Adapting an incredibly popular series of novels, the Harry Potter movies had to take some liberties. The story of Harry Potter himself had to be maintained, and even though we get some of the best fantasy movies this century, some choices were controversial. One member of the Harry Potter cast certainly wasn’t happy with how their arc went.
“I definitely feel there was anxiety towards performing and doing the best thing as my character built,” Bonnie Wright, who plays Harry Potter character Ginny Weasley, told the Inside of You podcast. “Like, ‘Oh gosh, will I do justice to this character that people love?’ So that was always hard to do, especially when, inevitably, a lot of the scenes of every character were chopped down from the book to the film.”
Wright admits this process left her with some negative feelings surrounding production on the family movies. “Sometimes that was a little disappointing because there were parts of the character that just didn’t get to come through because there weren’t the scenes to do that,” she adds. “That made me feel a bit anxious or just frustrated, I guess.”
One of the issues was that these were blockbusters, so there were many hands in all the films from the jump. “There was no room for much change in those scripts,” she explains. “There were a million executives going through them all.”
You can sense that oversight when watching the Harry Potter movies in order, because the instalments get longer and some creative decisions were more understandable that others. Wright understands in hindsight she was just another cog in the machine. “I think what I maybe took, which I don’t take so much to heart now, is I kind of felt that maybe my anxiety was about, ‘Oh, I’m going to be seen as badly portraying this character,’ rather than later realizing that I wasn’t really given the opportunity to do that,” she states.
Wright played the young Weasley sibling in all eight Harry Potter movies. Ginny and Harry eventually become a couple, settling down to have a family later in life. She’s integral to the overarching development, and it’s a shame more of that didn’t get explored onscreen.
New movies based in the Wizarding World seem unlikely, but a fantasy series has been announced. Keep an eye on our guide to the Harry Potter TV series release date to see what’s going what with that. So far, none of the original cast have been announced, but Ginny’s story may get a better look this go around.
We have lists of Luna Lovegood facts, Voldemort facts, and Dumbledore facts if you want more from Hogwarts. Give our best movies list a look if it’s pure movie magic you’re after.