It's got to be difficult being responsible for making a movie series of one of the most widely read book series in history. If every detail in the book were to be included in the movies, each movie would probably be 72 hours long.
If details are omitted for the sake of making a movie kinder to our bottoms filling theater chairs, scads of fans are offended that their favorite incident or character had been cut from the story.
This time, it was author J.K. Rowling herself who set the filmmakers straight.
Filmmakers originally cut a character featured in the fifth book of the series, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," for the upcoming movie, but the renowned author said to put that character back, said David Heyman, producer of the Harry Potter movies.
"There was a character we had cut out, and we had discussed that amongst ourselves," Heyman told SciFi Wire. "And then Jo [Rowling] read the draft and she said, 'You know, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Or you can, but if you get to make the seventh film, you'll be tied in knots and it will cause you some difficulties.' So she made sure that that character" survived.
When asked which character was originally cut in the upcoming film, Heyman stated "I'm not going to say."
Fans who have followed the books are often dismayed at the omissions made in the movies. For example, in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," when Neville Longbottom was omitted from a scene where he accompanied Harry, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy into the woods, it made Neville's later confrontation with Harry awkward in the context of the story, according to some fans.
Other whole subplots have been omitted from the movies as well. The revelation that Rita Skeeter was an animagus in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" as well as the omission of the formation of the Society for Promoting Elfish Welfare (SPEW), and the rebellion of Hogwarts' house elves, required some fudging on events in the movie to make them occur in a logical progression.
Rowling also has helped the production of "Order of the Phoenix” by providing some character background that wasn't originally in the books.
"She is a dream collaborator in many ways," Heyman said. "She's busy; she's writing books, so she's not on set. She's not intrusive in any way. But she's there when we need her in terms of answering questions. And as an example, [there was a question] about the Black family tree."
The family tree appears on a giant wall tapestry in the London residence of Sirius Black's family. In the book, only a few names are mentioned. For the movie, filmmakers wanted to come up with the entire family tree.
"When we were making it into a film, and we were visualizing, we needed more than four or five names, and so I called Jo up and said 'Help!'" Heyman said. "And 15 minutes later this drawing of the family tree [arrived], which was 75 names and [details about] five generations. She's remarkable."
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" opens in theaters July 11.
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