A few days ago we got in touch with Hamilton Hodell, the agency that represents Shirley Henderson, who plays Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films. It has been confirmed to us that the character hasn't made it into Half-Blood Prince.
As revealed in ITV's JK Rowling Documentary which aired back in December, May 2nd, 1998 was the day Harry finally defeated Lord Voldemort within Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
A couple of visitors have asked us to post this wonderful anniversary. And why not? The Battle of Hogwarts within Deathly Hallows was one of the coolest scenes ever created by Jo. It held what we've been waiting to witness since closing Sorcerer's Stone. And who can forget Molly Weasley's infamous line to Bellatrix Lestrange: "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"?
So here's to Harry and his triumphant win against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Leave your thanks to Harry and Jo in the comments, and ask yourself: Do Wizards have a name for this anniversary?
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone originally appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list back in December of 1998. The impact of Potter's popularity led the NYT to creating two new lists so other titles could make the list other than Jo's stories.
Now, almost ten years later, the May 11th edition of The Sunday New York Times will be free of any Potter novel. Check out the NYT's Book Blog for more.
Once JK Rowling's Potter Encyclopedia is released, we're sure Potter will make a comeback. Thanks to Pruneau for the tip!
The HBO schedule for Order of the Phoenix is now online, and the fifth film in the Potter series is set to begin in high-definition on June 22nd at 9 PM EST. The Making Of special, which originally aired back in November, will start airing again on the June 19th.
Over the past few months, we've been updating you on various construction photos from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Today, Screamscape.com has a few new pictures from construction, most notably one of a building from Hogsmeade Village.
We've also received word from a source who tells us that the entire Lost Continent area will close in early 2009 to make way for The Wizarding World. Two places inside Lost Conintent, the Voyage of Sinbad and Dueling Dragons (a show and a ride respectively) will both be kept but converted to Potter.
It's important to take this information with a grain of salt until we get official confirmation, even though rumors have been rampant lately about The Lost Continent's future. Thanks to Trish and Katie for the tips!
Harry Potter has taken his place alongside such greats of English literature as Shakespeare's Hamlet and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and is required reading for A-level English students.
J.K. Rowling's boy-wizard has been added to the syllabus in a move that has prompted fresh claims of "dumbing down" in education standards.
Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone is being offered as a 'set text' by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), the UK's largest exam board, which is responsible for nearly half of the country's exams.
But horrified education experts fear Harry will rob the A-level of credibility.
Professor Alan Smithers, a special adviser to the House of Commons Education and Skills Committee, said:
"The point of English literature is to provide works that have stood the test of time and that allow people to understand their place in the world as others have understood it.
"I don't think Harry Potter is appropriate as a set text; I don't see how it fits in with that. It may be an enjoyable read but I don't think we are just trying to keep people occupied."
Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, added: "This is all done in the name of relevance and popular culture, but it is not why children go to school.
"They should be encouraged to read and understand the great works of English literature. Harry Potter may be what children want to read, but that doesn't mean it should be part of an A-level."
Pupils taking the English language and literature A-level next year will study Rowling's first Potter volume – the 12th best-selling book of all time and the basis for a Hollywood film – along with one other book for the module Themes in Language and Literature.
They will have to write a 1,200 to 1,500-word piece of coursework comparing the "approaches" of J.K. Rowling and the other writer.
Examiners will mark students on how they relate story lines and the activities of Harry Potter and his friends to the context of the times.
And students will have to show an understanding of J.K. Rowling's use of language, described recently as gibberish by a High Court judge. They will also have to write their own 500 to 800-word story inspired by the book.
The AQA claims it will develop "reading and writing skills through the in-depth study of writers' crafting". It adds that students will have to "describe and discuss features of genre, language and style".
In the wake of persistently higher grades and the decision by Oxford and Cambridge universities to set their own entrance exams, experts have already called for the A-level to be replaced by the International Baccalaureate.
The Government watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, has pledged to boost A-levels with a major overhaul for the next academic year.
But fears that the curriculum is being dumbed down have been bolstered by plans announced earlier this month for 'flexible' GCSEs which will allow students who fail sections to retake them.
Critics said it would give them a false sense of their abilities and make the exams "almost impossible to fail".
Last night the AQA said: "Harry Potter is a genuine example of literature of our time and therefore entirely deserves its place in this unit. We believe that it will prove a popular and engaging inclusion."
This morning, Warner Brothers Consumer Products and Becker Group announced Harry Potter: The Exhibition, "a state-of-the-art exhibition highlighting artifacts from the Warner Bros. films based on J.K. Rowling's beloved book series."
According to the press release, the exhibition will span 10,000 square feet and host "elaborate displays of authentic costumes, props and artifacts from popular environments featured in the films."
The tour will begin in Spring of 2009. Exact dates and locations will be forthcoming, but they recommend keeping an eye on the official exhibition site. We'll update you with more as we know it!
ComingSoon.net received a hot tip early Friday morning, revealing that Part 1 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released November 19th, 2010.
The news comes just a little over a month since Warner Brothers announced the final book will be split into two films. No word yet on the exact date for Part 2, but Heyman has previously stated in an interview with the LA Times to look for a May 2011 release.
The Daily Mail reported today that Helen McCrory will reprise her role as Narcissa Malfoy in the final two-part installment of the Harry Potter series.
It was mentioned that after giving up her original role of Bellatrix Lestrange to Helena Bonham Carter due to pregnancy, she will make her debut as Narcissa in Half-Blood Prince and return for Deathly Hallows.
McCrory was quoted as saying, "Just wait for me to be wicked and witchy."
The 18-year-old actor Tom Moorcroft, who was chosen to play Regulus Black in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, gave us an exclusive interview where he confirms his role on the sixth movie and talks a little bit about the scene.
How was the process of selecting for your character in HP6?
Well, to be honest it came quite as a surprise. My drama school contacted me and told me that it was for a “Harry Potter photo shoot”, but I discovered during the first time I went up there that it was actually for the next film.
Can you explain to us what happens on this scene?
It’s for one of Professor Slughorn’s photographs, for his office.
He is not just a literary character or a booming fashion. Wikén can exclusively attest that he exists here and now, in the Leavesden studios where "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is being filmed. We embarked in this adventure as we entered the sets and then, suddenly, caught a glimpse of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), in a car's back seat. Over there, the cafeteria is crowded by extras, children and adults alike, who impersonate wizards and teachers, queuing with their trays during lunch time. So far, filming has taken three months with three more to go, but everything seems to be going smoothly. This new installment is slated for premiering in Chile on November 21st. "I'll be so sad when this is over," says Harry Potter through the actor who plays him, Daniel Radcliffe, commenting on the moment when they will have to film the seventh and final installment of this saga, slated for next year. "I'll miss playing Harry, but especially the people who work here", he adds.
Against all expectations, the sixth installment of the saga will not be as dark as the previous one. In spite of the tragic end of Harry's mentor, Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), the movie actually revolves around the awkward and comical romance between Harry and Ginny Weasley, sister of Harry's best friend Ron (played by Bonnie Wright, who made her debut in the second installment).
Here is what Radcliffe had to say on this topic: "It's a complex story, it isn't a simple romance because Harry is such a close friend of Ron's, and Ginny is his sister, and Harry feels as if he's walking on eggshells". According to director David Yates, "the fifth [film] was pretty intense, but this one has more comedy in it (...) There are many subtleties in the relationship, and a lot of sexual and emotional tension." The movie also promises a lot of action and magic galore, and it will count with at least one scene that is not in the book.
POTTERLAND
Entering Leavesden studios, located 40 km north from London and where more than 1,500 people work every day, is stepping into a new world, where optimism is king. Nothing seems impossible here. In this place, almost everything is created, from animals and monsters that participate in the movie ―while we were there, they were creating a cat, literally, hair by hair― to actors' costumes and sophisticated scenarios. "Wow!" is the only expression that one can possibly utter when the Great Hall comes into view. Going upstairs, visitors can see the beds where Hogwarts students sleep, with small posters and books beside night tables, although all these exquisite details will never be seen in the movie. Filming takes place in a hangar where Roll Royce motors for war aircraft were manufactured during World War II. Close to a main road, green fields surround the hangar and on one side - Oh, surprise! – a row of fake facades stands out, among which Sirius Black's house can be seen. Unlike other studios, here just one movie is filmed: Harry Potter. Therefore, its days are likely numbered. All this coming and going of people stops when a bell is rung. "There we go! Camera, action!" says the director and filming begins.
AN EXTENDED ENDING
Wikén witnessed a scene during a filming day. In it, the new Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Horace Slughorn (played by the British actor Jim Broadbent, known by supporting roles in classic movies such as "Brazil and "Richard the Third"), celebrates a Christmas party in his room for a selected group of students. Slughorn walks from one group to another chatting with his guests, trying to gain his favourite students' favour.
After a second take, the filming team watches the repetition of this scene through some monitors. As the director David Yates leaves the place, he gives some additional instructions. A few meters away, actors and actresses of other scenes wait very focused, seated in white plastic chairs outside the set where scenes are being filmed.
Once again the bell rings, and action continues.
This is how filming is developed every day, with a high degree of patience. This is a seven-year journey which will be extended a little bit, because HP producers decided to split the last book into two installments.
"The only problem is that people could think we want to use this last chance to make more money, but the great advantage to do it so is that we won't be fighting the battle of condensing the whole book in a couple of hours that we have fought so far," comments producer David Barron, and points out that both films will be self-standing entities. And, while producers make their minds up as to the best way to do it, and who will be helming the last chapter of the saga, filming of the sixth movie goes on within Harry's magic world.
Yesterday we showed you a pictured from Half-Blood Prince that appeared in Nickelodeon Magazine's April 2008 issue. Warner Brothers has now passed along the high-res version of this pic, and you can check it out here!
When it was announced earlier this week that the final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was going to become two films, it raised a lot of questions. Did the book really need two films, when all the others have managed with one? Was this an artistic or business decision? How on earth would director David Yates make it through another two without keeling over from exhaustion? How will fans cope with two years without a Potter fix?
In a world exclusive, we put those questions and more to producer David Heyman, who's been with the series since the beginning and will see it all the way through to the end in 2011.
Empire: When was the decision made to split the book into two films?
Heyman: We’ve been talking about it for – actually, right after the writers’ strike was when a definitive decision was made. We’d been talking about it for a while and we’d been mulling it and we thought that was the direction we’d go in after discussing it with Jo (Rowling). But a definitive decision was made once we were able to speak to (screenwriter) Steve Kloves after the strike. But we were angling toward that before the writers’ strike. Initially we thought we’d do it in one film, how we’d done it every time. But then when we began to really analyse it, we realised it was just impossible to fit everything in. Unlike previous films where you could drop certain things, like Hermione and SPEW or Ron’s quidditch, this one you can’t. There’s so much resolution and so much to resolve that you can’t drop it in the same way. Each of those incidences has a place and we didn’t want to compromise.
Did you get as far as trying to put a script together that would get everything in to one film, or did it become obvious in discussions that it would work?
No, it all came down to discussions. We just thought how are we going to approach this? Is this going to be a four and a half hour film? That’s probably what it would have been. Would our audience really embrace that? In some way, I think they might. But I think the younger ones would have drifted. There’s always been difficulty making sure that the ones that are two hours, two and a half hours long – making sure that those are the right length. I think by having two films that are two and a half hours – although we’re not sure of the length – then it will be a richer experience. One of the challenges that faces us, which we’ve been discussing, is how to give each film its own identity. We want them to feel like one film, but they’ve got to be self-contained too. We feel now that we’ve got a really good angle on that. But we haven’t got a script yet on either part, so I don’t want to say too much.
So these films will be the same length as the ones that came before? We won’t see two films that clock in under two hours?
No. The idea is to get everything people want in there. I’m sure there’ll be parts that don’t make it, which we won’t know until the script is written. But that is the idea.
What do you think is the natural separation point in the books? Where can you end the first film in a satisfying way?
It depends what feeling you want [to end on]. I don’t want to answer that just yet because we don’t have the first script. We do have a point roughly where we want to end, but we haven’t got a draft to know if that works yet.
Obviously, there are people who will think that the decision to make two films is driven by a desire to make twice as much money. What do you say to that?
The process went like this: the studio said to us, the filmmakers, “You decide what is best for the story”. Alan Horn (President of Warner Bros) and Jeff Robinov (Warner Bros Head of Production), particularly Alan Horn, are complete Potter fans. He loves the franchise, loves the books, loves the films and appreciates their importance to Warner Bros on many levels. But above all else he is a fan. And he said he did not want to compromise the creative integrity of the films. He wanted to end the series in the right way. He’s been very generous in the resources they’ve given us, but also in the freedom they’ve given us on each of the films. He very clearly said that Steve Kloves, myself, David Yates should make the decision and he would support that.
You mention earlier that you consulted Jo Rowling. What was her input?
We came to her and said that this was what we were thinking. She said, “You know what? I think that’s the right decision and whole-heartedly support you”.
Do you expect to shoot both films together?
It’s one film in two parts and it’ll be shot all as one film.
How long do you expect that to take?
I would think approximately a year’s shooting.
Could that cause any issues with cast, asking them to be available for a whole year?
No. As ever, you have to work around schedules, but the cast will work with us.
This will be David Yates' third, and arguably fourth, film. Did he immediately jump at the chance to take on book seven?
There was not a moment’s hesitation. Actually, I said to him that he should take a moment. He said yes, but I thought he needed to take a moment to think about it and make sure. It’s very flattering and very exciting, but can you push the world, push the characters and make the films that are a development of what you’ve already done? That are pushing the story further. He came back and said, “Please, I would treasure the opportunity and think I could bring this series to the end it deserves”.
Will he get any break between finishing six and starting seven? The poor man must be tired.
No. He’ll get a couple of weeks off at Christmas and somewhere in the shooting of seven we’ll have a break. But otherwise, he'll just soldier through (laughs). He's got so much energy.
The extended shooting time means there’ll be nearly two years between the release of Half-Blood Prince and the first part of Deathly Hallows in 2010. Are there any concerns about that?
Actually, we would have been in a very similar place if we’d done one film, because it would have been four and a half hours long. The shoot would not have been considerably shorter, so it would have been on similar lines.
And when do you expect to start shooting Deathly Hallows?
Early next year. Most of 2009 will be filming. We’ll be anticipating shooting in February. We’re all really excited about the possibilities and the challenges of seven. It’s going to be a cracker.
Have you got anything you’re most looking forward to putting on film? The final battle, maybe?
Well, the final battle, but there’s so much. I love the character stuff. I love the resolution of Dumbledore and Snape. I love the multiple Harries at the beginning. I love the scene of Hermione trapped at the Malfoys’. I love Harry and Hermione in the forest. I think there’s so much, it’s such a rich fabric. What we’ve done now, which I think is really exciting, is that we’ve found thematic centres for each of the films. That gives the film heart. I think it’s pretty great that David Yates has crystalised it and…it’s early days still, so I’m not going to say too much. But I’m just thrilled that David Yates decided to come back, because he’s really found a new spirit for the sixth film and as we talk about seven, it’s very different as well. I think it’s going to be good.
Warner Bros. has announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be filmed as a two-part presentation, with part one to be released for the 2010 holiday season and part two to come out in summer 2011. And in an e-mail, Steve Kloves, who's written all the Potter films except Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, says the creative and studio teams are doing it this way for all the right reasons:
"Years ago," he writes, "we briefly — and seriously — considered doing Goblet of Fire as two films. So this concept is not altogether new. As for Deathly Hallows, I intuited — almost from the first moments I began reading it and certainly once I’d finished — that to realize the story in a single film was going to be a tall order. Others in 'the group' felt similarly. So the idea of two films began to get kicked around as early as late summer of 2007. We didn’t take it lightly. But ultimately everyone felt that despite the challenges it would present, it was the most sound creative decision. I’m sure some will think we’re crazy. My wife looked at me cross-eyed when I first mentioned it. But I’m really excited about it because it should allow us to stretch a bit with the characters and give them the proper send-off. The story is highly emotional and those moments deserve time to breathe. And, personally, I feel we owe it to Jo — in order to preserve the integrity of the work — and the fans — for their loyalty all these years — to give them the best and most complete experience possible. I’d love to do it in three parts!"
And for good measure, Kloves adds that working with Order of the Phoenix director David Yates on the currently filming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince "was a brilliant experience, so this should be a treat!"
Good news for those of you who plan to make the switch to Blu-ray DVDs: Warner Brothers has announced that several films will be released in a special book-like edition, including Harry Potter. HighDefDigest.com reports:
...the studio will kick off a new line of deluxe next-gen releases geared towards the collector's market. Sure to please film buffs, the slate of ten releases will wrap the high-def picture and sound in a handsomely bound volume containing rare and never-before-seen archival material.
We're not yet sure which Potter films will be re-released, nor what "archival material" they will include. However, we'll keep you updated. Thanks to Matt for the tip!
