Producers David Heyman and David Barron talk 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' Parts 1 & 2

Given that there have been four directors for the eight "Harry Potter"  films (Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, and David Yates), who among the filmmakers has given the series any consistency? That task fell upon producers David Heyman and David Barron. Heyman, by the way, was the one who first bought the film rights from J.K. Rowling and discovered Daniel Radcliffe. Do the two Davids have mixed feelings over the series concluding with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" Part 1 (out this week on DVD) and Part 2 (out in theaters July 15)? Is Harry the Chosen One?

Q: Have you had a chance to see Dan in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying"?

DB: Yes, loved it.

DH: We went with Helen McCrory, Evanna, David Thewlis, Nat Tena, quite a lot of people from the cast.

Q: Now that you've seen that he can sing and dance, does that mean a Harry Potter musical can be made?

DB: [Laughs] That's obviously the next thing we're going to do, yeah. Probably not!

DH: It was just great to see. Dan never inhabits the same place. He's always pushing himself and embracing challenges, and the way he did "Equus," his first theatrical experience, was pretty incredible, so for the second he decided, "I'm going to sing, I'm going to dance, on Broadway, with an American accent," is just staggering. And he pulls it off.

DB: Yeah, he does pull it off. We're very proud of him.

Q: So there's sneak peek of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" Part 2 on the DVD -- the Ollivander scene. So I've been searching for it, and I only just found out my copy, like all the press copies, didn't have it. I thought it was an easter egg!

DH: Oh, they're clever, but not that clever. It's one of the first scenes, from the beginning of the film. It's an important scene, and I think you'll see some very fine acting in it.

Q: There's a lot of death and destruction in "Deathly Hallows." Which character's death affected you the most?

DH: There's a character we've grown quite close to, and really enjoyed, especially as the series has gone on. But it's not so much the death, but the reaction to the death. We do not overplay it, or overstate that. What's affecting about the scene are the reactions. Actually, there's another couple, now that I think about it.

Q: When you say "couple," are you referring to an actual couple? Because there is a couple that bites it...

DH: Ah-ha! Hmmm... [Laughs]

DB: Previously I found Dumbledore's death the most affecting, because it meant Harry's mentor was no more. And he was facing this momentous task all on his own, and Dumbledore was a character, through both Richard Harris and Michael Gambon, we had grown to love. A man with a twinkle in his eye, and a very odd choice of what information he passed on in a scene, what he passed on and what he didn't. And he was the heart of Hogwarts, so I was moved when he died.

DH: Actually, there's one other death in this film that really upset me, and that was Voldemort's, because that meant we were coming to a close!