Heyman said that he was tense until Rowling finally saw the film: "When Jo came up and gave me that hug and said thank you, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief." Rowling has indicated her approval of the movie through statements issued by Warner Bros.
Heyman was a producer of modest means (The Daytrippers) when he purchased Rowling's book, long before it became a phenomenon. Once it did, however, Hollywood's A-list directors were vying for the job, offering their own, somewhat dubious, interpretations of Rowling's vision.
"They were horrifying," Columbus said. "I have to bite my lip a lot, because I heard a lot of suggestions that made my skin crawl: Casting Hermione as an American, combining the first two books. A computer-animated version with the voice of Haley Joel Osment [from The Sixth Sense] is about as bad as it gets."
Humor and Darkness
Talking about the movie's tone, Columbus (Stepmom, Bicentennial Man) acknowledged that the film is more lugubrious than Rowling's whimsical book. "The film does have some humor in it, but we definitely opted for a darker world," he said. At times, it got too bleak. "What was supposed to be the big surprise in the film was that Jo [Rowling] wrote a new opening, which was the death of Harry's parents," Columbus said. "We shot it, and when I saw it, I realized I couldn't open the film with that dark an image. The darkness needs to grow. So we moved that montage later in the film."
Columbus insisted that the cast be entirely from the United Kingdom, and that the movie strictly adhere to Rowling's book.
Steve Kloves (who received an Oscar nomination for his Wonder Boys script adaptation) wrote the script and is currently working on the sequels. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is already in production, with the same cast.
Heyman, too, felt the film needed to be almost reverentially true to the printed page. "As the books became more successful, the challenge grew because you had more people to please," he said. "You don't want to disappoint so many fans."
Many who worked on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone were spurred on by a young fan: Heyman had younger siblings; Columbus, a daughter; Harris, a granddaughter who threatened never to speak to him again if he didn't play Dumbledore.
In Coltrane's case, it was his son, and Coltrane himself was keen to see a faithful adaptation. "I had breakfast with David Heyman and Chris Columbus," he said, "and we were kind of checking each other out, and I had decided, if I didn't think these were the right guys, I wouldn't do it. But I was utterly convinced."
The principles are reticent to discuss the shoot itself, fearing it will detract from the on-screen magic. All the players admit they know things that rabid fans don't know—specifically, what will happen in future books.
"Jo told people what's going to happen in books that haven't been written yet," Columbus said. "She's given each of us this information, and we're so loyal that we don't exchange stories of what's going to happen."
But Heyman hints: "If you look carefully at each of the actor's performances, particularly Robbie Coltrane or Alan Rickman, you'll get a glimpse of what will happen in the future."
Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Daily News
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