‘Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince’ Movie Strays From Book

I don’t know if I’m alone in wishing writers and directors who embark on converting a book in to a movie would stick to the book as much possible? It’s NOT always possible of course, but I hate going to see my favourites books brought to life on the big screen, only to have my enjoyment spoilt by noticing omissions or plot devices which I deem unnecessary.

As a big Harry Potter fan, the films, although I love them, are one of the biggest sources of annoyance for me. So it fills me with dread to hear that the movie for Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince is going to stray from the book, and even include a whole new scene; one which could ruin an important element in the last film of the series.

According to MTV Movies, David Baron, the producer of the sixth film, an extra scene was added to the film to make sense of what was happening in the Muggle world while the Death Eaters were on the rise. He told them:

“Jo (Rowling) was able throughout the quite lengthy book to keep dropping little snippets of what was happening in the outside world - there’d be people reading newspapers and talking about how somebody’s parents had been killed, or somebody had been withdrawn from school because their parents didn’t think it was safe,”

“And we’re making aware that the Muggle world is also experiencing these disasters…This was brought in because even in what would normally be considered the safe haven of the Burrow, nobody’s safe.”

From his description, we can fathom that the scene is likely to be an attack on the Burrow from the Death Eaters. Fine, it makes cinematic sense, but as Shawn Adler points out, doesn’t that kind of take away from the impact of a similar scene in the final book, and therefore, film?

One explanation is that the wedding scene between Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour may not be planned to even appear in the last film. Clémence Poésy, who played the French witch in Goblet Of Fire, has already revealed she’s not in The Half Blood Prince, so maybe the whole union, and that side of the plot has been removed altogether?

I guess we’ll have to wait and see what they have planned, but if they mess the rest of the series up, I won’t be a happy bunny.