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HBO’s Harry Potter reboot has been the subject of controversy since it was first announced. Even if it isn’t the cynical cash grab that it appears to be, there is still the sticky situation with the author that leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouths. With each passing news break, there appears to be some new issue arising out of the production. Once again, Ginny Weasley has proven to be a problematic character as she needs to be recast in Season 2. On the other side of the spectrum, the desaturated visuals have proven not to be a hit with fans.
Now, there is yet another roadblock. According to Variety, scheduling the child actors has been somewhat of a challenge. In the previous adaptations, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint only had to be scheduled for a two-hour movie every year. The upcoming television series is giving more work to its child performers with the expectation that a season will come out every year. This reality has proven to be an issue for the production as a whole.
The Harry Potter Films Weren’t as Rigorous as the Television Reboot
As it turns out, more does not always mean better. The original Harry Potter films truncated more storylines, but this allowed a leaner plot that gave the actors room to breathe. The television series is instead stretching The Philosopher’s Stone into an eight-episode season, which has put pressure on the production. Cinematographer Adriano Goldman spoke to Variety about the challenges that the series is facing.
“You have to shoot really fast, and the faster you go, the more you compromise quality," Goldman explained. "There’s no way around it, right? Obviously, we have a lot of resources, but it’s brutal. The kids’ screen time is really brutal. So the methodology is very specific. You practically have to pre-shoot all the scenes while they’re in class.”
As with any production that features child actors, there are labor laws that only allow them to work a certain number of hours during the day. They additionally have to attend school, an added pressure to the filming schedule. This seems to be yet another unforeseen consequence of fast-tracking a Harry Potter television series. The production has not seemed to be entirely sustainable, especially when compared to the franchise films.
The Harry Potter movies ended only a decade and a half ago, which was the initial complaint following this hasty project. Now it seems that, in addition to nostalgic fans not fully supporting a return to this IP, everything that can go wrong is going wrong.
The Quality of Harry Potter Is Coming Under Scrutiny
At first glance, there were some benefits to adapting Harry Potter into television form. It has become the current consensus that episodic television is the best way to adapt longer stories such as these. Video game adaptations seemed to have cracked the code in that matter. The large argument for Harry Potter is that it will adapt moments that had to be cut from the feature films for time.
The problematic filming of the series, however, makes many question if that is even worth all the effort. The franchise movies are perfectly serviceable, and their quality was never questioned. As the Harry Potter series rushes towards its Christmas premiere, even the cinematographer worries about the quality of the series.
Adriano Goldman raised concerns about the filming of the series because of the tight schedule Harry Potter has to operate under. When three of the main cast members are children, there is very little content the series can film without them. Harry Potter is naturally told through the titular character’s perspective, and there is no avoiding that fact. The DP told Variety that the young actors typically only shoot for an hour and a half at a time, requiring him to film six setups before they leave.
This is far from the magical veneer the show portrays on the outside. This schedule is so taxing that it practically requires the Time Turner famously used by Hermione herself. With a series already under so much scrutiny, it is disheartening to hear that everyone’s worst assumptions about the show could come to fruition. This delicate balancing act would have to be in effect for most of the series, considering the age of the child actors. It seems that even in its early days, Harry Potter needs a magic spell to sustain itself.
