Newell discusses the challenges of 'Harry Potter'

  November 30, 2004 at 8:28 AM ET
  Geri     Yahoo! News (via Variety)
  harry potter and the goblet of fire, goblet of fire, mike newell


New Harry Potter director Mike Newell tells Varietyopens in new window that he wanted to bring a darker adolescent tone to the next Potter movie but found that CuarĂ³n had beaten him to it as well as the challenge of bringing a book to screen that can stand alone but be part of the series. The article also briefly discusses bringing in Ralph Fiennes, Brendan Gleeson and Frances de la Tour.

On directing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:

I was nonplussed when I saw No. 3. Of course, what I had wanted to do was introduce the darker adolescent tone myself and found to my horror that Alfonso had gotten there before me and with great style and determination. And so I think there is a kind of tap dance between the mixture the audience wants, which of course is determined by the books and what each individual director might want to bring to it.

On the challenge of bringing the book to the screen:

What you do is you pack it with references and suggestions and so forth which, of course, you have taken from the book. So that a reader coming to the film goes, 'Oh, I see. I get it. They did it that way.' You're the guardian of the book, and at the same time, you have absolutely to be able to step off the books and say, 'We had better distill this.' Distillation is a very good word for it.

Best quote about the film from Newell:

The girls' costumes drive the Hogwart boys absolutely mad.

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