Unveiling the Ultimate Challenge: The Director's Perspective on the 2-Part Split of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Summary

Director David Yates faced the challenge of crafting a satisfying two-part split for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as the first part didn't have a third act.

Part 1 was crafted as a road movie that would challenge the characters outside their comfort zone and assess their personal development. Part 2, on the other hand, served as the pinnacle and culmination of the ultimate showdown, delivering an exhilarating and explosive finale.

This division in the narrative allowed Part 2 to delve deeper into the characters' journeys and deliver a gratifying resolution to the cherished franchise.

After igniting a popular trend in YA adaptations, director David Yates discusses the greatest obstacle he faced while splitting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two parts. The seventh and final novel of J.K. Rowling's beloved fantasy franchise made its silver screen debut in 2010 and 2011. Yates, along with the creative team behind previous adaptations, opted to divide the book into multiple installments. Their strategy proved successful, as both Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 and Part 2 received critical acclaim and achieved commercial success. In fact, the latter held the title of Warner Bros.' highest-grossing film until Barbie came along. During a recent interview with Collider, discussing his Netflix thriller Pain Hustlers, David Yates reflected on his experience within the Wizarding World franchise. When questioned about the challenges of piecing together his movies, considering he has directed a total of seven to date, the director specifically addressed the difficulties of effectively splitting Rowling's final novel into two satisfying parts. Read on to discover Yates' explanation.

That's a tough question. I would say Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One, which is one of the Potter films. The biggest challenge with that film was that it didn't have a proper third act. It lost momentum halfway through, and Mark and I would often sit there trying to figure out how to address that. We would say, "This movie doesn't have a third act. What are we going to do? This is crazy."

For both Part One and Part Two, the idea was to have Part One serve as a road movie where the kids are taken out of the school and put in danger, testing their relationship and helping them grow up. Then, Part Two would be the big climax and finale. So, we worked really hard on Part One to create a sense of escalation towards the end, even though there wasn't much happening in the second half of the movie. I have to say, the feedback I still get from people who say, "My favorite film is Hallows: Part One. It felt like a European road movie," is amazing. But they don't realize the amount of editing work we put into it.

Why Deathly Hallows Remains The Best Two-Part Movie Split

Following the success of WB's decision to split up the final installments of their YA franchises, other studios began adopting this strategy. Summit Entertainment also achieved commercial success by dividing The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn into two movies, which collectively earned $1.561 billion despite negative reviews. Lionsgate attempted to do the same with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay and The Divergent Series: Allegiant. However, Mockingjay had disappointing box office returns and Allegiant performed poorly, leading to the cancellation of its second part.

While Breaking Dawn's source material provided a strong argument for the split due to its length of over 700 pages, the other franchises faced criticism even from fans because their stories could have been condensed into a single film. Amongst its competition, Deathly Hallows has a relatively longer book, with its first edition exceeding 600 pages.

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Another significant advantage of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movies was their convenient division within the book, enabling Part 1 to conclude at the moment of Dobby's death caused by Bellatrix and Voldemort's successful acquisition of the Elder Wand. As a result, Part 2 could further develop the character progressions established in its predecessor and the overarching franchise, while also delivering a gratifying and conclusive ending for the devoted audiences that had adored these movies over the span of ten years.

Source: Collider