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Blog Exclusive: 'Harry Potter' Director David Yates on Torturing Hermione

By: Lizerne Guiting on November 12, 2010 at 4:52PM Comments (4)

David YatesWe've got our full video interviews from the HP 7 junket still on the way, but for a little preview of what's to come, here's a snippet of our interview with HP director David Yates. In the new Potter flick - the most suspenseful and darkest by far – there's a torture scene that's fairly  graphic and faithful to Rowling's source material, in which Bellatrix (Helena Bonham Carter) scours "Mudblood" on Hermione's (Emma Watson) skin. Yates shared his thoughts on filming the uncomfortable scene, and speculated on an eighth book, which Rowling has declared could be in the near future…

Q. What preparation and approach did you use for Hermione's torture scene?
Yates: Emma wanted to do research. She was really keen to get it right. It seemed like a really bizarre request, but I asked my assistant to find some documentaries where people talk about what it's like to be tortured. I didn't shoot it like a scene where you [say] action [and] cut. I kind of let the camera roll for four or five minutes and I let Helena and Emma improvise to a certain extent those moments, so they could build an intensity together.
 
Q. What was Watson's reaction?
Yates: The first time we did it, I [did] yell cut. Emma said, 'You cut too early! You cut too early!' She was getting to this intense point. And I said, 'Well, it was getting scary, Ems!' And she said, 'No no no no, let me try, let me try.' There were one or two moments that were really powerful, where Emma was able to just let go a little bit and forget for a moment that she was acting. And the screams were quite horrible to listen to. It was a very odd energy in the room. She was kind of exploring and exorcising demons really, and serving the scene doing that. I felt in that moment, and in that day and in that room, she kind of crossed the line as an actress. She discovered something within herself that will make her a great actor.
 
Q. In addition to the series' darkened themes, Deathly Hallows seems to have an emotional rawness to it.
Yates: School has always been a place of safety. And then you put them in a big world. It's dangerous and you sort of feel for them in a profound way. I think the reason it feels raw sometimes is because they're making choices and they're having experiences, which is forcing them to grow up. We've all been through experiences that forced us to realize how complicated the world is and how complicated we are. And that's what some of this story captures.
 
Q. J.K. Rowling has hinted an eighth book isn't out of the question. If there were another film after Deathly Hallows, would you be up for it?
Yates: I think it would be healthy probably to pass on the torch. There are so many directors who'd do a fabulous job of revisiting this world. I've made four which is quite a lot, but having said that, after a year or two, making other stuff, who knows. It might be wonderful to come back to…but that's so much conjecture…

Tags: Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, David Yates

Categories: Harry Potter

Comments (4)Leave a Comment

  • Nov 13th 2010 12:06PM

    Daisho  said...

    Ooo.. a dark messed up torturing scene... Boy! I can't wait to bring my kids to see this film!!

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  • Nov 13th 2010 12:12PM

    579981189  said...

    The whole point of the series of books is that the characters and situations grew with the readers...you can't go from book 1 - 7 in one year to appreciate them if you are a young reader. So by the time a reader visited each book, once a year, they were the same age as the characters and able to relate at a different level. I'd never take my 6 year old to see any of them but the very first.

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  • Nov 14th 2010 10:07AM

    Daisho  said...

    I was just joking! Besides mostly everyone who has read the books (despite age) are going to want to see the film, and you probably can't stop the younger audiences from see it too (6-12).

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  • Nov 13th 2010 10:19AM

    lynnmovielover  said...

    An eighth book sounds like exploitation of success, but who isn't doing that these days? I'm not sure where an 8th book would go except to maybe explain what happens before the denoument in the seventh book. Sounds anticlimactic to me.

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