The Harry Potter franchise has been entertaining its generations of fans for decades now, and is showing no signs of slowing down. While it all began with J.K. Rowling’s set of novels, the eight-film movie franchise is arguably even more beloved. But hardcore fans were bummed that some story points were lacking in the films, presumably due to each movie’s runtime. And Harry Potter’s Bonnie Wright revealed how it was “disappointing” seeing the way Ginny’s character was written in the films.
Ginny is a character that first appears in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, growing into a significant character and becoming Harry’s main love interest. But throughout the film franchise, Bonnie Wright’s character had a somewhat limited screen time. She recently spoke to ScreenRant about her time working in the Wizarding World, offering:
I definitely feel there was anxiety towards performing and doing the best thing as my character built, for instance. 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. So you didn’t really have as much to show in the film.
Some points were made. Despite how large the Harry Potter novels are, most of the movies clock in at a fairly short runtime. This was accomplished by cutting plenty of content from the page, including some of Ginny’s story.
Later in that same interview, Wright further explained how she felt about Ginny’s limited screen time in the eight Harry Potter movies. She admits she was disappointed in this writing choice, especially given the pressure to play such a beloved character from the franchise. As she put it,
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. That made me feel a bit anxious or just frustrated, I guess. There was no room for much change in those scripts. There were a million executives going through them all. 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. So it wasn’t really my fault, exactly.
This makes a great deal of sense. While getting a role in a major film franchise is a dream for many, the actual reality is complicated. This interview shows a bit about how the sausage gets made, especially related to the smaller roles in the Wizarding world.
Now that we’re a few years out since the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two, the cast has been able to reflect on their time at Hogwarts. Bonnie Wright and the rest of the cast recently reunited for the Return to Hogwarts special, in addition to other interviews they’ve done since filming. In that same interview with ScreenRant, Wright shared how her own concerns echoed the fans as the movies were being released, saying:
And when fans do share that disappointment and they do it in a way that are like, ‘We know it wasn’t you. We just wanted more of you.’ And that’s the same of every character. If only they could be five-hour-long movies.
Points were made. The length of the Harry Potter films limited what content from the books could be adapted for the big screen. It’s for this reason that diehard fans might be pleased with the developing Harry Potter TV show, which will seemingly tell one book’s story throughout each season. And that should include the characterization of Ginny.
The Harry Potter franchise is currently streaming on Max, including the reunion special. Be sure to check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
