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We have been covering the unveilings of exclusive material at San Diego Comic Con’s Fantastic Beasts panel – first a trailer, and now an exclusive Q&A event with the cast – featuring a question from Leaky!
Present at the event were: Director David Yates, Producer David Heyman, Ezra Miller (Credence), Collin Farrell (Percival Graves), Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander), Katherine Waterston (Tina Goldstein), Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski) and Alison Sudol (Queenie Goldstein).
In the U.K., fans (and Leaky) were in the Great Hall at Leavesden Studios to take part in the live stream Q&A, where Fantastic Beasts costumes and props were being flaunted – unfortunately only for this exclusive event. Georgia and Gemma represented Leaky in London, so keep posted for more updates on this!
Carianne and Tabitha attended Comic-Con in San Diego on behalf of The Leaky Cauldron, Carianne managed to ask what Eddie, Katherine, Dan and Alison’s favourite parts about the wizarding world are:
Alison answered “Anything is possible, and also that it’s a beautiful world, it’s close enough to our world that it feels real and yet the possibilities and just the wonder of it, on just the tiniest little details how magic is sort of workaday in the world is just constantly inspiring”
Katherine says “I think the idea of a parallel universe is just something I think we can all relate to. Of course children have that sense and we kind of grow up and we are kind of bred out or encouraged to stop thinking that way and stop seeing the beauty and the possibility and the magic around us, and to consider it in this much more literal way that there could be a simultaneous world happening around us that we might not be conscious of, that we might be able to notice if you tune into it or look for it … I love that idea”
Presenter Edith Bowman asked what it was like in San Diego when the brand new trailer was shown to audiences, and Eddie Redmayne jumped straight in with his answer, clearly excited to be at such a huge event:
“You hear so much about Comic-Con, the moment you actually walk on stage, it’s like no sensory experience you can possibly imagine – it’s so overwhelming, but so exciting”
According to Redmayne, there were people dressed as Newt Scamander in the audience!
Ezra Miller’s character has been kept closely under wraps (he does, however, feature in the new Fantastic Beasts poster), so his answer was understandably more discrete:
“I can’t tell you my favourite scene” he says, but said his favourite thing about working on the film was working with Collin Farrell, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Morton (Mary Lou).
Alison Sudol says she is a “big Harry Potter fan” so is obviously excited to be promoting Fantastic Beasts at such a great event. “You can’t help but feel like a kid” she says, “It is magical, it’s magical to be a part of this world and to have a continuation of the universe that we all fell in love with, but it’s something new, something different”
Dan Fogler is a loyal Comic-Con fan, who says he’s been attending the event for probably the past 15 years, and compares the excitement of attending 2016’s event to 2015:
“Last year I didn’t have much going on … then I got the call from my agent saying you know, ‘Next Comic-Con’s gonna be a lot different’, and they were right.”
Pottermore asked the first time Eddie Redmayne learned to use a wand, which apparently happened in what turned out to be a slightly awkward experience during screen tests for the film:
“I remember David said very kindly ‘Ed, just choose a wand’ and I was like *HUGE GASP*. What was extraordinary was that your inner 9-year-old has waited for this moment all your life, and I picked the thing up, and I got complete stage fright. I had no idea what to do with it – it looked really odd in my hand so in the end I actually went back and looked at some of the Harry Potter films and looked at Dan and Emma and Rupert’s work and thieved an idea or two!”
Alison Sudol echoed this ‘stage fright’, saying that she was also concerned about whether the wand was actually magic, but that after the initial shock is over with “it becomes quite addictive” – apparently she’d found herself actually walking around at home with a wand!
Katherine Waterston said that the muscles involved in wand work were a surprise for her, saying she got a case of ‘wand elbow’.
SnitchSeeker then asked Eddie Redmayne what makes Newt Scamander a true Hufflepuff. Eddie said he’d recently taken the Pottermore sorting test:
“I’d been holding off doing it for an age because I couldn’t believe it would actually work, and I was sorted into Hufflepuff and it was the most exciting moment of my life”
“It’s his heart – he’s a complicated, knotty, at moments spiky character, but he has a wonderful heart and a passion for his creatures, and I suppose it’s those qualities which I associated with a Hufflepuff”
You can view the trailer and the full Q&A in the video on the Fantastic Beasts below, and check out our break-down of the trailer here!
Thank you to Carianne for asking Leaky’s question, and to Alison Sudol and Katherine Waterston for answering it! Many thanks to Tabitha, who joined Carianne and represented Leaky at SDCC 2016, and Gemma and Georgia, who joined the festivities at Leavesden Studios in London on Leaky’s behalf–thank you!!!
Cursed Child is set to start preview performances tomorrow, and in the midst of J.K. Rowling, director John Tiffany and writer Jack Thorne preparing for their opening day, The Guardianspoke to them about their two years of collaboration on the project.
Commenting on the ‘warmth and ease’ of the relationship between the three creators, writer Sarah Crompton says that the ‘friendship and ease between them bodes well for the collaboration that has sustained them for more than two years’.
We are reminded that this is the only interview the trio will give before the opening of the play. Jo recently tweeted a photo of a badge saying ‘#KeepTheSecrets’, which is the running message of the play’s promotion. In a recent backstage glimpse of the play (which you can watch here), the door to the rehearsals room bore a sign saying ‘Keep Calm and Keep the Secrets’.
Jo also tweeted a video today, asking all seeing the preview performances and beyond to keep the secrets of the play under wraps, so not to ruin the story for those unable to see the play or those attending slightly later dates:
“I’ve been through this many times,” says Rowling. “And I hope we get there without any major spoilers, purely because people will have an amazing experience if they don’t know what’s coming.
“Generally speaking, Harry Potter fans are a community, they have each other’s backs, and they want to have that mystery and the sense of surprise. So we’re hopeful. But it won’t be the absolute end of the world. We’re not going to be throwing tantrums about it but we hope for the audience’s sake that we can get there.”
“I’ve been awake since 4am … We were in the theatre last night and I saw a scene that’s very close to my heart, in costume, on the set And it was quite overwhelming”
Director John Tiffany is clearly no stranger to Jo’s amazement with the play:
“Jo has been around for a lot of the process,” Tiffany chips in. “A lot,” she agrees. “But last night was the first time I had been into the theatre and seen everything so fully realised. And it was… extraordinary.”
“We did a fist bump, didn’t we?” says Tiffany, smiling.
“Well, I tried to do a fist bump with you,” Rowling shoots back. “And you tried to shake it. So that wasn’t our coolest moment. But in fairness it was dark…” “And I am not known for my first bumps,” says the director. “Nor am I, really,” adds Rowling. “I just felt the moment demanded one.”
Talking about their nerves, Jo – the 4am riser – feels she could take a lot from Tiffany’s relenting composure. He says that his unshaken nerves were unexpected:
“If you had asked me a year ago how I’d be feeling today, I think I’d probably have said I would be crumbling biscuits in the corner. But I feel remarkably sane.”
“You are so calm,” Rowling interjects. “I am less calm.”
The magic started in a meeting between J.K. Rowling and the play’s now-producer, Sonia Friedman – after speculating the idea and bringing in Tiffany and Thorne, Rowling was completely on board:
“You can probably imagine I have been asked to do something else with Harry Potter five times a week ever since the series ended. Sonia just wanted to explore a theatrical production and I knew her by reputation obviously and thought I would really like to meet her and hear what she had to say.”
On Tiffany and Thorne’s involvement:
“That’s the reason this happened because I thought I will never have the opportunity to work with such great people again,”
Of course, Jack Thorne is a self-proclaimed ‘total Potterhead':
“I still consider myself a Potterhead and I hope the Potterheads don’t hate me so much after this that I am never allowed to be one again.”
Yet Tiffany was unaware of this when he invited Jack to become writer of the play:
“He asked me when we met at the tube station on the way to TheSouth Bank Show awards,” remembers Thorne. “So glamorous,” laughs Tiffany. “And so appropriate, the tube station,” adds Rowling mysteriously. Thorne continues: “And he said, ‘What do you think about it?’ And I went a bit nuts in the street. Only because I’m so incredibly shy, nobody would have seen or realised I was going nuts.”
In an amazing turn of events, Jo Rowling and John Tiffany revealed that they actually met informally years before. Jo was a single mother, writing The Philosopher’s Stone in Edinburgh Cafes, completely unaware of the phenomenon it would become:
One of her favourite haunts was the Traverse theatre, where Tiffany was assistant director. “It was one of the first places in Edinburgh you could have a cappuccino,” remembers Tiffany. “I was there meeting actors and writers a lot, and I remember seeing a woman writing, with a pram at her side. We got to saying hello and I remember once Jo said, ‘Do you mind if I’m here…’”
“Because I hadn’t bought a lot of coffee,” she explains, before Tiffany adds: “Then a year or so later I realised who it had been. And she didn’t come to the Traverse any more.”
Jo says her and Jack Thorne are similar in many ways, making the bond between the three a lot easier to work with. They’re serious about the play, yet seemingly lighthearted, calm and honest in their approach to working with one another. Rowling seems to have completely entrusted her story to the two creators:
“Jack and I are similar in many ways,” says Rowling. “We’re both, notwithstanding how chirpy we are being right now, quite introverted people who are very happy alone in a room, and there are many parallels in our working practices and I felt like he was one of my tribe.”
“And we bonded over the haircut,” he adds, before asking her permission to tell the following story. “We were talking about the way people don’t realise quite how horrible age 10 is. That was the moment I realised it was possible I could never have friends. Other people would have friends and I never would. And I was talking about buying a coat: I bought the same coat as Matt Cox, who was a considerably cooler kid in the year and I had to wear it to school every day because my mum had bought it for me and it was the only coat I was going to get. He wore it a lot better and everyone thought I was copying him.”
He still shudders at the memory. Then Rowling adds, quickly: “And I had exactly the same experience. I had the same feather cut at 10 as Susan Hook. I went into school and everyone thought you are trying to be Susan Hook, you pathetic human being. We had exactly the same experience of being deeply uncool. And that’s what haunts you.”
Tiffany and Thorne understand the power of stories to impact people in complex and important ways, and clearly know the role that Harry Potter has had on so many people’s lives:
“When you’re growing up it’s very easy to feel lonely and insecure,” says Tiffany. “And what Jo managed to capture, I think, was a world which made those people feel less lonely.”
Rowling explains why she took on the project, and trusted Jack with the writing:
“I never set out to build a big community, but I don’t think there is a writer alive who wouldn’t want to have that many people react to their work,” she says. “That’s what happened. People came inside the world with me.
This is why [Jack] is the right man for the job, because he just gets it. That’s pitch perfect. The big reason why people loved Potter was that it felt like it could be. That sense that there is more to the world. Just on the other side. Even within touching distance. There’s more. It is the promise of another world and it doesn’t have to be a magical world but to a lonely child or an insecure person or anyone who feels different or isolated, the idea of having a place where you do belong is everything.”
“From the moment he produced the first outline, I thought bingo, that’s it.
On whether she ever considered writing the play herself:
“I am not so arrogant that I think when you’ve got an absolutely top-class playwright offering to do it that I’m going to say, ‘Well, I’ve never done it before but I’ll do it.’ It’s a question of knowing the limits of your own competence. I was reasonably involved in the Potter scripts. I’m more familiar with that world. I felt a degree of confidence writing a screenplay but I had supreme confidence that Jack was going to write the play that I was going to love and he has. So you can’t ask fairer than that.”
“It is a totally new language to me,” she says. “So watching Jack and what he can do on the page and his understanding on what will then translate on to stage has been such a revelation to me. I know novels and I know movies but this is a different world entirely. Jack has access to a paintbox that I don’t have because I don’t understand the medium.”
Thorne smiles. “To be honest, ever since I wrote Let the Right One In, I’d write something like, ‘They run through a forest and then are strung up on a tree and brutally murdered’. I’d just write it on a page and make John do it. And he does”
The world of Harry Potter seemed silent to us for a long time – the play has returned the magic to us all in a new form, and Fantastic Beasts is introducing us to new elements in the world of magic that we’ve not encountered before. Rowling says that the stories never left her, even whilst she worked on The Casual Vacancy and Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike novels:
“It was 17 years and just because I’ve stopped on the page doesn’t mean my imagination stopped,” she says. “It’s like running a very long race. You can’t just stop dead at the finishing line. I had some material and some ideas and themes, and we three [she nods at Tiffany and Thorne] made a story.”
“But I carry that world around in my head all the time,” she acknowledges. “I am never going to hate that world. I love that world. But there are other worlds I want to live in too. To be perfectly honest, I just feel if I enjoy it, I’ll do it – and if I don’t, I won’t.”
“I always said never say never, and the reason I said that was truthfully that I did have this residue in my head in both directions – in Fantastic Beasts…, which is going back, and in this play, which is going forwards. So I still had this material in my head.
“It’s been amazing because there are roots over there and shoots over here, so it is keeping it very consistent and doing it all at the same time. We are sharing a lot between the worlds.”
The medium chosen for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child intrigued us all – when we heard there would be an ‘eighth story’ many expected another book, some thought it would be a film – many were confused when the scriptbook was announced – it’s a method of storytelling that’s new to us all, but theatre has captured the imaginations of creators for centuries, so perhaps it is only fitting that one of the greatest stories of this century moves to the stage. Rowling explains the reasoning behind the process:
“I kept being asked whether I would make a musical and I don’t like musicals,” she says, grimacing. “Theatre, on the other hand, I love. I find it a seductive world – there is nothing like seeing an actor perform live. But I had never had anyone approach me or propose anything that excited me like this.
“I think that, as a theatrical experience, as a play, it will be unlike anything people have seen before. And once people have had this theatrical experience, they will understand why this was the perfect medium for the story.”
The play is an art form unlike any other, yet in this day and age it seems to be neglected – Rowling herself admits to never having considered its appeal before. Jack Thorne and John Tiffany are trying to bring it back with J.K. Rowling, in style:
“The phrase John hates more than any other is ‘I should go to the theatre more often’ because it contains the idea that going to the theatre is an obligation.” “Like eating your vegetables,” Rowling chips in. “Or going to church,” adds Tiffany. “And that,” continues Thorne, as if in three-part harmony, “is the death of theatre. This is an opportunity, I guess, to get people who don’t feel they should go to the theatre to go to the theatre, and then discover that they want to go to the theatre.”
John Tiffany and Jack Thorne also unpack the reasoning behind Cursed Child being in two parts (as two separate plays):
“You would have had no space for character,” says Thorne. “It would just have been plot, plot, plot.”
Tiffany explains: ”Where film can eat up story, theatre needs space and breath. Once we thought of doing it in two parts, it felt naughty to begin with, but we felt we didn’t want to short change the story. We were very nervous up until the moment when the audience started to buy tickets, and the response was overwhelmingly fantastic, because the fear was that people would think we were just exploiting this. But it wasn’t that in any way, shape or form.” Rowling adds: “We had space to do what we were talking about doing.”
We’ve all seen the unsettling underbelly of Potter fandom rear its head in response to the casting of the Potter trio in Cursed Child – the casting of Noma Dumezweni as Hermione in particular sparked an enraged response.
Some claimed that this casting was ‘against canon’, it was against the films, it was against the book covers, it was against descriptions of Hermione (as having ‘very brown’ skin in Chapter 4 of Prisoner of Azkaban, with her infamous brown ‘bushy’ hair), it was – apparently – just wrong.
Perhaps these remarks did not come from a place of racism, or at least were not intended to come from such shallow places. Perhaps any move away from Emma Watson portraying Hermione would have been met with anger, perhaps people can’t understand that one medium of storytelling does not define another.
Whatever the case, J.K. Rowling commented on the response with the truth: Noma plays Hermione Granger well and – in the author’s opinion – fits the character perfectly:
“With my experience of social media, I thought that idiots were going to idiot,” she says. “But what can you say? That’s the way the world is. Noma was chosen because she was the best actress for the job. When John told me he’d cast her, I said, ‘Oh, that’s fabulous’ because I’d seen her in a workshop and she was fabulous.”
Unknown to Tiffany, when he made his casting call, there had in fact been a “black Hermione” theory around in Potterworld for years. Yet the strength of reaction surprised him. “I am not as Twitter familiar as Jo and Jack, so I hadn’t encountered its dark side, which is just awful,” he says. “The anonymity breeds horrors so after a while I stopped reading it. But what shocked me was the way people couldn’t visualise a non-white person as the hero of a story. It’s therefore brilliant that this has happened.”
Rowling settles the issue with a firm affirmation of Hermione’s state as a fictional character who can be interpreted in a variety of manners:
“I had a bunch of racists telling me that because Hermione ‘turned white’ – that is, lost colour from her face after a shock – that she must be a white woman, which I have a great deal of difficulty with. But I decided not to get too agitated about it and simply state quite firmly that Hermione can be a black woman with my absolute blessing and enthusiasm.”
“Not a bombastic spectacle that makes people sit back,” he says. “It’s hopefully something that pulls you in. It is absurdly ambitious theatrically but it’s also about the audience and the imagination, which is exactly what a novelist does as well.”
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 and 2 start previewing tomorrow, June 7th, with the official opening of the play taking place on July 30th (alongside the release of the Cursed Child special rehearsal edition scriptbook). Forty low-cost tickets for performances will be released each week every Friday at 1pm – find out more at the play’s website here!
Furthermore, if you’re interested in attending Cursed Child Midnight book release parties on July 30th, find out more about GeekyCon’s exclusive event in Orlando here, and Barnes & Noble’s nationwide events here!
This week, Pottermore gave us a look inside what David Yates actually does as Director of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Apparently it’s not all yelling ‘Cut!’ and ‘Action!’ – at least not for David Yates.
A team of Assistant Directors ensures filming runs as smoothly as possible, and according to Pottermore, most of their jobs involve adjusting leads, moving extras and actors around, preparing props and muttering instructions into mics. This team is led by first Assistant Director (AD) Josh Robertson, who usually does all the yelling, cutting and hushing:
“Josh and the other ‘ADs’ do a lot of yelling and a lot of shushing. Volume control is one of their principle duties. And when you consider that a mistimed cough could ruin a scene and cost thousands to reshoot, it’s very important.”
…
“There are four ADs on set (or, in movie speak, ‘on the floor’) and they all have earpiece microphones that make everything they say sound urgent. On Fantastic Beasts, Josh is joined by Tom Brewster, Danni Lizaitis and Katherine Hingst as second, third and fourth AD. Their names will appear right near the top of the end credits of the film when it’s out – you’ll spot them.”
“To support [David’s] process, the ADs fan out, assume positions at various spots on set and keep that area clean, clear, quiet and calm during and between scenes. They are the purveyors of smooth operation, the enablers of great direction.”
David Yates adjusts cameras to get the perfect shot, gives quiet directions to actors and monitors each shot and how the action plays out on screen. His gentle manner is something Katherine Waterston (who will portray Tina Goldstein in Fantastic Beasts) previously shared insight into David’s inspired style of directing:
‘He has a shorthand and a comfort with the world. He’s not precious with it, he understands what it needs and what it doesn’t need and there’s something really comforting in that.’
‘When we’re incorporating things that aren’t actually there, to look at David and know he can see the world is… everything,’
The PottermoreCorrespondent adds:
“He is both obsessively detailed-oriented and able to see the whole project as if from above. After directing the final four Harry Potter films, this is his fifth venture into J.K. Rowling’s imagination and he knows the territory well. He just needs a dependable crew to clear his path for him”
Read the full piece here, and Pottermore’s interview with David Yates here!
The ever-mysterious Pottermore Correspondent managed to sneak in an interview with Katherine Waterston, on the set of Fantastic Beasts. She ‘perfectly inhabits’ the character of Tina Goldstein, according to Pottermore, and we can’t wait to see for ourselves the level of talent David Yates clearly saw in her:
‘We were standing in the pouring rain with David Yates and I asked him about the casting process,’ I [the Pottermore Correspondent] tell Katherine, wondering if she knows. ‘David said he got Eddie Redmayne to read with so many actresses but he knew immediately that you were Tina. That you had such perfect chemistry and it had to be you.’
‘Oh! Oh, really?’ she says, genuinely incredulous and in her soft American accent. ‘That’s too nice. I bet he was like, “Don’t tell her that, it’ll go to her head!” Oh, he’s such a dear man. He brings so much joy to the set, but the real thing that trickles down from the top is his faith in this process because he’s been in this world before.’
Yates has also been at work on The Legend of Tarzan, and knows the Potter series well after directing the last four movies,so he is well versed in leading great actors – we’re confident he’s found something special in Waterston!
Katherine says that Yates has been a huge help on set, and clearly has a passion for his work and J.K. Rowling’s world:
‘Usually on a movie, you’re going into new territory together and you’re like, “Is there quicksand around the corner, are there going to be wolves attacking?” Whereas David’s been here before so he’s just like, “You’re going to take a left here and avoid the quicksand”.
‘He has a shorthand and a comfort with the world. He’s not precious with it, he understands what it needs and what it doesn’t need and there’s something really comforting in that.’
‘When we’re incorporating things that aren’t actually there, to look at David and know he can see the world is… everything,’
‘It’s sort of like when your parents read you a book when you’re a kid; if they read it with passion and curiosity, you can see the whole world.’
When asked by the Pottermore correspondent what she thinks of Rowling’s world, and how she feels about the script, Katherine gives us some great insight on the film’s tone. ‘Tender’, ‘slightly English’ and ‘beautiful’, but more interestingly, the film is reportedly ‘rooted in truth':
‘Ah, this movie. It’s so clever and it’s rooted in truth. It’s got light, funny elements and then much darker, more adult elements. I normally don’t respond so well to innocent lovely things, I think, “come on, let’s get on with it”. But there’s something about this script and the way J.K. Rowling writes; it’s tender without being saccharine. It never lingers on the sweet parts but maybe that’s a slightly English thing: “Oh I felt something – moving on!” No, really, it’s a beautiful film. It’ll kill me to finish filming it.’
Read the full interview with Katherine Waterston over at Pottermorehere.
Last December, Warner Bros. released the first trailer for Harry Potter director David Yates’s new film, The Legend of Tarzan. Earlier this week, a second trailer was released for the film, showing more of Tarzan’s origins that have been typically associated with retellings the legend of Tarzan. However, David Yates’s has added in his own spin–those gorillas that raised Tarzan may not be as innocent and loving as Disney told us.
As we mentioned before, there are many other Harry Potter crew members involved with the newest rendition of the legend of Tarzan. David Yates put together his Harry Potter dream team once more for the film with David Barren, Harry Potter producer, Stuart Craig, Harry Potter set designer, and Deathly Hallows editor, Mark Day, are also involved with the film.
Our eyes have been peeled for John Hurts (Mr. Ollivander) and still see no sign of him, though he is listed as being involved with the film. With or without the great wand master, the newest trailer looks fantastic and anticipation for the release of this film is beginning to build.
The new trailer for the film can be seen below.
The film will hit theaters this summer, July 1st in the USA.
Producer David Heyman received his just recognition at the Producers Guild Awards over the weekend. Gary Oldman presented him with the David O. Selznick Achievement Award, saying, “I’ve never seen him settle for second-best,” according to Deadline‘s account of the event. Director Alfonso Cuaron called the award “very well deserved,” and Heyman accepted humbly, “This is an extraordinary honor, all the more so because it’s given to me by my peers and the PGA who really understand what it is I do and what a crazy calling we have as producers….it’s the greatest job in the world. I wouldn’t change it for the world.” PGA released a video of David Heyman’s acceptance speech on YouTube, and can be seen below:
But how did Heyman find Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone before most people had even heard of J.K. Rowling? In an extensive interview for Produced By, the bi-monthly publication of the Producers Guild of America, Heyman answered this and more questions about his impressive career in film-making– revealing the true story of how the beloved Harry Potter films began– and his amazing orchestration of it all.
After being laid off from work with a major studio, Heyman opened a small office in London and decided to focus on books being published in Britain. Heyman told Produced By,
“I set out to be a bridge between the U.S. and U.K. and decided to make books a central part of my business. One, I’m a voracious reader. Two, books had probably the best ratio of development to film at the time. At the time, the British books weren’t so aggressively pursued, so I thought I could distinguish myself.”
According to David Heyman, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was almost missed by his London office. Talking about how it all started Heyman said:
‘We had three shelves for incoming manuscripts and screenplays: priority, medium priority and low priority. Tanya Seghatchian, my very bright development executive, read an article in a trade publication about a book that hadn’t yet been published. She called the agent. The book came in and sat firmly on the low priority shelf for a couple of weeks before Nisha, my secretary, who only read material from that bottom shelf, took it home. At our Monday morning I asked, “Anybody read anything good?” And Nisha replied, “Yeah, I read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” I said, “Hmm, not sure about that title. What’s it about?” “It’s about a young boy who goes to wizard school,” she replied. My interest was piqued.‘
With that, the Harry Potter film producer became one of J.K. Rowling’s first true fans. Heyman described his experience to Produced By, saying:
‘I couldn’t put it down and there began my Potter odyssey… I thought if I was lucky, it might be my Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I had no idea that it would become what it became. What I did know was that I connected with it. It made me laugh. It moved me. I related to Harry and the characters at Hogwarts. We all, in our own way, feel like outsiders. And no matter who we are, no matter how successful, no matter how happily married we are or what good friends we have, there are times where we feel alone. At least I do. And I felt that story was something that people could connect with. It was about something: being true to yourself. It was about loyalty and friendship and fighting prejudice and so much more.‘
After Warner optioned the film, screenwriter Steve Kloves and author J.K. Rowling really hit it off, thanks to Heyman’s introduction. Heyman talked of how the two writers bonded, saying:
‘As Kloves was writing the films, the books became wildly successful. All of a sudden they were No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 on the New York Times bestseller list. Now there’s all this pressure as he’s trying to finish the script. At the same time, Jo, who had written the first two or three novels essentially without any expectations, now had all this expectation. And she was struggling as she had written herself into a little bit of a hole on Goblet of Fire but had a firm publication date! They really bonded through that shared experience and challenges.‘
Once director Chris Columbus joined the project, production designer Stuart Craig was the film’s first hire. Then, the team scoured Britain for young actors to play the three leading roles. They felt confident in their choices for Ron and Hermione but opened the search to the U.S. and Australia before finding just the right person to play Harry. Heyman told the legendary casting story to Produced by, saying:
‘One evening, Kloves and I went to the theater and seated in the audience, I noticed this boy with big round blue eyes. He seemed an old soul in a young body. And then this voice called, “David, great to see you.” Sitting next to the boy was his father, an agent I knew called Alan Radcliffe. The play started but I paid little attention to what was going on up on stage. I kept on turning around and looking at this boy. When the play finished, I went to find Alan and his son, but they’d gone. So the following morning I called ICM and asked if Alan would allow Daniel to visit the studio to meet Chris. Alan said, “Why don’t you meet him first, and then we can decide.” So Dan, his mum and I went out for a cup of tea and we spent two hours chatting. Dan had this incredible energy. He was so curious and intelligent—a curiosity and intelligence that have helped make him the actor he is today.‘
The team had a list of accomplished adult actors that they wanted, and they all accepted because the children in their lives loved the books. The Wizarding World was established. David Heyman remembered how it all unfolded, saying:
‘We made the first two [Harry Potter films] back-to-back, we were prepping the second as we were posting the first. Chris did a brilliant job. I wouldn’t be sitting here today having a conversation with you [at Produced By] were it not for Chris. He cast our three leads and so many others, chose Stuart and many of our department heads and helped create the film world and an atmosphere and culture in front of and behind the camera that lasted till the end. And he directed two beautiful films.‘
But that was just the beginning. David Heyman then explains how director Alfonso Cuaron and others joined the franchise that became a family. The focus, however; was always J.K. Rowling’s storytelling. David Heyman talked of the consistency of J.K. Rowling’s voice shining through each film despite differing directors:
‘One of the things I’m proudest of in the Potter series is that in each film a director’s vision shines through. Jo Rowling’s voice is front and center, clearly, but each director channeled that voice and has made their films their own. Without that voice, a film is a blancmange and I am not a fan of blancmanges. A director with a vision is essential, even, or maybe especially within a franchise. Having said that, we never approached Harry Potter as a franchise. We were simply trying to make each film the best it could be!‘
This only skims the surface of the story. To read more about the birth of the Harry Potter films and to learn about other great projects David Heyman has done, see the cover story for the December/January Produced By, here.
Ezra Miller, Collin Farrell, explosions and (predictably) a lot of rain make an appearance on set, as Yates talks about directing the first of at least three Fantastic Beasts films after directing the last four Harry Potter movies:
‘I’m so excited about this. J.K. Rowling was just inspired to set this movie in 1926 with a completely new set of characters’ he says. ‘I spent seven years doing four of her Harry Potter films so I was desperate to read this script, but also nervous, you know.
‘It’s a beautiful script; it’s really fun. It’s fresh. She’s got such a gift for creating adorable characters. These ones are special, they’re really moving and funny. You see bits of yourself in them, or you see people you know.’
After watching the trailer on Tuesday, we’re definitely excited to get to know these new characters – with humour, mystery and a fresh new (…old?) era of wizard culture to explore, Fantastic Beasts is certainly gearing up to be a great story!
On Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne):
‘Newt is just fascinating. Probably anyone who’s ever done some sort of geeky thing will relate to him… And filmmaking is a geeky profession,’ he says. ‘Newt’s obsessed with beasts and cataloguing facts about beasts.’
Yates tells the mysterious Pottermore Correspondent that he was ‘obsessed with lenses and cameras’ when he was growing up, and said he ‘really get[s] that aspect of someone who’s truly obsessed with something.’
Lucky us Potterheads have just the right amount of experience with slightly geeky obsessions – Newt sounds right up our alley!
‘Oh she’s so adorable because she’s sort of so career-obsessed. A lot of us who work really hard can sometimes relate to that. Jacob is everyman, or everywoman, he’s pure and I like that. Queenie’s glamourous and somehow worldly but innocent. They’re so great.’
And finally, Yates addresses how he built the cast around Redmayne’s character:
‘It was like putting a rock band together. We saw so many people. We got Eddie, he was our anchor and I knew once we’d got him, we had to build the world around him. The other characters in this world had to react to him, they had to have a chemical reaction with Eddie. So we went to New York and saw some really fine actors, a lot of them, over two or three days, one after the other in the same room, all of them with Eddie. ‘
‘Eddie has done certain scenes from this movie so many times with so many different actors. When he was with Katherine, there was just something. It was amazing and I just thought, it’s got to be Katherine. It’s got to be. Then with Dan… Eddie and Dan are like Laurel and Hardy, so it had to be him. It’s funny, how they just clicked.’
Read the full interview here, and watch the new Fantastic Beasts trailer here!
In an exclusive interview with Scotland Now, director John Tiffany talks about his early acquaintance with J.K. Rowling and his decision to work on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Tiffany is the former assistant director of the National Theatre of Scotland and has worked on several productions.
I first met Jo years ago when we didn’t know who each other was. I had just started at the Traverse in Edinburgh, and now and again I would see a woman with a pram writing in longhand in the cafe. She’d write in Nicholson’s, The Elephant House and the Traverse cafe.
We knew each other to nod at. I’d be having meetings with writers and actors and I’d see her. Eventually we’d say hello to each other and a year later – bam!.
Rowling was writing her novels, and now, 20 years later, Tiffany will be directing her play. Apparently, it was a decision that he weighed heavily. With Scotland Now, Tiffany says:
It was my three nephews and my colleague Vicki Featherstone’s two kids who said to me, ‘You have to do this’ when I first spoke to them about it.
They were instrumental. Those stories sparked something amazing in them that will never leave them. Particularly the reading of the books. People get very emotional when they talk about Jo and her books, because a lot of kids learned to read, or think they learned to read, because of Harry Potter.
While John Tiffany says that he read the Harry Potter books as an adult, he knows that they have had a profound effect on a generation. He also remembers that they were some of the first children’s books that adults had no shame in reading in public.
In the interview, Tiffany also talks about his hopes for the play’s eventual world tour.
Several Potter stars and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell are working together once more. This time Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix), and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) have been casted together in a new adaptation of Charles Dicken's Great Expectations (directed by Mike Newell). The trailer of this newest adaptation was released yesterday (and can be viewed below). According to the Examiner, the film is set to premier at Toronto International Film Festival and be released in the UK and Germany. There is currently no notice of the movie being released in American theaters. The Examiner gives a synopsis of the movie:
The story follows a young orphan named Pip who has lived his entire life in misery with his abusive older sister. One day he is called upon by a wealthy shut-in named Miss Havisham (Bonham-Carter) to come to her home and play with her daughter, Estella. Though Estella treats Pip with utter disdain, he soon finds himself falling in love with the young beauty, which Miss Havisham encourages. Pip then gets an invitation from a mysterious benefactor to go to a finishing school where he can become a proper gentleman. But things are not as they appear to be and Pip soon finds himself at the center of a much bigger plan.
According to IMDb, Ralph Fiennes plays Magwitch (a deported criminal Pip meets in a graveyard, who later becomes wealthy and sends money to Pip) and Robbie Coltrane plays Mr. Jaggers (a criminal lawyer hired by Magwitch to provide for Pip).
The red carpet for the grand opening of Warner Bros. Studio Tour - the Making of Harry Potter is about to get underway! Watch live as the cast and crew of the "Harry Potter" films arrive and speak to presenter Alex Zane. Leaky will have more coverage from the grand opening, so stay tuned!
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" won the top prize at the Jameson Empire Awards for Best Film. Director David Yates also picked up an award for Best Director for his work on the final "Harry Potter" film.
The ceremony in London was attended by several Potter cast members, including Matthew Lewis, Bonnie Wright and Evanna Lynch. Daniel Radcliffe, who is currently shooting "Kill Your Darlings" in New York, sent a video message thanking everyone for their votes. According to BBC Newsbeat:
Daniel Radcliffe was unable to attend the ceremony to receive the
Harry Potter prize, but left a video message, saying: "I've always been
quite a harsh judge of the series, but I was over the moon with this
final film; I think we went out on a high note."
Picking up the best director prize, Yates added: "Anyone
who's ever directed a movie like this knows that it's a huge great
family that helps bring these movies to fruition and makes them what
they are."
Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) also won Best Actor for his work in the film "Tinker Tailor Solider Spy." Photos from the event can be seen at Empire's website.
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The 31-disc Harry Potter Wizard's Collection Blu-ray/DVD box set will be released on Sept. 7 in the U.S. and Sept. 10 in the U.K., it's been announced.
This definitive collection will include all eight Harry Potter films, plus over four hours of never-before-seen footage. The massive box set weighs an impressive 19 pounds, and will also come with "artistic and authentic film memorabilia."
The official Harry Potter website has been updated to reflect the impending release of the Wizard's Collection. An interactive wand gesture game has been added to the site so fans can unlock exclusive previews of the bonus material every week.
This week, Yahoo! has the first exclusive preview which shows a young Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) talking about a rather "unpretty picture" he drew of Alan Rickman (Severus Snape). The clip then shows a present-day Grint and Rickman talking about the drawing. Watch it below!
Harry Potter Wizard's Collection is available for pre-order through Amazon.com for $349. The U.K. edition is priced at £259.99.
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Susan Lee is a busy, creative person wears a lot of hats. (That's probably why we get along.) As a playwright, a filmmaker, a screenwriter, a teacher, and a painter, Susan has made her mark in many different fields. I know she's made her mark on me as a director and as a friend.
I thought readergirlz would like what she had to say about strong characters:
"What motivates me is when a piece speaks to me. As a director, it's always the language first. If something isn't well-written, I won't do it. [...] So I always want something that's smart and intelligent. Something that has characters who are complicated and rich. Characters you want to spend not just two hours with but want to take them home and make them dinner and dig even deeper into them. It has to make me want to explore why the characters are the way they are."
- and why she finds being a teacher so delightful:
"What I love about working with kids is how open and vulnerable they are. They're not afraid to tell you what they think. And when they grab on to something, they hold on for dear life. My favorite part is when they have a breakthrough and they achieve something they never thought they could. And to have them step back from their drawing or their painting and have them gasp in wonder at what they've created, there is not enough money in the world to compete with that. They astound me with their ability to create and with their openness and access to their emotions. They make very single day at work a pleasure and so very worthwhile."
Yahoo! Movies asked members of the cast from "Harry Potter" to sum up the series in two words. The answers ranged from "crazy fun" to "bloody brilliant." Find out who said what by watching the video at this link. Cast members who participated included Evanna Lynch, Mark Williams, Jason Isaacs, Warwick Davis, producers David Heyman, David Barron and director David Yates.
MSN UK also released an exclusive behind the scenes clip focusing on the stunt doubles for Daniel Radcliffe and Tom Felton while they shot a scene from the Room of Requirement. Watch it below or over here.
On Tuesday night, Variety hosted a screening of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" in Los Angeles as part of a campaign to build Oscar buzz for the final film in the series. Present at the screening were producers David Heyman and David Barron, along with director David Yates and actress Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange).
Heyman on deciding where to split "Deathly Hallows:"
Initially we were nervous about ending Part 1 with
Dobby’s death. Because the previous three films had ended with a
death, and we thought, “Oh my gosh, this is a repetitive structure, we
don’t want to do this again.” So we actually shifted [the split] to the
arrival at Malfoy Manor. With Harry’s hair being pulled back, and you
see the scar, and ending it on a cliffhanger. But during the editing
process is became very clear that you needed some closure. And also, if
we had set up Dobby in the beginning of Part 1 and then his death
happened halfway or a third of a way through Part 2, we felt that
wouldn’t be emotionally satisfying. So David [Yates] ultimately made
the decision.
Yates explaining why they moved the Harry/Voldemort final battle outside:
In the book Voldemort confronts Harry in the Great
Hall. They’re together and surrounded by children. And, because we
waited so long for this final confrontation it felt more primal and
spectacular to have them alone up in the ramparts of the castle. I love
this notion of Harry pulling Voldemort off this high point and then
conjoining in this weird and wonderful way. Because they’re sort of
twins in this series of stories. And I just felt the image of them two
separately in that courtyard was more iconic. And in the book, the book
was terrific, but tonally it was slightly different than what we wanted
to do. We went a bit earthier and a bit more grown up. Whereas in the
book it’s slightly – it reads slightly younger. And Voldemort’s
undermined before he’s ultimately dispatched. And so we tried to avoid
that. Working with Steve [Kloves] with came up with our alternative,
which felt more spectacular as well. Whizzing around Hogwarts.
Together. Trying to pull each other apart. I felt that would be a more
cinematic expression of what Jo started.
Bonham Carter talks about a dueling scene with Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) that was cut and stealing items from the set:
Helena Bonham Carter: I always shoot
incredibly long sequences for Potter, and 5% is preserved. [laughter]
Me and Julie – we did that fight. But it was much longer. We had so
many moves. In fact, I had a really huge fight with Gary Oldman [in
Order of the Phoenix] – do you remember that?
David Heyman: Are you saying your best stuff is on the cutting room floor?
Carter:
Absolutely! Well not my best stuff, but a lot of stuff. I trust I’m
in the hands of — but anyway. Me and Julia, we actually threw our backs
out. Because it’s quite strenuous doing all the wand stuff. I died
that day. I’ve died so many times in films. You usually die in the
middle of shooting a film, or in the beginning. But this time I
actually finished – it was on my last day of shooting. They killed me.
The Hollywood Reporter was present on Monday when Warner Bros. hosted a luncheon to celebrate the Harry Potter franchise at Club 21 in New York City. In attendance at the luncheon were Daniel Radcliffe, Alan Rickman, director David Yates and producer David Heyman.
Video of Yates and Heyman making remarks about the Harry Potter series during the luncheon can be seen below:
THR also spoke to Radcliffe prior to the luncheon where he talked about his feelings now that Potter is behind him and the adjustment to life in the public eye. Audio of the interview along with a full transcript is available here.
What are your feelings now that it has all wound down? Daniel Radcliffe: Well, you know, I think my
feelings are that the series is, kind of, its own commemoration -- I
mean, to me at least. I won't be able to look at any of these films
without remembering what they did for the British film industry at a
time when it wasn't doing great -- it's now flourishing, but in the
early half of the decade, you know, there was nothing happening, and
films were closing, and Potter was the only, kind of,
sure-thing happening in England. And, you know, my memories of it are
incredibly nostalgic, and romantic, and, I think, how everybody views
their teenage years, you know: with complete idealism, having forgotten
that there was ever any, you know, hormonal rage or any of that kind of
stuff. You know, I had a moment the other day of actually really missing
it for the first time since, of going, "God, I miss those people!" But,
yeah, I mean, it's been over a year now, and I've been having this
amazing year here, so it's been a great first year away -- may they all
be this good!
Leaky's interviews with cast members and filmmakers from the Harry Potter film series from the red carpet for WB's Harry Potter Home Entertainment Celebration are now online and can be viewed via this link, or below:
PART ONE: Devon Murray (Seamus Finnigan), Nick Moran (Scabior), George Harris (Kingsley), David Bradley (Filtch), Rupert Grint (Ron) and Executive Producer David Baron.
PART TWO: Director David Yates, Executive Producer David Heyman, Stanislav Ianevski (Viktor Krum), James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), and Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood)
In these interviews, we get to hear from a number of the cast members about their impressions of the Wizarding World and of how they are feeling now that one of the last big milestones in the Harry Potter films series, the final film's DVD release, is upon them. We also speak with a few of the filmmakers, who discuss how they feel wrapping up the last eleven years of their lives and dish a little on what we might be able to see on a future Ultimate 8 Film Boxed Set.
The "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" DVD/Blu-ray is available in stores and online in the States now.
A number of cast members and filmmakers of the "Harry Potter" films took part in a press conference as part of the Harry Potter Home Entertainment Celebration this weekend at Universal Studios Orlando in Florida. Leaky was in attendance at the press conference and live-tweeted the event via our @leaky Twitter.
In attendance at the press conference were actors Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), Mark Williams (Mr. Weasley), Warwick Davis (Flitwick/Griphook), Domhnall Gleeson (Bill Weasley), James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley), David Bradley (Filch), George Harris (Shacklebolt), Nick Moran (Scabior) and Stanislav Ianevski (Viktor Krum), along with filmmakers David Heyman, David Barron and director David Yates.
Here is a rundown of highlights from the press conference:
Part One
Rupert Grint, talking about wrapping up the past ten years: "It's weird, it was my childhood. [The end] hard to put into words."
Mark Williams, answering same question: "It's hard to answer because it's never happened before."
Rupert says he took the Deluminator on he last day of filming.
Warwick Davis, on what he got from the series: "All I took was lovely memories with me."
Baron: "The only person who got a wand was the actor who played Ollivander (John Hurt). He asked for it, and we said no, so he took it."
Domhnall Gleeson: "I tried to wear my wedding ring home but got caught walking out."
Baron, on what he'd like to add to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter: "A ride based on the elevators at the Ministry of Magic. Floo powered and all."
Warwick Davis, adds, "The Gringots ride… so I could work here."
Rupert Grint speaking to the most important thing your character has taught you, "I think that we have almost become one, always felt as of we have a lot in common."
Stanislav Ianevski on what he learned: "Well, Viktor wasn't vert talkative and maybe why he didn't get with Hermione. So, I learned to be more talkative and outgoing."
Mark Williams: "One of the best things has been working with all the young actors and seeing them grow."
Rupert's odd fan encounter: Following the premiere of the "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" film in New York City, a man in a wheelchair grabbed a hold of the back of his car as they tried to drive away.
Baron: "This really hasn't been a franchise, this has been about filmmaking. About quality. Feel as if we've rather stretched the definition [of franchise].
Rupert Grint talks about his future, says he feels "no real pressure to work right away, kind of enjoying a break," and he just finished a film in Norway about WW2.
Director David Yates answering the hardest scene to film: "Inside the Gringots bank vault. Was a nightmare."
Williams, on the same subject: The night shoot following the Wizard World Cup.
Warwick Davis: "Pretty unpleasant to film the Shell Cottage shore-side scenes. Cold water and bad weather."
Yates on remastering the films: We don't have much material to extend for extended cuts. We used every inch of film we could."
Baron: "Always had trouble finding scenes for the bonus features... We put out all we had."
Yates: "I can foresee a 3D conversion in the cards."
Rupert on last day of filming: "I remember packing up my dressing room and finding toys I brought when I was 11… mechanical turtles."
Baron, discussing the possibility of doing more with the Harry Potter characters: 'You could only do anything after the eight films if only it came from Jo Rowling."
Yahoo! Movies has released two exclusive behind the scenes clips showing the Harry and Snape confrontation in the Great Hall during "Deathly Hallows: Part 2."
The first clip includes an interview with Daniel Radcliffe where he talks about Harry Potter's heroic moment, while the second clip focuses on Snape's role in the scene. Watch them both on this page or below:
"Deathly Hallows: Part 2" is now available on Blu-ray/DVD in the U.S. and will be released on Dec. 2 in the U.K.
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The Art Directors Guild will present the creative team behind the "Harry Potter" films with the Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award. This will mark the first time a movie series is given the award, according to Deadline Hollywood.
The creative Potter team includes author J.K. Rowling, producers David Heyman and David Barron, director David Yates, screenwriter Steve Kloves, production designer Stuart Craig, art director Neil Lamont and set decorator Stephanie McMillan.
The award will be presented during the 16th annual Excellence in Production Design Awards on Feb. 4 at the Beverly Hilton. Congrats to all being honored!
Users of the website Harry Potter: The Quest recently unlocked a new video called "The Love Life of Ron Weasley." The video includes interviews with Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Grange), David Yates (director) and David Heyman (producer) along with some previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage of the Ron and Hermione kiss. Watch it here or check it out below:
<>Chris Columbus, director of the first two Harry Potter films, has given an interview to ScreenStar in which he discusses the comparisons between the Harry Potter films and his newest fantasy venture, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. The interview, which can be read in its entirety here, poses the question if Mr. Columbus had any reservations taking on this project so soon ...
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Thanks to our friends at Oclumencia for pointing us to a series of interviews with Vira-Tempo blog where director David Yates and several of the cast members discuss the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince DVD. Links can be found here: Dan Radcliffe, David Yates, Rupert Grint, Bonnie Wright, and Emma Watson. Of interest are new comments from Dan Radcliffe and David Yates on that Bl...
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