Our adult Harry Potter alumni have been keeping busy lately with a multitude of projects, taking part in everything from new films to the theatre–and even one concert!
Toby Jones (voice of Dobby) will join Art Parkinson (Game of Thrones) and Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey) in the upcoming film Zoo, based on the true story of a 12-year-old boy and friends who join up with an older woman to save a baby elephant during the Belfast air raids in 1941.
Helen McCrory (Narcissa Malfoy) has received much praise for her star performance as Hester Collyer in The Deep Blue Sea, which is to be broadcast live to select cinemas around the world during the September 1 performance at the National’s Lyttelton Theatre.
An eerie first trailer for the second season of Fortitude, starring Sir Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore) was recently released. Gambon stars alongside Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games), and Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow, Frequency) in this Icelandic psychological horror series.
Kelly MacDonald (Helena Ravenclaw) has joined Domhnall Gleeson (Bill Weasley) in the upcoming film Goodbye Christopher Robin, which centers around the life of A.A. Milne (the author of Winnie the Pooh) and Milne’s relationship with his son, Christopher Robin. Domhnall will play the role of A.A. Milne himself, and Kelly will take on the role of Olive, Christopher Robin’s nanny.
Domhnall is also attached to an as-of-yet unnamed thriller–currently referred to as Day 6–alongside an all-star cast consisting of fan favorites like Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Javier Bardem.
The first trailer and movie poster for the highly-anticipated Denial–starring Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew)–were released last week giving us our first look at the film, which is based on the book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier.
The film–which also stars Academy Award winners Rachel Weisz and Tom Wilkinson–is based on the true story of the legal battle of Deborah E. Lipstadt. Lipstadt and her legal team went up against David Irving (Spall), who–when Lipstadt asserted him a Holocaust denier–accused her of libel.
Jim Broadbent (Horace Slughorn) joins an all-star cast in the latest installment of the Asterix series, Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods. The film–which is the first feature-length 3D film in the series–will open in cinemas this August.
The year is 50 BC. Gual is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely…
One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. Julius Caesar (Jim Broadbent), exasperated by the situation, decides to change tactics. Since his armies are unable to prevail through force, Roman civilisation itself will charm the barbaric Gauls. And so he has a luxurious housing complex built near the village for Roman families, called ‘The Mansions of the Gods’.
Will our Gaulish friends resist the lure of easy money and Roman comforts? Will their village become a simple tourist attraction? Asterix and Obelix are going to do all they can to thwart Caesar’s plans.
Lastly, Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge) joined husband Jim Carter (Downton Abbey) and the folk duo Show of Hands at a concert in Devon commemorating the Battle of the Somme centenary. During the event, Imelda and Jim read poems penned by war poets.
Of their participation, Imelda said:
“We were delighted to be asked to work on the centenary project. The music is beautiful and the poems work so well. It is very moving and we feel very proud to be a part of it.”
Thanks to our friends at Mugglenet for the heads up!
Beedle the Bard may be the king of storytelling in the Wizarding World, but it’s the Bard of Avon who reigns over the English-speaking Muggle one.
Saturday, April 23 marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, and several of our favorite Harry Potter film actors will be celebrating his plays in the coming weeks.
The main event is a cooperative effort of the BBC and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC): the BBC Shakespeare Festival 2016. The BBC announced that David Tennant (Doctor Who but also Barty Crouch, Jr. in the Harry Potter films) will host Shakespeare Live! from the RSC on BBC2 this Saturday at 8:30 pm BST.
Tennant will be joined by Joseph Fiennes, Judi Dench, Ian McKellan, Benedict Cumberbatch and others in a special variety show at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s theater in Stratford, England. The production will also be screened live in cinemas across Britain and Europe. Movie theaters in the United States will host the event one month later, on May 23, as The Shakespeare Show.
Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore in several Harry Potter films) is participating in the BBC celebrations by playing Mortimer on The Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses television series with Benedict Cumberbatch this year.
Into Film ambassador Kenneth Branagh (Gilderoy Lockhart in the Harry Potter films) has a Q&A session at Belfast’s Queen’s Film Theatre as part of BFI’s Shakespeare anniversary events. Several of Branagh’s Shakespeare films will screen, including Much Ado About Nothing (1993), which he directed and starred in with Emma Thompson (Sybill Trelawney in the Harry Potter films) and Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films).
Branagh’s Henry V (1989) will also show, featuring Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid in the Harry Potter films) and Emma Thompson.
Please join us in lifting a tankard of Butterbeer to celebrate over 400 years of William Shakespeare’s genius with some of our favorite Harry Potter film stars. Huzzah!
The 40th Olivier Awards took place tonight, and after a very exciting nomination for her performance in the West-End production of Broadway’s Gypsy, Imelda Staunton has been named 2016’s Best Actress in a Musical!
Staunton has previously won Olivier Awards for her Baker’s Wife in the London debut of Into the Woods, and as Mrs. Lovett opposite, Michael Ball, in the 2012 West End revival of Sweeney Todd. Read her interview with Broadway.com last year on her involvement in the play here.
Watch an interview with Imelda on her nomination below, and join us in congratulating her (and fellow cast members) on her win!
Harry Potter actors have been making a splash with the success of their new acting projects. Their stage work has been exceptional, as well as their silver screen work–Olivier exceptional. Both members of the old and new Harry Potter family have been honored with nominations. Among the nominees are Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge), Kenneth Branagh (Gilderoy Lockhart) and Sonia Friedman (producer of Cursed Child).
Imelda Staunton has been nominated for Best Actress for her role in Gypsy. It is her 11th nomination, 3 of which she has won awards for. A video of the Olivier Nominee answering a few questions about her staggering role can be seen below.
Kenneth Branagh has had an extraodinary year with his Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company. He is also nominated for Best Director and Best Actor in his play The Winters Tale. The Official London Theater reports:
“Following a year of hugely high profile appearances on the London stage, the hotly contended leading acting categories both see five names make each list. Last night’s newly crowned Academy Award winner Mark Rylance (Farinelli And The King), Kenneth Branagh (The Winter’s Tale), Kenneth Cranham (The Father), Benedict Cumberbatch (Hamlet) and Adrian Lester (Red Velvet) will face off for Best Actor, while Gemma Arterton (Nell Gwynn), Denise Gough (People, Places And Things), Nicole Kidman (Photograph 51), Janet McTeer (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) and Lia Williams (Oresteia) are in the running for Best Actress.
“Chichester Festival Theatre’s triumphant West End hit Gypsy has earned a staggering eight nominations at this year’s Olivier Awards with MasterCard, with the show’s stars Imelda Staunton and Lara Pulver both in the running for awards.
“2016’s awards mark a huge success for Branagh. His current inaugural Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company season at the Garrick Theatre has garnered a total of seven nominations, including a nod for Judi Dench in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category, and sees the stage and screen legend nominated in both the Best Actor and Best Director categories.
“Kinky Boots’ leading men Killian Donnelly and Matt Henry will go head to head for the Best Actor in a Musical Award, joined by the similarly conflicted pairing of Guys And Dolls co-stars Jamie Parker and David Haig. Rounding up the category is Mrs Henderson Presents’ Ian Bartholomew.”
The new Harry Potter family has been experiencing great success. Jamie Parker (the adult Harry in Cursed Child) is nominated for Best Actor in a Musical Award. Sonia Friedman (Cursed Child producer) has received a staggering 20 awards through her production company.
The entire list of nomination list can be seen here. The Olivier Awards will take place April 3, on ITV.
Our good friends at MuggleNet have been keeping track of Harry Potter actors gracing the floorboards of the London West End. Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge) and Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort) have both been nominated for Best Musical Performance and Best Actor, respectively, from the 2015 Evening Standard Theater Awards.
Imelda Staunton is being recognized for her singing, dancing, and acting talents in her portrayal of Mamma Rose in Chichester Festival Theatre’s rendition of Gypsy. Mugglenet reports Staunton already received an award for this role, when she won the UK Theater Award last week. A trailer for Imelda Staunton in Gypsy can be seen below.
Gypsy has also received a nomination for Best Musical. The show is being put on at the Savoy Theatre in London’s West End until November 28. After Gypsy leaves the stage, the BBC is planning on broadcasting a recording of the show. No date has been given, but it will probably be sometime in the near future.
Ralph Fiennes is being recognized for his leading role in George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman. The show was put on at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton earlier this year. MuggleNet reports more nominations for co-stars of Harry Potter actors in other post-Potter projects:
“Other nominees include Martin McDonagh, who directed Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan; James McAcoy, Radcliffe’s co-star in the upcoming horror film Victor Frankenstein, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who starred in Belle with Tom Felton, appeared alongside Eddie Redmayne in Jupiter Ascending and will next be seen co-starring with Emma Watson and Emma Thompson (Professor Sybil Trelawney) in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast.”
As announced earlier, WB will be releasing Harry Potter: Wizarding World DVD game on December 1st, just a few days before the release of Half-Blood Prince and the special Ultimate Collector's editions DVDs. As such Amazon.com has a brand new trailer for the DVD game which you can see right here in our Video galleries. Last month we told of the details for the game which covers elements from Har...
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A number of actors from the Harry Potter films have donated original doodles for National Doodle Day 2009, a charitable event that benefits Epilepsy Action and the Neurofibromatosis Association. This year, actors Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Imelda Staunton (Umbridge), Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Sean Biggerstaff (Oliver Wood), Zoe Wanamaker (Madam Hooch), and Jim Broadbent (Slughorn), are amon...
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