David Yates to Direct Final Harry Potter Film?
Well, if you were hoping that Guillermo Del Toro, Peter Jackson or any of your other favourite directors might have a chance to take on the final Harry Potter film, you might not want to hold your breath any longer. According to a blog post by author Lois Lowry, David Yates has decided he wants to see the Harry Potter franchise through to the end by directing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as well. (Yates previously helmed last year’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and is currently finishing up production on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due out later this year.)
Who is Lois Lowry, you ask? She is the author of the children’s sci-fi/fantasy series The Giver Trilogy. Apparently Yates’ next project was going to be an adaptation of the first book in this series, but this has now been pushed back to accommodate for the final Potter flick.
I imagine this news will be disappointing to some, but since Del Toro is now taking on The Hobbit instead, we all know he wouldn’t have been available anyway. Personally I don’t have much of an opinion one way or another. The last Harry Potter movie was probably my second-least favourite of the series, but I can’t say that it was due to Yates’ direction specifically. I actually liked his style for the most part. Do you care if Yates directs the final chapter?
Comments (5)
Something that I’ve enjoyed about the last three films was that despite being helmed by three different directors, there was a nice stylistic consistency to them as a unit and each of the directors brought something unique to the projects. My concern with Yates helming the three final films is that it will lead to an overall sameness (despite different plots) for those films. I know I’m in a minority, but I did love Chris Columbus’ direction for the very first film, but by the time he got to the second film, the magic (forgive the pun) had gone out from what he could bring to the movie. Maybe that’s something that was problematic with Columbus and it won’t plague Yates, but I do genuinely like the fact that they’ve had multiple directors working on the project.
That said, I wouldn’t mind it if they brought Alfonso Cuaron back to finish the series. I really think the things he did with the third film would be really wonderful with the content of the seventh film.
Posted by Liz on February 20th, 2008Ugh! Where is Alfonso Cuaron? I thought he was in the running? I like Yates, and I think he’ll do a fine job for number 6. But number 7 is an all out war. Where is my Children of Men director? Terry Gilliam? Give me some love Warner Bros.. give me some love..
Posted by Aaron on February 20th, 2008i was impressed by Yates… if a Potter fan doesnt like the film I think they’d have to blame the content and how it had to be so severely cut down to run time, because Yates certainly has the style and tone to make it work. That said, maybe this guy needs to direct some other films and show me what he’s really got.
Posted by Goon on February 20th, 2008I think Yates will do a serviceable job. Alfonso Cuaron directing was a one-off type of thing. And to have Terry Gilliam direct would send the weirdness of the film way off the charts, plus someone in the cast would probably die or go crazy before production wrapped. Hey, why not give Werner Herzog a call– now that’s a Potter film I’d like to see.
Posted by Jon Rocks on February 20th, 2008Same here….have no problems with Yates, especially if he keeps improving his style through each film.
Posted by ShenEvil44 on February 20th, 2008Leave a Reply