At 870 pages, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is the longest book in the series. And yet it's the shortest film, clocking in at two hours and 18 minutes. That doesn't happen without a lot of cutting and condensing.
"The danger with adapting the book to the film is that even non-'Potter' fans need to feel like they got it," director David Yates said. "They need the clarity. By removing some things, we allow a whole new audience in.
" (See what a handful of hard-core "Harry" fans had to say about the latest flick.) The essence of "Phoenix" is still there in fact, it's one of the most faithfully adapted of the "Potter" books to date. (Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, said that Yates "knew the books better than me.
") And while some things have been taken out, a few others have been added that probably only fans will catch, like Ginny Weasley's reaction to the goings-on between Harry and Cho ("I couldn't help myself," Yates admitted with glee). "All the background of the book is there," said Bonnie Wright, who plays Ginny. "You don't have to know what's happening before and after and why, but it's there.
" Still, some fondly regarded subplots, clues and bridges to the next two installments are Here are a few of them: In the book, as the Dursleys are about to kick Harry out after the Dementor attack, Aunt Petunia gets a Howler from Dumbledore that screams in "an awful voice," "Remember my last!" Harry is immediately suspicious. "Remember the last what?
" he asks. And how does Petunia seem to know about Dementors and Azkaban, the wizard prison they guard? Considering she "usually put all her energies into pretending [the wizarding world] didn't exist," Harry wonders if she's been in touch with wizards after all.
"You might have got the impression that there is a little bit more to Aunt Petunia than meets the eye, and you will find out what it is," J.K. "She is not a Squib, although that is a very good guess.
Oh, I am giving a lot away here. I am being shockingly indiscreet." How indiscreet we can only guess, since the movie includes nothing that hints at Petunia's potential.
And what about Petunia's sister Lily, Harry's mother? In the book, there's a glimpse of Lily as a teenager in a flashback that shows us "Snape's worst memory." We see Harry's father, James, tormenting the young Snape with curses that turn him upside down, revealing his graying underwear.
Lily comes to Snape's defense, telling James she'd never go out with someone so cruel. Snape fans have theorized that it was his regret over calling Lily such a nasty name when she was trying to help him that makes this such a painful memory not just his bullying at the hand of the popular James and his friends. They further theorize that it was Snape's tender feelings for Lily not his dislike of James that convinced Dumbledore that the prickly Potions teacher truly regretted helping cause her and James' deaths.
But in the movie, "Snape's worst memory" is cut short before Lily enters the scene. Does this mean fans have read the moment wrong? Not necessarily.
"We had that in the cut at one point," Yates said. "We had a lovely actress playing Lily. But by introducing the Lily/Snape plot and that back story, we complicated it too much.
We may bring her back for 'Half-Blood Prince.' " Poor Ron just as his character comes into his own by playing keeper for the Gryffindor team, his subplot gets scrapped (along with Hermione's efforts to free the house elves). Emma Watson still gets to move the story forward in other ways, but Grint is relegated to the role of Harry's protective sidekick.
Why? Because Quidditch scenes weren't something the director felt this fifth movie needed. "I love Quidditch," Yates said of the fictional sport.
"I think it's the best thing in the world, but we've been there, done that. This is about fresh experiences, new places, new things." As for the missing save-the-house-elves plotline, Watson hopes it will be revisited at some future point.
"I'd like to see Hermione protesting somewhere," she said. "Doing something for house elves." Some scenes in the book still happen they just happen offscreen.
Take Arthur Weasley's trip to the wizard hospital, St. It's at this hospital that Harry's friends discover a ward housing Neville Longbottom's spell-damaged parents, who were tortured into insanity at the hands of one of Voldemort's followers. is why Neville is so distraught at seeing a spider tortured with the Cruciatus Curse in "Goblet of Fire" and why he's emboldened, in "Phoenix," to sharpen his magic skills after learning that the Death Eater who cursed his parents has escaped from Azkaban.
In the movie, however, Neville simply tells the story of what happened to his parents. So the information is there, but not seeing it somewhat diminishes the impact. Neville, however, does get a few consolation moments in the film (like finding the Room of Requirement).
"I suppose we can't do everything," Wright said. "They were going to have St. Mungo's, and we still physically go there, but it's not shown in the film.
That just has to do with the time that we have [in the movie]. Most of the really important stuff is connected. They can't cut things out that are crucial for future films.
" Unless the filmmakers didn't At 870 pages, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is the longest book in the series.
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