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FEBRUARY 28, 2005 at 7:47 AM
Posted by GERI
Source: Sci-fi.com via Yahoo! News
that they had to trim 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."
One example: The film will not deal with the subplot involving Winky and Dobby, two house elves, and the issue of SPEW.
According to Heyman:
It's Hermione's issue. 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].
Other things that we can expect to see in the movie:
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Witch
Points: 670
Gryffindor_chick says:
I love all the parts in all the books but in GoF, the elf thing was the part i liked least. not that i didnt like it just not as much as everything else. so i guess its not too too bad.
-Kristen
Gryffindor_chick
Posted Mar 6, 2005 at 4:30 PM EST
Witch
Points: 811
HermioneB says:
I don't think it would have killed them to add it as just a little aside. It wouldn't take much time for her to just spit something out and just show the SPEW pins as jokes every here and there. or to just have her say things under her breath every once in a while. Really.. it wouldn't have taken too much... they wouldn't have had to add everything.. just a little off-side comment here or there.. wouldn't hurt anyone!
Posted Mar 6, 2005 at 9:33 PM EST
Witch
Points: 518
tonks06 says:
Well there are worse things that could be cut out. And I do think that SPEW was one of the more boring parts of GoF. I'm rereading it right now and when I get to the parts of Hermione complaining about house elf rights I'm like shut up already I want to get to the good parts! Haha.
But does that mean they are cutting Winky and Dobby completely out of the movie? Even when Winky loses Crouch Jr. at the Cup and when Dobby gives Harry the gillyweed? I wonder who will be giving him the gillyweed then?
Posted Mar 6, 2005 at 9:50 PM EST
Witch
Points: 557
Amelia Black says:
But they can't cut Winky how will the issue with Barty Jr. be explained!??
Posted Mar 6, 2005 at 11:17 PM EST
Wizard
Points: 787
Beyondfreedom3 says:
We all wish these movies could include the entire, uncut, stories but it's just not plausible. GOF would have to be like 5-6 hours long, to even come close. Well, SS got me into the books, so they must be doing something right!
Posted Mar 6, 2005 at 11:57 PM EST
Order of Merlin, 1st Class
Points: 1927
Ravenclaw Princess says:
Aww!
That sucks! I wated to see doby again! Well, oh well. I can pritty much tell that it is going to be a good movie. But none of the new movies captured the essense of the first movie, in my opinion.
~*ria*~
Posted Mar 7, 2005 at 12:10 AM EST
Order of Merlin, 1st Class
Points: 1922
emma_wannabe says:
That's okay! at least we see a movie, that's gonna be okay! They do have a point. Better one movie that lasts for 2 and a half hours than two movies with every minor detail in it. :-) Jo is okay with it... so that's good.
Posted Mar 7, 2005 at 1:42 AM EST
Witch
Points: 557
Amelia Black says:
why don't they cut out the beginning part with the Riddle house. I know it's an important part to the story but you see it later on in the story. Of course they have cut out bigger parts; like in the first movie they idn't tell that the motorcycle Hagrid drove was Sirius's.
Posted Mar 7, 2005 at 5:37 AM EST
Ravenclaw Ambassador
Points: 3243
Nevar says:
Well, it's not that surprising that they're gonna take a bunch of stuff out. I mean, even though all of us devoted fans would want the movie to be five hours long, it'll never happen. I can understand that they don't want to go through the animation of doing Dobby and Winky all over again...like Mr. Heyman said, they aren't really important on Harry's journey through the book.
N
Posted Mar 7, 2005 at 12:45 PM EST
Witch
Points: 991
LoonyLuna11 says:
I'm not too surprised they cut the SPEW stuff. But then does Crouch still have a house elf? I wonder how they are going to work around that. I still say I'd rather sit through a 5 hour movie and have them leave eveything in.
Posted Mar 8, 2005 at 12:19 AM EST
The Chosen Hobbit
Points: 2447
Enisnitch Baggins says:
Look what Heyman has done to me by saying all those stuff (hey, this remain me to Jet's song: look what you've done)! I want the movie more than ever! Oh, that yule ball, cemetery, Weasley' tent... all that stuff sound really great.
About the trimming, well, there's nothing we can do about it. In fact, JK is fine with it, so there's no big harm in it.
Posted Mar 8, 2005 at 5:44 AM EST
Witch
Points: 830
darlingnikki says:
I love the direction the movie seems to be taking. Besides Hermione's exploits with the house elves are probably my least favorite parts of the books.
Posted Mar 8, 2005 at 12:25 PM EST
Student
Points: 241
rooinek says:
Seems like we've been building up to this. So it's not all that disappointing, really. I think it would have rocked as a two-parter, but guess I was dreaming. All in all, this movie will be great!
Posted Mar 8, 2005 at 12:30 PM EST
Divine Intervention
Points: 2619
PhantomFingers says:
I can understand why they haven't included it, it's not relevant to the plot although it's funny, plus we get to see other stuff!
Plus JK is happy with it so that's cool!
Posted Mar 9, 2005 at 11:42 AM EST
Professor
Points: 1086
DRU587 says:
It's really sad to see that SPEW will not be a part of the GoF movie. I really enjoyed that part of the book. I thought that it was pretty funny. But I guess Heyman is right, there is no way they could make a movie without trimming down the 700 page book, or else it would be 6 hours long. I don't know about some people, but I wouldn't mind that...
Posted Mar 9, 2005 at 12:46 PM EST
Witch
Points: 733
PhantasmKiss says:
I suppose If J.K. Rowling is ok with cuts, it must be for the better good of the movies. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't let anyone cut something vital to the plotline. I really didn't like the SPEW storyline (I thwapped myself in the head everytime Hermione brought it up with embarrassment for her), but it really made me feel better about House-elves. Obviously they were happy, or there would be a revolt.
On the other hand, if Jo approved the cuts to "Prisoner of Azkaban," then I am baffled. There were quite a few things that I thought were important which were cut to make room for shots of scenery and special effects. I thought it was important to know about unregistered Animagii, and the correlation between Harry's patronus and his father. The unregistered animagus thing comes up in book 4.
Does Jo really approve these major changes, or has she already signed paperwork saying "Do whatever you want with it," and she can't take it back?
Any thoughts? (Specifically on the major cuts done to PoA?)
Posted Mar 9, 2005 at 2:08 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 37
AR_GRYFFINDOR says:
Exactly! I say it again...It would have been funny if the SPEW issue was in the movie. But the SPEW thing isn't particularly important. You don't need SPEW to still have a great story. However, you do need the house elves. And Lily's Eyes is right -- you could work around them and Harry's wand could be found on the floor, but then it isn't the same story. Casual fans are going to be really confused (though not as confused as they were when they saw POA). But anyway, I think that the elves added something. But if they are going to cut something out, then at least it isn't the most important thing in the world. And random SPEW pins would be a great inside joke for readers...good one Vikki01vsrg!
Posted Mar 10, 2005 at 11:17 AM EST
Muggle
Points: 37
AR_GRYFFINDOR says:
Sorry to triple-post on the same topic, but this post is in response to PhantasmKiss's post. I totally agree -- The comparison between Harry's patronus and his father's is extremely important, especially since his patronus keeps coming up later on (even in Harry's OWLs in Oop). Also, as you pointed out, the unregistered animagi come up in GoF.
In response to your question, I think that JK doesn't really intervene in the movie-making process. Obviously, the writers and producers meet with her before filming to get her input on the overall project, but I don't think she's an active part of the process throughout. So before filming, they probably present her with the major cuts (like the SPEW issue from the fourth movie), but cuts that they view as being "minor" (even if they become important later on), probably aren't even presented to JK for approval. Remember, the producers read each book before making the movie, so if within the context of one book a specific issue doesn't seem so important (like the unregistered animagi or the correlation between Harry's patronus and his father's), then they will most likely cut it. They haven't read the later books in the series, so chances are that at the time they cut the scenes, they don't know how important those scenes really are.
Posted Mar 10, 2005 at 11:32 AM EST
Muggle
Points: 37
AR_GRYFFINDOR says:
Sorry to triple-post on the same topic, but this post is in response to PhantasmKiss's post.
In response to your question, I think that JK doesn't really intervene in the movie-making process. Obviously, the writers and producers meet with her before filming to get her input on the overall project, but I don't think she's an active part of the process throughout. So before filming, they probably present her with the major cuts (like the SPEW issue from the fourth movie), but cuts that they view as being "minor" (even if they become important later on), probably aren't even presented to JK for approval. Remember, the producers read each book before making the movie, so if within the context of one book a specific issue doesn't seem so important (like the unregistered animagi or the correlation between Harry's patronus and his father's), then they will most likely cut it. They haven't read the later books in the series, so chances are that at the time they cut the scenes, they don't know how important those scenes really are.
Posted Mar 10, 2005 at 11:33 AM EST
Muggle
Points: 37
AR_GRYFFINDOR says:
And why did my post get posted twice?
Posted Mar 10, 2005 at 11:37 AM EST
Squib
Points: 164
quidditchfreak333 says:
That's too bad. I really wanted to see SPEW. That would have been great. If they cut it, then the cut it and there is nothing anyone can do about it. It's still a pity though...
Posted Mar 10, 2005 at 12:35 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 32
charmed says:
Well I guess they had to cut something out. I am not sure how they are going to explain certain parts without Winky and Dobby. However, If Jo thought it could work without them, I will trust her.
Posted Mar 10, 2005 at 4:45 PM EST
Witch
Points: 733
PhantasmKiss says:
Another thing that worries me about major cuts:
I believe I heard Jo say in an interview once that she has to approve cuts, and that she made director #1 put in a few things he wanted to cut because they would be important in later books. She seemed very adamant about that, since the books were all planned out before she'd even finished writing them.
Jo is an expert at the red-herring. In every book so far, I've thought I had it figured out (I only thought it was Snape the first time, but after that, I knew better--it would have been too easy), and yet it was never who I thought it was.
My thought is this: maybe I've attached significance to the wrong things. Maybe it is interesting, but not important that Harry's patronus is a stag, and that unregistered animagii exist. As much as I might like to pretend to be omniscient, I'm really not, and perhaps these things I found so important really are not.
I prefer to believe that I'm falling for the red-herring expertise of a natural writer than that I'm going to be really disappointed by the later Harry Potter movies...
Posted Mar 11, 2005 at 11:34 AM EST
Squib
Points: 194
Jesse+Dan+Tom says:
Well i didnt think it was that bad untill you think about the fact that cutting these so called unimportant parts, you are losing the bits that people love to read about aswell as the main story line. Personally i think its a wrong choice!
Posted Mar 12, 2005 at 12:09 AM EST
Squib
Points: 194
Jesse+Dan+Tom says:
sorry to post again but i also must say that i found myslef and my friend wondering where the hell the PoA was going, leaving out that Harry's dad Lupin Wormtail and Sirius made the map was a massive mistake also who remembers that they were meant to win the Quidditch Cup, i must say this Please Please bring the movies back on course because at the moment i dont feel like im watching harry potter!
Posted Mar 12, 2005 at 12:16 AM EST
Dark Arts Professor
Points: 3747
Ivy St.Claire says:
I'm still sick over Molly not being in the movie. But I have to say that I'm glad to see SPEW go. It annoyed me.
Posted Mar 12, 2005 at 12:58 PM EST
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