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Del Toro would be amazing. And hopefully he will sort Harrys wardrobe and hair out so he looks a little bit less like Tory boy.

Re: the running length of the films. It seems to me (please correct me if I’m wrong) that the major factor is how long the audience is willing to sit. I suppose the theaters trying to cram as many people in the seats per day is also a big factor. However, everyone involved must realize that they practically have a captive audience for DH. I imagine that few people will be HP “newbies”, so to speak, and that the audience will be ready and willing for a very long film. And for heaven’s sake, if the credits didn’t take 20 minutes it would certainly allow for more story time.

Am I missing something? Are there other forces at work favoring shorter films, or is it all about the theaters being able to put fresh butts in the seats?

The ultimate decision over running time is usually NOT up to the director (unfortunately), so whoever directs it will probably have an uphill battle whatever they decide to do. I wonder if they would ever think of doing a 2-part movie . . . I remember one a few years ago, some horrid war period piece. It was like 4 hours long and they had a 15 minute intermission in the middle (just like a play). I guess they could get some guidance from “Return of the King” on this one, because that was a rather long-ish, epic finale, but I think it was only 3 hours or something . . .

Regardless, if we want them to have the full ending in all it’s grandeur, they’re gonna have to make lotsa cuts at the beginning or chop up the end. (And I prefer the former.)

I want John Williams or Patrick Doyle back for the score of the Deathly Hallows. As far as Del Toro is concerned, I think he is a very good director and he did a very good job with the “Pan’s Labyrinth”. I just hope that Warner Brothers will be extra careful with the final movie because it has to be great. It has to be the best.

Guillermo is exactly what Harry Potter needs, he might actually bring something called a “vision” into it, the first movies were just about adapting the book, but the fact is movies are different and need another focus, to me the worst ones were definately the first 2 and the 5th one, and I am very dissapointed David Yates is doing the sixth one. Guillermo is an artist, but even with his artistic vision I think Hollywood might still damper is power. The movies are necessarily bad, but like Terry Gilliam said “pedestrian” (atleast the first 2), they didn’t take any risks to make it a work of genius. But I think after watching The Golden Compass I don’t think there can be a worse book to movie adaptation.

I really am hoping that Del Toro directs the final film. I have to fundamentally disagree with the Yates supports and agree with the Cuaron supporters. A film adpatation has to stand on it’s own merit’s as a single film. While Yates and Newell have done commendable jobs, they’ve been a little predestrian in their approach. The final film needs the distinctive stamp of someone like Del Toro, I enjoyed “Hellboy” and thought “Pan’s Labyrinth” was incredible. I’ll continue to hope Del Toro gets the job. I’ll also continue to hope John Williams is brought in the write the score.

I got to say, I’d actually would watch the seventh and final film if del Torro was going to film it. I’d really like the seventh book. It was creative but it wasn’t Rowling’s strongest piece for the series.

yay! i am soo glad that del torro is doing hbp, i would love it if he did dh to!

@beatrice: I think one of us is confused….David Yates is directing HBP, currently in production, unless I am very mistaken.

Well, let’s just wait and see. DH is a ways, down the road, and it will be up to Warner Brothers. Again, my personal preference [should he do HBP as well as Order] would be David Yates. He has the “tone” of these later movies, I think. Again: JMHO..onward and upward?!

What’s wrong to let someone with an artistic vision (gasp) direct the film. You can’t blame the director for missing plotpoints, because the scriptwriter decides those. So blame Kloves, who also wrote the first two movies I might ad. Most people aren’t that creative and that’s why they like columbus’ version of the wizarding world, because it’s plane and that’s how they imagined it. With cuaron they found someone who knew how to make harry potter a realistic and still breathtaking magical adventure, but they don’t like it, because it doesn’t look like the average ideas that they had themselfs. Just ask movie-critics witch potter-movie they liked best and 9 out of 10 will say POA. Cuaron made great cinema. Something that a lot of those purists out there don’t seem to understand. (I know i’m being terribly overoppinionated, but I just had to speak my mind.)

I would like David Yates and Guillermo Del Torro too though.

I thought GOF was more about the TW Turnament then about the important info. I do hope that anyone who directs the last Harry Potter DH will focus on the truly important story line and the emotions that go along with it. I agree, spare no expense to have Harry Potter go out with a big bang!!! Please have the last encounter with the Dursley’s in the movie. There won’t be a dry eye in the house.

I only hope they put a LOT of thought into who will direct this one. Being the (beautiful) end of the series, it would be tragic if they made a mistake. I find it very amusing that some of the directors who passed on the previous films (beneath them, maybe?) are now howing “great interest” in doing the last one. I guess great success brings them “out of the woodwork”.

What a fascinating topic! I cannot help adding my own two (VERY long) cents, here goes nothing:

As much as I enjoy seeing the movie the first time, the rabid HP fan in me can’t stop analyzing it bit by bit, an this is where my liking of the movies dwindles.

To be more specific, I found that PS and CoS made me cringe a little because the acting was awkward for the kids, however I’m aware that you cannot demand award-winning performances from kids. Ok, I got that. As for the adults (most of them) are great, especially Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman, they’ve done brilliant jobs . The magic works well and as a whole Columbus got the delicate task of starting the franchise and delivered a couple of charming movies (albeit in PS the fx were rather poor).

PoA is a difficult call for me, I neither like or dislike it completely. I mean, after re-reading the book for the nth time or playing the audiobook, I am both pleased an irritated by it. Please because it’s artsy, real eye-candy, the tone is right the mood is dark, we even see a bit more in-depth performance (still a little forced yet promising). However, I weep at the butchering of the characters (we, the HP hardcore fan will always have a critical eye and see what’s missing) but those who haven’t read the books lost a lot of information (ie massive gaps in character development, relationships, etc)

Now for all the directors/screenwritters additions my view is that as long as it doesn’t interfere with the essence it doesn’t bother me. Nevertheless, I do feel upset when I see a plot twist simplified or even sacrificed to put something dull or even pointless instead. And GoF has too many of those and is therefore my least favorite movie. I enjoyed it the first time I saw it, but I found it ghastly on second thought. They took the plot, blend it and assembled something that resemble a patchwork of snippets from the book oh and Gambon went array from here on the man should hold his acting hippogriff, really. Notwithstanding, they’ve managed to make it cohesive as a whole but they’ve meddle to much with it for me (ah the woes of purists!)

Finally, Yates has done well for OotP but I haven’t had enough time to dissect it thoroughly. All in all, the performances are solid, the tone is right (even if a lot has been sacrificed). I do, however, feel let down by the bonus (so far I’ve just rent it, the French version isn’t for sales yet) but where is the rest of Snape’s worst memory??? (if there’s any). Doesn’t this constitute a giant plot-hole? Oh and what’s this “Tonk’s tour” thing? I would have preferred the BBC special on the magic behind HP. I’m such a HP geek I absolutely adore hearing about ridiculous details such as the hand painted 19th century faux-silk-moth-eaten-looking flowers on Sirius’ coat than Natalia Tena trolling around the set… Ah well, I’ll have to wait for some ultra-limited edition of the dvd to see if the actually got Lilly in or not.

Am such a HP dork that I’ve been wondering if Bill/Fleur’s ship will feature in the movie, what with it’s importance to start DH, any thoughts?

I hope that people are aware that Yates might be either too busy or burnt out (like Columbus) or even fed up, to see to DH.

I hope that some WB’s muggle-houself reads all of our comments and conveys the gist of our worries to the big wigs up there (for that person:->)

WB: stop compromising the plot, be true to the story, mend the holes of the past 5 movies (and those coming in the 6th), keep your writers on a leash and let the wonderful world of JKR blossom as it ought to, give us a lengthy finale -> put a frigging intermission with dancing gnomes if you have to, but make it LONG. Kids are able to sit for long period of time in front of their tvs, computers, playstations or whatnot so there are NO excuses

I agree that it would be very risky to bring on a new director for DH. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take and I have a feeling WB feels the same.

That being said, my vote is for David Yates if he is up to it, and I think with his enthusiasm, he would be.

While I enjoyed POA, I agree with those who say Alfonso took too many liberties. When you compare it to the first two, which is what most people did coming out of seeing it the first time, you will see that he changed the book and feel drastically. I think the feel was great, but I did not like him cutting out sub-plots just for the sake of cutting them. I remember hating Quidditch being cut! It took so much for Oliver to win that cup, and he cuts it? But I can forgive that. I feel robbed of the Marauders history, and it is not something I can forgive as easily.

SS and COS were almost right on with very few changes in SS and some in COS. Chris Columbus followed the books and I don’t think anyone will be able to match his faithfulness to the books.

GOF is ok. I liked it when I first saw, but I think that was because it was a fresh movie. I still like it because I like all the HP films, but I think GOF is the poorest adaption of the 5.

OOTP was pretty darn faithful to the book considering it was a 870 page book. I think it should of been a bit longer, but we can blame WB for that. I didn’t like some of the changes the made. The prophecy being the biggest, but OOTP is still my favorite of the 5.

As a film, OOTP is the best followed by POA. As an adaption, SS and COS are the best followed by OOTP.

I still don’t know if it is fair to stigmatize Cuaron for missing plot threads. Certainly directors influence how a story is told, but Cuaron was working off of a script written by Kloves. If we are debating Cuaron’s ability to craft a well-made film, perhaps it would be more judicious to consider that he is up for the task if he is supported by a well-crafted adaptation.

well said Jeanette, I feel the same way, I feel that the 7th movie needs to be like 4hrs and really true. really they make to many excuses about the length of movies. I think that the story of Bill and Fleur will be replaced with Lupin and Tonks- personally i think that would be romantic and pretty, but they would only have a short amount of time to introduce the story of them having a baby and him being born by the end of the movie. Like Dan said himself the writer will have a hell of a time transfering this.

well, i have to say that i will love to wath DH if del toro is gonna make it, i just trust him, hi seems to be a great director.

david yates did a good job however i think the last movie could be much better… i dont know why but i feel that OoTP is not my favorite one….

we’ll have to wait and see what WB is gonna do…..i hope they choose Del Toro for HP stories sake

really, i would much prefer david yates to continue directing. I know they like to switch things up to keep it “fresh” or whatever, but really…i think that order of the phoenix has been the absolute best movie of them. chris columbus was really good, but i dont think he would do so fabulous with something like Deathly. Cuarón was pretty good, but still there were flaws, but overall i must Prisoner would have to be the 2nd best movie (so far that is, because i’m sure Half-Blood will beat it out, of course becuase it is directed by yates). Goblet was absolutely horrible. i’m sorry to anyone who really liked it, but i really despised it. so that guy….NO. i saw portions of Pan’s Labyrinth and it was pretty good. so i’m sure that if he was the director for Deathly i’d be satisfied, but i would much PREFER david yates to continue through to the end. i think his portrayal of the battle of hogwarts will be much more spectacular than the battle in the ministry simply because in the book the battle at the ministry was not spectacular. it was short, sweet, and to the point. the battle of hogwarts will be much longer, more cinematic, and just plain better.

Christine: If you look at the original script for PoA by Steve Kloves there actually are some major changes made by Cauron that screwed things up. Steve’s script (bear in mind I think his script-writing is rather abysmal but nonetheless) features less deviation and general wtfery than Cauron’s final product does. It is still pretty bad, I think, but it is somewhat less cringe worthy. The director has the ultimate say. It is perfectly viable to blame the director for the screenplay being bad. If something is wrong, the director should fix it!

I have to agree that the Columbus hate is a really big let down. People always talk about how his Potter universe was too bright and upbeat, but that’s how the first books are for the most part! Even the dark plots in books one and two are presented with a bit more cheek than some of the ones in the later books. The first two films matched the tone of the first two books, and there’s no reason to say that he couldn’t match the tone of DH as well.

Now what we need is a new scriptwriter.