other groups put together for films, but that had some little success afterwards - "The Corrs" (from Alan Parker's "The Commitments")

 

[timdgreat]

ur right dave i really dont like that news, its irksome for me to keep hearing about all this stuff they are trimming from the books to make a movie, but i guess they have to


and just to get another one of my opinions out there winky is vital to the plot of the movie she shouldnt be excluded.:rolly2:

 

[Dave]

from SCIFI WIRE

Newell Saw Goblet As Thriller

Mike Newell, who directed the upcoming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, told SCI FI Wire that he has envisioned the screen adaptation of the fourth book in the J.K. Rowling series as a thriller. "The first question that I asked myself was, 'Can I find a spine in this thing, which will allow me to tell the story of this book in a single film?'" Newell said in an interview. "And I found for my own satisfaction a very good way of pulling everything together, and it was that the thing is a thriller. And the thriller is that Voldemort, the creature of ultimate evil, is now feeling his power again, and he needs to reform himself. He needs to get his body back. And the only way that he can do that is to subject himself to a particular potion, which, in order to be effective, needs three drops of Harry's blood. And so this whole year is set up by Voldemort as a way of getting the boy sufficiently in his power."

In order to condense the novel, which is more than 700 pages long, into a two-hour film, Newell and screenwriter Steve Kloves stripped out everything that didn't directly support the story. Newell said that the scene he most regrets losing is a brief appearance by Harry's uncaring Muggle family, the Dursleys. "I'm sorry about the Dursleys, actually," he said. "Because I think there's a kind of a convention in the movies that it's enjoyable to see the Dursleys each time. But, in fact, if you read the books, the Dursley incident is absolutely tiny and not central at all."

Newell—the third director to take on the Harry Potter franchise and the first who is British—said that although the story has fantastical elements, he wanted to approach it as realistically as possible. "People ask me, 'What was it like dealing with such a fantastical story?' And it wasn't a fantastical story to me at all," he said. "It was absolutely real. OK, it's got wands and stuff like that, but you could say that this was what it was like living in Europe in the '30s. There was something really bad out there, and people were either going to do something about it, or they weren't going to do something about it. And that really bad stuff was creeping ever absolutely remorselessly forward. It was getting worse. And so there are all sorts of things that you can do, really quite recent manifestations of this, that you can point to. And you can make a very real world out of it." Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire opens Nov. 18.

 

[Annette]

Well, has anyone seen it yet? Any reviews available?

annette

 

[PTeppic]

Seen it twice now.

Very good indeed - best of the three.

Spoiler

Yes, there is a lot chopped out: all the Dobby/Winky stuff, pretty much every lesson, all the Hagrid-teaching stuff, most of the Rita Skeeter plot, even all the challenges within the final Maze.

What's left is really pressed through, and anyone who hasn't read the book is probably going to feel a bit lost. Even for those who have read it, a lot is chipped and chopped round the edges. The "Quidditch World Cup" is there in feeling, and very brief glimpses, but no "footage" of the game itself. Ditto the first three dragons in the initial challenge. Same applies elsewhere: its chopped to the very quick.

BUT, what you get is the concentrated Goblet of Fire core, the Triwizard championship itself. Almost pure action, tempered with only the barest directly plot related breathers. And the odd telegraph which I don't remember from the book

All in all - superb. Good acting, great effects and constant adrenaline.

 

[Dave]

Originally posted by PTeppic
Very good indeed - best of the three [four].

Yes, there is a lot chopped out: all the Dobby/Winky stuff, pretty much every lesson, all the Hagrid-teaching stuff, most of the Rita Skeeter plot, even all the challenges within the final Maze.

All in all - superb. Good acting, great effects and constant adrenaline.

I was going to say exactly the same thing, and at 1 hr and 57 mins you wouldn't really want them to add much more. My family disagree, didn't think it was as good. I think that is due to the lack of the SPEW plot, Rita Skeeter plot and any kind of lesson at all this year.

Certainly the scariest of the four so far. Though maybe it went above the kids heads. When they first enter the maze and the bushes move the woman in front of me jumped two feet in the air. Then she looked to see if her kids were scared, but they were completely oblivious.

I don't know how they will make the next book. If they cut it down to two hours like this it will be spoilt, but kids won't sit through more than two hours. I hope they make it in two parts instead.

 

[PTeppic]

Originally posted by Dave
at 1 hr and 57 mins you wouldn't really want them to add much more

Not sure where you saw it, but you've been ripped off - it should be around 2 hr 20 mins of movie (plus credits)... [based on when I left the cinema, and the 25 (!!rant!!) minutes of adverts and trailers beforehand.]

[Curiously, in the UK the BBFC (censors) passed the film as 2 hr 36 mins 54 secs...]

 

[Dave]

You are correct, I didn't time it, I thought that's what my cinema booking ticket said, but it actually says 157 minutes (2 hours 37 minutes.) Including all the adverts and trailers, anti-piracy information and switch off your phone stuff that everyone totally ignores, then yes it was about 2 and a three quarter hours.

It went quickly though, it wasn't until they got to the maze that I though 'oh it must be near the end now'.

I'm not sure I have any more to say on the film itself.

 

[Yoda]

I think the film was great but I would have liked to have seen more of the Quidditch World Cup matches. And I would have liked to have seen the other three people face their Dragons in the TriWizard Tournament.

 

[PTeppic]

Would you have made the film longer, to do so, Yoda, or cut something else - if so, what?

 

[Yoda]

I would just made it longer, though they cut a bit of when the schools arrived, or Harry's fight with the Dragon.