J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life (2007 TV Movie)

James Runcie: Self - also narrator

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Narrator : How would you like to be remembered?

  J.K. Rowling : As someone who did the best she could with the talent she had.

• Narrator : I think it must be quite odd to be J.K. Rowling. Half of her life seems almost normal, while the other half seems completely mad.

• Narrator : What's your favorite virtue?

  J.K. Rowling : Courage.

  Narrator : What vice do you most despise?

  J.K. Rowling : Bigotry.

  Narrator : What are you most willing to forgive?

  J.K. Rowling : Gluttony.

  Narrator : What's your most marked characteristic?

  J.K. Rowling : I'm a trier.

  Narrator : What are you most afraid of?

  J.K. Rowling : Losing someone I love.

  Narrator : What's the quality you most like in a man?

  J.K. Rowling : Morals.

  Narrator : What's the quality you most like in a woman?

  J.K. Rowling : Generosity.

  Narrator : What do you most value about your friends?

  J.K. Rowling : Tolerance.

  Narrator : What's your principle defect?

  J.K. Rowling : Short fuse.

  Narrator : What's your favorite occupation?

  J.K. Rowling : Writing.

  Narrator : What's your dream of happiness?

  J.K. Rowling : Happy family.

• Narrator : [as Bloomsbury plans the launch for the book]  So you're not going to tell me what happens?

  Herself, publisher, Bloomsbury : Not gonna tell you what happens. *Can't* tell you what happens. Be shot.

  Narrator : Would you lose your job if you told me what happens?

  Herself, publisher, Bloomsbury : I can't tell you that, James.

• Narrator : When were you happiest?

  J.K. Rowling : Hospital, for the birth of each of my children, and Venice last year with Neil.

  Narrator : What's your biggest regret?

  J.K. Rowling : That I didn't keep my mother on the telephone longer the last time I spoke to her.

  Narrator : What do you still want to achieve?

  J.K. Rowling : I want to get better.

  Narrator : Do you ever feel you just got lucky?

  J.K. Rowling : Having the idea was lucky.

  Narrator : Do you ever feel a fraud?

  J.K. Rowling : Less as I get older, but I have done.

  Narrator : What keeps you going?

  J.K. Rowling : I'm a born trier.

  Narrator : Why do you still write?

  J.K. Rowling : Because I love it and I need it.

  Narrator : How would you like to be remembered?

  J.K. Rowling : As someone who did the best she could with the talent she had.

• Himself, J. K. Rowling's husband : [after being asked what it's like to live with Rowling]  Jo detaches - When she's very stressed, she'll detach herself and only trust one person and that's herself. So everyone else gets blocked out, and she becomes more and more stressed and less and less able to accept any help.

  Narrator : So that's presumably quite stressful for you.

  Himself, J. K. Rowling's husband : Oh, it is stressful. Basically the barriers go up, and it's not just me, but it's everyone else around her. Only one person is trusted, and she's gotta do everything else herself, despite the fact that, you know, it's not possible to do everything herself.

• Narrator : Did you wear similar clothes?

  J.K. Rowling : Oh, God, yes.

  Dianne Rowling : Different colours, but...

  J.K. Rowling : Yeah, you always had pink. And I always had blue.

  Narrator : 'Cause you were the boy, Jo?

  J.K. Rowling : Yeah.

  Narrator : 'Cause you were the eldest?

  J.K. Rowling : Yeah, and I was supposed to be a boy.

  Dianne Rowling : Simon John.

  J.K. Rowling : I was supposed to be Simon John, I even know who I was supposed to be.

  Narrator : Had they told you?

  J.K. Rowling : Oh, yeah!

  Dianne Rowling : She was a massive disappointment.

  J.K. Rowling : Yeah.

  [laughs] 

  J.K. Rowling : And so now I said, quite hopefully, "And when Di came along, were you disappointed, too?" "No." I said, "Was that because you found out it was quite nice to have a girl?" "No." So then I just went upstairs and wept.

• Narrator : Do you believe in God?

  J.K. Rowling : [with hesitation]  Yes.

  [pause] 

  J.K. Rowling : I do, I do struggle with it. I couldn't pretend that I'm not doubt-ridden about a lot of things and that would be one of them, but I would say yes.

  Narrator : Do you think there's a life beyond this of some kind?

  J.K. Rowling : Yes, I think I do.

• Narrator : What about the razzmatazz and all that stuff?

  J.K. Rowling : Well, some of it's fun. And some if it's, frankly, horrible. The fun bits are when you get to talk to people who've read your books. That's always great. What I find difficult is the kind of stagy midnight moment business. Because I'm not very good at it. I don't think that makes me a better person because I'm not good at it, I hasten to add. But I'm not good at it. I'm not a natural "ta-da!" kind of person. I get all uptight about having to do that stuff, and I feel like a prat. People definitely expect you to be visibly enjoying yourself. And I think Quentin Crisp said that was the secret to being good on television. "Just look happy to be there." And I haven't always looked happy to be there. In fact, sometimes, I look bloody miserable to be there. And I know that's not televisually good, but I'm... you know. I've got better. I'm having quite a good time here.

• Narrator : Do you worry about people asking you for money all the time?

  J.K. Rowling : No. Honestly. Well, strangers write to me and ask for money. A lot. And sometimes, I've given it. But with people that I know, it does change your relationships. Anyone who says differently is a fool or a liar. It does add a dimension to your relationships. When your status changes initially, I think, but now, as time's gone on, I think my friends have made an adjustment and my experience is that your best friends are happy to take in the spirit that it's given and, you know, we could all pretty much relate to it as much as we did.

  Narrator : Do you worry that people are gonna - that people, at some point, are going to ask you? Is it sort of like a shadow in a conversation? Do you think, "I bet they're gonna ask me for money"?

  J.K. Rowling : No. Definitely not. Definitely not. I don't walk around at all, thinking that everybody wants to get a bit of money from me. "Are you leading up to touching me? Do you want a loan?"

• Narrator : [regarding Rowling's mother]  Was she the first person you saw dead?

  J.K. Rowling : No. Because I didn't see her dead. Which was in deference to my father's wishes. I wanted to see her, and he didn't want me to see her, and I mistakenly, as I look back, I agreed not to. I really *deeply* regret that. I really, really, really wish I'd seen her. It didn't matter what she looked like. It would've made it easier. Because I do believe that the truth, which is another theme in the books, and certainly stems from my own past, I think that the truth is always easier than a lie or an evasion. Easier to deal with. And easier to live with.

• Narrator : [about the book she is writing after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]  Political fairy-tale. Well, that's all you're prepared to say?

  J.K. Rowling : I think that's quite a lot, James.

  [laughs] 

• Narrator : According to some reports...

  J.K. Rowling : Yeah.

  Narrator : - you have 570 million pounds. Is this true?

  J.K. Rowling : Those reports are bollocks.

  Narrator : How much do you have?

  J.K. Rowling : Loads, but I'm not telling you. But it's definitely not 570 million.

  Narrator : Why won't you tell me?

  J.K. Rowling : 'Cause I think it's private.

  [laughs] 

  Narrator : But you have lots of millions of pounds?

  J.K. Rowling : Yeah, I do.

• Narrator : You have millions of fans waiting for this book all over the world. How do you deal with that level of expectation?

  J.K. Rowling : Um... It swings between, on this book, thinking, "It's the best I can do. It's how I always planned it to end. So that's gonna have to be good enough." And occasionally, you think, "Well, how can I ever live up to this?"

• J.K. Rowling : [after revealing the future of her characters after the final Harry Potter book]  I can't help it. You know what it was like? It was like running a race and you get to the finishing line and you're running too fast to stop, so I do know what happens afterwards and I couldn't stop my imagination doing that. So, I know this sounds like an awful lot of detail to go into for your own satisfaction, and not because you're planning to write more books, but that's just how it was. I couldn't - I couldn't stop. I had to know. *I* had to know what happened next.

  Narrator : Well, you always have to know more than you put in.

  J.K. Rowling : Yeah. Yeah, and I carry that on into another generation, but yes, I...

  Narrator : So all of that could be another book.

  J.K. Rowling : Yeah.

  [smiles, pauses, takes this into consideration, starts shaking her head] 

  J.K. Rowling : Don't. Don't. Don't. I know it can't... It can't be. No, I think it would - You've got - No. I think it definitely time to stop. Time to stop now. It gives me a certain satisfaction that to say what I thought happened and to tell other people that because, um... Because I would like my version to be the official version still, even though I've not written it in a book. 'Cause it's my world. But, no, I don't want to write any more Hogwarts books.