What struck me most about this documentary is how nobody cares. The attitude of all the adult actors is, "Yeah, it's ending, I don't care, but for the kids who are acting in it, it must be a big deal."
And that's the vibe I've always gotten from the Harry Potter movies. The author insisted that all the actors be British, but the British actors seem to think that these movies are not worthy of them.
The fact that the English literary tradition is thousands of years old and includes names like Shakespeare, Dickens, Orwell, Tolkien, Oscar Wilde, Mary Shelley, Tolkien, Lewis, etc. Seems to give the English actors an air of supreme arrogance, making them incapable of realizing the impressive legacy that the Harry Potter series has for the 21st century.
The entire production of the Harry Potter movies gives the impression that the actors can't wait to go away and work on a project that they consider worthy of them and not some crap made for children. It's really sad. If you watch the behind-the-scenes footage of the making of The Lord of the Rings, you'll see just the opposite. Everyone involved knew they were working on something that was going to be epic and had an attitude of love and passion for the project. You don't see anything remotely like that when you watch behind-the-scenes footage or interviews with actors who filmed the Harry Potter films.
The first time I noticed this was when I saw an interview with Gary Oldman and David Thewlis talking about the making of the third film in 2004. The complete apathy, disinterest and irritation shown during that interview. An attitude of "Please, let's stop talking about this film as if it were a big deal. It's crap made for children. Now I can finally go out and work on a project that is worthy of my talents."
It's sad. I think if the cast had more American, Australian and other international actors, you'd be able to inject more energy, since those involved would realize they were producing a project of global importance and not an adaptation of a lesser work within British literary works.
