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Peter Jackson on Bilbo casting

Liam — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:05:12 +0000

Last month The Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro said that they were “very close to saying one name”, having narrowed down the search for Bilbo Baggins from 4 possible actors, and that he expected to make an announcement in the next few weeks. Well it’s been more than a month now and we are still none the wiser. However, over the past few days casting speculation has been flying around the internet suggesting that either Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), James McAvoy (Wanted) or David Tennant (Doctor Who) will land the role and that an announcement will be made at the San Diego Comic Con next week.

When I read the names of the ‘possible candidates’ I immediately ruled out Radcliffe. The Hobbit will start filming next March and Mr. Potter has a franchise he needs to finish. It won’t work. Thankfully Peter Jackson has squashed these rumors as he revealed to Empire that no announcement will be made next week, but they are starting to think about casting:

“No, we won’t be announcing Bilbo for a little while,” he said when we asked about a Comic-Con announcement. “We’re starting to think about casting, but we’re knee-deep in the script right now. And when we do go to actors, they’re probably going to ask to see a script, so we’re powering ahead with getting the first draft done.”

So we have Guillermo del Toro saying they have narrowed the search down to one actor and we will know within weeks, and then we have Peter Jackson saying that they were just starting to think about casting. It appears we have conflicting reports here. Whatever the case is i’m sure they know what they are doing and they will make an announcement when they are ready.

Harry and Dumbledore Half-Blood Prince featurette

Liam — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:50:17 +0000

If Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released last year when originally intended it would already be out on DVD and Blu-Ray by now, but as it got pushed back 8 months we’ve had 8 months worth of extra marketing. I’ve lost count of how many posters have been release, however I won’t complain about the trailers because they’ve made me a born again Potter fan (I stopped watching after Azkaban but have recently caught up). The Half-Blood Prince marketing guys can finally see the end in sight, and have released a featurette which focuses on Harry and Dumbledore. We also see behind the scenes action and a bucket load of new scenes. Watch below!

This will be the last Half-Blood Prince footage-related post until it is released in two weeks time. Potter fans have waited two years for this, i’m sure they don’t want it spoiling with a barrage of clips days before it is finally released.

David Yates talks Half-Blood Prince delay, Deathly Hollows split

Liam — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:39:58 +0000

Because of The Dark Knight’s success last year Warner Bros. decided that they’d made enough money for one year and pushed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince back to this summer. However, it wasn’t just the fans who were disappointed with the decision. It took director David Yates a while to warm to the situation, as he told the L.A Times recently:

At the time, I was so adrenalized, I was so caught up in the process of getting the film in on deadline and making the movie on a certain schedule, and then the decision to delay was a huge anticlimax. There was a huge sense of disappointment, I must say. We finished the film a year ago, so it’s very strange to go all this time without seeing it with an audience, which is what you make it for. But the studio made their case for the move and I came to understand and appreciate their reasons and they are very good at delivering these movies and understanding the process of making a film successful and I think it wise to defer to their judgment.”
“You find yourself fiddling with it much more in post-production, naturally. There’s a good and bad to that. You could keep adjusting things for the rest of your life if you allowed yourself to do that. That can be unhealthy and at some point you have to say, ‘Here is the cut-off date.’ I know fans are eager to see it and it’s been interesting for us to come back to it now, even as we are busy filming the next installments.”

The interview took place during a break from filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, which will be split into two films. Yates revealed what they are currently filming and gave us an idea where the film will eventually be sliced.

“We’re here in the forest, we’ve just finished the scene where Harry, Hermione and Ron are captured by the Snatchers after being chased through the woods. The Snatchers are brutal and scary but they aren’t the most intelligent of creatures.They’re trying to figure out exactly who it is they’ve caught.”
“Things can change when you edit, of course, but the idea now is that it will be not long after the sequence that we are filming here today. That’s what we’re experimenting with. We’ve had three or four different ideas about where to cut off the seventh film. Traditionally, the movies have ended with a death or a bereavement, some sort of passage or arrival. This time we think we will end with more a cliffhanger. Again, though, that’s the thought as of this moment.”

As I haven’t read the books this means nothing to me (i’ve just watched the films), but i’m sure true Potter fans will know what this cliffhanger may be. Yates also praised Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint for being so ’stable and level-headed’. Deep down society expects young child actors who earn millions and find fame to end up doing hard drugs and become paparazzi fodder. Thankfully for the Harry Potter franchise these actors have grown up to become sensible and generally cool people (not that I know them, i’m just assuming).

When July rolls in it will have been 2 years since Order of the Phoenix, so expect Potter riots during the opening weekend, and maybe a few deaths.

Producer and Radcliffe talk Deathly Hallows split

Liam — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:34:50 +0000

Empire magazine recently spoke to Daniel Radcliffe and Potter franchise producer David Heyman about the split that will occur during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. As expected they don’t give anything away, although they do say that it will be “very exciting” and “a very tense cliffhanger”.

“We’ve played around with a couple of places,” said Heyman, “and ultimately settled on a place that we think is very exciting, and I think quite bold, in that it’s not necessarily where one might expect. You want to give a sense of completion, on one hand, but a sense that there’s another piece, more to come. We tried one and then Steve (Kloves, screenwriter) came up with the idea to try it another way and when we tried that, it felt just right.”
Daniel Radcliffe added that the split is “at a very tense cliffhanger.”

Daniel Radcliffe Talks Half-Blood Prince

Liam — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:23:23 +0000

Daniel Radcliffe spoke to Empire magazine about the sixth movie, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. He told them about a swarm of undead creatures who guard an item that Harry needs to defeat Voldermort, which will turn up in the third act of the movie.

“They’re horrible,” Says the boy wizard Daniel Radcliffe of the beings who look like humans made of only skin and bone and want to get their hands on Harry. “They made me think of bodies from concentration camps. It’s that terrible look of a body that’s wasted away, but not a skeleton. There will be child inferi too. They’re probably the most frightening things of any of the movies so far”.

Director David Yates also spoke about the opening scene.

“We’re opening with a big attack,” director David Yates told Empire when we visited the set. “It’s talked about in the book, but we’re going to show it. We’ll bring a major London landmark crashing down. It should be quite spectacular”.

I haven’t read the book but i’m guessing it is either Big Ben or the London Eye that gets attacked. Which one is it Potter fans?

The image in this post is new, and the full version can be seen by clicking here, where you will also see a bloody Harry front cover for the August edition of Empire magazine. When I say a ‘bloody Harry front cover’ I don’t mean it in an angry tone. He does actually have blood on his face.

A Peek At POTTER!

Liam — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:08:51 +0000

Jo Rowling has been making headlines lately with her fight against RDR Books about an unauthorized Potter Encyclopedia they want to print… and she wants to STOP. Yet, production on the sixth (of EIGHT!) Potter movies is still well under way.

As you all know, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince follows Harry as Dumbledore shows him the secrets to Voldemort’s past, and the very way to destroy him. Here is a behind-the-scenes peek at the filming of HBP:

Can’t wait!