David Heyman Promises Deathly Hallows will be "Even More Epic" in 3-D
Heyman InterviewsMarch 29, 2010, 12:09 PM
MTV has posted a lengthy and informative interview with Potter films producer David Heyman today discussing the film to bring both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to 3-D. Heyman as usual is very frank about the decisions, the effect of films like Avatar and Up, and the economics of shooting the entire film with 3-D technology versus converting it in post-production. Highlights:
Clearly, the success of 3-D movies has had an impact on the economy and making of films. We saw an opportunity and grabbed it. Also, "Harry Potter" itself has so many exciting possibilities for 3-D, both in things coming at you and also just in making that world seem even more epic than it already is. "Harry Potter" is already an epic film, but having that added dimension will make it even more epic, and that seemed like an opportunity that was too hard to pass up.
One of the things I really loved about watching James Cameron's approach to 3-D in "Avatar" was that it wasn't about things coming out at you all the time. It was actually about adding great depth. You wouldn't want to overuse stuff coming at you. We haven't begun the process of converting it yet. We are doing some tests and looking at various things, but we aren't done with any sequence yet.
I think that there's no question that shooting a film in 3-D is a great thing. I think it was just impractical. It would have taken much, much too long. Shooting in 3-D is slower. Some people say shooting in 3-D is the only way to go, and some people are more open to the other. It'll be interesting as it develops to see whether shooting in 3-D becomes the norm or not, because clearly it's more expensive, partly because shooting takes longer.
I didn’t like Avatar that much, but I agree with Heyman on the fact that it wasn’t just “things coming at you” – unlike most 3D movies, I’d say. I really hope they will follow that route with Deathly Hallows, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with.