By Matt Caracappa

We had a chance to sit with the stars and production team of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets this past Monday afternoon in NY. While you can check back here tomorrow for the full interviews and our review, we didn't want to keep you waiting on what we've learned about the next two movies, by way of our chat with director Chris Columbus and producer David Heyman.

Heyman on the rumors of J.K. Rowling facing a severe case of writer's block as she puts together the fourth book:

"She's fine. She's living her life. If gets me really riled up when everybody makes all these speculations. This is a woman who delivered four marvelous books in four years, and the pressure increased with each book. She doesn't want to go through that again. She had a kid, she's pregnant, she's married, she has to live her life. She's writing the book and it's going really well. I've never seen her in better form. There's no writer's block at all. The book will be out next year."

Heyman on when we should expect the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:

"The third film will come out sometime in 2004. We haven't yet determined if that will be the summer or fall. Other than that, I don't know. My focus is with the release of the second film, and on the preproduction and production of the third."

Columbus on his decision to change gears from director to producer on the upcoming third film:

"It's really simple and kind of boring. The hours on these Harry Potter films is really very taxing. I have four children, and I haven't had dinner with 'em in four and a half years. I just wanted to see my kids again and drop them off at school in the morning. As a producer on the next one, I'll basically have banker's hours, you know, 9-5. We've actually started preproduction with our new director, and we start shooting, roughly, in March."

Columbus on how Alfonso Cuaron landed the director gig for the next film:

"We had a vote, basically. There were a bunch of studio guys and myself and Dave Heyman. We all took a vote, and the winner got the job."

Columbus on why Cuaron was hired:

"I don't think we hired Alfonso because of And Your Mother Too, although I loved the film and it was very energetic. But it has very little to do with Harry Potter. I think A Little Princess was a beautiful, poetic piece of filmmaking, and I really liked the performances in that film. That was the Alfonso Cuaron we hired."

Columbus on his concerns with Cuaron directing the young stars of Harry Potter:

"Alfonso, to me, has proven that he can direct children in A Little Princess. I was comfortable with that. I have a concern about it, in terms of -- kids can only really perform when they feel at ease. But then again, they didn't know me from Adam when we did the first film, so it took two or three weeks before they felt comfortable enough. I think they're going to need to spend some time rehearsing with Alfonso, to get to know him. You don't want an Oliver Stone situation, where people are screaming and throwing cameras. These kids need comfort, support...it's a very calm environment for these guys, and that's why they're able to work so well. The only maniac screaming aside from them is me, in terms of interacting with them. It's almost like I work as a sort of fourth actor, I don't direct them as I would Kenneth Branagh obviously."

Heyman on the previous possibility of Steven Spielberg directing the third film, having had expressed interest in the third book some time back:

"We did have some discussions with him on the first, but after that, there didn't seem to be any reason to go back to him on the third. The franchise is set up, we've already set up a world. I have a huge respect for Mr. Spielberg, but we didn't feel it was necessary."

Heyman on the responsibilities of taking care of and controlling a franchise as large as Harry Potter:

"As filmmakers, it's less of a franchise and more about an individual film. I've learned a lot about getting a lot accomplished in very little time. The only franchise element I suppose is protecting, and preserving, and making sure that you're not doing things that would disrupt, you know, book seven."

Columbus on Richard Harris' (Albus Dumbledore) current state of health as he battles cancer:

"I saw Richard a couple of weeks ago, he didn't look well. But he said to me: 'if you fucking think about recasting me, I'll fucking kill you!' (laughs) I didn't know he had cancer at the time, to be honest with you. He looked like he lost 35-40 pounds, so I was a little concerned about his health. All reports since then say he's responding really well to the treatment, and they guarantee that he'll be back. He was talking about coming to the premiere a couple of weeks ago. He's 72-years-old, so it'd difficult to say how somebody will respond to that kind of treatment."

Columbus on whether they're planning the third film under the assumption that Harris will reprise his role:

"Oh God, yes, I'm not going to be one of those horrible people. He's a tough guy, obviously, he's one of the toughest guys I've ever met."

Heyman on the difficulties of working with young actors going through a growing period:

"They've sprouted up a fair bit, and their voices have broken and changed. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it on the fourth film, but it seems fine."

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has a running time of over two and a half hours. Heyman on the assumed length of the third installment:

"I think the third one will be in the similar, or shorter range that the second. The fourth is going to be the huge challenge, because you've got a very, very, very long book. We're in the process of negotiating with Steve Kloves, who wrote the first three screenplays, to do