Thoughts on a OotP Screenplay
Jun. 3rd, 2004 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amanuensis1On the eve of the release of the film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I'm aware that in a day's time, I'll be making all sorts of noises about how this scene was done just right, but that one was so not my vision, and how dare they not include this or that bit, blah blah blah. And darned indignant about those last, I'm sure.
So I've gone back to the thoughts I had after reading OotP, regarding what would stay and what would go if that veritable cube of a book were made into a single two-and-a-half-hour film. Because no neurosurgeon has a scalpel so sharp as the one that's going to be wielded by that screenwriter. It's a cruel cruel job, but it has to be.
I wrote up a scene-by-scene summary of how I'd do it, but it was four pages, so, it's shorter if I just show how brutal I'd be with the cuts and what I'd do with compression.
Mrs. Figg? Mundungus Fletcher? Gone. The Order's Advance Guard shows up right after Harry's letter about the disciplinary hearing--except that the hearing is being convened immediately, and that's where they take him. (And not by flying--portkey.) And after the hearing they go to 12 Grimmauld Place, not before.
The cleaning of 12 Grimmauld Place? Gone. Ginny's love life? Gone. All of Mrs. Weasley's debates over what the kids should know and shouldn't? Wouldn't get more than a token, "Arthur, dear, are you sure they should--?" five seconds. The Prefect issue? Well, I'd leave it in in the first draft, because it plays such a role in Harry's anger and his separation from his friends, but if I had to go back and make more cuts for length, it'd go.
No Sorting Hat song. Trelawney? Firenze? Gone. (Not going to pay Emma Thompson-type fees to have her just sitting at the staff table.) Umbridge monitoring every class? Gone. St. Mungo's? Gone, entirely. (Yes, I know. No Neville's parents and no Lockhart. Told you it was a cruel job.) Stubby Boardman? Outta there. Thestrals? They could stay, but they'd be another example of scene compression--Harry would learn why he could see them in the same scene that he first saw them; no Care of Magical Creatures scenes.
Dumbledore's Army needs some heavy compression--after Hermione proposes the idea, Harry finds the Room of Requirement with Dobby's help, and the first meeting there has to combine the pre-meeting in Hogsmeade, the first practice, establish that Neville's performing better, and end in Harry and Cho's wet kiss.
Cho and Harry wouldn't get to Hogsmeade; Harry would tell her about having to meet Hermione that day and she'd turn jealous before they even went.
And there's only room for one Quidditch scene--the first one, which results in Harry and the twins being banned. Ron's final triumph, sadly, would get turned into just a lot of people congratulating him in the background while a more important scene plays out in the foreground.
Two more things I would cut: Grawp and Sirius's mirror. I'd solicit Rowling before I did, to find out if they were too key to Books 6 & 7 to be left out, but they too could go, in the interest of time-crunching.
The scenes that would require the most homage, on the other hand, would be Umbridge's first DADA class (Hermione's refusal to be quiet or patronized should be shown in its full glory), Harry's visit into Snape's worst memory (can't waste the chance to show the Marauder Era kids, and it shapes Harry so significantly), and, of course, the climactic end chapters--from Hagrid's escape/McGonagall's stunning to Harry's dream to the centaur abduction of Umbridge to the Department of Mysteries. And that's a lot of story, and that's why a hell of a lot has to go to accommodate it.
Go on, get out your "I must not write three-hour screenplays" quills--tell me what else you would cut that I've been too soft-hearted to chop. Could you chuck Kreacher? Luna? Could you get Dumbledore away from Hogwarts without needing to have Umbridge uncover Dumbledore's Army? Because I'm sure someone like Kloves or his ilk would have the bollocks to do just that--and they have to.
Cruel, cruel job.
So I've gone back to the thoughts I had after reading OotP, regarding what would stay and what would go if that veritable cube of a book were made into a single two-and-a-half-hour film. Because no neurosurgeon has a scalpel so sharp as the one that's going to be wielded by that screenwriter. It's a cruel cruel job, but it has to be.
I wrote up a scene-by-scene summary of how I'd do it, but it was four pages, so, it's shorter if I just show how brutal I'd be with the cuts and what I'd do with compression.
Mrs. Figg? Mundungus Fletcher? Gone. The Order's Advance Guard shows up right after Harry's letter about the disciplinary hearing--except that the hearing is being convened immediately, and that's where they take him. (And not by flying--portkey.) And after the hearing they go to 12 Grimmauld Place, not before.
The cleaning of 12 Grimmauld Place? Gone. Ginny's love life? Gone. All of Mrs. Weasley's debates over what the kids should know and shouldn't? Wouldn't get more than a token, "Arthur, dear, are you sure they should--?" five seconds. The Prefect issue? Well, I'd leave it in in the first draft, because it plays such a role in Harry's anger and his separation from his friends, but if I had to go back and make more cuts for length, it'd go.
No Sorting Hat song. Trelawney? Firenze? Gone. (Not going to pay Emma Thompson-type fees to have her just sitting at the staff table.) Umbridge monitoring every class? Gone. St. Mungo's? Gone, entirely. (Yes, I know. No Neville's parents and no Lockhart. Told you it was a cruel job.) Stubby Boardman? Outta there. Thestrals? They could stay, but they'd be another example of scene compression--Harry would learn why he could see them in the same scene that he first saw them; no Care of Magical Creatures scenes.
Dumbledore's Army needs some heavy compression--after Hermione proposes the idea, Harry finds the Room of Requirement with Dobby's help, and the first meeting there has to combine the pre-meeting in Hogsmeade, the first practice, establish that Neville's performing better, and end in Harry and Cho's wet kiss.
Cho and Harry wouldn't get to Hogsmeade; Harry would tell her about having to meet Hermione that day and she'd turn jealous before they even went.
And there's only room for one Quidditch scene--the first one, which results in Harry and the twins being banned. Ron's final triumph, sadly, would get turned into just a lot of people congratulating him in the background while a more important scene plays out in the foreground.
Two more things I would cut: Grawp and Sirius's mirror. I'd solicit Rowling before I did, to find out if they were too key to Books 6 & 7 to be left out, but they too could go, in the interest of time-crunching.
The scenes that would require the most homage, on the other hand, would be Umbridge's first DADA class (Hermione's refusal to be quiet or patronized should be shown in its full glory), Harry's visit into Snape's worst memory (can't waste the chance to show the Marauder Era kids, and it shapes Harry so significantly), and, of course, the climactic end chapters--from Hagrid's escape/McGonagall's stunning to Harry's dream to the centaur abduction of Umbridge to the Department of Mysteries. And that's a lot of story, and that's why a hell of a lot has to go to accommodate it.
Go on, get out your "I must not write three-hour screenplays" quills--tell me what else you would cut that I've been too soft-hearted to chop. Could you chuck Kreacher? Luna? Could you get Dumbledore away from Hogwarts without needing to have Umbridge uncover Dumbledore's Army? Because I'm sure someone like Kloves or his ilk would have the bollocks to do just that--and they have to.
Cruel, cruel job.
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Date: 2004-06-04 03:38 pm (UTC)