Was Harry Potter going to have a rather creepy ending? ( Photo Credit – Wikimedia; Facebook )
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David Fincher, you know, the guy who gave us the dark, twisted world of Se7en? Well, turns out, he nearly brought his signature style to Hogwarts. And we’re not talking about a slightly darker Harry Potter flick—we’re talking full-on, don’t go in the Forbidden Forest creepy.
In a recent chat with Variety, Fincher spilled the tea on his near-miss with the Harry Potter franchise. Apparently, Warner Bros. asked him how he would handle the world of magic, and his response? “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.” Now, Withnail and I is a cult-classic black comedy, dripping with offbeat charm and a touch of madness. Imagine that vibe, but with wands. Yeah, it’s as wild as it sounds.
But, of course, the studio wasn’t exactly vibing with Fincher’s darker vision. “They were like, ‘We want Thom Browne schooldays by way of Oliver,’” Fincher quipped. Translation: Warner Bros. wanted their Harry Potter to stay squeaky clean, full of heart and magical schooldays. They weren’t about to let Fincher turn it into something that’d have you checking under your bed for Dementors.
So, instead of Fincher bringing the same intense, gritty energy to Harry Potter that he brought to films like Fight Club or Zodiac, we got Chris Columbus, who made the series feel more like a magical, cozy wonderland. But just imagine for a second—what if Fincher had gotten his way? What if Harry and his gang had to deal with a world where the shadows were darker, the stakes were higher, and there was a sinister twist lurking around every corner? Might’ve been a lot less Hogwarts Express, a lot more psychological thriller.
Fincher’s not just all about dark twists, though. The guy has a reputation for being picky about his projects, especially when it comes to big franchises. World War Z sequel? He was down, but that fell apart. Now, he’s working on a U.S. Squid Game spin-off. But here’s the key: even with massive franchises or adaptations, Fincher prioritizes freedom. “I like the idea that you can kind of pick and choose where you’re going to spend your efforts—what you’re going to underline, and what you’re going to blur,” he said, basically embodying the “don’t box me in” vibe.
Sure, Fincher never got to put his creepy stamp on Harry Potter, but he’s clearly carved his own path, creating films that are as mind-bending as they are dark. And hey, with HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series, maybe there’s a chance we’ll see Fincher finally give us the Hogwarts we never knew we needed. Just imagine the Sorting Hat ceremony with a little Se7en-style tension. Yeah, we’re here for it.
