英語と映画

Vol. 7 : ハリー・ポッターと不死鳥の騎士団

7月20日から公開される『ハリー・ポッターと不死鳥の騎士団』の主演、ダニエル・ラドクリフがプロデューサーのデイビッド・ヘイマンと来日し、都内のホテルで記者会見を行ないました。

What are the themes of this film?

Daniel Radcliffe: Going back to what was said earlier about the letters that come to us, a lot of them talk about the themes of friendship and loyalty and bravery, and I think this film retains all of those themes, but it also has things about strength and about being able to ... sort of ... At the beginning of the film, Harry knows Voldemort has returned and yet has to cope with everyone accusing him of having lied about this. And so for me, in this film, it's about Harry just knowing that what he's seen is the truth and so sticking to it and doing everything he can, never giving up on putting that message across and getting the truth to the rest of the world. And so for me that's one of the messages in the film. But also I think another one would be about choices. Gary Oldman has a fantastic line as Sirius Black where he says: We all have light and dark inside us, what matters is the part that we choose to act upon, that's what makes us who we really are. And so I think that is, if there was one line which people could take away from this film, I would say it should be that one.

David Heyman: Dan's highlighted probably the most important themes and ideas. There are a couple of other themes that I think also resonate, though probably more in a secondary way. One is that fundamentalism of any kind is to be abhorred, whether it be the fundamentalism of the Ministry (of Magic) — who is embodied in particular by (Dolores) Umbridge, who is only able to see her way of doing things (and Fudge too), only their point of view, and being completely not open to other points of view. Absolutism is something that is not a positive thing. And the other is the power of love, because ultimately in this film it's Harry's ability to love and the strength that he's garnered from being loved that enables him to vanquish Lord Voldemort.

Do you get much fan mail from Japan?

Daniel Radcliffe: Yeah, we get hundreds and thousands of letters from Japan. I mean, we get ... from all over the world, we get a huge amount of fan mail and support, but I'd say about probably around half of everything we get is from Japan, and the letters are just sort of beautifully presented and written. It's incredible really, you know. So yeah, no, we do get a lot of support in the form of letters from Japan, which is wonderful. We once got a gift which I didn't quite understand, which was ... I don't know if any of you have encountered this. It was very kind, but it was a sort of a big ear, which ... yes, do you know these?

Interpreter: Everyone knows that.

Daniel Radcliffe: Every knows the big ear thing. OK, good, excellent. You sort of fold it up, do you, into quarters and then ... like that. Yes, OK, because I didn't understand it at the time but I now know.

What was it like doing the kiss scene with Katie Leung?

Daniel Radcliffe: It was one of those scenes where everybody expects it to be a bigger deal than it is when you actually do it in reality. In a way, me and Katie, when we started it, we were both a little bit nervous, but after the first couple of takes, it was sort of like any other scene really, which is not really what people want to hear, but it sort of doesn't really feel any different because you are still acting. Um ...

What was it like watching the kissing scene?

David Heyman: For myself, who's known Dan since the age of 10, to see it was quite strange. I think for many people on the crew ... What happened was that David Yates cleared the set because he wanted to give more privacy and intimacy to the scene, and then what happened was that everybody crowded around the monitor, and it was quite emotional for a couple of them. The makeup artist, Amanda Knight, who's known Dan really well from the age of 10, 11, she shed a tear. For me, it was quite moving and quite ... I didn't shed any tears. It was wonderful to see, to think, "Well, here we are," but as Dan says, it is another scene. But let's face it: You never want to be too close to someone as they've got their tongue down someone else's throat. You want to have a little bit of space between that, so it was a little bit uncomfortable.

Daniel Radcliffe: For the record, what David just said about not wanting to be near someone when they've got their tongue down someone else's throat, tongues weren't actually used. I feel I should make that point clear lest everyone gets slightly carried away.

David Heyman: But Katie did say Dan was a great kisser.

But Harry's friend Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) will be doing most of the kissing in the next film. How will you cast the part of his girlfriend, Lavender Brown?

David Heyman: We had such success on the last film with open auditions — that's how we found our Luna Lovegood, Evanna Lynch — we decided we would have an open pool. We thought about 3,000 people would turn up, and about 15,000 people did show up, people who were appropriate, and many who weren't. We had a lot of men show up, and we had lot of 40-year-old women show up to play the part.