ABSTRACT
In J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, the title character needs no introduction. Upon meeting him, Hermione says, “I know all about you, of course-. . . you’re in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.” “Am I?” Harry asks, “feeling dazed.”4 Knowing that their films will face legions of knowledgeable Potter fans, filmmakers may have felt dazed, too. In the first film, some of screenwriter Steve Kloves’ dialogue suggests the anxiety of adapting a series so well known and loved. After Hermione reveals that Harry’s father played Quidditch, Ron exclaims, “She knows more about you than you do!” Harry replies, “Who doesn’t?”5 Fans’ devotion to and expertise on Potter make these novels especially challenging to adapt. As Linda Hutcheon writes in A Theory of Adaptation, it is “easier for an adapter to forge a relationship with an audience that is not overly burdened with affection or nostalgia for the adapted text”: “The more popular and beloved the novel, the more likely the discontent.”6 Citing Harry Potter as an example of this problem, Hutcheon
points to a remark made by Christopher Columbus, director of the first two films: “People would have crucified me if I hadn’t been faithful to the books.”7
