November 24, 2005

Kloves is Back for HP6 Movie:

For six years, he has thrashed around in a world created by another writer, teasing movies from complicated books of increasing girth and violence, then turning the scripts over to another fellow to direct.

“The plots are so torturous to convey to the screen,” he says. “Jo [Rowling] has created such a vivid world that you don’t want to leave anything out. But you have to. And it’s hard.”

So after spending almost two years on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Steve Kloves did The Unthinkable. He said “no” to Harry Potter.

“[Goblet of Fire] was very difficult because it was my favorite,” Kloves says. “Which always means you have to proceed carefully. And in it the wizard world gets larger - which is great, I loved the way Jo stretched things out. But I still had the same canvas. It could not be a four-hour movie.”

Scheduling issues also interfered - director Mike Newell, whom Kloves loved working with, wasn’t available in the beginning stages, which made things a bit difficult.

Although Kloves certainly has made plenty of money from the four films, he insists that was never a consideration.

…

But then as so often happens after these break-ups, regret set in. His children, 10 and 13, were not as thrilled that Daddy would be around more as Kloves thought they would be.

“I was surprised at how disappointed they were that I wasn’t doing No5,” he says. “I guess they thought it was cool that I wrote the movies.”

When Kloves read No6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, he found himself regretting his decision even more. He mentioned this to Warner Bros production president Jeff Robinov, who instantly welcomed him back - because everyone is happy with the work Kloves had done and also because this means Warner Bros can have two writers working almost simultaneously.