David Yates, Oliver Phelps talk 'Potter' on upcoming episode of MuggleCast

MuggleCast Episode 235 will be a mini-cast, featuring interviews with two special guests: director David Yates and actor Oliver Phelps.

Yates has directed the last four Harry Potter films, including most recently, Deathly Hallows - Part 2. Phelps has spent over a decade playing George Weasley in all eight Potter films.

This special episode of our podcast will be released on Friday. In the meantime, here is a sneak peek of our discussion with director David Yates.

On not everything in the books ending up in the films:

"I get frustrated at some of the things we take out too, because we're all fans of the material of the original books, but you have to make choices sometimes to make sure that what we end up with in the theater, ultimately works on its own terms."

On the final battle between Harry and Voldemort:

"I wanted that final confrontation between the two of them to be bit more expansive. So you had a greater sense of climax, given we've spent so long with those characters. And their animosity and their hatred for each other. So it felt to me as though it would feel much more personal and dynamic if they were to head off away from the rest of everybody and continue fighting. So that was the idea behind it. We had an earlier version of it which finished in a similar way to the book and it worked really well in the book, but in a movie we needed a more kinetic conclusion."

Our next full episode of MuggleCast will include a definitive Part 2 discussion, as well as coverage on the upcoming beta launch of Pottermore. It will be recorded next week.