David Hayman: ”Rowling is our absolute authority”
Mama Ro's menagerie in the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has already won the hearts of both Order of the Phoenix members and ordinary lovers of magic and unusual animals. Even before the release of the film, fans learned that the three originally planned films of the cycle, the producers from Warner Bros. are planning to turn into a pentalogy, and the godfather of the last parts of the Potter will continue to tame the magical animals of Newt Scamander David Yates.More than J.K. Rowling knows about the fate of the creatures only the producer David Heyman , who has come with this franchise all the way from the beginning to the present moment. He, like no one else, had the opportunity to work closely with Joan on the creation of the MCU Harry Potter , and now his prequel. Heyman shared his impressions of working on the first part of a new magical series with the journalists of the publication Collider , which brought many movie fans straight back to their childhood. What captivates your film is its unpredictability. If there were always certain expectations associated with the Harry Potter franchise, and comparisons with books suggested themselves, then here many viewers could not pass by simply because of the name J.K. Rowling. In our case, it is both luck and a heavy burden. It was difficult in the sense that we are no longer Harry Potter , our legendary hero will no longer come to the rescue, we will not be hooked on him. At the same time, this is a plus, since it was possible not to worry about someone's overestimated expectations and claims. This freed our hands to some extent. Our pentalogy can please not only fans of Harry , but also people who are not familiar with films or books about The Boy-Who-Lived . I would like to think that this is a completely independent work. Although for those who have watched the films of the Potter, we have prepared some happy Easter eggs. I think they will become even more evident in later parts of the cycle.  How did Stephen Cloves become a film producer? He adapted so many of Rowling's books ... How did he agree to work with completely new material? The very fact of Steve being involved in the project has encouraged all of us. He has proven to be a very reliable assistant for Joe who has never written a script before. Stephen could only give a small tip, but it then influenced the entire script. Prior to that, he and Joan were practically inseparable during the film adaptation of the Potter. For example, when he wrote the script for the first film in the series, Rowling was already writing a fourth book. That is, his Harry was not yet the character he was for Joan . Moreover, the pressure on Steve then grew exponentially, and Rowling had a hard time writing Goblet of Fire . She just got into a kind of dead end. She urgently needed to redo what she had written, and, I think it was this critical moment that united them. Cloves is also a writer, he has amazing ideas and is simply irreplaceable as a partner in the creative process.  David Yates mentioned that Joan was unable to get into the script right away. But then she found the ground, and the story began to grow. I can only add that initially Joe was not very confident in her work. Perhaps it was unusual for her to rewrite the text over and over again, but she is not weak and is open to everything new. Still, a worm of doubt sharpened her, and at first she told me: "I can think of these plots, but let someone else write the next script." However, after finishing work on the first part, she changed her mind: “You know what? I'll write the next one too! " And then she finally got bolder and said: “I’ll write all five!”.  Were you surprised by the studio's decision to stretch the episode into five parts? Of course, I was a little surprised, because the correctness of such a decision cannot be calculated in advance. For example, when we were filming "Gravity", I was not at all sure that the film would be a hit, and no one on the crew had expected this. In the case of Potter, I was, of course, very attentive to how the franchise would be perceived by the viewer. People should enjoy our films more and more. Fingers crossed, I think it will be the same with " Fantastic Beasts ". We have specific plans for the entire episode, and we have already started preproduction of the second part. Judging by the reaction to the film, I can imagine that Joan may well redefine the role of Jacob and Queenie in subsequent events, where they may not have had a place before. They will be present in the next part. Queenie , Jacob , Tina and Newt will play an important role in the sequel.  Was Joe influenced by the early reviews? In general, how dependent is your team on public opinion, and are you ready to adapt to it when working on the next parts of the project? No, and this applies to the entire team, not just Joe . We only tell the stories we want to tell. If we listen to all the opinions of the large team of fans of the films about Harry while filming, we will simply be paralyzed. I do not want to offend anyone, but we would not have the ability to even move under the pressure of so many points of view. All the energy comes from Rowling - the rest of the group's work is based on their unique material. Therefore, we cannot listen to critics - we have Joe , the absolute authority. Moreover, no one but ourselves can be more strict with our tapes.  Of course, the studio has already had the pleasure of watching how carefully you handle the material, but often with the sequels there are troubles due to the lack of a pre-made plan ... That's true, but Joan has a great experience working on the sagas: Harry Potter is seven books with a single fascinating story. As you know, Fantastic Beasts will continue in four more films, also with one story, but each film will be self-contained. You may like any of them individually, but at the same time it will be organically integrated into the series. With this concept in mind, is each tape supposed to have its own flavor? A similar thing happened with the Harry Potter saga, but it was partly due to the constant change of directors in the first half of the franchise. Each movie will have its own flavor. For example, the first part takes place in New York, and the next one will move to Paris, and the world of " Fantastic Beasts " will expand more and more. We will find ourselves in the 20s, 30s, 40s and maybe even further.  Next year, the J.K. Rowling book saga will celebrate its 20th anniversary. Have you planned something for this event? Our team will arrange something. Expect surprises. The Topic of Article: David Hayman: ”Rowling is our absolute authority”. |
