Director Happy With 'Harry Potter 4' PG-13 Rating

[Monday, October 24th, 2005]
Harry Potter 4Harry Potter 4 director Mike Newell says hes happy with the PG-13 rating that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was given - a first for a Potter movie. "For me, it's not a kid's movie," Newell told Sci-Fi Wire. "It's an adventure story and a huge entertainment. It has all the variety that a Bollywood film has."

"One of the challenges was that everything goes back to the book, and so the audience which began with the first one progresses through two and three, and when they get to four [they] see that it's a different kind of animal. It's a much tougher beast than the others. If you don't get a PG-13, in a way, that audience that began with book one and is now aged 14, 15, 16 or 64 will want to know why you are infantilizing the situation."

"These are not children's books," Newell added. "These are kind of adult stories with a very strong moral aim in view. So with [a] PG-13 [rating] the audience can believe in them. Without it, I am not sure they can."

Newell says the the fourth Harry Potter is not all dark, and includes some romantic moments. "You've never seen Hagrid [Robbie Coltrane], keeper of keys and grounds, in love before, and a very wonderful thing it is too," Newell said. He describes how, "in rehearsals, Hagrid and Madame Maxine [Frances de la Tour] found themselves opposite one another, and it was great to see these two giant people kind of awkward and blushing and retiring with one another. Then, suddenly, she [leaned] forward and picked something out of his beard. We all thought, 'Isn't that wonderful?' And then, 'God help us, she ate it.' ... A tiny moment like that will keep those characters alive." Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which brings back stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, opens Nov. 18.

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