American Entertainment: Starting with playing the role of Little Beaver

Chapter 22 Fish leaps over the dragon gate
To be honest, Hermione's introduction in Harry Potter is not exactly likable, whether in the film or literature field, especially in the original novels, where her appearance is quite unremarkable.

J.K. Rowling described it as follows:

Ron had just raised his wand, ready to demonstrate his magic to Harry, when the door to the box was opened from the outside. Hermione brought Neville in looking for the toad, and without any greeting, directly asked the two if they had seen Neville's toad.

Ron said he didn't see it, but Hermione ignored him because her eyes were fixed on Ron's wand. She asked Ron if he was casting a spell, and before he could answer, she sat down to see how he would do it.

Seriously!
In her past life, Isabella was truly bewildered when she saw such a description.

She genuinely thought Hermione was a bit crazy.

First of all, entering a room without knocking is, to put it nicely, a sign of being rude, and to put it bluntly, a sign of being ill-mannered.

Secondly, why not ask someone for a favor? Isn't that a problem with your attitude? This isn't just arrogance, it's downright conceit!

Finally, Hermione, did you bring Neville to find the toad? And then, seeing Ron about to cast a spell, you just abandoned Neville and sat down to watch Ron cast his spell?

Oh--

Why is your behavior acting like AI is executing commands?

Indeed, when reading the novel back then, Isabella felt that Rowling hadn't written Hermione's introduction well. She probably wanted to use concise and powerful words to highlight Hermione's traits, but because her writing skills weren't yet fully developed, the scenes she depicted felt somewhat stiff.

As for this life...

Although she met with Rowling, she did not ask Rowling if she had gone too far in describing Hermione's entrance.

Because she doesn't like to ask.

At this moment, it is she who needs Hermione, not Hermione who needs her. It is Rowling who gave her the opportunity, not her who came to save Rowling. Therefore, even if she is confused, how can she talk about doubts when most people in society can accept Hermione's character?
That's not how people behave.

However, she had learned from Columbus during his class earlier that the screenwriter had cut the plot.

Yes.

The movie's depiction of the trio's first meeting differs from the original story.

The screenwriters also felt that Hermione's aggressiveness in this part was too strong and too stiff. Therefore, when conceiving the story, they changed the plot of "Hermione taking Neville to find the toad" to "Hermione going to find the toad alone".

Once the scene of 'leaving her companions hanging' disappears, Hermione's behavior of 'putting aside her job search to watch Ron cast spells' can be explained as 'she is a child born into a Muggle family and is full of curiosity about the magical world'.

This is an optimization of Hermione's character design.

We should downplay her abnormal arrogance and highlight her academic excellence.

Furthermore, this modification received the approval of Chris Columbus.

It was precisely because Chris Columbus explained the reasons for this change when discussing the differences in the plot that Isabella had the idea of ​​further optimization during the actual filming...

For example, on the day of the shoot, she asked Columbus:
"Director, could Hermione's first line in the movie be 'Excuse me'?"

"If Hermione had said to Harry and the others, 'Excuse me, has anyone seen a toad,' when she was looking for the toad, wouldn't her character in the movie have been less jarring, or perhaps even more sharp?"

"Of course, I don't mean to make her less arrogant, but rather that I think she could be a little gentler?"

"Hermione's defining characteristic is confidence, not arrogance, right?"

At that moment, Columbus smiled.

He understood what Isabella meant, but he refused.

There are two reasons:

First, J.K. Rowling wanted to show Hermione's immaturity in social interactions in this part.

When adapting a story, they can downplay the character's immaturity, but they cannot change the character's personality or delete plot points.

This is disrespectful to the original work.

Secondly, that is...

“Honey, if Joanne had chosen an ordinary person to play Hermione, I might have had concerns while filming this scene, because it is indeed very jarring and makes Hermione seem ill-mannered, even though her family is happy and her parents are wealthy in Muggle society. But when you are the one playing Hermione, I don’t have any anxiety.”

"Because beautiful people always get preferential treatment."

"As long as you look great on camera, even if there are problems with the plot and Joanne didn't write it well, the audience won't care. They'll overlook the character's issues because of your beauty."

Isabella accepted this explanation, not only because that's how it was portrayed in the movie in her previous life, and the facts have proven that Columbus's idea was correct, but also because the theoretical support Columbus provided was very professional.

Now, she is even more convinced—

"Oh~ Are you casting a spell? Let me see."

Upon discovering that Ron was about to cast a spell, Hermione on screen immediately wanted to see his power.

As she spoke, her gaze instinctively lowered for a moment.

The accompanying gesture, of course, is to raise one's head.

Honestly, this kind of gesture really gives off an arrogant vibe.

Even though Isabella felt that she was a bit too arrogant on the big screen, the fans in the theater still cheered non-stop.

"Oh~~~ Hermione's little eyes are so cute~~~"

"Hahaha~~~ Hermione looks like she completely doesn't believe Ron can successfully cast the spell~~~"

"Wow~ That's totally the expression of a top student looking at a struggling student! Isa's acting is superb!"

Comments arose one after another, and at the same time, Ron on the screen also failed to cast his spell.

This situation prompted Hermione to take out her wand from her robes and demonstrate her magic—

"Restored to its original state."

With a 'whoosh', Harry's battle-damaged glasses were completely restored.

This change surprised both of them. Harry even took off his glasses to examine it closely, and his action allowed Hermione to see the scar on his forehead. Then, Hermione revealed his identity and introduced herself, and then...

She looked at Ron with a slight frown.

As a girl born into a middle-class family, how could Hermione not have received social education? Therefore, reporting one's identity during interactions is a ingrained part of her routine. But, exchanging identities with a loser? Oh—

After exchanging a glance with Ron, Hermione's thick eyebrows drooped down on the screen, forming a V-shape.

"So you are..."

She wanted to know Ron's name, but felt that talking to Ron would be a waste of time.

“My name is Ron Weasley.”

Ron didn't seem to mind and said his name while eating.

"Oh, nice to meet you."

Hermione gave a formulaic reply, then turned her head away impatiently.

That act of looking at Ron for even a second longer and the world would explode is hardly polite.

Especially when Hermione looked at Harry again, her droopy eyebrows returned to normal. This kind of change of expression, frankly speaking, is really disrespectful. But as the saying goes, one's values ​​follow one's facial features...

Hahaha~ Hermione is so cute~~~

"Top students really don't like idiots at all~~~"

"This isn't exactly disliking idiots, is it? Hermione probably just thinks Ron is a bit too careless about his appearance. Didn't you see Hermione remind Ron that there was dirt on his face when she left? Being unkempt is impolite in social situations."

"Oh~~~ That cool turn after giving the reminder was so stylish~~~"

Those who excel at modeling will gain everything!
Isabella felt a little ashamed when she first heard the praise from the public, but this feeling only lasted for half a second.

This is not only because being liked by the public is a wonderful thing in itself, but also because the countless cheers made her know that she had succeeded.

More importantly, Maggie Smith turned her head and whispered, "You did a good job."

The old lady was actually using encouragement-based education.

So Isabella had received a lot of praise from her in the past.

But this time was different from the past, because the film's premiere was a major test for her, and only a good performance in such a test would truly be considered a good performance.

"Thank you."

"Ah."

"You acted quite well too."

"Ok?"

The words of the rebel Tian Gang made everyone around him burst into laughter.

Isabella replied in this way because the train had arrived at Hogwarts shortly after the three children met.

Led by Hagrid, the children entered the school. Then, Professor McGonagall, wearing a tall wizard's hat, welcomed them on the stairs. Her serious demeanor startled everyone...

Too fierce.

But they look very similar.

After she finished explaining the enrollment process, the doors of Hogwarts officially opened to everyone.

The story gradually unfolds—

Branch School:

Hannah, the Iron-Capped Heroine, is gone.
The movie ranked Hermione first.
School Admission:

On the first night, everyone was frightened by the headless Nick, amazed by the moving staircase, captivated by the lifelike oil paintings, and enthralled by the cozy dormitory. Whether on or off screen, all they could hear was the chorus of frogs.

School starts:
Harrow was late for the first class of the new semester. Upon entering the classroom, Ron was relieved that Professor McGonagall wasn't there. But no one expected that the British Shorthair, who had been perched on the podium, would leap off the desk, and then—

"Wow~~~ Our professor can turn into a cat~~~"

I don't know which brilliant person shouted that.

In short, after the shout, the huge movie theater was filled with knowing laughter.

Isabella nudged the old lady.

The old lady was very happy because everyone liked her;

It's also quite frustrating; the phrase "professor turns into a cat" is hardly a compliment.

Films about young adults are actually very difficult to make because children's tastes are different from adults'.

When children like something, it's because they genuinely find it fun. But what about adults?
Let's put it this way: when you were a teenager, you played CS because it was fun. Now that you're in your thirties and still playing CS, is it because you still find it fun? Probably not. Of course, you still enjoy it, but no one can deny that the reason you don't want to switch to a new game is because you don't have time to explore new games anymore.

It is precisely because children who have not yet entered society can like something without any pressure that pleasing children is actually a very difficult thing, because satisfying someone else's pure preferences is a very absurd idea.

but……

Ultimately, everything boils down to this: what's difficult for those who don't know how is easy for those who do.

Columbus is the second best director in Hollywood at making children's movies; pleasing children is a piece of cake for him.

He could write "Gremlins" and create "Home Alone" without any anchor, but after having an anchor, kids absolutely love the Harry Potter stories? Okay, when adapting, I just respect the original work and show sincerity to the fans, isn't that enough?

During this period, the only thing to pay attention to is that the rhythm of the visual narrative is different from that of the text.
In Hollywood, how many people dare to say that their camera pacing is better than Spielberg's?
So, when Columbus was mentored by Spielberg and was already capable of handling things independently more than a decade ago...

Game Over.

After showing the utmost respect to the book fans, Columbus finished presenting a day at Hogwarts in just twenty minutes.

A cursory, superficial introduction would be disastrous in other movies, but in Harry Potter, it's an intriguing magical world that Columbus is gradually revealing:
In Potions class, Snape's appearance immediately drew cheers from the crowd—

His appearance, dressed in a black robe and walking with a swagger, was so similar to the description in the novel that it perfectly matched most people's imagination of Stalinism.

At lunchtime, countless owls brought mail to their 'little masters'—

Those figures flying everywhere and packages falling haphazardly—that's the magical world that countless people have dreamed of.

The scene shifts to flying class, where Harry, experiencing flight for the first time, bravely defeats Malfoy on his broomstick. His excited figure grabbing the memory orb, a scene largely consistent with the original book's description, elicits cheers from the fans who came to witness it.

"Cool~~~"

The Quidditch plot begins. In the original books, the trio would encounter Fulvi the Cerberus during Harry and Malfoy's midnight duel, but in the movie, this was changed to an accidental stumble. This change will certainly disappoint some fans. But when Hagrid's cute dog appears with its stinky, bloody maw, the plot is altered?

It does not matter!

because……

"Oh! This furry friend is exactly the same as the furry friend in the original art book for the novel that was published before!"

"Good heavens—the troll chasing Hermione was adorably stupid—Harry even shoved his wand into its nostril!"

"Hahahaha~ Did you guys see that? Harry caught the Golden Snitch with his mouth! And after Harry spat it out, the Golden Snitch even flapped its wings, was it shaking off the saliva? That was amazing—"

"Opus—this snowy scenery is so beautiful—so Hedwig can really be released to fly?"

"Stop! Stop! These three are hilarious—Hermione, Harry, and Ron can make one school uniform look three different things? That's amazing! And what's even more amazing is... they look like potatoes when they're wrapped in robes!"

"Forbidden Forest!"

"dragon!"

"Horse-man!"

Wizard Chess!

"Voldemort—"

The story of The Philosopher's Stone is simple. To sum it up in one sentence, it's about how the protagonist Harry and his friends work together to overcome difficulties and bravely thwart the villain Voldemort's plot.

Compared to novels, movies certainly have shortcomings, because words are the most advanced medium; simple descriptions can evoke people's imaginations, while movies are merely an art of light and shadow, and can only showcase the charm of words as much as possible.

However, as a film based on a novel, it is a success as long as the creators faithfully recreate what the fans want to see.

The 160-minute film flew by, and as the end credits rolled, enthusiastic applause erupted at the premiere.

Positive feedback from invited guests may be a form of flattery.

But the cheers of fans and moviegoers must be telling a story of genuine joy.

Normally, premieres of A-list projects are accompanied by a cocktail party, which takes place right after the movie ends.

The production and distribution companies would hold a party to entertain the stars, media friends, crew members and their friends and family who came to the premiere, but the party was canceled because minors cannot drink alcohol.

Instead, the creative team met with the public, and a celebration was held in the form of a dinner.

The meeting was simple: Warner Bros. set up a row of chairs in front of the screen, invited the creative team to sit down, share the stories behind the film, and answer questions from the media and the public.

The first half of this segment went quite smoothly, because all the media outlets who came had already been paid, so why would they ask questions that would embarrass Warner? That would not only be ignorant, but also risk their own livelihood!
However, during the Q&A session in the second half, things got a bit chaotic.

When a young woman in her early twenties was chosen by the host, her first reaction was to scream, then she expressed her delight with the movie, and finally, she asked, "I want to know, how was the Potions class scene in the movie filmed?"

"Professor Snape's imposing presence was incredibly strong! His acting was superb! And the other actors didn't dare to face him! That scene truly fulfilled all my fantasies about Snape, but... Miss Granger was even more dazzling."

"I just noticed while watching the movie that in that part of the story, Miss Granger was the only one who wasn't afraid of Professor Snape and dared to raise her hand to answer questions. So, I'm wondering how that scene was captured? Because I know a bit about movies, and as far as I know, when an actor is in full charisma, everyone is affected."

“Oh…that’s a great question…” Columbus raised the microphone and said, “Alan’s image is a perfect match for Snape, so playing Snape will be a breeze for him. As for Granger…”

He glanced at his 'colleagues' beside him; at that moment, everyone was suppressing laughter.

“Okay, I believe everyone wants to answer this question.”

After he finished speaking, he handed the microphone to Dan Niu next to him.

After getting the microphone, Eggsy couldn't wait to say, "The Potions class scene was really scary because when we were filming it, the director told us that we weren't facing Snape, but our governess. If we didn't finish our homework, we wouldn't be able to leave get out of class that day. So, we were really terrified..."

"Oh, I see~"

Satisfied laughter filled the room.

"As for Isaac, Hermione, the reason she wasn't frightened is because..."

"That's because she didn't have any homework!"

Before Eggsy could finish speaking, Rupert leaned his head in.

He then pointed to Isa next to him and loudly revealed, "She's a real academic star! She hasn't even been in the crew for a week and she doesn't need to attend classes anymore because she passed the Education Bureau's exam and can study on her own!"

"So when filming that scene, the director told her that the way to get into character was simple: just raise your hand and answer a question. As long as Snape called on her, she could go home!"

"Then we saw that she almost reached her hand up to the Hogwarts ceiling in order to answer the question!"

"She really wants to leave work!"

"And then Snape never called on her!"

She was so worried.

"Hahahaha—is that so???"

"Oh~ Isha doesn't need tutoring?"

"My God, she actually passed the Education Bureau's exam? She can study on her own?"

"No wonder she played Hermione so well! She really is Hermione!"

“Isa—you’re so cute—love you—” one fan shouted.

Isabella, who was standing in front of the screen, waved happily in the direction of the sound.

Previously, Warner Bros. did not purchase separate press releases for the actors during promotional activities.

Because it is not needed.

HP has its own traffic, and its influence is not much different from SW.

In this situation, it's better to buy articles for HP than to buy articles for actors.

So, what's behind the movie?
The general public doesn't actually know, and neither does the media.

It was precisely because the public knew nothing about what happened behind the scenes that the discussion at the scene immediately escalated when firsthand information about the film came out. Furthermore, several of the questions that followed were related to Isabella.

Who doesn't like a beautiful person?
To be fair, it's quite comforting to be in the spotlight, and Isabella humbly answered everyone's questions.

Since the movie's title is "Harry Potter and XXX," not "Hermione and Her Two...", well, after enjoying the public attention for a while, she very nimbly steered the conversation to other people.

The act of exchanging microphones made many people laugh.

What was even more pleasant was the subsequent dinner. Although there were no passersby in this segment—because there might be confidential conversations at the dinner that couldn't be shared with the public—but…

"Oh, Isa? It's nice to meet you!"

Isabella was just looking for a place to eat with her mother and the others when someone came over to greet her.

Helena Carter, the female lead in Fight Club, laughed and called out her name;
After Laurence Olivier's passing, Kenneth Branagh, considered by many in the industry to be the most likely successor, took a camera and wanted to take a photo with her. Since Branagh also knew her mother, they ended up taking a group photo instead.

Emma Thompson, who won an Oscar for Best Actress back in 93, also congratulated her and said that there would be an opportunity to work together... This is a real opportunity, because in the future, there will only be two kinds of actors in Britain: those who have acted in HP and those who haven't. And Emma Thompson is the 'highest priestess' Sybil Trelawney in HP.

In addition, Rowan Atkinson, often referred to as the modern-day Charlie Chaplin, jokingly asked if he could have a hug. After receiving permission, he gave Isabella a light hug and said, "You acted wonderfully~ I believe you can become a big star~"

"Oh~ thank you, Mr. Bean~ thank you for your kind words~ but at the same time, I hope this isn't just a serious joke~"

"hahaha~"

Isabella's raised eyebrow elicited Atkinson's signature smirk.

"This is definitely not a joke~"

As he spoke, he turned around and snapped his fingers at the media standing nearby.

The media outlets, having received permission, promptly raised their cameras.

I took a picture of the old jazz musician posing in a frame and the little girl making a funny face.

Although Isabella already knew that HP was a project that could defy fate.

But when the moment of triumph actually arrived, she was still quite excited.

The wealth of these big shots around her may not be comparable to that of her late, cheap father at his peak, but she only spent a year going from nothing to standing alongside them, didn't she?

Not to mention, this is just the premiere, the movie hasn't even been released yet, and she's already so popular.

Then let's wait until the movie is released...

Well, we won't be able to wait for the movie to be released.

Because Warner released a bombshell announcement the very next day.

(End of this chapter)