Fan Focus: Nick – October 2, 2011

20-year-old Nick from the United States

First off, how did you become a Harry Potter fan?

I am a late-bloomer in all honesty. I wish I could have been interested in the books when I was younger, but they didn’t appeal to me at the time. It was when HBP was in theaters, and I saw pictures of all my friends dressed up and just excited for this movie. I thought, “Hey, why not read the first one?” I borrowed it from my friend, fell in love with the trio, and the rest is really history.

Deathly Hallows Part Two!! Loved it? Hated it? Thoughts?

LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!!! For me, it was by far the best movie out of them all. The emotion captured in the movie far exceeded what I thought. Just the opening of seeing Snape looking the castle with that look in his face was just ugh, so so moving. In the book and the movie, when Harry realizes that he is going to die is the most moving thing I have ever read and saw. How Jo made you feel what Harry was going through is just inspiring. For those brief moments in the theater, I honestly felt like I was walking through the Forest with Harry, and the ghosts were all surrounding me. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much during a movie than I did at that part. So, SO great.

What were your favorite scenes that were straight from the book?

I believed I answered that without realizing it in the question above lol. As well as that one, I LOVED The Prince’s Tale. Seeing how Rickman portrayed Snape through the years was incredible. (I’m getting chills just thinking about it!!) Seeing him going through the Potter house to find Lily, with Harry in the background. And Snape talking to Dumbledore after the Potters were killed was very powerful. Also, when McGonagall made the castle come to life—I got chills so hard! Finally, the awkward Voldy hug was so SO funny. I still remember the theater laughing when we first saw that. So so funny.

What scenes that were changed did you liked? Disliked?

I read when MuggleNet got to see the movie before hand that they were changing Snape’s death which really got me mad, but when I saw that they only changed locations, I was okay with it. I thought they could have added a lot more with Fred’s death. That was such a shocker in the books, and totally unexpected. And even though they weren’t brought as much in the movies than in the books, they were very important characters that I thought deserved a bit more attention. Also, I didn’t like how they glossed over Lupin and Tonk’s death. Granted, we never got to see how they died in the book, but I still thought it would have been nice to know what would have happened. (Thank goodness for Pottermore!) And my biggest complaint was King’s Cross. I really don’t like Michael Gambon portrayed Dumbledore in the movies at all, so I could be a bit biased, but that scene was so crucial to his character. I didn’t like how King’s Cross was so foggy and white, because I always pictured it to be more visible and to hear trains in the background. And they way that Gambon talked down to Dan just seemed very out of character as well. OH, and one, if not my biggest complaint was when Harry broke the Elder Wand!! That was totally wrong, very unnecessary, and why is he act like he’s going the jump!? “Harry, why are you so close to the edge?” “Guys, I just beat Voldemort, the darkest wizard who ever lived. I got this.” *Jumps* *Splats* *Roll credits*

The WB says they are pushing hard for DH:P2 at The Oscars this year! What do you think Potter deserves to be nominated for, and what do you hope it would win?

WIN ALL THE OSCARS! But that won’t happen, unless we Imperius the entire Academy! I really hope Alan Rickman gets nominated for Best Supporting, because The Prince’s Tale was just incredible. Andrew Desplat should at least get a nod for Best Soundtrack because the music made those scenes hands down. The cinematography was always well done, and the effects during the battle were awesome. The spell that Kingsley used comes to mind, because that was bad-ass.

Now that all eight films are out, how to feel about the movie series as a whole? Favorite? Least favorite?

Overall, the movies are going to be loved by any fan, but picked apart endlessly until the end of time or until somebody remakes them, which I would really like to see one day. If you look at all the things the movies left out, you would hate them, which is why you look at what they included and see what they did for the series. I know many people who saw the one movie, and went on to read the series a hundred times over. And it was great to see Dan, Rupert, and Emma blossom into fine adults and great actors. I am obviously more of a book fan, which is why I probably won’t be cramming over all the books written about the movies, because I think there’s too much attention on them. Granted, seeing as how the books have been out for so long, it makes sense to why there’s so much hype on the movies, especially Deathly Hallows. In order, I like DH II, DH I, OOtP, Gof, PoA, SS, CoS, and HBP.

Do you have anything else you’d like to add? Maybe a theory you still believe to be true, a shout-out, praise for yours truly?

The more I think, and see, the more I become a Harry/Hermoine ‘shipper. It just makes sense, and I’ll leave it at that. I want to send a HUGE shout-out to my fellow members of the Central Michigan University chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance!! I love you all so much!! I still remember my first meeting, walking in and just being so happy, realizing there was an actual Harry Potter club on campus, and three years later, I’m the Vice President! The weapon we have is love.