Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 Set Visit

One of the most anticipated set visits this year was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows since these last two films mark the end of the long-running franchise. When ComingSoon.net got the invite to fly to London and hang out with the cast one final time, we were more than happy to pack our bags and make the trip across the pond even though it was in the dead of winter.

Danielle Radcliffe was not shooting the day we visited Leavesden Studios--in fact it was his day off--but the Harry Potter star came in and talked to us for over 30 minutes anyways, which was more than appreciated. 

At the time were we there, director David Yates did not know how the two films were going to be split, but everyone we spoke with talked a little about moments from both movies.

Unfortunately at this time, we can not run the material that we now know will be in the second part and we can not describe the scene we saw being filmed until a later time. However, we do have the green light to post parts of our interviews with Radcliffe, producer David Barron, Matt Lewis, and David Yates.

We're kicking it off with Radcliffe and you can find a link to the other interviews at the bottom!

Q: These two films – Part 1 and Part 2 – if you had to explain what the key differences are between the two, because when you're going to be out talking about them, how are you going to explain Part 1? And then, how are you going to explain the difference?

Daniel Radcliffe: They're very different films. The first part is kind of like a... it's a very strange sort of road movie in a way. I mean, it's – first of all, people will be seeing the kids outside of Hogwarts for the first time which is a big deal actually because we'd started filming seven by the time we were doing all the premieres for six. And when I was going into them, I was watching it I was just thinking, "My God, how different the seventh film is going to be," because to see these characters outside of what has become such a familiar environment is hopefully going to make people see in a very different way. Also, the first film is about the gathering of information and getting all the information in place and all the things we need to go towards the final battle. And the second film essentially is the final battle, I mean, from start to finish. Actually, no 'cause we don't know where it starts off yet because it's changing. It starts off not at Hogwarts, like presumably quite a way before that still, but I mean, once you get into it, it's nonstop. I mean, it is. And it does, I think, if it's right, it should have a very, very good balance. The action sequences are pretty relentless in the second part, you know, it's very, it's nonstop kind of action to a degree. But, that shouldn't, and I don't think will, overpower either the characters or the story, those are still the main two things that will be the focus hopefully.

Q: How do you figure out what Harry should be doing or feeling, and then what David still brings to the table and how you guys figure that out?

Radcliffe: I think to a large extent I come to the scene knowing what Harry is feeling and I've got quite solid ideas generally on what the point of the scene is and where Harry is in the scene and how it should be played. Very often, David, when we start to rehearse it will say – well, just kinda stop me and go, "I think that's" – it's just a conversation really. It's not a process so much. I mean, we have meetings occasionally. If a very big scene's coming up, we'll obviously sit down the week before and talk through it. But, mainly it's kind of on the day you just sort of knock about ideas and yeah, and the thing that David's very, very keen for me to do is to show less and less. I mean, 'cause I don't think my instinct is ever to be over the top at all, but it is to be expressive as people are, you know? I think David wants the character of Harry to be quite internalized and not to project all that emotion outwards necessarily which I think is quite a... for somebody who has been through what Harry has, it's kind of quite an understandable course.

Q: Is it particularly upsetting time, or a joyous moment to be done?

Radcliffe: It'll be very odd and it's not far away now at all. It really is a very real prospect, the fact that one day I'm gonna come in here in a few weeks and go into the makeup rooms for the last time. That will be quite, not upsetting, it won't be upsetting, but yeah, it'll be a moving kind of emotional day in saying goodbye to a lot of people. But no, it'll be exciting to go onto other things and see what's out there and that'll be great. But, equally, I'll miss the crew and the sense of family that we have here is something that it will be very hard to recreate on other films. I think it's possible, I don't think it's that I'll never be on a set this close again, but there's people here who I have, as you say, I've known for 10 years and I'm very, very close to, so it will be a sad day.

Q: Did you have a favorite movie?

Radcliffe: I haven't – well, so far, the fifth. Hopefully, that will be over taken by seven: parts 1 and 2. But, at the moment, the fifth. I was actually quite relieved in a way that it remained my favorite after the sixth because I was so tired of kind of every year when you guys would interview me and it was just, "What's your favorite film?" "Oh, coincidentally, the one that's just come out." (Laughs) But, it was always the truth. So, when the sixth film came out, I was, "Oh, I can actually seem genuine when I talk about the fifth and say" – it was an exciting moment for me.

Q: What happens with Ginny? Do Harry and Ginny have their moment?

Radcliffe: Yeah, absolutely, very much so. There's a couple of kissing scenes. There's even a kiss in the heat of battle at one point.

Q: Really?

Radcliffe: Yeah, which was, I have to say, was my suggestion. (Laughs) But, it's done in not so much like – it's done in a much less dramatic way than that where it's kind of, "Okay, we'll – okay, (Makes Kissing Sound) okay, bye." It's like you're just going out the door in a rush. It was sort of more like that it ended up. But, it was good and that was my suggestion actually because it's one of those moments when it's potentially the last time they see each other and they don't have long. If I was in that situation I would kiss almost anyone if I thought the end was coming. So yeah, I think the Ginny relationship does blossom and of course, eventually she is my wife, yes, which is very exciting.

Q: Do you know much about the epilogue filming?

Radcliffe: We've done some tests on makeups and things, and we haven't shot it yet. And, I mean, it looked great to me, but I don't make the final judgment on that one. But, yeah, I mean, the makeup, prosthetics that they did – I didn't see either Emma or Bonnie, but I saw some stuff they did on Rupert which is very funny. They've – yeah. They've gone down the route you want them to go down with him I think.

Q: Really?

Radcliffe: Yeah, (Laughs) absolutely.

Q: Mr. Weasley, the father?

Radcliffe: Yeah, he's not missed too many lunches. (Laughs) But then actually, that's the only version I've seen so far. By the time we get to filming it could be totally changed. But yeah, I mean, the version I saw on me, it was great. And I looked up my dad bizarrely, yeah, 'cause I look actually more like my mom.

Q: That's makeup, not CG? Or, it's like a mix?

Radcliffe: Well, at the moment we just did the makeup tests and there's all kinds of things I imagine they will do to that part of the film. I imagine it'll end up being a mix I think.

Q: They'll make it look good.

Radcliffe: I think they'll make it look good, yeah, 'cause it was one of those things I was quite nervous about because it was quite a divisive part in the book. I personally liked it, but I know quite a lot of people that really didn't. And I actually thought she put it in just so that if you skipped to the back page you sort of didn't get the full ending, that was my theory on the book. I'm probably wrong. But, yeah, so I was very nervous about it because if you are going to put it in, it would be a shame if the aging thing didn't work and that's the last image that we go with, that people are left with. But, I think so much preparation has gone into it that I think it really can work and that'll be up to me and Rupert and Bonnie to make it, sell it.

Q: You said that you always know where Harry is in a scene, was there a point where you thought that, "Harry is a man now," along his entire journey throughout the film, or in the series?

Radcliffe: That's what I think's very important is that he's not at any point really. He's still a 17-year-old boy. I mean, he grows up hugely in this film no more so than at the end when he makes the decision at King's Cross Station with Dumbledore and rather than going on, he makes the decision to go back rather than dying the death he has already suffered and going onto a peaceful afterlife, he decides to go back. I mean, at no moment more than that is he close to being a man I suppose. But, that he is still a boy and that's what makes it so effective and so awful when Voldemort is trying to kill him. He really beat the seven bells out of me. He does and it makes it more upsetting if it's a fight between a man and a kid.

Q: I feel like these last movies are a real kind of who's who of the entire series and a lot of throwbacks to the older movies. Is there a particular like, fan service moment or like, "Hey, that guy," or something that you liked, or something that we'll actually be surprised by that may not have even been in the book? Or, people who show up?

Radcliffe: Oh God. Who's coming back?

Q: Everyone's coming back.

Radcliffe: Everyone comes back basically. Everyone is involved in some way. I don't know to be honest. So much of the really cool stuff is put in later in visual effects. Because what I love in films – I love in the sixth film, Robert Knox actually I believe it was, reading a book in the library, and from the angle of the camera you can see that he's got like, some sort of wizard's version of a dirty book in the middle of it that he's actually looking at. It's in the bottom corner of the screen and it's nothing pornographic you understand, (Laughs) but this is not like – what was the film? Was there some animated film where they don't realize that the animators have put a lot of quite obscene? 

Q: So you do revisit the films?

Radcliffe: I see every film on average about, generally about three or four times, but never after the premiere. So I see it once before the premiere and then I might see it again with my parents so they have a look. And then...

>Q: They can approve.

Radcliffe: Yeah, exactly. And then approve me as their son.

Q: He's still in the family.

Radcliffe: (Laughs) Yeah, exactly. Well, one of my favorite "Simpsons" lines is when Bart's in a golf tournament and he's against Ned Flanders' son and as Homer packs him off he goes, "Remember son, if you lose, you're out of the family." That's always been a favorite line. And then, I see it once at each premiere and then that's it.

Q: So you haven't been back like, 'cause the first one just came back on Blu-ray. You haven't been back to look and look at yourself in high definition?

Radcliffe: Well, that's I guess how I'm seeing myself now. But, yeah, so it's not something I do particularly go back to. I see, occasionally, clips of them, and that's more than enough to put me off. So I've seen 'em, yeah.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about the nude scene that you had to do?

Radcliffe: It is not really a nude scene. I've done a nude scene. But no, I mean, there's a fair amount of stripping off in the things, but it's only down to the pants really, at the very most I think. There's one scene where I had to kind of – because I'm jumping into a pool of ice and crack the ice, and I'm jumping into this icy pool and yeah, obviously I had to be in my pants for that. Ron saves me at the last minute and I dress in a hurry. But yeah, I mean, it doesn't really worry me anymore particularly. (Laughs) I mean, it's fine and this time around, they even heated the water which was really nice. So you're quite cold out of the water, but when you're in it, it was very nice. But, there was one day on this film when me, Rupert and Everett and it was a Friday and not how you want to spend a Friday. We were outside and it was the only time that I've seen myself and Rupert actually kind of like, we sort of had to stop filming for 15 minutes because the shot was, we just dropped off the dragon's back into this lake and we're coming out of the lake explaining a load of story. And, as we're explaining it, me and Rupert are stripping off our clothes and changing into dry clothes. And, Emma wasn't obviously changing in the shot, so she had a dry suit on underneath her costume. But, because me and Rupert were changing in this shot, we couldn't, so we were starting toward it and we were absolutely – and we don't like, me and Rupert, we don't like, let it bother us. It was fine. But then, we actually got pulled out of the water because Rupert particularly had turned purple. It was one of those really cold. It was cold man. It was Black Friday. But other than that, it's been fine and we're very warm normally. That's not required of us often, so it's absolutely fine while we get the extra.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about recently with Dumbledore on King's Cross?

Radcliffe: Yeah, I mean, we filmed that quite recently and it's a really interesting scene. I mean, it's one of my favorite scenes in the book and it was another one of those scenes where I sort of was heaping the pressure onto it before I was there because I sort of knew what an important scene it is in the film.

Q: What did you do to prepare?

Radcliffe: I mean, my preparation is mainly just knowing the lines and getting in and just knowing where your character is. I mean, there was nothing great. I don't know what even Daniel Day-Lewis would necessarily do to prepare for a scene in the afterlife. I don't know how you'd do that even if you are the most Method of Method actors, which I am not. So, the preparation is mainly to start going through the scene and knowing it, and not just knowing it in terms of the text, but knowing what it's about and having ideas that you can put in on the day. And the whole point of the scene for me and the place that I played it from was the fact that actually this is quite nice. You know, so playing it from the point of view that he actually doesn't want to go back and he'd quite like to stay and just be absorbed by the divine sort of light that is around him. But, it obviously doesn't happen. He goes back, otherwise we'd lose 20 minutes of film. 

Q: Have you started thinking about post-Potter things besides like, a really long vacation?

Radcliffe: I don't want a long vacation at all.

Q: You want to go back to work?

Radcliffe: No, I want to keep working immediately.

Q: Are there projects that you're thinking about, or maybe want to play?

Radcliffe: There's loads of stuff I'm thinking about yeah, there's nothing confirmed yet. No, nothing confirmed yet, but hopefully sort of, I should start to know more sort of within the next sort of month or so hopefully.

Q: What kind of stuff do you hope to do? More wizarding?

Radcliffe: I can't get enough. No, I have to play a wizard and with glasses. Every character I do seem to play seems to have glasses.

Q: Why is that?

Radcliffe: I don't know. I've got perfect eyesight.

Q: So the next one's not gonna have glasses?

Radcliffe: Actually, the next one will potentially. I'm just talking to myself, you don't know what I'm thinking. (Laughs) But, I'm thinking about if he would have glasses, probably not, no.

Q: Would that be the Dan Eldon project?

Radcliffe: I mean, I'm still very much attached to that, but that's not happening in the next little while unfortunately because that's still something that I definitely want to pursue. So, that one, we have to wait for. But, fortunately with that one, we do have a little bit of time to play with as I'm still sort of a few years younger than Dan was, so we've got a little bit of leeway there which is very, very nice.

Q: And is working outside the actor's sphere like, producing and directing something you're ever interested in?

Radcliffe: I mean, I'd love to direct something at some point, definitely. I'd be very, very excited and yeah, and I believe I'd really enjoy it, I do think that. So, it's just about finding the right script and the right time. I've got a little way to go. I've got quite a way to go in terms of, I think, having enough confidence and feeling that I know enough, my way around a film set enough to – although, as a film school goes, you sort of can't do much better than being here for 10 years. It's pretty nice.

Q: Could you talk a bit about the moment where there are seven Harry Potters on screen? 

Radcliffe: Yeah, absolutely. That was one of the most sort of daunting scenes to do because it was a highly technical visual effects scene. A lot of it's more just painstakingly slow than it is complex, but in terms of basically how we did it, I mean, there was one shot which was 95 takes. Yes, you may well recoil (Laughs) because basically if I'm here in the scene and that's the real Harry, then we filmed say seven or eight takes of me playing the scene as me and then keep the camera, so it's a motion controlled camera, so it's controlled by computers so it can recreate exactly the same move, exactly the same time every time. And so, I stand there, we do the take with just me standing there and then the camera continues it's move which was panning around. And at this point it's panning around just an empty space. And then we do the next take and the camera goes through the same move, but instead I'm standing here and pretending to be Fleur or whoever mid-starting to take the drink and then to transform. And the camera pans around us all. And so, basically we filmed it each time sort of in seven different places. That's how it's done, but at the end of the day we were then shown a very primitive version of what it was going to look like eventually. And after 95 takes you're kind of crawling up the walls anyway. And it was the most gratifying thing to see how good it looked because it really does look great because you know how normally in films if there's a scene with one person playing two people you're sort of aware that the screen's been split and that they're always like, this far apart, you know? But, in this scene, it's great because everyone's overlapping and it's all arms and hands and it should be really effective and it did take a long time to get right because if I stood one inch too far to my left, then I was in fact standing on the feet of the me that was then going to be visual effects in later. So, yeah, it was a tricky scene to do, but ultimately very, very gratifying, and fun to be able to do the kind of impersonations, some of them are very sort of – there was no middle ground. They either were almost so subtle that you will have no idea which character it's supposed to be, or so caricatured and exaggerated that you can be in absolutely no doubt which character I'm playing. I didn't manage to find particularly a middle ground on that day, but it'll be very obvious which one's Mundungus. 

Q: Is it with a French accent perhaps?

Radcliffe: No, I didn't, but because I don't think they're going with my voice. 

Q: Is this one of the hardest scenes you've ever had to shoot in terms of time? You said you had to shoot 95 takes.

Radcliffe: 95 takes is the most I've ever done, yes.

Q: For one scene?

Radcliffe: Definitely, for one shot. For one shot. 

Q: Is there anything that you're gonna ask for to take as a keepsake?

Radcliffe: The glasses, definitely. I'd really like the glasses, and hopefully the lenseless ones because they're the ones I wore most. So, I'd like them more than the proper ones. Yeah, definitely them. Even the wand is not such a big deal to me because the wand was different in the first two films. So even that hasn't been a constant through all seven. So yeah, it's the glasses would definitely be the keepsake for me I think, yeah. I'd like a pair from the first film as well, but I found my script from the first film the other day, all highlighted up, yeah, it was good.

Q: The first six films are sort of a study in sacrifices because you're turning these big books into two-and-a-half hour movies. This you now have two films. Are we going to see a film that's much more faithful to the book?

Radcliffe: We'll have to sacrifice some stuff, but the point of doing it over two is so you cannot take the whole story in over one film. You can't because in all the other films, the things we have sacrificed have generally been things that are subplots and things, they don't drive the story along. But in this, there really are no subplots, and if there are subplots, they're equally important of the plot as the main plot. So, there really is so little you can cut that in fact that was the reason we knew we had to do it in two. So hopefully, we will have allowed ourselves to be even more thankful to the books, yeah.

Producer David Barron has worked on almost every "Harry Potter" movie and he sat down with ComingSoon.net to chat about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

Q: Can you talk about the decision to go 3D with this movie? Now this movie's going to be entirely 3D right, or when it's shown in theaters? I know you're not shooting it in 3D?

David Barron: We're not shooting it. It'd be post production 3D.

Q: The whole thing will be in 3D?

Barron: That's the intention. We're still in the early days of planning that because obviously 3D's become a big deal only very recently.

Q: Right. Do you feel like they're going to show this movie in 3D because it's become more of a fad?

Barron: No, it's not because it's a fad. I mean, obviously if we didn't think it was suitable for the film we as filmmakers would argue very strongly against it. The fact that it's now possible, and it wasn't for the last film or the film before that, even if we wanted to do it, if we sat down and said, "Oh great, let's make the whole thing," it just wasn't possible to do it. It's a post-production process. It is now. 

Q: Are there thoughts in the direction of the movie and things like that being taken into consideration knowing that it's going to be in 3D?

Barron: We're making the movies as we make the movies and then the approach to the 3-Dization or whatever you want to call it, will be tailored so it's of the greatest benefit to the film. You can make choices as to how much depth you have, where the depth, the focal points are and things like that. And, I think in some of the films like "Alice," some of those still are in 2D even because there's certain elements that aren't suitable. They all don't benefit from being 3D. And so, you have that choice. As a post-production process, you have that choice. You don't have to make the decision upfront. But, looking at what other people are doing and the expertise that is out there now so it wasn't there even really when we started pre-production on these films, it was still an idea rather than something that actually happened successfully.

Q: Just to clarify, you're considering having both films all in 3D?

Barron: Well, I mean, they will obviously be 3D. The majority of the screens won't be 3D. There'll be a huge, normal 2D release and in a fair proportion, but not the majority will be 3D because the majority of the 3D screens' availability out there yet. But it'll be great.

Q: One of the really interesting things that you guys have done with these movies is that you assume a certain amount of knowledge on the part of the audience. You don't stop the picture and reintroduce people every single time. As you're coming into the last bit here, and especially as so many characters come back in that final battle, are you concerned about reminding people about, "Oh, this character from the fourth movie?" Or, are you just sort of assuming that they're following along and they know what's happening?

Barron: Truthfully, if you look through the books carefully, the majority of the principal characters have been pretty much ever present and I don't think we need to remind people who they are. You know, we're bringing back some of the characters who were subsequently lesser in the early movies and may have left school just because it's nice to. In some cases, whether or not even written into the script, but just for the nostalgia of the early films, we've popped one or two people back in, but predominantly I think you wouldn't look at the films and think, "Oh, who's that?" I think you'll remember them because they've all been in and around pretty recently.

Q: Well, if you're throwing in a bunch of maybe people who weren't written in the script, can we get closure on Nearly Headless Nick? He appeared in that one movie and never showed again.

Barron: No, I think the treat is with the ghosts and poltergeists, the films needed to be really heavily populated with them throughout which in the initial books, they were quite heavily present. But, it's really difficult to do without it feeling a bit hokey, I think, on the film. It's fine if that's what the film's about, but when it's essentially a film about real people, it's very hard to integrate the two without it feeling like a big gimmick. So we made the decision early on not to try too hard in that respect, and I think it would be wrong to bring them back now.

Q: So you're shooting both movies back-to-back. How challenging is that, or grueling for the actors?

Barron: Tiring. It's just, the long schedules when you make a single film for these because they're complicated. Even though we're not dealing very much with very young children now, there's still education elements. And so, there was some of the cast who are legally able to be sent up the chimney and down the coalmine, but they're only working four hours a day, or for half the schedule, or for whatever because they're in education. So, they're long schedules. And to do two of them back to back is – I mean, to day 223 I think. I mean, it's a lot, but it's fun still and I think in some respects, we'd all like to get to the end of shooting just because normally you'd have the different rhythms. You've got prep, you've got shooting, you've got post, and they're all demanding and we don't sorta go on a holiday during post. But, it's just a different rhythm. And so, it's refreshing and energizing. And, getting to date 223, we could do with a touch of energizing, but it's good. We still feel very lucky to be here still and we're still enjoying it, and more to the point, it's actually gone extremely well, so it's not been a torture to get this far.

Q: So will you be sad to see this series end? Are you looking forward to moving on and doing other projects?

Barron: Both obviously. I mean, I will be sad, really sad to see it end because I know David Heyman and I often said to each other, "We have never had it so good, and we will never, ever again get it so good," to work with the material like we have, on the budgets that we have, with the cast that we have, the sets and the visual effects that we have. All of them are absolutely incredible. They've been so supportive and they just essentially, they'll just go on and make the movies. It'll never happen again. So yeah, we'll be really sad to leave it, but equally, the idea of going off to do something new, and a new challenge is refreshing.

Q: There is no other movie series that's been able to achieve what this one has. On one level I think it's arguably the films keep getting better. You keep the same cast over the course of the films.

Barron: Which has never been done before.

Q: Never been done before, and you remain popular throughout the entire run. Why do you think the Potter franchise has been able to sort of break every single rule about sequels?

Barron: Essentially, it's the material because the material doesn't stand, so normally, with sequels, people are struggling to find – they've got the good idea which is, "Let's have a sequel." Then, they have a good idea and that's tough whereas we're dealt the amazing hand of, we've just got this material that she keeps throwing us. The audience love it so much that we'd have to really screw it up, I think, for them not to want to see the films. You're having to win the audiences' heart and hoping to take them with you to the end of the film. But here, they're hurling themselves at us and we'd have to really make a mess of it I think to disappoint them to the degree that they wouldn't come back for the next one.

Q: When you first started, did you realize that the series was gonna last as long as it did and that it has become what it has?

Barron: No, no, nobody knew. I mean, I wasn't here for the first film, but I think the beginning, when everyone said to David Heyman and everyone set the first film up, the idea was to make a good film, and with a bit of luck, two. Their options for the third and fourth, nobody had any idea. I started on the second film and nobody had any idea whether it would go further than the second because when we started shooting the second, the first hadn't been released and I can't remember what book, but she must've – book three must've been out by then. So, things were starting to go terribly well, but they hadn't got very far. So, by the time we got to the end of the fourth film, and that did well, it then, you know, you wouldn't stop at five or six out of seven, so it was then pretty likely we'd go to the end, but nobody really knew till that point.

Q: This franchise that you're talking about, it kind of puts you guys under a lot of pressure to deliver kind of a barnstorming finale to the most successful franchise of all time. How do you guys cope with that? Is it gonna live up to expectations?

Barron: We hope so. We like it and we think it's – again, we're trying to, as ever, properly represent the books on film and we are cautiously optimistic that we are managing to do that and if we do that, then we'll have done what we set out to do, so I think people will love it. We like it, it's fun.

Q: Because it's such a big franchise, I mean, Warner Brothers, it's a business. Is there life after this movie for the Potter franchise? Have there ever been talks? I don't know what you do.

Barron: I mean, Jo wrote these stories, seven stories, or seven parts of a singular story and it had a beginning, several steps through the middle and an end. We've now come to the end. Unless she suddenly decides to do something, which I can't imagine she will, no, not to my knowledge.

Q: Are these two films being shot for PG-13?

Barron: Yeah.

Q: Now, the series began at PG and it's sort of darkened up a little bit. Can you talk about the decision making process? Obviously the material got darker. Was there ever a point where Warner Brothers wanted you to keep it PG?

Barron: No, they were wholly supportive. They just went with the material. They've been absolutely incredible and they've always followed being true to the source material. So obviously, they wouldn't like us to severe someone's head. But, beyond that, they want us to do what the stories demand which is great.

Q: Have you had any challenges with this book translating any particular scenes for film?

Barron: Let me think. What have we done? We've been shooting for so long I can't remember where we started. One of the biggest challenges actually has been – there's quite a lot of exterior work on both these films. Actually, given the schedule, we've been through two winters and a very wet summer, which as you know, England, the climate is our worst enemy very often, or it can be. So, that's challenging. There's a lot of night work which is challenging. Individual sets. We're just actually going about the final battle because obviously Hogwarts doesn't remain intact in it's entirety. So, that's been challenging. And representing a large army of the dark forces and the defense of the school, yeah, it's challenging.

Q: Each film has been a balance of drama and comedy, "Deathly Hallows" with...

Barron: I wouldn't say each film, "Deathly Hallows," definitely. I'm sorry, "The Half-Blood Prince," definitely.

Q: Well, will that keep going? Will we have little light moments?

Barron: Again, if it's there in the book, we'll try and bring it to the screen, though the seventh book is a much more serious book than the sixth book was. And so, I mean, what's brilliant, I think one of the keys to the success of the books and the films is Jo was so smart. They're all pitched slightly different tonally. And so, it's not just another episode in Harry's life. They're different. They are another year in the life of these people that we've come to know and care about, but they are different. And what made six what it was, was it had that light-hearted romantic adolescent comedy at it's core. But, these are different films and I think you'll find that seven part 1 will be a very different film to six, but also a very different film to seven part 2. And, we hope that that's what keeps it entertaining. With comedy because it's a big deal, what they're going through. But, there are lighter moments actually.

Q: Because you have so much, you have two movies to cover, lots and lots of parts of the book presumably, so we don't get our hopes up, what might get cut from the books to the movies since you have so much time to cover?

Barron: I don't think we cut anything particularly. Things get compressed, and so something that might happen over say, three events in a book might get compressed into a moment in the film just so we keep the essence. It's like when we invented the scene in the middle of "Half-Blood Prince." It's because we didn't have time. There's a thread throughout the film which Jo did through the book, the fact that the little moments where so and so is in tears in the Great Hall because she just got news her parents had been killed. That was quite constant throughout the book, just little references. And so, we needed to try and draw that together into a single moment which meant the outside world and people we cared about were suffering.

Q: Do any characters live in film that died in the book, or vice versa?

Barron: I don't think so. I don't think so. I've got – it sounds a bit weak, but we've been shooting such a long time, it's sometimes hard. Sometimes we argue amongst ourselves, "No, that's what's in the book." You go back and then watch it and that was just in an earlier draft of the script. I don't think so. I think we've remained true to the books and the script.

Q: Some of the people that died in the books, it was kinda glossed over like Lupin. Are you gonna give more weight to that?

Barron: If it's glossed over in the book, it's unlikely we would give it a great deal more emphasis in the film just because there's a lot of stuff to emphasize. Steve Kloves, at one point during the process of adaptation said, "You know, actually I think we can make three films out of it if you really set your 

mind." He was exaggerating, but you could certainly do two and a half films I think if you wanted to explore everything in detail. And, we've had no trouble at all filling up two films.

Q: Can you talk about reintroducing Dobby into the films?

Barron: In terms of the challenges actually, I think when in the second film he was a Dobby for a very young audience. And so, the challenge is to make him feel at home in a film that has aged and the tone is darker, but without making him a different character. So, that's challenging, but he's fun though, he's going to be really good.

Q: Do we get much of Dobby?

Barron: No, it's not a film about Dobby. It's not "Dobby and the Deathly Hallows." But, you'll get enough of him to enjoy it. He's not in a huge amount, but he's there enough to enjoy.

Neville becomes a much more dominant presence in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and ComingSoon.net talked to actor Matt Lewis about the action we can expect to see him in and what plans he has for after Harry Potter. 

Q: How do you feel about the franchise coming to an end?

Matt Lewis: I've been here since I was 10 and I'm 21 this year. It's been a long time so I am going to miss him a great deal. He's such a wonderful character to play. I find it challenging in parts, but on the whole it's been easy because it was so brilliantly written. It was such a character that you could relate to. It wasn't that difficult to get into character. I am going to miss it and I think everything I do from now on is going to be a little bit harder. At the same time, I think it's time to move on and do something else and I can't wait for that either. I'm happy and sad - a little bit of both. 

Q: How is David Yates different from the other directors you've worked with in this series?

Lewis: David is lovely. He is one of the nicest guys I've met in the entire world ever. He's really so sweet. We get together and he says what he thinks in his mind and then I say what I've gathered from reading the script and we come together and we stick it out there and try it out. David is really keen to getting it perfect so he thinks you had a good idea or he had a good idea, he'll shoot them both. He's not averse to taking a little bit of extra time to get a better shot. We've got a lot of freedom in terms of that and it's been good fun. It's really a team effort working together to try to make it what we both think. One of the first things he said to me was that he had all these ideas in his head. You could tell his image is very vivid. He just said you've been playing the guy for so long. You know him better than anyone. Let's work together and that's what we do. It's been a really enjoyable process. 

Q: Are you included in the last scene that's a flash forward?

Lewis: I don't know. I don't think so. I have read the script a long time ago. I can't remember to be honest, but I don't think so. I am mentioned I think.

Q: Are you still wearing the fat suit for this one?

Lewis: What are you trying to say? No, I'm not. Neville has slimmed out. We're trying to suggest he's up and living underground at Hogwarts and been this sort of resistance leader. He doesn't have time to eat and he's stressed out. 

Q: What kind of action do you get to do?

Lewis: There's a whole lot this year. We've just been rehearsing some stunts we're doing next week. There's an amazing bridge sequence that I don't want to talk too much about, but there's going to be some cool stuff in that and that's going to be stunts of all kinds. We've got lots of running. I don't know if you can see, but I fell over last week and have a scab on my knee there. Lots of running, lots of falling, lots of firing the wands off, lots of explosions and sometimes when you lose the wands, it's more physical and that's good. It's just a bit of everything. It really feels like war. 

Q: Do you have a favorite movie out of the series so far?

Lewis: To film was number five I think so far. 

Q: Daniel Radcliffe said the same thing.

Lewis: I really enjoyed having a lot more to do in that one. Neville's character in that year really took a massive leap and I got to do a bit of emotional stuff explaining about his parents to Harry, there was the action stuff in the Ministry of Magic, then there was all the fun comedy stuff that Neville gets as well. It was a nice diverse year for me, but I think this one is going to pivot to the first by the end because I've enjoyed this one a lot so far and we still have a few months to go. Most actors will tell you they like doing stuff. There has been a lot of waiting around on stuff and in previous films being in the background of a classroom, but this year what I've been in I've been doing stuff. I've been in the thick of it and I love that. I love to work so this year has been a lot of fun. 

Q: Do you already have other projects lined up after Potter?

Lewis: Not yet. I want to act. It's what I've always wanted to do ever since I was five so hopefully I can carry on doing that. I'm not sure when I'm finishing to be totally sure. We've got a lot to get through yet, but hopefully after I can move on and do some other stuff.

Q: What other types of genres would you like to do?

Lewis: As an actor I don't want to say I primarily want to do this. If I say something like that then I think immediately I'd rather do the complete opposite because that would be more of a challenge. I don't know really. Whatever comes my way I'd be more than happy to do. It's always been my dream to be in a war film. When I saw "Saving Private Ryan," I said that's a quality film. That's a film you want to be in, but also I love comedy. There's not a particular genre that I would do or wouldn't do. I just want to act.

Q: Why is it so bittersweet for you that this series is coming to an end?

Lewis: You lose the security of having "Harry Potter." I hate auditioning. Auditions are the worst thing in the world. I can sit around the table and talk to you, but you ask me to do an audition. I go to pieces. I can't do it. I've always known that when I go for an audition I still have "Harry Potter" so if I don't get it then it's fine and I'll go back to work on Monday for "Harry Potter." Now, that safety net is gone and I'll have to pull my finger out and do some work. So that's going to be a sad thing, but it's also like a meeting place. It's like a school common room like in "Harry Potter" where you can come and see all of your friends. You come in and sit around the breakfast table in the morning and you chat with each other about what you've been up to. That's not going to be there anymore, but at the same time I'm looking forward to getting out there and doing some other stuff. 

Q: What did the producers think when you came to work with a tattoo?

Lewis: I asked for permission because I'm a good boy. I spoke to David Barron and I asked for permission. As a parent he wasn't happy but he understood so he said it's fine. 

Q: What's your tattoo of?

Lewis: It's number 11. It's my lucky number. I'll always wear it for a sport or whatever I need to wear a number for. 

Q: You have a big following on Twitter. Can you talk about your interaction with fans?

Lewis: It's a very interesting thing this Twitter. It's an odd thing. It's for arrogant people to let people know what they're doing all the time so I'm doing it. Everyone else clearly wants to know what I'm doing so I'm going to go tell them. It confuses me and fascinates me. It's a great way of letting people know what you're up to in a professional sense. The fans love anything to do with "Harry Potter" and just the mention of me going to work on Monday they love it. I know from being a huge fan of films and television that if I could follow – I do. On Twitter, I follow people that I'm massively star struck by. It's interesting to see what they're up to. Carrie Fisher for example. "Star Wars" was the best thing that ever happened to me as a kid. I follow her on there and see what she's up to. It's ridiculous really. It's not a glamorous as I thought Carrie Fisher's life to be. It's just interesting. You can engage with fans. They can ask questions and you can answer them. It's a lot quicker than fan mail. It's a fun way of doing it. I've tried really hard recently not to keep it about absolute rubbish. It's very often rubbish comes out of my mouth and I try really hard not to do it. Sometimes it bursts out but I'm going to try to keep it as professional as possible. 

Q: What abut updates about the games?

Lewis: That's the problem - I just get too excited about football. I need to calm that down. 

Q: If you weren't an actor, what would you pursue?

Lewis: I'd sit on the sofa and watch TV. I honestly don't know. Since the age of five, I haven't worked a day doing anything else. I was on Celebrity Mastermind actually last year and my subject was Oasis and I did loads of research on Oasis. I read this amazing book called "Take Me There" which is about this journalist Paul Mathur who went on tour with Oasis for a few years and I've never wanted to be a rock 'n' roll star so bad in my entire life after reading that book. I'm actually in a band in well called The Transmission with some guys back home so maybe that's another avenue I'll be looking at in the future. 

Q: So were you crushed when Oasis broke up?

Lewis: I was a little bit, yeah. I was away actually at the time. I was at the Leeds Festival. They broke up while I was at Leeds Festival. I thought it was just a rumor and it wasn't.

David Yates knows how to get the job done! He was chosen over an array of talented directors to bring the "Harry Potter" movies to an end and he spoke with ComingSoon.net briefly about his plans for the final installments.

Q: We know as of now you don't know how the movie will be split, but what are you looking to achieve with the split? Is it about how you're ending the first film? How you're beginning the second?

David Yates: I think the first film needs to feel like a complete experience. That's the number one priority. We looked at initially at kind of cliffhanger ending because we thought that would be kind of neat and interesting. There is always someone who dies at the end of a "Harry Potter" film. I thought why don't we just end it in a very different way to how the last two or three have ended. I looked at it and I think we have a point now - we've actually got a scene which I think is quite cool to end the first part which is we still have an emotional resolution. The film still feels quite complete. I can't tell you what it is until I'm sure it's the right thing to do honestly. We're moving pieces around all the time. It feels good actually. It feels right. It climatic, but it kind of offers a slight cliffhanger element to it. It's very early days in the editing. We've been shooting for a year-and-a-half. We've been editing alongside the shoot, but editing is such an extraordinary process because you're always playing and trying different things. I'm not committed to anything yet. I haven't presented anything to the studio or to the producers about where we're ending. We're still playing.

Q: Are there things you're still discovering that are exciting and new about the "Harry Potter" world? What also made you decide to keep going after the first one you worked on?

Yates: It's too much fun to stop to be honest. It's a great world to be working with. It's so rich and playful. At the beginning of Part 1 we've got this car chase. It's a wizard car chase. Jo gives us the opportunities in what she's put together in "Hallows" that I didn't get to do in "Half- Blood" and "Order of the Phoenix" because she's so imaginative. I never feel like I'm making the same movie. Six for me felt very different than five because there was more comedy and it was more playful, it had a slightly different tone, it wasn't as intense, it wasn't as tight. In "Hallows - Part 1" is these kids are on the road. They feel very small in a very big world. They are away from Hogwarts - this big familiar comfortable blanket that they've grown up with. They feel quite surprisingly vulnerable and fragile in this big Muggle world. With the second film, I just want it to be a big opera. I want it to be big and loud and exciting. I want it to be a big action spectacle. 

Q: How are you working with the actors to get these very emotional scenes out of them?

Yates: Well they've gotten older and that means in their life they have experienced more. Any actor draws on that so you encourage them to bring a bit of what they've learned from the real world and their real lives into their performances. They become a little bit more sophisticated in what they do. Also I'm a big believer in giving them a bit more freedom to try things so we might do a take and instead of going cut, we'll just do the take again. We never stop so you give them the opportunity to tune in into the moment. One thing I often say to Daniel is that you have to tune into this experience. It's a bit like a dial on a radio. Here's a bit static. Here the sounds not quite right and here you're actually here - you're in it. You're always saying let's try to be in that experience. When you're in that experience you don't have to show it. It just has to happen to you. There was a torturing [scene] with Emma and Bellatrix. Emma was really keen to do this torturing scene. I said we had to be really careful about how we do it and she completely gave herself to the process. What we did was set up a couple of cameras and Helena [Bonham Carter] got on top of Emma basically and she was writing mud blood on her arm. We just let the whole thing role for about three or four minutes. In that three or four minutes there was some good bits and not so good bits. There were one or two moments that were really powerful where Emma was just able to let go and forget for a moment she was acting. She still was acting - you're still performing but she lost herself in this process. The screams were quite horrible to listen to. You could feel it on stage. Everyone felt uncomfortable. Everyone sort of stepped back a bit. It was a very off energy in the room because she was exploring exercising demons really and serving the scene in doing that. It was really interesting.

Q: Are you shooting for an audience at this point or for the general field?

Yates: It's an odd thing, "Potter," because it seems to attract six-year-old kids and 60-year-old men and women. Years ago, I saw people reading the book on the tube and it wasn't kids who were reading the book, it was adults reading the book. Jo Rowlings just created this world that has this universal appeal and it's not ageist in any sense. We have pretty scary things and I worry about younger kids seeing some of the stuff because it's quite scary but at the same time they seem to like scary stuff. So I never think about the demographic. I just think how can we make this as fun and interesting as possible.