Hi Anne, this is precisely my point: Gambon is a really good actor, so if he’s a humorous person when not acting, why can’t he create a better DD on the screen? I think it has to do with the fact that he hasn’t read the books; the scripts had to cut a number of crucial scenes, but to refer once again to the climax scene of OoP, when DD is fighting with Voldemore, I was actually very disappointed to see a DD that was scared and frightened; he seemed to be barely able to defend himself. He reacted to Voldemort’s attacks, but didn’t ACT like one of the two greatest wizards of the age … might indeed be a problem of the script, since Gambon hasn’t read the novels he would have no idea that DD is a very superior person, in more than one respect.

He’s probably too eccentric as a private person to fully appreciate a literary character’s very genuine eccentricity …

Dear Sad

I don’t thin Jo meant the comment to be anything more than a laugh. She was probably referring to the denoument of movie 6 viz – ” a nasty fall from the astonomy tower” but even if she was not, she was probaly humouring the great Dickie.

Now, I (note, not Jo) do not care much for Gambon’s portrayal of Dumbledore but I am not going to guess what Jo thinks.

Dear Bellatrix’s parole officer -

That ITV documentary was surprisingly revelatory and extreemly emotional. Jo was either in tears for on the verge of tears throughout although there were some funny moments. But as she once wrote albeit in a different context, life is not made up of good and bad or happy and sad; there are shades of colour in everything we do and experience. She clearly bonded with the interviewer who spent the entire year with her. I thought Neil was simply being honest when he said that she can be a real pain to live with. Who isn’t ? I was a bit surprised that she said that the girl who asked the Carnegie Hall “Dumbledore is gay” question, looke at her as if she wanted to punch her ! But I guess Jo was there and I wasn’t, so there it is !

But yes -the best documentary -by far, on Jo and I sincerely hope it is shown in the States.

Again the victim of the dreaded LC typos !

Hi Zhiyal, that’s good. I didn’t want you to miss out on his humour :)

Firstly, I saw an interview on the POA extras dvd yesterday where Gambon specifically says he’s read the third book. So I think people are wrong to accuse him of not having read them.

I also still think we do see glimpses of TwinklyDumbledore or EccentricDumbledore from Gambon, especially in POA and once in OotP. There aren’t that many instances in the books when you actually think about it, so it depends on whether they make the film. GOF the one opportunity, the Yule ball dinner when he talks of chamber pots was cut, sadly.

But even in the first two films there aren’t many instances shown with Harris. They cut the sherbert lemon / london underground scar scene at the start of PS, so we only get the school welcome feast and the hospital scene. I can’t remember one in COS. The rest of these first two films are pretty serious too. We even see SternDumbledore in COS when he meets Tom Riddle.

But because the later films and books are much darker, and DD spends a lot of time worried about Harry, many instances when Harry and DD meet are actually quite serious, even in the books. TwinklyDumbledore wouldn’t be appropriate.

In POA I think they got DD spot on, because we see EnergeticDumbledore as well, which is how he should be. Eccentric or TwinklyDumbledore appears during the Buckbeak ‘execution’, when he talks about the strawberry planting to Fudge and asks Hagrid for a large brandy, and at the end when he says ‘Did what? Goodnight’ and walks off humming (an addition which JK absolutely loved).

In OotP the one opportunity Gambon has he also uses well. I crack up every time he says his middle-name Brian at the hearing. If only the filmmakers had allowed him to conjure up a chintz armchair as well it would have completed the scene.

But the rest of the film, like the book, is pretty serious. I must say, though I was disappointed that Harry didn’t get to throw things around, I LOVED the calmness of Gambon during the office scene at the end.

As for PowerDumbledore, I think people mistake his crouching for cowering, when in fact he is concentrating on a curse so powerful that it reduces all those glass shards to fine dust. I don’t see a weak DD at all. V actually concedes defeat with a disappointed look on his face just before he possesses Harry.

Hi Anne,

I am most impressed by your e-mail, and you are right about the Wizengamot scene (“Brian”), that one actually was very funny. As for PS and CoS, I felt that Harris, whenever he looks at Harry (whether in front of the mirror of erised, or in Hagrid’s hut while Harry’s under the cloak), he has this twinkle in his eyes, even if he talks in a serious manner. He’s benign, and fatherly towards Harry, just like the DD in the books. It’s really a pity that they used neither his line on his scar (London underground) nor his comment on McGonnagall sitting so stiff (as a cat) in front of the Dursleys. These sentences really gave him a characteristic, humorous flair from the very beginning.

Now, I am afraid I don’t agree with your response to the climax scene of OoP, but there you are, if Gambon actually managed to act convincingly for some viewers, I won’t complain. It’s just that, in the book, Dumbledore’s power, even when he’s fighting Voldemort, is presented as virtually effortless; he really is the superior wizard, and it’s only because he doesn’t want to use dark magic, and knows about the Horcruxes, he doesn’t kill Voldemort. Finally, when Harry is being possessed, Gambon hadt this frightened and helpless look again. This particular scene wasn’t in the book, and I think Dan has performed really well here, and so have Emma and Rupert (in the few glimpses that we get), and I really felt that, compared to these youngsters, Gambon could have done a better job.

Also, I really wish they would give him something else to wear … what has become of DD’s flamboyant clothes? Ever since Gambon plays DD, he is wearing what looks like an old grey rag (certainly not his fault, but that of the costume designer!).

One of my favourite DD lines ever is in HBP (“Yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often,”) and if Gambon manages to make me laugh (given the line’s in the script), I’ll take back everything I’ve said about him …