Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is just coming out in theaters but the cast and crew are already hard at work on the two part finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Five months into the shoot, director David Yates told reporters just how different the two parts will be.

"The first movie is a road movie basically," Yates said. "It's quite intense and very raw. We're way away from Hogwarts and it's a bit like three refugees being pursued across the landscape by these terrible death eaters."

On the contrary, the final finale sounds more like Lord of the Rings. "Part two is a big opera basically, a great big epic with huge battles," Yates continued. "And very oddly moving because it concludes the whole saga really. So they're two very different films."

Producer David Heyman wanted to keep the break point of the story a secret. Fans want to know which chapter of the J.K. Rowling text might mark the end of the road movie and the start of the epic. "I think the film is written in a very specific way,' Heyman said. "That, I'm sure, will be where we end up, but I don't want to say now and then all of a sudden [we change it.]"

Fans of the first six parts may be concerned that their favorite series will end on a dramatically different note, but Yates said every sequel has to keep things fresh, just as Half-Blood Prince is different tonally from Order of the Phoenix.

"I think the one constant is the fact that you're with these characters you really care about and you've grown up with," Yates said. "We still have magic so all the characters are constant but the whole thing is evolving and maturing. I think that's a good thing. Rather than switching fans off, I think it keeps the thing very still alive, I would say."

Image © Warner Bros. Ent.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I is out in fall of 2010, with Part II to follow in summer 2011.

Story/Interview by Fred Topel

Starpulse contributing writer

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