art director, Stuart Craig, was interviewed
by artinsightmagazine.com, and parts of
this interview focused heavily on his work
for the Harry Potter movie series as the
Production Designer.
Stuart Craig speaking:
"The promise was made by the producer David Heyman
to JK Rowling was that we would be faithful to the spirit of the books."
"She understood that we could never include everything,
That there would have to be huge omissions,
And think she was very brave in allowing the films to be their own,
Separate entities. She quite accepted from the beginning that books and movies
could be separate and so we consulted her initially. "
"She literally gave me a map of Hogwarts, a map of the world,
here she did the drawing the first meeting in a hotel lobby
and that became a massive aid direction help starting with her.
So we consulted her throughout the series.
When there were questions, the director producer relationship…
the production designer would always address the director first."
"The initial conversation with the director to understand his priorities,
and then I would prepare a sketch a model in the art department,
and go back to him and show it and then at that stage,
maybe introduce the producer to the idea,
so that they would obviously be in on what was happening.
It's really that dialogue between the director and the designer which is essential."
Art in sight magazine: Do you go back and, whether it's Harry Potter, or other movies,
read the novels over and over and over so you get a sense of some of the elements of novel,
or do you try to stick strictly to the script that's written?
Stuart Craig: "I think the background information is important as well.
The Harry Potter books were issued as spoken books as CDs so that helped.
I would read the novel and then listen to it in the car on the way to the studio."