Closing in on a decision of where to divide the final 'Harry Potter' films

Back in March 2008, when Warner Bros. announced that it was going to break the final "Harry Potter" novel into two films, the second reaction among hard-core fans -- after anger -- was puzzlement. Where in the story, they wanted to know, would the intermission come?

There was no obvious spot, they knew, because J.K. Rowling hadn't written one in her seventh and final installment of the publishing phenomenon, the 759-page "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Warner Bros. executives didn't know then, because they were still in the midst of filming the sixth installment, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which comes out next month. But now that production is well underway on the last two movies, which are being shot concurrently, an answer is starting to emerge.

As reported on our sister blog Hero Complex, director David Yates says, "We've had three or four different ideas about where to cut off the seventh film. Traditionally, the movies have ended with a death or a bereavement, some sort of passage or arrival. This time we think we will end with more a cliffhanger."

A final decision hasn't been reached, but Yates says he is leaning toward splitting the two movies around the point "where Harry, Hermione and Ron are captured by the Snatchers after being chased through the woods."

You can read the full interview with Yates here.

--Lee Margulies   

Photo: David Yates, right, confers with actor Jim Broadbent on the set of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Credit: Jaap Buitendijk / Warner Bros.