Four directors helmed the eight Harry Potter films for Warner Bros. Pictures. Home Alone director Chris Columbus directed the first two films in the series, 2001’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and 2002’s Chamber of Secrets, starring Alfonso Cuaron and Mike Newell. , David Yates worked on six subsequent films. Each brought their own unique sensibilities to the series, but Cuarón in particular is a respected name among both casual moviegoers and hardcore movie buffs alike. It turns out he’s not the only famous author Warner Bros. has approached to direct a Harry Potter movie.
In a recent interview with Variety, Se7en and The Social Network director David Fincher revealed that at one point he was asked by Warner Bros. to pitch his take on the Harry Potter universe. He did not say when those conversations took place or what films WB was specifically interested in working with. However, Fincher has said that his pitch was ultimately much more gruesome and, well, creepy than the studio was interested in exploring.
“I was asked to come to their house and talk to them about how to do Harry Potter,” Fincher recalls. “I remember saying, ‘We don’t want to do a clean Hollywood version. We want to do something more like Withnail and me, and we want to do something a little spooky.’ I want them to spend their student days there.” ”
Of course, Fincher has experience adapting popular books and existing original works. Several of his previous films have been made into movies, including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, The Killer, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Fincher, who directed 1992’s Alien 3, is also used to working on major Hollywood series. (However, he had a particularly bad experience while making that film, and has not directed a sequel or franchise film since.)
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All of this is to say that it shouldn’t be too surprising that his take on Harry Potter didn’t match up with what the parent studio wanted. Those familiar with his work are probably aware that his idiosyncratic, cold and sour direction, when filtered through the fantastical and largely family-friendly world of Harry Potter, could have produced strange results. I would agree. That being said, it would also have been interesting to see how he handles some of the darker aspects of the later works in the series.
A rerun of David Fincher’s Se7en is currently playing in theaters.
