David Yates on the set of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1." (Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.)
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Daniel Radcliffe and David Yates on the set of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." (Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.)
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David Yates with crew and cast members on the set of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." (Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.)
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David Yates, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe on the set of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1." (Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.)
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David Yates on the set of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1." (Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.)
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Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and David Yates on the set of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2." (Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.)
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David Yates, left, and Daniel Radcliffe on the set of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2." (Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.)
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Jim Broadbent, left, and David Yates go over a scene for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." (Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.)
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Director David Yates and wife Yvonne Walcott attend the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2" on July 11, 2011 in New York. (Evan Agostini/Associated Press)
LinkWhat do you do after the magic is gone? That’s the career question facing David Yates, the director who this year delivered his fourth “Harry Potter” film and watched it go on to $1.3 billion in worldwide box office along with the best reviews of the entire era-defining franchise. On Tuesday, sipping tea and sitting in the sun on the patio of a Los Angeles hotel, the soft-spoken 48-year-old said he was still trying to sort out his emotions as well as his ambitions, which include a “Doctor Who” feature film.
PHOTOS: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2"
“It’s so hard to contextualize. I’m not sure how I feel. I’ve gotten much more opportunity, I know that, but how do I feel? I feel … well, I’m still in recovery, frankly. I’m recovering from six and half years of incredibly intense schedules and expectations. I have post-Hogwarts Syndrome. We were joking last night that we were going to form HPA, Harry Potter Anonymous …. Helena Bonham Carter and [franchise producer] David Heyman, Jo Rowling, all of us will have yearly meetings and stand up. ‘Hello my name is David, I was a ‘Potter’ director ….‘ We need some sort of therapy together. How do I feel? I feel proud of the work and I feel glad that it’s behind me now, the weight of it and the responsibility of it. I’m looking forward to the next thing.”
Yates said he needed to decide very soon what that next thing would actually be. “I’m developing ‘Doctor Who,’ so that will be three years, I will be directing a couple of things [before that]. There’s a wonderful comedy I’m looking at. I really need to make a decision this week. I’ve been pushing it away and pushing it away. The problem is I love three or four things and they’re all great and I have to really make a commitment.”
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Yates and Steve Kloves, the screenwriter who wrote seven of the eight “Potter” films, had been poised to work together on “The Stand,” an adaptation of the Stephen King epic that would have presented the pair with — at least in tone — a very different bookshelf challenge than bringing the wizarding world of J.K. Rowling to cinematic life over the last decade. But once into the King material, Yates and Kloves found that the 1978 apocalyptic saga didn’t give them the intense action sequences and obvious set pieces that they would need to deliver the sort of blockbuster film that Warner Bros. wants from the source material. The pair withdrew from the project and Ben Affleck is now on board as director.
Yates hopes to be back on a movie set by the spring and he said it would be intriguing to make a film that wasn’t set amid the stone walls of Hogwarts. “I’m looking forward to the next thing because I think once I’m on set and I’m going, ‘Action!’ and there’s no one in a wizard’s gown in front of the camera and no one with a wand, and [the scene is set] in Los Angeles and today, then I’ll be [past 'Potter'],” Yates said. “But I loved Jo Rowling’s world and sensibility and everything that came from visiting that world.”
PHOTOS: Hogwarts professors through the years
Yates was honored Wednesday night in Beverly Hills by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, which presented the filmmaker with the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing. It is a prize that Warner Bros. hopes will be a preamble to an Oscar season that will give the “Potter” finale some rare trophy love; the film series pulled in a staggering $7.7 billion at theaters but it has never cast a successful spell on academy voters. Despite nine nominations in categories such as art direction, costume design and visual effects, there has been a somewhat shocking shutout for the franchise as a whole and, more than that, there have been zero nominations for “Potter” actors, directors or producers. Warner Bros. is spending big money right now in hopes that (like the third movie in ”The Lord of the Rings” trilogy) the “Potter” franchise finale and its sterling reviews might lead to a farewell Oscar acknowledgment that plays out as a nod to the entire historic run.
Regardless, Yates has minted a career with the wizard films. He stands as the highest grossing British director of all time, a dramatic statistic considering the fact that before Heyman and the “Potter” team brought him on board with 2007′s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” Yates was known best for his work in British television with the political thriller “State of Play” and the grim ”Sex Traffic,” hardly fare that would make him an obvious candidate to lead Dumbledore’s Army.
PHOTOS: A decade of Daniel Radcliffe
Rowling’s Hogwarts is a sort of sacred ground to millions of “Potter” readers and the pressure of adapting the books to the screen was a good preparation for taking on “Doctor Who,” the BBC series that has a cosmic history that dates to 1963. Six years ago the show became a reenergized presence in British pop culture with a revival led by writer Russell T Davies and with David Tennant and, now, Matt Smith in the title role. The show has even managed to cross the Atlantic with a new fan following in the States jumping aboard the TARDIS to spin through time with the quirky hero.
It’s not clear who will portray The Doctor in the film, which Yates is developing with Jane Tranter, the head of BBC Worldwide, which is based in Los Angeles, but the director has said he will “start from scratch.” Right now, Yates says, the search is on for a screenwriter and a script, although he has also hinted that Kloves might be part of the mix moving forward. Considering Kloves was born in central Texas that might cause a bit of turbulence with diehard “Who” fans in Britain who consider the property to be uniquely British. On Tuesday Yates made a point to praise Steven Moffat, who in 2008 took over from Davies as the television show’s head writer and executive producer.
“Steven Moffat has done a wonderful job and Russell T Davies who kind of reinvented it the first time around,” Yates said. ”They’re great. David Tennant was great. Matt Smith is brilliant, he’s marvelous, and very, very clever.”
The wry, irreverent Moffatt (who is among the writers of Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin“) has, through Twitter, made some cryptic comments that many observers assume refer to Yates and Tranter going in search of their new Time Lord. “Announcing my personal moonshot, starting from scratch. No money, no plan, no help from NASA. But I know where the moon is — I’ve seen it,” Moffatt wrote, leading to speculation that he was questioning the viability of the film and its outsider team – or perhaps taking a shot at securing some involvement in the project? It’s not clear and Yates, stirring his tea, was mum on his own plans or priorities as far as The Doctor’s cinematic future. The filmmaker’s expression conveyed one message that would resonate with any TARDIS owner: Time will tell.
– Geoff Boucher
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On the DW front – right now a lot of us are feeling a mix of emotions. Yes, we consider it to be British and exclusive, but that doesn't mean we won't give a US writer a chance. As long as it's (somewhat) enjoyable (and there's at least a British Doctor, come on it's not too much to ask!) I think it'd be alright. Not sure how "starting from scratch" would work, as the show has nearly 50 years of irreplaceable history.
I'm an American, and Steve Kloves went to my high school (not at the same time I did), and I think he did fantastic work on Potter. I should be on board with an American and especially him writing the Doctor Who feature, yet I'm not. Doctor Who is so uniquely British that I think it should be in British hands from start to finish.
Of course, one should even question whether DW even needs a feature film. The Doctor is a great example of the sort of storytelling that one can do on television but can't do in the movies. And if it basically ignores the existence of the tv show, or diverges from the show's canon too much, then what's the point,
But that being said, if the movie does get made then I wish it the very best, and naturally I'll be at the inevitable midnight screening wearing my tenth doctor jacket and my eleventh doctor bow tie,
I also think it should be written by a writer from the UK. They should seriously consider having Steven Moffat do it. Or Neil Gaiman (who's episode, the Doctor's Wife, is probably the best episode of Doctor Who ever). Steve Kloves may be great at adapting stories, but I think writing the Doctor's story has to come from someone who really knows the Doctor inside and out, and grew up with it.
Yes, I have mixed (mostly negative) feelings about a DWho feature. How could you even say words like "start from scratch" with something as built up as Doctor Who? Whenever I listen to podcasts and read forums after episodes (especially after this season), there is always some intense discussion about canon. I think that's one of the most fun parts of Doctor Who – its history and complexity.
Although, like Mark said, no matter what I will also probably be there at the midnight screening dressed to the nines. As I've heard it put before, true Doctor Who fans are like diehard sports teams fans. No matter whether they're winning or losing, you're still there for them and they're still *your* team.
Also, I second what farsighted99 said… if Neil Gaiman wrote the script, I would probably be much, much more excited about the movie.
Well said, farsighted. (American here as well — fan for 31 years.)
Shia LaBeouf, Zac Efron, Anton Yelchin or an actor from Gossip Girl as the Doctor
Moffat's now gone on the record, insisting that any new Doctor Who movie will use the TV cast. I have to wonder who's really has control over this project.
Watch Voyage of the Damned, the 2007 Doctor Who Christmas Special. Then watch the Stolen Earth/Journey's End 2-parter from 2008. Then look at The Doctor's Wife and the River Song arc from this season (viewed as a four-part story). Doctor Who has been delivering cinema-quality work for 6 years. It doesn't need a movie that starts everything from scratch. That's just a stupid idea, especially with the 50th anniversary in 2013, if you don't mind me saying so.
I wouldnt take his remarks serious, no one cared David Yeats before the last Harry Potter….Steven Moffat should have creative control over the film IMO, he is by far the best writer I have seen for Doctor Who (his weeping angles story "Blink" is the reason I started watching)
No, no, no, no, no a separate film series separate from the tv series is a grand idea. having a film that is just the tv show is not. It will basically be the tv show (which is currently going to the dogs) but longer, no it will basically be around 3 or 4 episodes all at once and probably lead on to the season so the films wont have good endings.
A separate film would be great idea. think of it from the perspective of writers, they will get to do so much more compared to continuing the tv series.
i heard one series moffat ( named due to his one good series and then the shockingly terrible terrible terrible series this year, its like hes taken ideas from his child hood but forgot to rewrite them in to adult language) wants to continue the tv series with the film, that will make things so complicated and s**t. they film the film then release a couple of season the doctor ages, then the film comes out and hes young again (actor). i pray matt smith isn't the doctor in this film.( no offence mat i like your portrayal, i just think it would be bad on the film screen).
Any one annoyed by my comment please feel free to keep it to yourself.
I don't think that having an American writer would neccessarily hurt the film. After all, Doctor Who isn't completely British. One of the creaters, Sydney Newman, is from Ontario, Canada. He was working with the BBC at the time though.
Also, this isn't the first time that there's been a movie. Remember the eight Doctor? Although Paul McGann is the only Brit in that movie. Everyone else is American or Canadian. And an American Master was kind of weird. But the Doctor could regenerate into anybody, not just people with British accents. So I think the movie is a see what we see kind of thing. I liked the eighth Doctor movie. I don't know about anyone else. Although I don't agree with starting from stratch unless its some sort of prequel from the academy years. I wonder if there's any young men out there that could pass for a 20-something year old William Hartnell.
And, of course, Yates is a director, not a writer. Then there's the producers and the movie making companies themselves. I can't see Yates having complete say over what's going to be in the movie.
Steven Moffett has stated that this story was basically false and any movie that comes regarding DW will be made by the TV show production team and star the current doctor at the time! To be honest i think that is the best way to go as the current production team and FX are amazing and would defo be cinema worthy with an expanded budget.