Date: 2nd February 2004

Director resists temptation to split Potter film


Director Mike Newell says he will resist the temptation to split the fourth Harry Potter film into two parts.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is much longer than either of the first two books, which both made two-and-a-half hour films.

But Newell says he's confident he can turn the fourth book into one film, reports Empire.

He said: "As far as I'm concerned it's absolutely possible to do it in one. I think it would be slightly embarrassing to do it in two.

"
It's a classic paranoid thriller in a way. I've spent Christmas watching things like The Parallax View and The Insider and Three Days of the Condor.

"What you have is a story at the beginning of which the powers of evil have a plan, which is absolutely not revealed to your hero.

"
The kid just wonders into another year at school, then this huge notion of the competition surprises him.

"But there is, of course, a malign intelligence which is manipulating things. And so he gets more and more suspicious until there is a shoot-out between him and the bad guy. That's a really good, strong thriller shape."

Source: Press Release