David Fincher revealed he once met with Warner Bros. to discuss directing Harry Potter, proposing a darker and “creepy” take on the beloved series.
While conversing with Variey, the acclaimed filmmaker of the Fight Club shared that he was in talks to direct Harry Potter, but his take on the material didn’t align with the studio’s vision.
“I was asked to come in and talk to them about how I would do ‘Harry Potter,’” Fincher told the outlet.
He added, “I remember saying, ‘I just don’t want to do the clean Hollywood version of it. I want to do something that looks a lot more like ‘Withnail and I,’ and I want it to be kind of creepy.’”
Fincher mentioned the studio’s vision that the Warner Bros. wanted the adaption of J.K Rowling's series to be in a traditional way.
The Se7en filmmaker went on to say, “They were like, ‘We want Thom Browne schooldays by way of ‘Oliver’.’”
“Is there a built-in audience? That’s somebody else’s job,” he insisted.
Fincher continued, “Those books get sold to movie studios when it’s shown that there’s a built-in audience, so I’m usually coming into the food chain after it’s been decided that this is something tasty. I was interested in ‘Gone Girl’ in spite of the fact that it was a bestseller… I liked the idea of punishment for our narcissistic leanings as it relates to finding a mate.”
To note, the Harry Potter series was helmed by Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, and David Yates. Michael Goldenberg.
