Original Harry Potter helmer Chris Columbus is praising HBO‘s forthcoming television reboot, calling it a “spectacular idea” that will allow for the exploration of previously uncharted Hogwarts hallways.
“There’s a certain restriction when you’re making a film,” the Nosferatu producer told People. The Oscar-nominated multi-hyphenate — who oversaw 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and 2002’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — noted that there isn’t a spell that can magically cram novel-length material into a tight feature.
“Our film was 2 hours and 40 minutes, and the second one was almost as long,” he said, adding that his productions attempted to “get as much of the book in as possible.”
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Much ado has been made about the ambitious revival, which HBO & Max Content chairman and CEO Casey Bloys vowed would be a “faithful adaptation” based on author J.K. Rowling‘s beloved children’s book series and span “10 consecutive years,” defying previous early reports that the serialized adaptation would follow a book-a-season format. As a result, there is a lot more breathing room for discarded plotlines.
“The fact that they have the leisure of [multiple] episodes for each book, I think that’s fantastic,” the Home Alone filmmaker said. “You can get all the stuff in the series that we didn’t have an opportunity to do … all these great scenes that we just couldn’t put in the films.”
He concluded, “I look forward to seeing what they’re trying to do with it. I think it’s great.”
Per previous reporting, principal photography will commence this summer, spearheaded by showrunner Francesca Gardiner. A jaw-dropping 32,000 children have since auditioned for the coveted trio of Harry, Hermione and Ron, originated by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.
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