Do you think there's a chance that the "Harry Potter" movie will usurp the books?

To me the film should be a companion piece to the book. When we showed the picture to people at previews, we showed it to 50% Harry Potter fans and 50% non-readers. The fans loved the movie - even though there were things not in the book; the non-readers loved the movie, but they were inclined to go out and buy the books. If the film inspires people to go out and buy the books, that's fantastic. We're not looking to overtake the book, and that's never going to happen, the books are too wonderful.

How do you build up the energy for a sequel?

That's a good question, because we're starting production three days after we open this picture [on 19th November] But honestly I think it's a matter of working with the same cast and crew again. I thrive on working with these people, because they have an energy and enthusiasm that's absolutely inspiring. Also, I don't look at it as a sequel. I value the quality of each of these books, and there are things I love about each of them and am obsessed about with each of them. So I look forward to doing the second movie. I look forward to doing the third movie if, physically, I can accomplish that.

Was it hard to cut out the character of Peeves [the mischievous ghoul played by Rik Mayall], and will he be on the DVD?

The reason he was cut is that none of us were happy with the design. David [Heyman] and I looked at the design of Peeves and thought, We can get it better. So we shot the sequence but we won't have it ready for the initial release of the DVD. We'll try and get it out for maybe a year and a half, two years, from now.

You've cast Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart in "Chamber of Secrets"...

I just think he's one of the greatest living actors, and I think he'll be perfect for the role. That was it, really, it's all based on acting.

Read part one of the interview.

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