Last 'Potter' book will be two films

LOS ANGELES, March 12 (UPI) -- Hollywood's Warner Bros. studio reportedly plans to break the seventh and last "Harry Potter" book up into two movies.

Producer David Heyman told the Los Angeles Times "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II" will be released in November 2010 and May 2011, respectively.

Director David Yates, who directed "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," will direct both "Deathly Hallows" installments, which will be shot concurrently.

"I think it's the only way you can do it without cutting out a huge portion of the book," Daniel Radcliffe, who plays young wizard Harry in the film franchise, told the Times. "There have been compartmentalized subplots in the other books that have made them easier to cut -- although those cuts were still to the horror of some fans -- but the seventh book doesn't really have any subplots. It's one driving, pounding story from the word go."

Heyman said author J.K.Rowling approved the plan to split her last book into two films.

"I went to Jo and she was cool with it and that was quite a relief," he told the newspaper.