David Heyman on the Bruce Springsteen-Penned “Harry Potter” Song That Never Was (And More!)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has nearly arrived, and that means interviews with the cast and crew are a dime a dozen – which is always a great way to learn little-known facts about our favorite film franchise! David Heyman, producer of the Potter and Fantastic Beasts films, provided us with one we hadn’t heard before in a recent interview: that Bruce Springsteen wrote a song inspired by Harry Potter that was turned down for the films.
Heyman says of the lost Springsteen (presumed) masterpiece,
It [was hard to turn Springsteen down]. Chris [Columbus, director of the first two Harry Potter films] labored over it and then wrote a 12-page letter explaining and apologizing for not including it, because it was completely unsolicited. He just delivered this song. We didn’t go to Bruce first; he just delivered it. But it just didn’t feel right to have a song. I really like Pharrell, but having a song at the end of Paddington? A pop song at the end of Paddington in the U.S. was not what ultimately was right for the film. Anywhere else in the world, we don’t have it. We had a Gwen Stefani and Pharrell song at the end of the first Paddington. And it’s a really lovely song, but it was driven by marketing as opposed to what was right for the film. Nowhere else in the world was that song in the film.
Springsteen himself had previously commented on the song’s existence:
It was pretty good. It was a song that I wrote for my eldest son; it was a big ballad that was very uncharacteristic of something I’d sing myself. But it was something that I thought would have fit lovely; at some point I’d like to get it into a children’s movie of some sort because it was a pretty lovely song.
Maybe the Springsteen song can one day appear on a Lost Musical Gems of the Wizarding World album along with the Ilvermorny school song written by Alison Sudol that Heyman has mentioned?
Heyman also touched on the fact that five Fantastic Beasts films have been announced before the first one is even released – a fact which has some fans elated and others a bit puzzled.
I think Jo [J. K. Rowling] sees the specter of it. She’s gotten into writing the second one. She sees the narrative stretching over five films. It was announced. Let’s see how people respond to this. I hope people will like it. I’m really proud of the film. But you never know until the audience speaks. So if it does well, we’ll make a second. If the second does well, we’ll make a third. If the third does well, we’ll make a fourth. But really, we won’t know. I’m cautiously optimistic.
Us too, David. Us too.
