Screenwriter Michael Goldenberg is the subject of a new profile in the Carnegie Mellon alumni magazine. A graduate of the school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Michael Goldenberg speaks of his work writing the screenplay for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” comparing it to composing a musical score:
When you’re writing music, it’s all about what you’re hearing,” he says, “rhythm, pace, the sculptural shape of it. I think movies are very similar to that because it’s taking place in time in the same way that the music is. You just sort of hear it.” One of the moments that he “heard” when he read the novel is the scene in which Harry sees one of the memories of quasi-villain Professor Snape. Snape, then a young student, is being cruelly taunted by fellow student James Potter, Harry’s dad, just to make James’ friends laugh. In terms of the story, Goldenberg says, it wasn’t an obvious thing to keep. But it crystallized the movie for him.
“It’s a powerful moment when your parent—and especially a parent who Harry has idealized enormously because he never knew him—is revealed as a flawed human being. I remember that moment for me, and I know there is a similar moment for a lot of people—and not just your parents but that the people in charge are just as messed up and confused and uncertain as you are, and how terrifying that is. It’s the death of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and God all wrapped up in one.”
Mr. Goldenberg says his favorite moments in the fifth Harry Potter movie involved Harry and his godfather Sirius Black, noting “There are some moments in there that I am very proud of. A lot of that material is not in the book and was written to dramatize the connection between them.” The screenwriter also says that author J.K. Rowling told him “She sees the films as separate from the books…she just wanted to see a great movie.”
In an early conversation, Rowling talked about Harry’s story being, in a sense, a quest for a father. “Jo pointed out that Harry always was secure in his mother’s love, but over the course of all of the books, he keeps coming up with flawed father figures,” Goldenberg says. “In Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore, who has been the overtly paternal figure, is suddenly radically absent from the story. Dumbledore had always been all wise and all knowing, but now he is revealed as just a man—a very smart man, but one who has, in this case, made a terrible mistake, a strategic error that has resulted in disaster, and he is admitting that to Harry—both because Harry deserves to know, but also because Harry needs to be disillusioned. He needs to realize that in order for him to grow up and take on the responsibilities that he needs to take on, Dumbledore has to come down from his pedestal.
“That’s very moving to me. I do think it’s one of the great themes—loss of innocence. I’ve always been attracted to coming-of-age stories that dealt with that. So that was my deepest connection to this story—and the reason I wanted to tell it. Life lessons happen, and he goes from being a kid who sees the world in fairly black and white terms to seeing just how complicated a place it is—and how complicated he is. I thought that was a really good story to tell, particularly now.”
With screen writing duties for Half-Blood Prince now back with Steve Kloves, Michael Goldenberg is currently at work on the screenplay for the adaptation of the classic children’s book Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, and is writing his own story for a future film.
And I don’t think anyone needs to apologize for wishing a favorite scene was in the movie. It’s not just “any” scene.
And so what if it’s in DH – they are chopping that into two movies to make more money. So it may be literally years and years till we see the full SWM, and that’s so crazy.
The script was written in 2005 at the latest, of course, probably just after HBP came out, but certainly Jo could have egged him on about the importance of Lily in the scene? Certainly if not to him, Jo could have spoken to David Yates, to Mark Day, editor, and hinted at its significance? That’s the surprise to me.
quote: Mr. Goldenberg says his favorite moments in the fifth Harry Potter movie involved Harry and his godfather Sirius Black, noting “There are some moments in there that I am very proud of. A lot of that material is not in the book and was written to dramatize the connection between them.” The screenwriter also says that author J.K. Rowling told him “She sees the films as separate from the books…she just wanted to see a great movie.”unquote
And you did not fail JKR’s expectation and most of the fans. As I have been saying in all my comments, IMHO, HPOotP is the best film yet, and that credits the actors, director and YOU, Mr. Goldenberg. Thank you for wrting such a beautiful screenplay for OotP cheers just :( you’re not doing the HBP but I hope you work on HPDH.
i personally like steve kloves given that he goes deeper and in depth into the plot. I think goldbergh was awful pretty much left everything in the fifth movie. Thank God hes gone. I didn’t wanna see another potter film getting destroyed
Thought that Goldenberg did a good job – although none of the movies, alas, tell the WHOLE story. Also, can’t resist saying – GO CARNEGIE-MELLON FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT!!!!!! My alma mater, too.
Guys the most shocking thing to me is that JK now free i guess from her writings could very well be present at every screenplay writing.. I mean she should have told steve kloves to include the gaunts and Hepizah if they were that important!!!! In OOTP, she should have tipped them off to include the mirror too like she did with Kreacher but i am surprised she didn’t!!! Anyway, to all book fans, you should REALLY disconnect yourself a bit for only 3 hours from the books and enjoy the movies as they are .. I know a lot was missing especially in GOF and OOTP but overall it was fun, got the whole picture and showed what was the most important thing and that is Harry’s emotions and him being always raged!!! Lets just hope HBP is as excellent as OOTP!!!
I love more Steve Kloves: He’s been working with Jo Rowling from the beginning and he really understand the story, Thank God he’s doing the last two films. I liked the OOTP,but one thing irritates me- the way they shown Harry-Cho relationship. In the book she’s dirty jelaous b….,and they broke up because she was jealous on Hermione and she started to scream on Harry in Hogsmeade,Remember??? I was really pissed because of that. But it’s OK?
he condensed a vast book into an excellent screenplay, didn’t kill the characters or go overboard on any character-love, he focused on what was important… and it’s not his fault what ended up getting cut for the final release. he did, in short, a fairly smashing job.
kloves tends to be quite hit and miss, and i’m half dreading the hbp r/hr stuff anyway, because there’s no way ron will emerge with the slightest bit of respectability…
I was very pleased to hear that Goldenberg was especially proud of his work with Harry and Sirius. I’ll probably be stoned for saying this, but when I read “Phoenix” Sirius’ death didn’t hit me particularly hard, and I was pretty surprised at the extent of the mourning in the fandom. Goldenberg developed the relationship between Harry and Sirius to the point that Sirius’ death was much more poignant. In that respect, I think he managed to do what so many screenwriters attempt but fail to do: he improved upon the book.
I think Kloves has done a great job on the 4 movies he’s done. Particularly in PoA where he was given the opportunity throw more of his own touches in, e.g. Lupin’s lines about Lily, all the Lupin stuff was brilliantly done. The only thing missing was a clearer explanation of the Marauders, but it turns out in the end it didn’t matter because they TOTALLY messed it up in Ootp by not even having Snape’s memory intact! Ah well…it’s the movies, they can’t include everything, especially stuff like flashbacks that would just confuse the movie-only audience.
People thing Goldenberg’s better because of things like Ron being stronger. But that’s just how the book is. He’s an idiot through a lot of the GoF book so that’s how that movie had to be. In Ootp he stands by Harry. David Yates also allowed him to be stronger. Other directors would maybe have told Rupert to play him more stupidly.
Posted by performingmonkey on January 18, 2008, 03:05 PM
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As others have stated, Goldenberg wrote Lily into the scene, and she was cast. The scene was supposed to be longer and it was butchered down. That’s not Goldenberg’s fault. He recognized the importance of Lily in that memory, as did I, before the release of DH.
As an aside, I’m surprised most people didn’t see the importance of Lily in that scene before DH. Snape was bullied and attacked all his life, so why would that scene stand out in his mind as his worst memory? The answer was clear: Lily.
fishscale, I think you are wrong about Goldenberg not going overboard with “character-love.” His “love” was obviously Looney Lovegood. How else can anyone explain her ridiculous role in that movie? In the book she could see thestrals, that’s it, she could just see them, just like Neville, Harry and the stringy Slytherin boy. All of a sudden, she hangs out with them in the forest, and feeds them, and becomes a wise old sage giving Harry advice ala Yoda?
Yuck, Yuck, Yuck, a thousand times yuck! All because when JKR introduced her, she had her wand behind her ear, and Goldenberg “knew she was a writer”.
I’ll take Steve Kloves fascination with Hermione over Goldenberg’s fascination with Looney any day. At least Hermione has a significant role in the series, Looney ended up being nothing but comic relief.
Posted by Very Secret Diary on January 18, 2008, 06:37 PM
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Very Secret Diary, sorry, but I couldn’t disagree with you more: Luna was incredible in the film, in my opinion. In fact, I think her scenes were some of the strongest in the film, and I think that Goldenberg understood her 100%, and wrote her part perfectly. She’s supposed to be the ironic voice of reason; he imbued her lines with that trait with deftness.
And I don’t think anyone needs to apologize for wishing a favorite scene was in the movie. It’s not just “any” scene.
And so what if it’s in DH – they are chopping that into two movies to make more money. So it may be literally years and years till we see the full SWM, and that’s so crazy.