Entertainment Weekly Summer Movie Preview: News on Aragog, Interview with Steve Kloves, More

Apr 17, 2009

Posted by: SueTLC

HBP Film

The new issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine contains their Summer Movie Previews, with a mention of the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Of note seems to be confirmation from actor Jim Broadbent that his character of Slughorn will be dealing with the giant Spider Aragog. Also new are rare comments from HBP screenwriter Steve Kloves. Teaser Quotage from EW as follows:

face=”Arial” The wait is over. Warner Bros.’ adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
finally hits theaters July 15. “You
know the headline on this one, of course’
says Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) of the
franchise’s sixth installment. SPOILER ALERT! “It’s the one where Dumbledore [Michael Gambon] pops his
claws.”
(If you’re not hip to Coltrane’s lingo,
well ¦mystery preserved). It’s also the one where we learn
Voldemort’s origin story”although there’s much less of it in
the movie than in the book. Screenwriter Steve Kloves says he chose “a few key memories instead of attempting to
include all of them.”
Half-Blood
Prince
also emphasizes Harry’s relationship with Professor
Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), the
Potions teacher who holds a secret to Voldemort’s past, plus teen-romance
intrigue involving Harry (Daniel Radcliffe)
and Ginny (Bonnie Wright), as well
as Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson), and newcomer Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave). “The last film was quite intense with all that battle stuff’
says Grint. “This one is a
lot lighter and much funnier.”
Not that the film lacks thrills.
“I worked with a giant spider’
says Broadbent. “Bloody
marvelous.”

The magazine is also reviving their set visit article, (lost in the shuffle last year with the announcement of the delay of HBP) which includes interviews with cast members including Dan Radcliffe, Rupert
Grint, Emma Watson as well as director David Yates. Among the many new
details are stories of filming scenes with Hermione’s heartache over
Ron and Lavender (Even after ”Cut!” Watson continues to tear up, and
Radcliffe offers
comfort with a lingering side hug and whispered praise. ”Bloody
f—ing brilliant, Emma. Just top-notch.”), info on the number of
memories included in the movie (”We see Voldemort as a little boy, and
then on two occasions we see
him as a student. By doing that, we honor the spirit of what Jo
[Rowling] had done but avoid getting stuck in narrative cul-de-sacs.”
Yates), and thoughts on the art of romance from Dan Radcliffe (”I
never had any idea how to talk to girls until a year or so ago,”
says the 19-year-old actor during a break from shooting last April. ”I
still come out with trivial crap when I’m flirting, but I like to think
I’m doing it in a faintly endearing way.”)From the article itself, Mr. Kloves is cited as saying the following:

Will moviegoers still be wild about Harry? ”I’m not going to lie to
you,” says Oscar-nominated screenwriter Steve Kloves, returning to his
role as official franchise scribe after taking the fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,
off. ”I do have some concern that because the books are over, the
anticipation for the movies won’t be the same.” Yes, the films have
surged in popularity since Alfonso Cuarón‘s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
set them on an edgier course. And yes, there are those who follow the
saga only through the movies ” which is why we’ll refrain from
discussing Prince‘s monumental 90-hanky death. Yet even within
the top ranks of a moviemaking operation as bloody well run as Harry
Potter, there is, well, mild freaking out. Kloves allows himself an
improbable thought, then laughs. ”It would be a complete car crash if
no one showed up.”

He also speaks to the issue which we first reported several years ago involving the announcement from J.K. Rowling here in New York that she always thought of Professor Dumbledore as a gay character. Quotage from Mr. Kloves:

In Kloves’ first draft of the screenplay, he had written a line (not in
the book) in which Dumbledore fondly recalls a Muggle girl from his
youth. He was quickly, quietly corrected. ”I was walking through
Leavesden with Jo on our way to the first reading,” Kloves remembers.
”As we entered the Great Hall, she leaned toward me and whispered, ‘I
saw the line you gave Dumbledore, but the thing is this: Dumbledore is gay.”’
After Rowling revealed the wizard’s sexuality to the rest of the
filmmaking team ” and before she made international headlines last fall
by sharing this news publicly ” Yates decided to strike the line. ”I
just felt the scene worked without it,” he says. ”I think the fact
that Dumbledore is gay is wonderful. It feels very authentic to the
character.”





The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.