10 Foolproof Steps For A Perfect Harry Potter Remake
There's new books, plays and movies, but perhaps it would be better to cast the reboot spell.
Like any self-respecting millennial, I think Harry Potter is brilliant. And, like any self-respecting millennial who read the books first, I think the Harry Potter movies are a major missed opportunity. So much so that I've written before about how the films are a poor adaptation that miss the heart of J.K. Rowling's masterful narrative (and I would very much recommend giving that article a read before diving into this).
Now, I've always wanted to have a remake of Harry Potter that began things knowing the full story, and thinking about how the movies, especially the later, David Yates-directed ones, royally messed it up, got me thinking about how exactly it could be done from a modern standpoint (remember that it's now fifteen years since the release of The Philosopher's Stone).
And so here's ten steps, from timing to structure to casting to general story approach, for how to best re-adapt Harry Potter.
Bonus Step - Don't Pronounce Voldemort As Rowling Says
J.K. Rowling hasn't been shy about chipping in with further elaboration on the Harry Potter mythos since the series wrapped up - there's a whole website dedicated to it, after all - but while she's clearly doing it from a innate passion, some of her points feel a little forced. Biggest of all is her insistence that everyone's pronouncing Voldemort wrong; apparently the "t" is silent, fitting with the name's origins from the French word "mort", meaning death.
Fair enough that's linguistically logical, but it sounds naff and goes against fifteen years of opposite reinforcement. That didn't stop her forcing it on the actors in The Cursed Child stage-play though, to reportedly eye-rolling effect. Fingers crossed any later films/shows/plays don't carry that through.
10. Wait Until The Cursed Child Has Died Down
The most upsetting development for anyone eager to get a new take on Harry Potter is that J.K. Rowling doesn't look like she's going to let the Daniel Radcliffe vintage die anytime soon. It's presumed Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them takes place in the movie's warped continuity, and while The Cursed Child follows on from the book timeline, it's widely expected that it'll get a movie approximation a la The Force Awakens eventually (i.e. once the original cast are old enough). With so much new Potter riffing on the previous era, doing a repeat seems impossible.
But, in that case, just wait. Let the hype around all this peter out and then forge ahead. People will be excited to revisit the original books from a new perspective, and after so much time there'll likely be a widespread reappraisal of the original eight films that reveals some of their creaks. It's an annoying step for sure, but worth it.
That being said, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with having a redo happen alongside some extension of the early elements. At present we have two Supermen, two Flashes and three Batmen across film and TV alone, and if Harry Potter really is going to be a ubiquitous mythology, perhaps it could work sooner. Especially given the best way to reboot is a medium change...