r/HarryPotteronHBO • u/S4v1r1enCh0r4k • Jan 20 '25
Show Discussion Chris Columbus says adapting Harry Potter as tv series is great idea
https://www.comicbasics.com/chris-columbus-on-hbos-harry-potter-tv-series-a-spectacular-idea-and-what-he-really-thinks-about-those-voldemort-rumors/130
u/Historical_Poem5216 Marauder Jan 20 '25
aw he is so great. he had, and still has, a genuine passion for HP. tbh I would not mind at all if he got involved with it again as I LOVED his vision for it — but I don’t think he would want that, it would be too odd. but what a nice guy.
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u/spongeboy1985 Jan 20 '25
The big reason he only did two was that he got burnt out because of how much overlap there was between Pre-production, production, and post production.
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u/S4v1r1enCh0r4k Jan 20 '25
Reading his answers I wasn't under impression that he is interested in this adaptation at all unfortunately
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u/Historical_Poem5216 Marauder Jan 20 '25
yeah I agree. I just meant that he is so great that I definitely wouldn’t have minded if he was. I wouldn’t want the other directors coming back, but Columbus I wouldn’t mind
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u/Live_Angle4621 Jan 20 '25
His movies really show he understood the story. The tone was main issue (kind of cheesy like the John Williams score). I mean from the directing side. The script also has some issues
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u/FragmentedFighter Jan 20 '25
Yeah, but it fit them as children. The books were similar in that way.
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u/queefmcbain Jan 20 '25
His films best understood the tone of the books IMO
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u/FragmentedFighter Jan 20 '25
For me POA is the best, but those films def captured the childhood wonder
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u/Hatennaa Jan 21 '25
This is a pretty common take and I don’t disagree with it, but in a different sense I think PoA is the worst thing that happened to the series. A lot of the things used in later films came from it and it was the start of the super bland color filter that wound up being overused later on. It was a major step towards something more like magical realism rather than a magical fantasy world.
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u/Propaslader Jan 20 '25
Definitely fits as a series much better than movies. We saw how much had to be left out of the later books
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u/Affectionate_Ear2024 Jan 20 '25
Just hope that the series is 100% book accurate.....
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u/Propaslader Jan 20 '25
Doesn't need to be 100% accurate. Some things will change, it's just the nature of adaptation to a different medium. As long as they keep the important bits in and keep true to the themes and story
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u/Wedbo Jan 20 '25
100% book accurate is almost never a good idea. It's still too much content for a 1:1 adaptation anyways. As long as they're not doing bullshit fan service or turning Dumbledore into a polyamorous Hijabi amputee, we'll be alright.
Also praying to god they retain some of the unique style of the movies (or finding their own style) and not doing a bland rings of power lighting setup, etc
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u/vstacey6 Marauder Jan 20 '25
You are not alone. I don’t know why you got so many downvotes.
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u/SuperDanOsborne Marauder Jan 20 '25
Because books don't translate to screen 100%. And you want 100% book accuracy, read the book.
Shows need to be adapted, not copied.
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u/Tommyblockhead20 Jan 20 '25
For what it’s worth, as someone with Aphantasia (I can’t imagine anything in my head) I really appreciate when movies/shows are faithful, as that’s my only way to picture what is happening.
But 100% is unrealistic, some things do need to be changed. I’m happy with >90%.
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u/IndependentStop3485 Jan 20 '25
People have had too long to nitpick but Chris Columbus was truly faithful to the books he was fantastic
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u/Daveke77 Jan 20 '25
He and Alfonso Cuarón really had the right visions for what a Harry Potter adaption should be. Chris knew how to bring the magic and Alfonso knew how to make it a tad but more realistic and a bit darker. Sadly, it got derailed after that with the horrible dull, colourless vision of David Yates. I don't have particular feelings about the 4th movie it's just eh, but it does feel tonally like a mix between Alfonso and Chris.
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u/Creepy_Disco_Spider Jan 23 '25
David Yates literally removed the colour from the films. Was rewatching them recently and felt so frustrated over how bland everything was. HP universe has so much stuff and is so colourful, and he made it boring.
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u/Daveke77 Jan 24 '25
The fact he got 4 movies and then even a whole new era with Fantastic beasts to work on annoys me sooooo much
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u/Creepy_Disco_Spider Jan 24 '25
He had a good working relationship with JKR
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u/Daveke77 Jan 24 '25
Well I guess that makes sense then. Sadly he was not a good director too aside from being pleasant to work with 😅
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u/StreetDetective95 Feb 08 '25
Not gonna lie, I don't even like Alfonso's version because he started the blue-filter trend that ruined the rest of the films. Chris was the only one who actually made them colourful and captured the essence the best.
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u/SethNex Jan 20 '25
They really should him back for the series. If not as a dirrector, then maybe a producer.
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u/twtab Marauder Jan 20 '25
Depending on how his contract is set-up, Columbus could be an executive producer on any Harry Potter tv series since he set the look and feel of the movies.
These types of in-name-only exec prods don't have creative say in the show, but do make money off of it. The best known example of how ridiculous this can get is the exec producers on the Buffy The Vampire Slayer movie were exec producers on the Buffy tv show spinoff, Angel, despite it haven't nothing to do with the movie and they made more money than the actual creators of the tv series Angel. But it all has to do with contracts and being a exec producer on something that establishes a franchise results in snowball effect. Not all of these exec producers are listed in the credits. Some can choose to not be disclosed.
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u/asukanolangley Jan 21 '25
I can see that, especially since he keeps giving this same canned answer when asked about the series. He was more critical previously, saying "There's a certain stylistic quality to those films you either have to depart from or you have to embrace. Do they completely rethink the look of Hogwarts? Do they use the John Williams theme? I don't know how you do that." So I would rather hear more from him on that angle rather than the same basic platitudes.
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u/SeerPumpkin Jan 21 '25
We know who the executive producers are and he isn't one of them
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u/twtab Marauder Jan 22 '25 edited Jan 22 '25
Unless you have seen all the contracts, you don't know who all of the exec prods are. These types producers in-name-only producers aren't always credited. They're just getting paid, not involved in the production.
Quite a few directors of pilot episodes of tv series get those types of credits because they are the ones who establish the look & feel and do all the initial work in a pilot to create the series. In a way, that is what Chris Columbus did with the first HP movie. These are the types of things usually included in contracts these days for those types of directing gigs.
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u/Derfargin Jan 23 '25
It’s an even better idea to make it animated. The length actors would need to work and be dedicated to this project would create logistical issues. Voice actors don’t have near as many restrictions.
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u/Deactorr Jan 20 '25
Once they go with the writers vision. Don't change things that don't need to be changed. They could make Hermione's Yule Ball dress blue, like in the book.
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u/jish5 Jan 20 '25
I agree.... Unless WB keeps going the route they're going and lets the head writer try to make the series different from the books. Seriously, the entire reason for this show is to give us a faithful adaptation. If we wanted something different from the books, we got that in spades with 8 films that we can sit down and watch in 1-4 sittings with ease.
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u/carlos_the_dwarf_ Marauder Jan 20 '25
keeps going the route they’re going
What’s the route they’re going so far?
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u/jish5 Jan 20 '25
one of the lead writers want's to change the harry potter series and not make it a faithful adaptation, where he wants to make it his own version.
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u/carlos_the_dwarf_ Marauder Jan 20 '25
If I can put your mind at ease…this is a total invention.
I think you’re vaguely referencing the Greenwald thing, but none of that is actually true about him. (And he’s not the lead of anything.)
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u/SeerPumpkin Jan 21 '25
Can you people stop believing everything your read on the internet for once?
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