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Compiled by: Jack Foley
Q. One of my favourite moments of the film is that incredible
band that we saw put together. How did that come about?
A: Jo writes about the Yule ball and writes about a rock
band or a band being at that ball and so when we were thinking
of who would be appropriate for it our minds immediately went
to Jarvis Cocker. Jarvis is a great lyricist who has a wonderful
sense of humour and it was important to us to have music that
was in the spirit of the film. Clearly it’s quite jarring
in the sense we’ve never been exposed to anything quite
like this at Hogwarts, it’s all felt rather classical. But
Jarvis has such a keen wit and was very open to the collaborative
nature of film projects.
He didn’t just deliver the music; he had to sit in the studio
and listen to a musically ignorant person like myself giving notes
and bear it, which he did. I think what’s so great about
what Jarvis did is that it’s very much in the spirit of
the books and I’m sure Jo feels the same way.
Q. Without giving away too much, has JK Rowling discussed
with any of the cast what she has in store for their characters
so that they can continue to develop their characters well?
A: I don’t think Jo has spoken to any of the young
actors about their parts. I know she’s spoken to Alan Rickman,
and she did speak to Ralph Fiennes about their parts, but she
hasn’t spoken to them.
I suspect that Alan, in particular, knew much more of where he
was going than we did frankly. In fact, there were times when
he would ask, when Chris was directing him and he was doing something
and Chris was trying to get him to change and he said ‘No
I can’t, I can’t I’m afraid’
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Q. This has been given a
12A rating; it’s much darker and scarier than the other
films. Are you worried that your younger fans won’t get
to see?
A. Actually 12A in this country doesn’t
exclude under 12s, it just means they have to be accompanied by
an adult.
We did a couple of test screenings of the film and in those screenings
people fill out cards and a lot said their favourite character
was Voldemort but he was also sometimes the character they liked
the least.
But when it came down to the focus groups, I think there were
two groups of 30, the people who were more concerned about it
being scary were the adults who were concerned for their kids
rather than the kids themselves.
We had a couple of parents who did speak up, I think out of the
60 there were one or two who said something and the kids who were
with them were shocked and really upset by it. They said “Mum!
That’s embarrassing!”. I think kids are actually more
up for this than the parents. It’s not to say it’s
not scary, because it is, but I would think twice about taking
four or five-year-olds.
But again it depends on where you’re raised and what you’re
exposed to. You might find some four-year-olds that have grown
up on Lord of the Rings and The Exorcist.
Q. What can you tell us about The Order of the Phoenix,
about the cast and when is it going to shoot?
A. It starts filming in February. We asked Mike [Newell]
if he would do it and he said no.
These films are real endurance tests and I don’t know how
Chris Columbus managed to do two back to back. At the end of each
film we ask the director, we asked Chris to do the third and he
said no. We asked Alfonso to do the fourth and he said no and
Mike said no to the fifth.
We’ve hired someone called David Yates who is a brilliant
director. He’s won many BAFTAs, British Academy awards,
for his television work, he directed something called State of
Play and something else called Girl in the Café, he directed
Sex Traffic. He’s just a fantastic director and I think
the right director.
I think we’ve been really lucky. Each director has been
just right for the film they’ve done and I think David Yates
is the right director for the fifth film.
In terms of casting, we are searching everywhere for the right
Luna, Imelda Staunton you’ve heard about and we are in discussions
but don’t know what’s going to happen there for the
role of Umbridge. Beyond that we have already in mind a Tonks
and a Shacklebolt but I am reluctant to say who they are because
we haven’t made their deal.
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Daniel Radcliffe
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Emma Watson and
Rupert Grint interviews
Mike Newell interview
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