SnitchSeeker.com - Michael Goldenberg talks Order of the Phoenix

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Michael Goldenberg talks Order of the Phoenix

In an interview with Carnegie Mellon Today, Michael Goldenberg, the screenwriter for the fifth film, talks about his experience writing Order of the Phoenix. Specifically he speaks about the process of adaptation, the character of James Potter and father figures.

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“You are translating from one language into a very different one,” he says. “The tools of a screenwriter are opposite to those of a novelist. In a novel, you have the luxury of digressing and exploring, and stopping to luxuriate in all the details. Screenwriting is first and foremost about compression—distilling, picking the one detail, the one telling image, or the dialogue that encapsulates what might have taken many pages in the book. We’re looking at it from the other end of the telescope.”

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“It’s a powerful moment when your parent—and especially a parent who Harry has idealized enormously because he never knew him—is revealed as a flawed human being. I remember that moment for me, and I know there is a similar moment for a lot of people—and not just your parents but that the people in charge are just as messed up and confused and uncertain as you are, and how terrifying that is. It’s the death of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and God all wrapped up in one.”

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“Jo pointed out that Harry always was secure in his mother’s love, but over the course of all of the books, he keeps coming up with flawed father figures,” Goldenberg says. “In Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore, who has been the overtly paternal figure, is suddenly radically absent from the story. Dumbledore had always been all wise and all knowing, but now he is revealed as just a man—a very smart man, but one who has, in this case, made a terrible mistake, a strategic error that has resulted in disaster, and he is admitting that to Harry—both because Harry deserves to know, but also because Harry needs to be disillusioned. He needs to realize that in order for him to grow up and take on the responsibilities that he needs to take on, Dumbledore has to come down from his pedestal.

“That’s very moving to me. I do think it’s one of the great themes—loss of innocence. I’ve always been attracted to coming-of-age stories that dealt with that. So that was my deepest connection to this story—and the reason I wanted to tell it. Life lessons happen, and he goes from being a kid who sees the world in fairly black and white terms to seeing just how complicated a place it is—and how complicated he is. I thought that was a really good story to tell, particularly now.”

Source: The Leaky Cauldron

Talk about compression. That's one thing I can say that I don't like about movies in general. I thought they should've included the part about Ron and Hermione being prefects; Harry's separation from the others was pretty well-written, but to include that part would have made it even better. And it's not like it would have been more costly to do.

And the whole thing about Dumbledore's mistake; I found that the part in the book about Dumbledore's admission of his mistake(s) was spectacularly skated over in the film. It would have created a very emotional moment for the actors; Dumbledore cries! Harry flips tables and breaks things! It was such a golden opportunity to create substance and depth.

First to post! :)

^ That's true *nods* They could have deepened the whole Harry/Dumbledore relationship in OotP. The film would have been loads better. I hope they do that in HBP or the film will have no sense whatsoever.

personaly i think he is a better script writer than Kloves but that is my personal opinion. and he has to xondense the books sadly people dont seem to want to watch for hours!

I think that whole Harry/Dum. thing was totally over looked. Also when they were talking about Legimuns(sp the mind reading this, not mind reading but you know what i mean) it didn't make any sence to thuse who don't read the books. This is the first movie where had you not read the books you might be slightly confused.

--EY!!!! what is this screenwriter think he's doing? having an interview......

way-to-let down your screenwriter brethren.

I have to wonder if maybe the script originally included more about Harry and Dumbledore, and perhaps it was edited out later. Because it sure wasn't covered in the film.

I'm still annoyed that they cut Quidditch and the Prefects so I'm not really a fan of his. As much as I despise Kloves, I know Kloves would never have cut the Quidditch scenes since it was a golden opportunity to make Ron look bad.

good,am glad goldenberg gives interviews like this so we know.:hermy:

I really love the insight Jo gave him about Harry's parental figures, especially about how he already has a mother yet has been yearning for a fatherly figure his entire life, and never truly found what you could think is 'the perfect dad', especially in James. I never really thought about it that way, but it's definitely true.

Yeah Michael, tell us how much fun it was to first shred each page of the book through a wood chipper, then a trash compactor, try to put the slightly readable pieces back together, leave out countless parts of the storyline that are essential to the entire septology, add a few lines of trite dialogue and storyline parts that really had no place being there, and then puke the whole thing back up into a mess that really doesn't have much going for it other than cinematography. (Even the soundtrack was blander than Hayden Christensen in SW). Does your stomach hurt Michael? Because mine sure does. Pass the Pepto!

WOOHOO I'm a puffskein. Everyone seal up your noses, or the boogers are MINE! :woot:

wow this is an interesting interview

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personaly i think he is a better script writer than Kloves but that is my personal opinion

I think I have the same opinion and I hope Kloves refines his technique more cause ootp was so successful.

Woah, he certainly seems to know what he's doing. -ish well pleased-

I agree with football chick; he seems so really know what he's doing. I hope it's going to be good! :D

Yeah, it is pretty hard being a screenwriter with all the many fans expecting so much ~~I'm so one of them!~~ and you can't really fit all the things from the book into a 2-hour movie.

awesome interiview!! I can't imagine how hard it must eb to change a book into a movie

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Originally Posted by Padie (Post 6116845)

*agrees* I think that was the thing I missed most in the OotP, and the HBP wont work if they cut out that part again