Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows director explains splitting the final movie

❘ Updated: 2023-10-28T21:05:20

harry potter and the deathly hallows still

Warner Bros. Pictures

The new Harry Potter series may be on its way, but the director of the old series finally discusses the struggles of splitting the final movie.

After years of speculation – or spellculation – a Harry Potter TV series was finally confirmed to be in the works at Max back in April.

There’s been tons of talk about the franchise as of late, be it the new series, or the JK Rowling controversy. But now a director of the original film run has chipped in to the zeitgeist.

Director David Yates faced the challenge of crafting a satisfying two-part split for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as the first part didn’t have a third act.

Why Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movies were split

Deathly Hallows director David Yates recently reflected on the two movies, which came out at the end of the Harry Potter film franchise, in 2010 and 2011.

During a recent interview with Collider, Yates described the issues when it came to splitting the final book into two movies: “The great challenge of [Deathly Hallows: Part One] was it didn’t actually have a third act. It kind of ran out of steam halfway through, and Mark [Day] and I would often sit there kind of figuring it out and saying, “This movie doesn’t have a third act. How are we gonna…? Hang on, this is crazy. It doesn’t have a third act.

“Those two movies, Part One and Part Two, the idea was the first one was a road movie that was very sort of, like, take the kids out of the school, put them in jeopardy outside of that safe place, and see how they grow up, and their relationship is tested. But then you go straight into the climax and the fireworks to the final one. So, we noodled Part One to bits to try and feel that the end of the movie had an escalation when, in fact, it’s Jazz Hands.

“There’s not much going on at the end in the second half of the movie, and I say that with great– People still say to me, “My favorite film is Hallows: Part One, mate. That was so amazing. It felt like a European road movie.” And I’m going, “Yeah, but the work we did in the edit was unbelievable.”

While Yates may of had a hard time, the split of Deathly Hallows is considered to be the best of its kind. Both parts of the final story were critical and financial hits. Meanwhile, movie franchises that attempted to follow suit floundered. Twilight: Breaking Dawn did okay, but The Hunger Games: Mockingjay and Divergent: Allegiant saw poorer box office returns and critical reception, with the Divergent series even being cancelled prior to its finale.

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