Heyman on HBP delay...

After the news broke on the decision to move the film until next year, fans were very upset and (WB president) Alan Horn weighed in with his thoughts on this matter. Have you any words that you as the producer can say to those fans who are still very upset and concerned their feelings and dedication to the series are not being taken seriously?



DAVID HEYMAN: The fact is that my passion and that of everybody who works on the film is undiminished. It is called ‘the film business’ and the reason why Warner Bros moved the date was for business reasons. Because of the writer’s strike and other factors in Hollywood there was not the pipeline of material for next year that they needed. They had a very big year with The Dark Knight and they needed a big film for 2009 and Harry Potter filled that slot.

I appreciate the disappointment, I really do. As a film maker it is always nice to finish a film and move on to the next. But I think that the film will not be hurt by this experience at all. The studio has always been, and remains, committed to the film in every way.

If the film had come out in November this year, there would have been a two year wait for the first part of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows. What now will happen is that there will be a two year gap between Order Of The Phoenix and The Half Blood Prince and there will only be, in ball park terms, a 16 month gap between Half-Blood Prince and the first part of The Deathly Hallows. The Deathly Hallows is coming out in exactly the same schedule as was originally planned and we are starting principal photography in February as planned. So nothing has changed with the other films.

After the move of HBP to next year, we were uncertain if you were still going to do those test screenings, and I think its safe to say we were all thrilled with those reports from the first screenings-I know I can’t wait to see the movie! However, given there has to be cuts in beloved characters such as the House Elves, can you tell us if these things will impact the development of movie seven and eight (ie events at Gringotts/Grimmauld place and we love Dobby!).

DAVID HEYMAN: Inevitably there will be certain things that we will probably have to introduce and emphasise in the Seventh film. Before we read the Seventh book there had been things in the earlier films that we had not realized how important they were. There was an example in the Fifth film when we were considering cutting Kreacher but Jo [Rowling] said to me…"I wouldn’t do that if I were you"…She didn’t tell us why, but she said we would be advised to keep him. And of course in the Seventh book Kreacher is an important character. It has been a while, for example, since we have seen Dobby and I suspect we are going to have to make more of Dobby in Seven than we might have done. I think we have done a pretty good job of what we need in terms of the plot.