In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Dan shared how he feels about horror films in general as well as what he hopes people will experience while watching his latest film, The Woman in Black.
When asked if he was a fan of scary movies, Dan said:
"I suppose my favorite sort of horror movie would be something like The Shining. I saw that when I was way too young, I was about 14 and it just terrified me, and I mean it still does."
As for why people like to go and see a horror film:
"I think people love to be scared in a safe environment of a cinema. Going to a cinema is a very casual thing, it's not like going to the theater. There's no sense of being in an audience and being all in this together, but I think horror movies do that. If you go see a comedy, you'll get some of the people laughing and some of the people not laughing, it sort of divides the room. But, in this, the whole room is just like having their hearts pounding in the chest. That's what we are going for here."
The Woman in Black is set to be released this Friday in theaters. What part of the movie are you most looking forward to seeing? The terror? Dan in another movie? The mystery of the woman in black? Let us know in the comments below.
Here are some new photos of Matthew Lewis - the actor who portrayed our favorite sword weilding Neville Longbottom - that MTV News grabbed from the one-time Hump Day Hottie looking very grown-up.
These photos were taken by London-based photographer Idil Sukan, who was the official photographer for the British Independent Film Awards.
Matt has just wrapped up the filming on a major BBC TV project called The Syndicate and is set to begin work on a new film called Wasteland at the end of the month.
What future type of film would you like to see Matt in next? Let us know in our new comment system below.
Warner Brothers is negotiating to acquire an Emma Forrest-scripted drama based on the scribe's memoir titled, Your Voice in My Head. David Yates is expected to be the director of the film and he is currently in discussions with the young starlet he directed in four of the Harry Potter films, Emma Watson, to play the lead role.
Emma would be playing the role of a young woman who attempts suicide before being saved by a New York-based psychiatrist who's dying of cancer. As for the hopeful candidate for Emma's leading actor, the studio is aiming very high with names like George Clooney and Tom Hanks among the mix.
We will let you know more of this story as it develops.
With his new role in the creepy thriller film, The Woman in Black, Daniel Radcliffe has officially graduated from his Harry Potter duties at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
In celebration, Entertainment Weekly sent us this terrific flashback video to Daniel's first one-on-one ET interview that took place in 2001. At just 12 years old, the normally bright-eyed Daniel seemed a bit weary from the marathon-length press junket interviews of the day, but he managed to muster some genuinely boyish enthusiasm in talking about his first Harry Potter movie, the start of a new life adventure - and being on the verge of worldwide fame.
Do you still remember seeing Dan for the first time before Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released in theaters? Tell us your first memory of Dan, Rupert, and Emma in the comments below.
Colleges and University professors from all over have begun teaching the literature of J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter series in the classroom. And for those who grew up reading the seven book series, professors are finding that students are able to better understand and appreciate the classic literature of Charles Dickens, according to a Washington and Lee University English professor.
Suzanne Keen has struggled in the past to educate college students on classical pieces by Charles Dickens, whose 200th birthday is on February 7th, and with the exception of the infamous tale A Christmas Carol, found that students from six or seven years ago did not enjoy other works by the author, like Little Dorrit.
"It seemed that students were losing their connection to Dickens," Suzanne said. "That was alarming, because, amongst the Victorian novelists, Dickens is the most popular, the most fun, the easiest to read - right up there with Jane Austen."
Today, the students entering colleges and universities grew up reading the Harry Potter series. Consequently, said Keen, "they get Dickens." Apparently, reading Harry Potter is like taking a crash course in reading Dickens because "it's got humor, it's got the caricatured names, it's got multi-plots, it's got the really long stories that you read for hours and hours and hours, and you enjoy the fact that they're long."
Suzanne goes on in the article that she gives all of the credit to J.K. Rowling for priming the younger students with a kid's book version of a Dickensian world. A generation that enjoys reading long books, talking about books with other students, and better appreciating classical English Literature with the likes of Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
Do you feel that reading the Harry Potter series has given you a greater appreciation towards reading classical works that you might not otherwise have enjoyed as much? Let us know in the comments below. Discussions are welcome.
We would like to extend a very Happy Birthday wish to the actors, actresses, characters, and MuggleNet Staff members that make the Harry Potter series so successful today.
February birthdays:
3rd - Warwick Davis - Professor Filius Flitwick, Griphook (DH) 6th - Arthur Weasley 8th - Carolyn Pickles - Charity Burbage 8th - John Williams - Composer 9th - Ciaran Hinds - Aberforth Dumbledore 12th - Afshan Azad - Padma Patil 17th - Bonnie Wright - Ginny Weasley 17th - Emerson Spartz - MuggleNet Founder/CEO of Spartz Media 18th - Rosie Morris - MuggleNet Fan Fiction Staff member 19th - Luke Newberry - Teddy Lupin (credited) 21st - Alan Rickman - Professor Severus Snape 22nd - Julie Walters - Molly Weasley 23rd - Kelly MacDonald - Helena Ravenclaw 25th - James Phelps - Fred Weasley 25th - Oliver Phelps - George Weasley 26th - Rohan Gotobed - Young Sirius Black 27th - Timothy Spall - Peter Pettigrew 28th - Alfred Burke - Armando Dippet (COS) 28th - Georgina Leonidas - Katie Bell (DH)
May all of your birthday wishes come true.
Is your birthday in the month of February? Do you share a birthday with someone on this list? Let us know in the comments below.
Are you playing MuggleNet's daily trivia challenge? Do you think you have the dedication and knowledge of the Harry Potter series that will set you apart from the rest of the fans? Give it a shot and find out!
Each month we are resetting the points and announcing the trivia leaders. So be sure to visit the site each and every day, login to your MuggleNet account, and answer the three (3) trivia questions to the best of your ability. You will earn ONE point for each correct answer and TWO points for each correct answer every Friday. You will get recognized if your knowledge and dedication are tops, as long as you are not gaming the system.
Join us in congratulating the January winners: Mike, Elizabeth, Maegahn, Carroll Jackson, Slytherclaw, Michelle Tsai, Diana Mayhall, and Michael Stiger.
Feel free to email me directly at keith@staff.mugglenet.com if you have any comments or concerns with the trivia questions or the results as announced.
The viewers of the BBC series Blue Peter and programme [British spelling] editor Tim Levell will be deciding which children's book of the past decade is the best.
Luckily, this will not be another People's Choice award fiasco, where four of the five choices were Harry Potter stars, and the fans spread the votes out among the four with the end result of losing to the only other nominee. In this case, the vote is strictly for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
The boy wizard takes on David Williams's Mr. Stink, and Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider Skeleton Key, Jacqueline Wilson's Candy Floss, Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy, Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful, Charlie Higson's Silver Fin, and John Grisham's Theodore Boone.
Be sure to head over to the website right here and vote now.
Our next Quibble of the Week comes from Massy, and she has striven to divine the connection between Harry Potter and the Holy Bible.
She is not the first to analyze Potter through the lens of spirituality, specifically Christianity, in fact this magical text is notorious for being tied to the devil by some conservatives on the religious right because of its suspected endorsement of witchcraft.
But Massy - in the same vein of this editorial writer - has come to the opposite conclusion about how Potter is related to the holiest text of Christendom:
The book series and The Bible are the books most translated in the world. Their universal messages have granted them such a high degree of popularity. Themes relevant to our lives, such as the struggle to do good in the face of adversity and the idea that love is the supreme power have made them both such great works.
Have a read of this quibble and you decide - to what degree does Harry Potter connect to the plot lines, symbolism, perhaps even the essence of The Holy Bible? Or, another question, how does Massy's analysis change our interpretation of the book series?
If you disagree with the above quibble, how else do you think Jo navigates the issue of spirituality in her books? Make sure to post your thoughts in the comments underneath the essay. To read more quibbles and to learn how you can submit one of your own, head over to the MuggleNet Essay Section.
During Dan Radcliffe's promotional tour for The Woman in Black, he appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show on Thursday and while promoting his latest film, Dan and Ellen began talking about the upcoming Super Bowl between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.
Dan told Ellen that while living in New York during his Broadway show Equus, he was automatically christened a New York Giants football fan. This was Dan's first interaction with the professional sport of American Football, which is VERY different from European futbol. During his most recent Broadway stint as J. Pierrepont Finch in the hit musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Dan's love of football and the Giants grew.
During The Ellen Degeneres Show, Dan decided to make a bet with the host for $5000 to benefit the Trevor Project charity. If the Patriots win, Dan will pay $5000 to the charity and if the New York Giants win, Ellen will pay. Either way, the Trevor Project will benefit from this wager, which a really terrific outcome.
This editor would not be surprised if both Dan and Ellen wind up contributing each of their wagers to the Trevor Project no matter what the outcome of the Super Bowl.
According to a report, The Woman in Black was projected to bring in around $11 million in box office gross for the entire weekend. Surprisingly, at the end of Friday, The Woman in Black was in a battle for first place with Chronicle by bringing in over $8 million gross as the two films are running neck-and-neck to take top honors this weekend.
Chronicle was in first place after Friday, bringing in an estimated $8.65 million and The Woman in Black took in an estimated $8.3 million.
Today, the numbers will continue to grow, but in general, Super Bowl Sunday is traditionally one of the lowest grossing incomes at the box office with so many viewers watching the game Sunday night. For example: in 2011, Super Bowl weekend was the third worst weekend of the year bringing in a total of $87.3 million - about half of the opening weekend of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows alone.
Did you see The Woman in Black yet? Let us know what you thought of it in our comments below.
Today we give you a lighthearted look at what a real Harry Potter fan would NEVER say.
Would you say your favorite scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the Weasley's house burning? What about Evanna Lynch not really capturing the true spirit of Luna from the books? Nope, neither would we!
Thanks to Christinemay Riccio of CMRProductions for sending the video in.
I believe the title really says it all. Here we have a fan's perspective just before the final release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2. It's a video compilation of scenes from the movie trailer set to an original re-write, a Potter dub of Adele's smash hit from last year "Rolling in the Deep."
Actually, this parody was a cool collaboration. It was originally performed and written by aubreefreakinsummers and was made into a video by Bojiva777.
To experience more videos like this one, or to learn how you can submit one of your own, head over to our Song Parodies Section.
Or perhaps making original wizard wrock is more up your alley? Head over to our Fan Art - Music section to learn how you can submit original Potter themed music to us to be featured right here on the main page.
Tom Felton is scheduled to appear as a special guest at the Fan Expo in Vancouver, British Columbia, which takes place on April 21st and 22nd at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
At this time, the only scheduled item is a photo opportunity, but if it is like most conventions, you can look forward to an autograph session and possibly a panel discussion featuring Tom.
Additionally, Tom is set to appear at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo at the BMO Centre from April 27th-29th. No events with Tom are listed as of yet, but should be announced soon.
Thanks to Tania for the tip!
Lastly, MuggleNet will be represented at the MegaCon convention later this month and we will have a report and photos as soon as they are available.
A brand new Harry Potter-themed stage parody, titled "Chester and the Unbearable Burden, Parts I and II" premieres this week in Chicago, IL.
With inspiration drawn from the celebrated Potter saga as well as The Lord of the Rings, this play is a "love letter" to both literary works. The show's writer, Ben Fort, is a graduate of the writing program at The Second City, a prestigious drama school that has hatched many Saturday Night Live cast members, and which has begun the comedic writing careers of actors such as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and Steve Carrell.
The show's premise:
Dirkwood Wizarding Academy's Spooksday Ball is fast approaching, and Chester would like to take a girl other than his best friend Lillian. First, Chester must prove he's not just another wizard orphaned by the Dark Lord Molvak.
Chester's problems increase when strange visitors, Sean and Hamfast, arrive at Dirkwood with a mysterious ring and a transcendent elf who bears ominous news of Molvak's return.
Can Chester conquer death with the help of Lillian and Headmaster Dilfor? Will Chester be thwarted by escaped convict Gene or the sinister Professor Tansy? See for yourself in this two-part fantasy comedy filled with death, love, protagonism, and teen angst.
"Chester" performances run Thursdays-Sundays, February 9th to March 6 at the Athenaeum Theater (2936 N. Southport Ave, Chicago IL). MuggleNet will be attending and will provide a written review of the show next week. The show's creators have been very active on both Twitter and Facebook, even holding a "Monoctopus Drawing Contest" based on one of Chester's antagonists in the show.
For more information, including a trailer of the show, please visit the Six Hours Short web site. Tickets can be purchased on-line at this link. We hope to see all of Chicago's (and surrounding areas') Potter fans visiting this theater and supporting its newest production!
Our goal at MuggleNet is to provide you, the fans of Harry Potter, comprehensive news coverage on everything 'Potter' as well as be a fun and interactive site.
Recently, you may have noticed the site has been displaying malware warnings. The web development team at Spartz Media has been working around the clock to rid the site of this issue and close any loophole that they can find in order to prevent this from happening again.
At this point, the site has been secured and we invite you to come back and enjoy all of the features of the World's No. 1 Harry Potter fan site once again. We apologize for the inconvenience!
Thanks again for being a fan of Harry Potter and a fan of MuggleNet!
Note: The goal of the hacker, aside from rendering the site inoperable was to infect site visitors' computers with a virus. Your computer is at risk if at any time you bypassed the malware warning to access MuggleNet. If this is the case, we encourage you to run the virus protection software that is installed on your computer.
During a recent interview with the Radio Times, Dan Radcliffe said he was disappointed by the Academy's failure to honour the final installment in the Harry Potter film franchise.
During last month's award nomination announcements, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 received nominations in only three categories: Art Direction, Makeup, and Visual Effects.
Dan stated:
"I don't think the Oscars like commercial films, or kids' films, unless they're directed by Martin Scorsese. I was watching Hugo the other day and going, 'Why is this nominated and we're not?' I was slightly miffed. There's a certain amount of snobbery. It's kind of disheartening. I never thought I'd care. But it would've been nice to have some recognition, just for the hours put in."
The film series has been nominated for an Oscar in six of the eight films, but ALL of them have been for technical or craft categories, and yet, they have not won one single Oscar. For the most successful film franchise in history, that is a outright shame.
Will 'Potter' win something this year? We wait to find out on February 26th.
Our next fan art submission of the week comes from Andrea and she has sent us a video that looks deep into her creative process. We get to watch her draw this incredible likeness of Harry in a matter of minutes.
Noah's Notes: Not only is Andrea incredibly skilled with a graphite pencil, but she can use it wickedly fast!...Anybody? In truth, it took Andrea approximately 5-6 hours to construct this masterpiece. I encourage all budding Potter artists out there to take note of Andrea's shading strategy - she expertly goes from light to dark while sketching the various features of Harry's face and brings out the most prominent with heavy layers of graphite. Excellent work Andrea!
The MuggleNet Fan Art Section boasts an extremely large archive of paintings and drawings. Head on over to the section so you can see some other great Potter-art, and you can also learn how to submit your own piece there.
Encore's World of Film & TV discuss the nominees for Art Direction as the 84th Academy Awards approach. This year the biggest night in Hollywood is also Potter's last chance to rightfully claim an Oscar.
Staurt Craig and Stephenie McMillan together brought our beloved world to life throughout the eight films. The magic which was captured by these visionaries goes without saying. But will the Academy agree?
According to Encore's World of Film & TV, Potter receiving proper recognition could go either way:
"The scenes outside of the magical realm have as much attention to detail as those in the Hogwarts' castle, and after working on eight of these perhaps voters might want to give the series a goodbye wave? It's unlikely considering the strong competition, but it would not be unlikely."
As we told you here, the series has been downplayed and if any Oscars are won this month it will be the series' first. It's nomination in three categories for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will be their last chance for Hollywood recognition.
The recognition and loyalty Harry Potter receives from its' fans will always be evident in the years to come. Although, we all will be watchful as the eve of the Oscars draws near.
This weekend's BAFTAs will highlight excellence in film, television, video games, and more. In January, Daniel Radclifee announced the nominations for the 2012 Orange British Academy Film Awards, which includes nominations for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 in the categories of Production Design, Sound, Special Visual Effects, Make-Up and Hair.
Speaking of make up and hair, the red carpet event held this weekend means that all of the A-listers will be spending a substantial amount of time putting together the perfect look. OK! magazine goes behind the scenes and learns first hand at what becoming red-carpet ready means for stars like Emma Watson.
The magazine spoke with Charles Worthington, top British hairdresser, about the must-have hair trends for this awards season. The photos of the chosen bouffant style can be seen at the link above.
Additionally, and most interestingly, Emma Watson's make-up artist, Charlotte Hayward, explains the science behind matching hues to the celebrity's chosen dress and hair style. Each important factor comes together to make a complete masterpiece for the big event.
OK! states:
"As we head home still smiling three hours later, we can't help but feel a new appreciation for the stars ahead of their red carpet appearance."
The Orange British Academy Film Awards will debut on Sunday, February 12th. Will you be watching?
The Harry Potter series has been an attraction for scholars the world over as colleges and universities examine the intricacies of the literary phenomenon. The series is even used to study genetics as we previously reported.
On Wednesday, February 8th, another course in the academia of Harry Potter will be shared. This time, it comes from Western Washington University's Hannah Boxberger, a WWU senior majoring in classical studies, who will be giving a lecture titled, "Classical Mythology in the World of Harry Potter."
The event is scheduled for 4:00PM in the Wilson Reading Room, 4C, of the Western Libraries at WWU and is FREE and open to the public.
If you attend this event and would like to write an article on the lecture, please contact me directly at keith@staff.mugglenet.com.
Is your college or university offering Harry Potter academia? Let us know in the comments below.
Daniel Radcliffe and director James Watkins will be in central London this weekend to welcome the audience to two screenings of their gothic chiller The Woman in Black, which will be released nationwide in the UK this Friday, February 10th, 2012.
For those fans who missed the chance to see Dan at the Worldwide Premiere last month, this is a fantastic opportunity to see the star as he and James personally introduce both screenings.
The Woman in Black is based on the world famous ghost story by Susan Hill. The film follows the fate of Arthur Kipps [Daniel Radcliffe], a lawyer who is forced to leave his young son and travel to a remote village to attend to the affairs of the recently deceased owner of Eel Marsh House.
Working alone in the old mansion, Kipps begins to uncover the town's tragic and tortured secrets and his fears escalate when he discovers that local children have been disappearing under mysterious circumstances. When those closest to him are threatened, Kipps must find a way to break the cycle of terror.
The Woman in Black also stars Ciaran Hinds - the actor who portrayed Aberforth Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 - and Janet McTeer [Tumbleweeds] and was adapted from Susan Hill's best-selling novel for the screen by Jane Goldman [Kick Ass] and directed by James Watkins [Elden Lake].
The Woman in Black will be released across the UK and Ireland by Momentum Pictures, an Alliance company, on 10th February 2012.
Today, J.R. Martinez - season 13 winner of ABC's hit TV series, 'Dancing with the Stars' - experienced Universal Orlando Resort, and a photo was captured of him visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter during his visit, which you can see a full-size version right here.
J.R. Martinez is an actor and former United States Army soldier and was hosted by Universal Orlando Resorts today as he vacationed in Orlando, enjoyed an exciting performance by students from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. He also visited Ollivanders Wand Shop and soared above Hogwarts on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride.
Special thanks to our friends from Universal Orlando for sending us the hi-res photo and information.
Yes, the films are finished, the books have all been read, but the fan community is as strong as ever. Creating new and exciting ways to show their passion for the brilliant Harry Potter series that was created by J.K. Rowling and visually crafted by the amazing and talented cast and crew of the best film franchise in history.
This is just one more of those amazing fan created masterpieces. Compiled beautifully by YouTube user themanbatman, this video takes us through the entire series in a chronological journey as defined by author J.K. Rowling.
SPOILER ALERT: Just kidding - if you haven't watched the entire film series or read the book series yet, then there is very little chance of you actually watching this video on the World's No. 1 Harry Potter fan site!
Enjoy! Tell us what you thought of this compressed film version of the series in the comments below.
In a new article released by Everyday Health, muggle doctors have spent years trying to come up with a diagnosis for Harry Potter's mysterious searing headaches. Now, they say they finally have one!
Labeled the Headache-That-Could-Not-Be-Named, leading doctors of neurology have been trying to explain the skull-splitting forehead pain experienced by Harry Potter using the words of author J.K. Rowling.
Back in 2007, a group of specialists at the New England Center for Headache in Stamford, Connecticut, thought they solved the mystery and labeled them "probable migraines" by citing this passage:
“His forehead hurt terribly…it was aching fit to burst. He opened his eyes…he felt as though a whitehot poker were being applied to his forehead…He clutched his head in his hands; the pain was blinding him…he rolled right over and vomited over the edge of the mattress.”
But for anyone who suffers from migraines, they will tell you that a migraine will last for hours, not come and go within minutes. Besides, Harry's pain was described in the series as "piercing," "needle-sharp," and sudden. Not a set of typical migraine symptons.
Using information found in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, neurologists have come up with a new diagnosis, which they detailed in Headache, the journal of the American Headache Society. Their verdict? Harry suffers from Nummular Headaches! A disorder characterized by localized stabbing pain that generally lasts less than two hours.
Nummular headaches are a relatively recent and rare discovery, in fact, many doctors have never even heard of them. The most telling sign - the pain is always centered around one spot (Harry's scar). Nummular headaches are often sparked by a severe head injury (such as a killing curse) and then recur exclusively in that same spot over time.
Glad they figured it out! This editor thought it was magic the whole time.
Harry Potter not only helps with informing the public about headache diagnosis, but it can also help in genetic study as we reported before. The Invisibility Cloak is getting more of a reality as well. So what is next for Harry Potter and the world of medicine or science?
The official website for the awards ceremony has released the impressive list of attendees, which includes the following Harry Potter stars that are up for individual awards:
Gary Oldman, Jim Broadbent, Kenneth Branagh, and Ralph Fiennes.
Additionally, the list of presenters and special guests includes the following Harry Potter stars:
Daniel Radcliffe, and Helena Bonham Carter
Harry Potter, the film series, is up for awards in the categories of Production Design, Sound, Special Visual Effects, and Make-up and Hair.
Will the Harry Potter film team win an award on Sunday at the BAFTAs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Emma Watson - who portrayed the brilliant Hermione Granger - will be making an appearance at Selfridges, Oxford Street this Friday, February 10th in the mega store's Beauty Hall at 4:30pm.
Emma has been the face of Lancome since last year and is the face of the company's Tresor Midnight Rose and her own range of 24 lipsticks called 'Rouge in Love'. To accompany the lipsticks, she's also treating us to 'Vernis in Love', a collection of nail polishes from nudes to brights.
After months of working with the Lancome lab coats to create her favourite shades, Emma is now ready to show them to the world.
If you attend the event and get any photos with Emma, feel free to send them in to us.
Veteran actor John Hurt - who portrayed wand maker Ollivander in the Harry Potter film series - was honored with the Alexander Walker Special Award for his contribution to cinema at last night's Evening Standard British Film Awards ceremony.
John is scheduled to collect the outstanding British contribution to cinema award at the BAFTAs this Sunday.
Additionally, actress Bonnie Wright [Ginny Weasley] and Oliver Phelps [George Weasley] also attended the event to represent Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, which took home the Blockbuster of the Year and People's Choice Award trophies.
As for moving on from the Harry Potter series to make a name for herself, Bonnie Wright stated, "I was worried at first that it was going to be impossible to shake off the 'Harry Potter' associations, but it has just happened, really naturally." Bonnie directed her first short film, as we reported earlier, and will appear soon in a period film called In Want of a Wife.
Congratulations to John Hurt for this incredible honor!
In a new interview with FemaleFirst, James Watkins - the director of the motion picture thriller The Woman in Black - gives high praise to actor Dan Radcliffe for his role in the film as Arthur Kipps.
"I am really proud of what he has done because I think that he has shown a different side of himself as an actor. I think he is in a different register compared to other things that he has done.
I think he holds the film really well, there is a twenty five minute section in the middle of the film where it is just Dan in the house; there is no dialogue and he has to carry it all with his expressions and how he responds through the house.
That is such a huge challenge as an actor and he doesn't have the other actors to bounce off, which always makes it easier. He is only twenty-three and he has a long career ahead of him - hopefully this is one step on that career."
As we reported yesterday, Dan Radcliffe and James Watkins will be attending two screenings of The Woman in Black and will introduce the film to the audiences on Friday as the film is released in the UK.
If you are lucky enough to attend one of these screenings, please send us a report of the experience.
On Tuesday, the United Kingdom government announced its plan to get more children reading by aiming the contest, which is set to begin in September, for young boys aged 8-12 years old.
The contest will reward the young readers who devour the most books with the clear intention "to give a competitive spur to reluctant readers," according to schools minister Nick Gibb.
Both boys and girls are eligible for contest, but as boys make up the majority of "reluctant readers" the hope would be to inspire them "by a bit of healthy competition." One in ten British boys are now leaving the primary school at a seven-year-old reading level.
If the children want to get a head start on the competition, then there is a handy list of recommended books, including, of course, the entire Harry Potter series, which has an addictive quality and will cause the children to want to devour all seven books in a row giving them a huge head start on the cometition.
John Williams, the composer of some of the most iconic cinematic themes, turns 80 years old today.
A conductor and pianist, John has composed music to many of the most notable movies including: Star Wars, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Superman, Indiana Jones, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and of course, the Harry Potter theme.
With just a few notes, most people can recognize the intro to Star Wars, Jaws or the Harry Potter theme song. His musical genius has been used in commercials and other forms of media as well.
John Williams currently holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person with 47 and is second in most nominations in history behind only Walt Disney with 59. John has won an impressive five Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and an amazing twenty Grammy awards.
Thank you John for your contribution to our beloved boy wizard, and on behalf of the fans, we wish you a very Happy 80th Birthday.
During the first week of February of 2004, a couple of major casting calls were held for the roles of Cho Chang and Viktor Krum in which thousands of hopefuls queued in lengthy lines waiting their turn to audition.
In London, thousands of girls arrived for the role of Harry Potter's first love interest, Cho Chang. MuggleNet posted a report describing the day's events from one of the hopeful candidates, Shuo Zhang. The role, as we know, eventually went to Katie Leung.
Meanwhile, in Sofia, Bulgaria, hundreds of young men showed up for the auditions for the role of Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian seeker and love interest of Hermione Granger. Eventually, Stanislav Ianevski was cast for the role.
We all know that Evanna Lynch really brought the role of Luna Lovegood to life, but how do you feel that Katie and Stanislav did in their respective roles? Let us know in the comments below.
Today, Rupert Grint confirmed his attendance for the world premiere of his new film Into the White, which is scheduled to occur in Oslo, Norway at the end of the film festival in the People's Theatre on March 4th. Joining Rupert will be actors Stig Henrik Hoff, Florian Lukas, Davis Kross and Lachlan Nieboer.
The film Into the White is about the events that take place during World War II when English and German pilots shoot each other down and later find themselves at the same cabin. In order to survive the tough winter in the Norwegian wilderness, they have to stand together. Its the start of a long and unlikely friendship.
The film is scheduled to be released on March 9th, 2012.
If you are attending this premiere and are willing to do a write-up from the event, please email me directly at keith@staff.mugglenet.com.
Jessie Cave - the actress who starred as Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter series - will play the title role in J.M. Barrie's Mary Rose at the DogOrange Theatre at Studio 3, Riverside Studios, from March 28th to April 28th.
The play is set in a Sussex manor house where a ghost keeps watch, yearning for the return of her beloved boy. The production will feature original music composed by Maria Haik Escudero and will be performed live.
Jessie performed the role of Thomasina in a West End revival of Arcadia, and she also won an Off-West End stage award for her performance in Lou Ramsden's Breed.
Jessie also frequently includes a few of her Harry Potter co-stars like Evanna Lynch [Luna Lovegood], Scarlett Byrne [Pansy Parkinson], and Georgina Leonidas [Katie Bell] in her own production videos of PinDippy.
In her first role since appearing as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films, Katie Leung is set to star in Sacha Wares' production of Jung Chang's autobiographical play, Wild Swans. Katie will play the central role of Er-Hong, as a witness to China's 20th-century cultural revolution. In an interview with TheaterMania, Katie described the role as follows:
"Er-Hong is a studious and respectful daughter and granddaughter who is seen growing up from a young child to into her twenties in the midst of China's Cultural Revolution. She becomes affected by it enormously throughout her childhood as she watches her communist parents sacrifice endlessly for a fairer society amongst all the corruption and oppression. As a result, Er-Hong becomes determined to excel in her studies in hope of gaining a scholarship to study abroad and escape the country's strict regimes."
Wild Swans will be playing at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts from February 11 - March 11, to be followed by a run in London at the Young Vic from April 13 - May 13. MuggleNet will be attending a special screening of the production next Friday, February 17th. Be sure to check back for a full review.
Tickets for American Repertory Theater showing can be purchased here, and tickets for the Young Vic run can be purchased here.
It is now confirmed that Tom Felton - who portrayed the role of Draco Malfoy for all eight Harry Potter films - has signed on to play his next role alongside Elizabeth Olsen and Glenn Close in the period thriller and drama Therese Raquin.
Expecting Tom to finally play the role of a "good guy"? Well, this role will be similar nuances to that of Draco, as Tom will be playing the role of a sick and spoiled young man who marries his first cousin, played by Elizabeth Olsen.
Olsen, however, falls in love with another man - her husband's childhood friend Laurent - and decides to murder Felton's character, Camille. But Camille isn't an easy soul to appease, so he haunts the pair until they fall into a tragic end.
The Harry Potter actors are certainly keeping busy since filming the finale ended as Dan Radcliffe's The Woman in Black is in theaters now, Rupert Grint's Into the White gets released next month, and Emma Watson's highly anticipated Perks of Being a Wallflower will be released later this year.
Which Harry Potter actor are you following the most? Which one will be the most successful in your opinion? Let us know in the comments section below.
To celebrate the release of The Woman in Black, an adaption of Susan Hills chilling novel about a vengeful spirit, and starring Daniel Radcliffe we take a look back over some of the scariest ghostly encounters in cinematic history.
1. Poltergeist (1982) Director: Tobe Hooper (produced by Steven Spielberg) 2. The Ring (2002) Director: Gore Verbinski 3. The Shining (1980) Director: Stanley Kubrick 4. The Blair Witch Project (1999) Director: Daniel Myrick / Eduardo Sanchez 5. The Sixth Sense (1999) Director: M Night Shyamalan
Only time will tell how well The Woman in Black will do in cinematic history, but the film was produced by Hammer films, which alongside Momentum Pictures, have produced many exceptional horror films in the past:
1. Dracula (1958) 2. The Devil Rides Out (1968) 3. The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) 4. Curse of the Werewolf (1960) 5. The Mummy (1959) 6. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) 7. Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971) 8. Quartermass and the Pit (1968)
What was your favorite ghost story in the cinema? Let us know in the comments below.
As our friends in the UK get ready to celebrate the release of Dan Radcliffe's first post-Potter film and thriller film of The Woman in Black, we would like to recap a look at some of the clips, featurettes, and B-Roll pieces that were released over the last few months.
A full review of the film by The Establishing Shot can be found right here.
Reminder, Dan Radcliffe and director James Watkins will be introducing the film at two different screenings at a theater in London today. If you are one of the lucky ones to be at one of the screenings, feel free to send us a report to keith@staff.mugglenet.com.
Our next Quibble of the Week comes from Helena. As a student of both Jo Rowling and Shakespeare she has endeavored to find a connection between the fandom's favorite "insufferable know-it-all" and the queen from the play "A Winter's Tale."
Helena's reading of our Hermione in the context of Shakespeare's Queen Hermione offers great insights into the character we all know and love. Like our other quibble-writers who've done cross-text analysis, she builds her essay on the assumption that these two works are in a kind of literary discourse with each other, and this leads Helena to discover this brainy witch of the Potter series can be seen as a feminist figure, an intellectual who mixes her intelligence with compassion, and an advocate for social justice.
This is an excellently written and thought-out quibble. But consider this: suppose J.K. Rowling came out and said she never read this play, or (though very unlikely) even knew about Queen Hermione. Would the analysis in this essay still hold weight?
Literary scholars everywhere are split on this question. But in our Editorials section we think all new insights are interesting and valuable (given the right amount of text-evidence). So for us the answer is an unequivocal (and perhaps over-jubilant) "yes!"
Read all our excellent quibbles and learn how you can submit one of your own on the MuggleNet Quibbler page, right here.
Several of the cast members from the Harry Potter series have given life to a new animated motion picture by Pixar studios titled, Brave. Although with so many highly talented British actors involved in one film series the likes and size of Harry Potter, we can expect many future projects to feature two or even three former cast members working together, but in this film, there will be four former witches and wizards together.
Kelly Macdonald, whose role in Harry Potter was a very short stint as Helena Ravenclaw (The Grey Lady), is the leading voice as feisty Princess Merida.
Joining MacDonald in the film, are co-stars Emma Thompson [Professor Sybil Trelawney] as Queen Elinor, Robbie Coltrane [Rubeus Hagrid] as Lord Dingwall, and Julie Walters [Molly Weasley] as the Wise Woman.
The film's synopsis states that 'Princes Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin, surely Lord Macintosh, and catankerous Lord Dingwall. Merida's actions inadvertantly unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Witch for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it's too late.'
Brave is scheduled for release in the UK on August 17, 2012.
Last month, we shared with you a hilarious reading of Harry Potter fan fiction by Ralph Fiennes. Now, it is Daniel Radcliffe's turn to read a little Potter fan fic on the show Watch What Happens Live while he was promoting his new film The Woman in Black.
Fan Fiction ranges across all sorts of genres, from missing or alternate plot points in the series to the more mature themes of couples that simply do not belong together. All of the best fan fiction can be found on our MuggleNet Fan Fiction site right here.
Dan also discussed several other topics during his visit with Andy Cohen on the show including Madonna, props that Dan kept from the set of Harry Potter, and his biggest fear of Yellowstone National Park's super volcano.
You can watch all of the clips from Watch What Happens Liveright here.
The Ohio Cup: The largest quidditch tournament in Ohio is now scheduled for April 14th at Ohio State University from 10:00am to 8:00pm.According to OSU captain, Luke Changet, the tournament will be held at Fred Beekman park and plans to have all of the Ohio state quidditch teams along with some regional high profile teams involved in the event. Check out their facebook page for all the details.
Utah Snow Cup results: The Utah Crimson Fliers won the Utah Snow Cup despite losing the final game to Northern Arizona University Narwhals. Utah won the tournament based on overall point differential since there was a three way tie for first after play stopped. For all of the scores from the event, head on over to MuggleNet SnitchCenter scores.
Western Canadian games: University of Victoria defeated University of British Columbia two games to one in Western Canada's first bout of inter-university quidditch matches. The teams will look to meet again next month at University of British Columbia's home field for a rematch.
Western Cup: This season's Western Cup expects to hold the largest ever quidditch tournament west of the Mississippi as close to 20 teams are expected to attend. The event will take place in sunny california on UCLA's intramural fields on March 10th and 11th. Register your team right here. For more information contact Harrison Homel at harrison.home@internationalquidditch.org.
Quidditch Training camp in Australia: Since the QUAFL Cup last November, the Australian quidditch league has been booming. A rash of events are scheduled for 2012 as they look to send a competitive team to the Quidditch World Cup in April 2013. The first step is a weekend long "Quidditch Camp" to be held this weekend at Australian National University.
Quidditch at Conventions: The IQA will be traveling to quite a few fan conventions in order to showcase demo matches and presentations to spread the love of the sport. Currently the IQA is scheduled for:
Chicago's Comic and Entertainment Expo - April 13-15
Ascendio - July 12-15
LeakyCon - August 9-12
New York Comic Con - October 11-14
More information from each event will be given as the it draws near.
While some of the expansion details for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida have surfaced prior to this, nothing has been officially confirmed or denied. Recently, a discussion between a fan of the series and workers at the park revealed several new details that could be included in the expansion.
AGAIN, THESE ARE ONLY RUMORS!
The new expansion is said to include a Diagon Alley-themed area, complete with a Gringott's bank and a Gringott's Bank Cart ride, (concept art can be viewed here). We also previously informed you that there is a possibility of a Hogwarts Express train ride that will connect the new area to the already existing station in Hogsmeade. This will allow fans to ride the Hogwarts Express from the Diagon Alley area of the park to Hogsmeade Station, an exceptional idea.
Now, several new rumors include a quidditch pitch area, a triwizard event scenery, and a Chamber of Secrets ride. Additionally, a park employee informed our source that there is currently talk of adding an animatronic Whomping Willow to the original castle scenery.
If any of these additions ended up coming to reality, which would you be most interested in seeing? Let us know in the comments below.
The most beautiful face of 2011, Emma Watson, does it again! Stunningly beautiful on the red carpet for the Lancome pre-BAFTA party held at the Savoy Hotel in London.
Fans had the chance to meet Emma at Selfridges today on Oxford Street in the mega store's Beauty Hall, where, as we previously reported, she promoted her 'Rouge in Love' lipstick line and her collection of nail polishes for the 'Venis in Love' line. On her way to the event, Emma posted this picture of herself on her twitter page.
The 21-year-old actress was wearing this red hot Valentino at a pre-BAFTA part held at the Savoy Hotel in London. Simply stunning Emma! We will post hi-res pics of Emma when they become available.
In the meantime, you can see these photos here: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Our next Song Parody of the Week comes to us from MuggleNet fans Bliss, Alice and Catriona, and they have created a video parody to the song "Young, Wild and Free" originally written and performed by Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg and Bruno Mars.
The story starts when one of the girls receives their letter to Hogwarts. Once that happens the song builds into a tune that's quite catchy, and in proper form Bliss, Alice and Catriona begin to bust out the necessary rhymes.
We're not sure if he is a Harry Potter fan, but we think even Snoop Doggy Dogg would appreciate this double homage to himself and the magical franchise.
If you would like your own song parody video to be featured on MuggleNet, or you have a favorite one online you'd like to see featured here, head over to the Song Parodies section to get the details for submission and to see more fine vids like this one.
The International Film Critics Association (IFMCA) is an association of online, print and radio journalists who specialize in writing about original film and television music and has grown to comprise of 50 members from a host of countries.
In addition to John Williams, we will also have our eye on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 and composer Alexandre Desplat in two of the categories.
Nominated for Film Composer of the Year:
Ludovic Bource
Alexandre Desplat
Michael Giacchino
Alberto Iglesias
John Williams
Nominated for Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film:
DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK - Music by Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS - PART 2 - Music by Alexandre Desplat
HUGO - Music by Howard Shore
PRIEST - Music by Christopher Young
SUPER 8 - Music by Michael Giacchino
The International Film Music Critics will announce the winners of its Eighth Annual Awards on February 23rd, 2012.
Good Luck to Both John Williams and Alexandre Desplat!
The resident controversial writer on the site hpboy13 has drawn a diverse amount of feedback over the past few months. Often critiqued by his readership for some of his more radical opinions, the editorialist in The Three Broomsticks Section has just composed a rather different kind of article than the ones he has recently drawn some fire for.
That is because in this new piece hpboy13 goes positive. Addressing the part of the fandom that enjoys the series as a whole but objects to certain unsatisfactory scenes from the books - most notably CAPS-LOCK Harry in Order of the Phoenix and the excessive camping scenes in Deathly Hallows - Hpboy13 draws us back to those moments and wonders if these examples are really worthy of criticism at all.
It is a mark of Jo’s extraordinary skill that she makes a camping trip of a few chapters feel like it’s never-ending, and make us feel angry and impatient and frustrated about it. Because that’s how the characters are feeling. The Trio all feel like they’ve been camping forever with nothing happening, they’re all frustrated and irritable at the lack of results. Jo is making us empathize with the characters, and we don’t even realize it! She is just that good.
What do you think of this new editorial from hpboy13? Pop over to The Three Broomsticks to discuss it with the author himself.
MuggleNet is proud to bring you Potter Gives Me Hope - the section that allows you to share your story of how the Harry Potter books and fandom have affected you in your personal life through uplifting and inspirational short stories.
Share your personal story of the Harry Potter series has connected you with that someone special, whether it's a friend you met at a convention, a family member who read you the books as a child, a teacher that renewed your love of reading, or a relationship that has blossomed like Harry and Ginny or Ron and Hermione.
Simply click on the "Tell Your Story Now!" button in the Potter Gives Me Hope builder in the right column of MuggleNet, write your full story (50 characters minimum), and upload it when completed. We will choose the best to share on the Home Page and others will be shared on our Potter Gives Me Hope section.
This section will only be available through Valentine's Day.
Dan Radcliffe was a presenter at tonight's BAFTAs ceremony and he spoke with E!Online while wearing a tuxedo looking very handsome.
Dan presented the award for Best Supporting Actress during the cermony and said, "there's not too much pressure on that, I don't really have to say too much, so there's not too much I can screw up."
As for where Dan was seated during the ceremony, he was located very close to George Clooney and Brad Pitt. A sure sign of the respect Dan is receiving in the industry to be sitting so close to two of the best A-list actors in the business today.
During the BAFTAs, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 won the BAFTA for Special Visual Effects but lost in Sound, Makeup and Hair, and Production Design.
Congratulations to the Special Effects team of Harry Potter including Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, and David Vickery.
Warwick Davis - the actor who portrayed Professor Filius Flitwick and Griphook in the Harry Potter series - and his wife, Samantha, attended the lauch of Little People UK, an organization founded by the Davis family designed to share knowledge, experiences and expertise in the field of dwarfism.
Warwick attended the opening at Pen Green Children's Centre in Corby this past weekend. He stated:
"Little People UK is an organisation for little people and families affected by dwarfism. It's a way for us to share knowledge and resources. We want to bring together medical expertise because there are people with dwarfism born all over the country and doctors don't always understand the condition - we hear stories all the time of parents who haven't had a diagnosis for at least three years.
There is also the social aspect. It's lovely for parents to be able to share experiences, and for little people themselves to be able to share experiences."
Warwick and Sam also have a daughter Hope that suffers from dwarfism and it was important for her to meet other families with dwarfism and make new friends. This project has been a dream of Warwick and his wife for many years.
Congratulations on your fantastic work and dedication Warwick and Sam!
We already know there will be magic in the air on your big day, but what better way to add some extra sparks than a Potter-Inspired wedding?
For those of us who grew up as proud members of the Harry Potter generation, it goes without saying that the series should be kept close to our hearts at all times, and in all stages of our lives.
This section is for those Potter fans who cherish the series enough to feature it in their very own wedding. With wedding attire, music,food and recipes,decoration themes, and more, Potter-Inspired Weddings covers all of the essential details that will make your Potter-themed wedding as magical as possible. It will be as if it had taken place in the world of Harry himself.
Not planning a wedding? Not a problem! This section will also cater to fans who simply enjoy the romance that runs throughout the series, by featuring the various romantic couples that exist throughout the books - and even some unconventional pairings that have been induced by the fandom.
Finally, if you are having - or have had - your own Potter-inspired wedding, you may have the chance to be featured on MuggleNet! Visit our Muggle Matrimony page for more information.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to email us at mnpotterweddings@gmail.com - or simply write in the comments below.
Last week, we told you about a brand new Potter parody premiering in Chicago this month. It is called Chester and the Unbearable Burden, Parts I and II. Today, we present our own review of the play, for your interest. We conclude that the play is genuinely funny and worth a viewing, if you can catch one before it ends next month.
Performances of Chester run Thurs, Fri and Saturdays at 7:30p, Sundays at 3p from now until March 4th. Tickets are available at this link and you can find out more on Facebook or Twitter.
Variety has reported that Guillermo del Toro is set to direct the new adaptation of the classic tale Beauty and the Beast for Warner Brothers and Emma Watson - who portrayed Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series - would be starring as Belle.
While the project has been green lighted by Warner Brothers, we must be faithful and state that Emma is only in 'final negotiations' for the project. Additionally, del Toro has a long run of attaching himself to projects that never get off the ground, not to mention he has plenty of films he is expected to work on including The Haunted Mansion for Disney.
The initial reports were back in July 2011 that had Emma rumored to be involved and Denise Di Novi was adapting the screenplay alongside del Toro. However, there has also been reports from a few days ago, that Christopher Gans was preparing to direct the project with Vincent Cassel and Lea Seydoux in the lead roles.
So, while Beauty and the Beast seems to be a perfect film for del Toro and Watson, we just need to wait and see if this film will actually be produced or if this is just one more film attached to del Toro that never sees the light of day.
If the film is made, what are your thoughts on Emma in the role of Belle? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Rupert Grint and Julie Walters - Ron Weasley and Molly Weasley from the Harry Potter series - are fronting a national advertising campaign 'Holidays at Home are GREAT' alongside Stephen Fry and Michelle Dockery in order to kick off the UK's biggest ever domestic tourism campaign.
Produced by VisitEngland and supported by the home tourist boards of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and London, will showcase the country and highlight key events taking place including this summer's 2012 Summer Olympics & Paralympics Games, Torch Relay, the Cultural Festival and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
The campaign will feature a website offering thousands of special deals worth at least 20.12% off including hotel stays, meals, tickets to attractions and other goods and services.
Fans of the Harry Potter series are sure to visit England from all over the world as the Warner Brothers Studio Tour opens on March 31st. We will also be announcing another significant event taking place this year that fans will surely be excited for. Stay tuned to MuggleNet for all the details in the coming months.
It's Valentine's Day and Gilderoy Lockhart has made his presence known on MuggleNet.
Gilderoy has magically spread his "special touch" on the site by coloring it a horrid pink with falling hearts, changing all of the text pink and even splashing his face on the MuggleNet banner.
You can fully immerse yourself in the Gilderoy experience by selecting his banner theme from the thumbnails on the right side of page just below the new Potter Gives Me Hope special section.
Luckily, we have allowed him to visit our site for 24 hours only, so enjoy it while you can.
Special thanks to Dylan for creating the banner, Graham for changing the color of the site, and Kat for designing the falling hearts. A true team effort.
The MegaCon convention at the Orange County Convention Center, Hall D in Orlando, Florida, will take place this weekend from February 17th - February 19th and feature a wide variety of film and television stars including Tom Felton - the actor who portrayed Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series.
According to a MegaCon rep, the pre-sales for photos with Tom Felton have now been closed; therefore, if you are attending the event and hope to get a photo with Tom, you will need to arrive at the convention very early.
Tom will also be speaking of his role on Harry Potter on Saturday morning from 10:20am to 11:00am in Room 224. MuggleNet will be represented at the convention and will have a full report and pictures from the event as soon as we can.
Daniel Radcliffe appears on the El Hormiguero television show from Spain, which is a show that not only features a lot of comedy, but also leans towards science in a humorous way.
Daniel ends up playing with fire, making weird faces with his tongue, dips his hand in a batter that looks like pancakes, takes his shoes off to run around doing three unusual tricks and has a ton of fun while doing it all.
We have several pictures of Dan from the show here. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
According to a new article on Broadway World, Alan Rickman - the actor who brilliantly portrayed double agent Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series - will be completing his last performance in the hit Broadway show SEMINAR on Sunday, April 1st. The show will continue with Actor Jeff Goldblum [Jurassic Park] for 8 weeks only beginning on April 3rd.
SEMINAR has been getting brilliant reviews since it opened on November 20th at The Golden Theatre on West 45th Street in Manhattan, New York. MuggleNet staffer Laura wrote her review of the play when it first opened, which you can read right here.
Alan Rickman plays the role of an international literary figure who gives a private lesson to four aspiring young novelists. Leonard's [Rickman] teaching is very unothodox, which will allow some students to excel and others to flounder. The show itself has been described as "The funniest show on Broadway" [WOR Radio], "A wonderful new comedy" [Associated Press] and a "Must-see" [Time Out].
One thing is certain, if you are planning a visit to New York City on or before April 1st, this is one show you do not want to miss, if you would like the chance to see Alan Rickman in person.
Katie Leung - the 24-year-old actress who portrayed Cho Chang in the Harry Potter series - is making her stage debut in Alexandra Wood's world premiere play at the American Repertory Theater based on the book published in 1991 titled, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China.
When asked by the Boston Herald if she was familiar with Wild Swans before auditioning:
"No, but my mother read it over 20 years ago and remembered it so vividly. She was ecstatic to discover I got the part. I was immediately compelled by the characters, especially since they are based on true-to-life individuals from the memoir. Many of them gave up so much as a result of the ever-changing rules of communism."
On how playing Cho in Harry Potter affected her life:
"I have had the privilege to meet many talented individuals in the film industry. To be working alongside people who possess such passion for what they do has in turn helped me to strive for my ideals. In other words, I'm far more optimistic than I used to be."
MuggleNet's lead staffer Kat will be at a special performance on Friday evening and will provide a full report.
As we reported previously, Daniel Radcliffe and director James Watkins would be appearing at two screenings for The Woman in Black UK release of the film. We now have a report on the events.
Dan Radcliffe and James Watkins stunned audiences at the Vue Cinema at Westfield Shopping Centre on Saturday as fans prepared to watch his new thriller based on the novel by Susan Hill. The pair introduced the film after chatting to the audience about how the film itself was made.
A spokesman for the cinema said: "A number of girls could be heard declaring their love for the 'Harry Potter' star, while others remained open-mouthed as they listened to their idol chat to them."
If you were one of the lucky fans to be sitting in that theater at the time of Dan and James' opening introduction, we would love to hear from you.
Have you seen The Woman in Black yet? Tell us your thoughts on the film and what your favorite part was in the comments below.
Hammer Films, the makers of the hit thriller The Woman in Black, have now placed a live contest on their Facebook page in order for one lucky fan to win the one-of-a-kind pocket watch that Arthur Kipps [Radcliffe] used in the film that holds the picture of his beloved wife.
According to a new article, Scholastic Parent & Child magazine released a new list of the '100 great books for kids', which listed Charlotte's Web earning the top spot.
Meanwhile, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone [which represents the entire book series] by author J.K. Rowling was listed at the No. 6 position falling just behind Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. The Hunger Games, which is a very popular new series, claimed the No. 33 spot.
Not making the list at all, which will make most Harry Potter fans very happy is the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer.
On February 12th, 2009, the author of the Harry Potter series has her hands set in Caithness stone and placed on display in the grounds of Edinburgh's City Chambers.
J.K. Rowling declared that she was delighted to be honoured with the Edinburgh Award in 2008, which was bestowed upon her by the council of the Scotland capital for her contribution to the city.
Rowling stated: "I think it is particularly appropriate for a writer's hands to be represented, so I am deeply honoured to have my keyboard-chipped fingernails, not to mention my pen-induced friction callous, commemorated in the place where I produced 'Harry Potter'."
This award is surely so well-deserved for the author of the best-selling series in literature of all-time.
Thanks to our friends at HarryPotterLA.com who were present at the Madrid, Spain premiere of The Woman in Black, we have two new interviews of Daniel Radcliffe and director James Watkins on the red carpet.
During Dan's interview, he spoke of his last five weeks of promotions for the film and if he was nervous doing the bits on Saturday Night Live:
"It's been a crazy five weeks, and I got to do a lot of really fun new things. Actually, the most terrifying thing was doing 'Live! With Kelly'. That was actually much scarier than 'Saturday Night Live' because at least you get rehearsals."
On what actually scares Dan in real life and how he prepared to be scared for the film, Dan stated:
"Actually cockroaches creep me out, but I do not believe in ghosts in reality and in terms of preparing to act scared, I had ten years of very good training opposite Ralph Fiennes and others."
When director James Watkins was asked about casting a high profile actor like Daniel Radcliffe, he stated:
"When I met him, he was really intelligent and he understood the script and the part and it was really about saying look, this is a new part and to try and create a fresh part, as with any actor, to the best of our abilities so that people can see him as somebody else. You know, he looks very different and the performance is very different as it should be because it's a different role."
Again, thank you to our friends at HarryPotterLA.com for sending us the video clips.
If you ever wanted to feel like Harry Potter, but thought you were too old - think again!
Stan Goldin, the owner and creator of Whimsic Alley, has seen it time and time again when parents would bring their kids into his Los Angeles store on Wilshire Boulevard’s famed Miracle Mile. While the kids are there attending a fantasy-themed party or shopping for magic and wizading items in the store (that he boasts is the largest source of Harry Potter merchandise in the world) he often hears adults say how they would like to enjoy a little wizarding fantasy themselves. So, he created the first annual three-day “Wizarding Camp for (so called) Grown-ups,” February 17-19, based on his popular “Summer Camp for Aspiring Wizards” for younger Harry Potter fans, that usually sells out each year.
“Adult” Harry Potter fans from throughout the country will be attending the event. “We just barely announced our plans for the Wizarding Camp for (so called) Grown-Ups and we’ve almost sold out already,” says Goldin. “There’s obviously a need for adults to have a little fantasy and fun in their lives and be like a kid again…at least for three days.”
Each day of the event will be full of fun and creative games. Activities include a Wizard Rock concert at the famous El Rey theater (across the street from the store), a Welcome Feast and Sorting Ceremony, House Challenges, a character look-a-like breakfast, Divination, Marauders Map Challenge, Quidditch, a Tri-Wiz Tournament, the Yule Ball, and many other activities, including a Graduation Feast. For those 21 and older, there is even a pub-crawl on an English-style double-decker bus, one night.
For more information on the event go to the Whimsic Alley website or call (310) 453-2370.
For more information on the background of Whimsic Alley, you can check out our Whimsic Alley page right here.
In a new article by BostInno, Andrew Slack and our friends at The Harry Potter Alliance are featured with an inside look at the group's beginnings, a few of the campaigns they have already accomplished, and where they are headed in the future.
Andrew Slack fell in love with the Harry Potter books by author J.K. Rowling, but something that struck hard with Andrew was from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix book. Andrew stated, "In the stories, Harry Potter started Dumbledore's Army [a student group dedicated to fighting the evil Lord Voldemort], wouldn't it be great if we had Dumbledore's Army in real life?"
Andrew partnered with the wizard wrock group Harry and the Potters in 2005 and created the Alliance. The idea of doing social good through story themes really took root in 2006, when Slack wrote an action alert on Myspace that related ignoring Voldemort's return to that of ignoring global warming. The attention this action received internationally, caused The Harry Potter Alliance charity organization to really take off.
If you have ever wanted to do something for charity in your local area, but were not sure how you could change some of the issues facing our society today, get in touch with The Harry Potter Alliance and find out how to get involved.
In the words of J.K. Rowling, "We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside of ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."
Today, we received a press release from the University of Leicester regarding the first IQA sanctioned muggle quidditch match in the UK. The Huffington Post also wrote an article of the match, and is featured in our MuggleNet SnitchCenter news section.
From the release:
University of Leicester students will travel to Keele next month to compete in Muggle Quidditch - the real life version of the fictional sport featured in JK Rowling's famous Harry Potter novels. The game, against rivals Keele University, will be the first inter-university game in the UK played to the official International Quidditch Association (IQA) rulebook.
The University of Leicester's Muggle Quidditch club was formed by Jack Hill, a second year Ancient History and History student, after he read about the sport being played by other UK students.
Muggle Quidditch was invented in the United States, where it is already hugely popular, and the sport is gaining momentum in the UK and Europe. Although casual matches have been played in the UK before, the Leicester vs. Keele encounter represents a step towards the more serious rankings and competitive games played by American universities.
Jack Hill said: "I formed the Quidditch club because Leicester didn't have one, and it's something that's really taking off in unis around the UK. We've seen a massive interest in it - we've signed up forty people."
"Our deputy chair Harry Wells is friends with someone at Keele University and they got together and arranged the match."
"We decided to play by IQA rules so that we can connect in a way with our American counterparts and truly capture the spirit of Quidditch. One of our long term aims is to compete as the first UK team in the Quidditch World Cup which is held annually. So naturally IQA rules would enable us to achieve this in the long run."
Leicester students are enthusiastic about the sport's benefits. Maryna Danny, one of the club's founding members, said: "It's really good fun, and you meet all sorts of people. There're lots of girls - we have more girls than boys." Muggle Quidditch is a mixed sport, with male and female players taking to the pitch together.
Holly Roberts, student development officer at the University of Leicester Students' Union, said: "It is great that students are setting up different, unique societies. I hope the Muggle Quidditch Society keeps playing matches and expands into a fully fledged society that has longevity here at the University of Leicester Students’ Union."
The match against Keele University will take place on Saturday 10 March 2012.
Back in August of 2005, Laura Mallory, a mother of four children in Georgia, attempted to get the Harry Potter book series banned from her son's elementary school by appealing to the Gwinnett County Board of Education. According to a new article, she appears to be at it again.
Mallory stated that Rowling's "overuse of vicious attacks between characters, crude language, and the death of many characters can be scarring for young children. They're not educationally suitable and have been shown to be harmful to some kids. The books promote evil. They help foster the kind of culture where school shootings happen."
Victoria Sweeney, an attorney that represents the same Gwinnett County Board of Education defends the series and argues that they absolutely belong on the school shelves. She stated, "If schools were to remove all books containing references to witches, they would have to ban mainstays like Macbeth and Cinderella. The Potter books do nothing to promote evil or sin like [Mallory] states. They're a good tool to stimulate children's imagination and encourage them to read. 'Harry Potter' presents a universal theme of friendship and overcoming adversity."
Of course, the Harry Potter books have been under attack since they first came out with protestors claiming the book series promotes witchcraft.
Educators of all levels has argued that the series has the highest levels of classical literary traits to the same degree as Chaucer, Shakespeare, and even the Bible. MuggleNet recently discussed the series' literary values with author John Granger regarding the Ring Composition Theory (which you can listen to as well as read right here) used in the series and the brilliance with which J.K. Rowling writes the Potter series.
How do you feel about Laura Mallory's claims regarding the Harry Potter books? Let us know in the comments below.
Jason Isaacs - the actor who portrayed Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter series - is starring in the new NBC fantasy crime drama Awake.
To give the show a higher viewership and ratings, NBC has released the pilot episode of the show weeks ahead of its official airing. You can watch it in the video above. US viewership only!
From an article in Accidental Sexiness: Jason plays police detective Michael Britten, a man who regains consciousness following a car accident involving his wife Hannah [Laura Allen] and his son Rex [Dylan Minnette]. Michael starts living a "double-life," moving back and forth between the two realities, dealing with different personal conflicts and police partners. He also starts noticing strange links between the two realities.
After watching the pilot episode, tell us what you think of Jason in his new role in the comments below.
The 25th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards show is scheduled for Saturday March 31st at 8:00pm ET. Harry Potter has been nominated in a variety of categories.
The show will be led by international film star Will Smith and will air live from USC's Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. A star-studded line-up will be vying for the coveted Kids' Choice Blimps as kids honor their favorites spanning the worlds of film, music, TV and sports.
Harry Potter has conjured up four nominations for Favorite Movie, Favorite Book (the Harry Potter series), Daniel Radcliffe for Favorite Movie Actor and Emma Watson for Favorite Movie Actress.
For a complete list of the nominations, you can check out the Nickelodeon website right here.
How do you think Harry Potter will do at this award show? Let us know in the comments below.
Today marks a very special day in the MuggleNet community as Emerson Spartz, our founder and CEO of Spartz Media Inc., a conglomeration of websites specializing in new media and user-interactive web content, turns 25 years old.
At age 12, Emerson was always looking for an avenue to grow and mature during his free time while being homeschooled. His incredible drive to read everything he could get his hands on eventually led him to the Harry Potter series, which at the time was just in its infancy, and created a small little website called MuggleNet. With some strategic planning and learning how to maximize his new website's exposure by trading banners with other websites, MuggleNet grew exponentially within the Harry Potter community.
In 2006, J.K. Rowling extended a personal invitation to Emerson in order to interview her in her house in Scotland. She even gave him this friendship cup as a gift. MuggleNet continued its rapid ascent in the fandom and became the world's No. 1 Harry Potter fan site, which it still maintains to this day. Emerson continued his thirst for knowledge by attending Notre Dame University where he earned his degree in Management Consulting - a degree that has certainly served him well.
This past year was an extremely busy year for Emerson. While continuing to grow the Spartz Media company at a rapid pace by launching a new website nearly every month, he married the love of his life, Gaby, on September 3rd.
Outside of his marraige, Emerson will tell you that his proudest moment is being mocked on national television by Jimmy Kimmel.
From all of us that serve on your team, both MuggleNet and Spartz Media, and from all of the fans that you have touched or influenced, we extend a Very Happy 25th Birthday wish to you!
Our next Quibble of the week was written by MuggleNet staff member, Noah Fried, who supervises our Editorial and Fan Art Sections. In this new piece, which you can read right here, Noah has combed through our favorite book series gathering evidence in order to defend a certain theory he has recently devised. And being curious about his findings ourselves, we chose to indulge him with a featured post this week.
"While not actually claiming that Harry Potter was raped, per se," Noah writes, "I explore in my essay how the language J.K. Rowling used in several key moments of her text seems to denote both the staging and consequences of it, which brings me to some rather radical (but text-based) conclusions."
His conclusions, you will find, are rather unheard of. They provoke discourses of gender politics and sexuality-themes that are generally not noted by fans who scrutinize the Harry Potter series.
Here at MuggleNet, and especially in our Editorials Section, we encourage all kinds of book interpretations and debate, so if you would like to comment on this essay and others head over to the MuggleNet Quibbler right here. If you would like to send us a quibble of your own, to possibly be featured on the Home Page like this one, make sure to browse our writing tips and rules for submission.
In today's featured song parody of the week, Harry and Voldemort are at each other's throats once again. This time, however, they have put their wands aside as their primary weapon of choice. In this epic bout the two wizards wield - not curses - but rhymes. Just a word of caution that some of the language and content is for mature magic folk only.
The video was produced by Indy Mogul, an entertainment group dedicated to making digital shorts that reflect their favorite movies.
To see more song parodies videos like this one, or to learn how you can submit one of your own, head over to our complete section, right here.
With the new rules in place for Best Picture nominations at the Academy Awards, the Academy is able to nominate between 5 and 10 films for the coveted Oscar. This year, the Academy chose nine films. So why did Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, the biggest film of the year with the biggest franchise of all-time, remain left off the list as the tenth nomination? MTV gives us their viewpoint.
From the article:
To be clear, I'm lamenting the lack of recognition for the nearly perfect eighth and final Potter film, but we Potter fans cannot deny the fact that the franchise as a whole deserved Best Picture consideration. With "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" having paved the way for fantasy films to resonate with Academy voters as well as the general public, and the fact that 10 films can be nominated, it seemed very likely that The Boy Who Lived had a chance at that nomination.
The article goes on to point out some of the films most notable highlights: Alan Rickman's brilliant performance as Professor Severus Snape, the casting directors for the incredibly impressive cast that they put together over all of these year with the most outstanding and notable British actors of all-time, and also director David Yates, who so successfully added a his direction to close out the series in near perfection.
"Again, when will such amazing and dramatic achievements occur again in cinema? The 'Harry Potter' franchise is a perfect storm of so many elements, the proverbial lightning in a bottle that can not be duplicated. A Best Picture nomination was more than a little bit deserved."
The Oscars ceremony takes place on Sunday, February 26th. The Harry Potter series has been nominated for technical awards, but is this enough to get you to watch the show this year or not? Let us know in the comments below.
Today, Tom Felton - the actor who portrayed Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series - attended the MegaCon 2012 Convention held at the Orange County Convention Hall D. During the morning, he attended a Harry Potter discussion panel and thanks to Yvette Rodriguez, MuggleNet was able to cover the event.
During the discussion panel, Tom answered quite a few questions including plenty of new information:
What is your dream role? - Harry? James Bond...now it's a Bond villain
What is the one lesson your role as Draco taught you? - Two words: Be Nice! And never dye your hair blond
When are you going to make more music? - My guitar comes with me everywhere. I hope to release more songs soon.
What is your favorite Harry Potter toy? - Let's go with the collectible bust.
What would be your patronus? - A dog.
What was your favorite Harry Potter moment on set? - Dueling scene in the second film.
Who was your favorite Hogwart's professor? - Lockhart
What was the craziest fan experience? - Signing a fan's wrist, which she then came back an hour later and showed me she had it tattooed on her.
During the event today, Tom also held a photograph session as well as an autograph session.
We will have a full report of Tom from the MegaCon Convention tomorrow.
Sunnymeade Films is creating a short film that shows other areas of Hogwarts as the Final Battle took place.
For more information, check out the groups facebook page, which can be found right here.
This project looks exceptionally well done, we look forward to seeing the final piece. What do you think about this piece? Let us know in the comments below.
Our resident gamer on staff Micah Tannenbaum is not easily impressed, but he has recently had some very good things to say about the new LEGO Harry Potter game (Years 5-7), calling it a game truly "by fans, for fans" in a recent post.
As it happens, Micah has a few copies of this game for the PS3 that he would like to give away to some fans, and he has partnered with the Editorials section in order to do just that.
Over the next few months the MuggleNet Quibbler will be hosting a contest in honor of its near achievement of 100 quibbles (AKA short essays) in its archives. Three fans whose essays are shown to be the best written, most diverse, and most highly regarded by fans and MuggleNet Staff alike will have their papers featured for Quibble of the Week, and will later receive a free copy of LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7signed by MuggleNet's own Micah Tannenbaum.
If you would like to participate in this contest, make sure to peruse the rules of submission found here. You can write an essay about anything - as long as it concerns the Potter series or the fandom - though if you need inspiration, browse our archives of excellent opinion articles, academic close-reads, cross-text analysis, and quibbles about love.
Good luck to all those competing, and happy writing!
Kutztown University in Pennsylvania played host to a Northeast Quidditch Regional tournament featuring the Philadelphia Honey Badgers, Shippensburg University and the host team Kutztown University.
MuggleNet was well represented as the entire Philadelphia Honey Badger team wore the MuggleNet t-shirts from the Quidditch World Cup that was held in November. A team photo of the Honey Badgers can be seen right here and all three teams right here.
The host team of Kutztown University was the big winner during the tournament as they won both of their matches. For all of the scores, head over to the MuggleNet Snitchcenter scorecenter.
For a full list of all the International Quidditch Association regional matches and tournaments, head to the IQA schedule right here.
Today, MuggleNet is proud to say that the fans of Harry Potter and the MuggleNet website are simply THE BEST FANS IN THE WORLD!
Thanks to two very special friends of MuggleNet, we have a full report to provide you on two of the events that took place this past weekend.
First, Yvette Rodriguez from Miami, Florida attended MegaCon 2012 (or as she liked to call it - FELTONCON) on Saturday and described her entire day in the presence of Tom Felton - the actor who portrayed Draco Malfoy. The event included a discussion panel, where Tom gave us some terrific answers as we reported yesterday, and then he held a photo and autograph session for the fans. Read Yvette's full report right here!
Lastly, Irvin Khaytman from New York City, traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to attend the wizard week event, which as we reported before, was being held at the National Railway Museum in York, UK. The main attraction during the wizard week was the Hogwarts Express making its appearance, but there were so many other things to do as well, and Irvin covers them in great detail. You can read Irvin's full report right here.
Thanks again to the fantastic coverage of this weekend's events by our fans Yvette and Irvin.
In a new article from The Independent, fashion writer Harriet Walker sat down with international superstar Emma Watson to discuss everything from choices she has made since leaving the Harry Potter franchise to some of the little things that mean so much to her to stay 'normal'.
Sitting down for the interview, which took place before last weekend's BAFTAs, Emma Watson shared just how much she enjoyed the makeup department and learned so many tips from Amanda Knight (who was nominated for the BAFTAs and the Oscars for Makeup and hair). Emma stated:
"Make-up is actually something I've always really loved. The hair and make-up department on the 'Potter' films were the people who saw me first thing in the morning and last thing at night, so that space was somewhere I felt at home. When we had spare time on set, I'd do their make-up and get them to teach me how to do stuff. I haven't had my make-up done for two or three months. [Raises eyebrows] I know! But it's really weird for me because I used to have it done every day. So it felt like a treat today."
While filming the Harry Potter series, Emma admits she was kept in a bubble. So figuring out how the real world works has had to be a series of small successes. For instance, she knows how to use a washing machine, cook, etc. so she feels like she can stay in touch with people who do other things than acting or being in the entertainment business.
Stuart Craig - the master of set design and architecture for the entire Harry Potter film franchise - was featured in a new article in which he describes the ambitious demands of the Hogwarts exterior after an apocalyptic battle.
From Stuart Craig:
"My work required the same drawings, but instead of giving my design to the carpenters, I gave them to the VFX team instead."
From the article:
This shot, from the end of the epic battle, shows Harry, Hermione and Ron on their way to destroy Voldemort’s wand. Craig’s most recent credit: Having a hand in the design of Universal Studios Florida’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
“This causeway leads you to the front door of the big hall. The set is made of plywood, and the castle in the back is digital. The bridge is a classic Norman architecture. In the Potter films there was never a distinguished architecture. We always had a fun eclectic mix of styles since Hogwarts has been around for 1,000 years. Near the Loch Shiel location where Potter is filmed in Scotland, there’s a viaduct which this bridge is modeled after. The viaduct is made of concrete whereas this bridge is made to look like it’s made of granite,” Craig explains.
“Statues are medieval suits of armor. They were first seen in the entrance of the great hall in Deathly Hallows Part 1. They’re made of Styrofoam with a hard texture on top.”
“The lampposts are made of woks which we bought from a hardware store. They look vaguely Roman and art deco which shows the architectural history we pulled from in designing Hogwarts.”
Dumbledore’s Office.
“Hogwarts is largely a gothic castle. During the early films we shot on location at the Durham Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral and a bit of Oxford University. Cathedrals are far richer in detail architecture-wise than castles. Durham from the Norman 11th-12th century period. Gloucester is Gothic, 16th century. The castle is made of the rock on which it stands. The rock of the mountain is the rock of the castle. The castle is an extension of the earth.”
The astronomy tower where Dumbledore met his fate.
“The color palette used throughout the films has been restrained. When the kids were younger and the world was more optimistic, the stones in Hogwarts had a warm honey color tone. However as the movies got darker, we literally darkened the walls of Hogwarts.”
Stuart Craig and his design team are up for an Oscar for Art Direction this coming Sunday. Will Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 Design team win? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Thanks to MuggleNet and Harry Potter fan, Leading Us Absurd (@LeadingUsAbsurd), we take a quick look back at one of the most interesting, and sometimes controversial, scenes from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1. The scene takes place after Ron has left Harry and Hermione during their "camping trip."
Whether you liked the scene in the film or not, the song 'O Children,' from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, is an amazing song that set the scene perfectly and at the same time, ironically.
Lyrically, the song is quite startling, but musically the song never suggests the turmoil underneath. The background singers lift the song to lofty heights, and bring a bit of tenderness. As the song builds in intensity, the singer’s voices grow louder (the part used in the movie), finally revealing what the dead children have to say:
Hey little train! We are all jumping on The train that goes to the Kingdom We’re happy, Ma, we’re having fun And the train ain’t even left the station
Hey, little train! Wait for me! I once was blind but now I see Have you left a seat for me? Is that such a stretch of the imagination?
Musical supervisor Matt Biffa came across the song and convinced director David Yates to incorporate it into the film. It is about parents murdering their children, of course the series of Harry Potter is just the exact opposite.
How did you feel about this scene during Deathly Hallows - Part 1, more importantly, how did you feel about the song capturing the moment? Let us know in the comments below.
The Blair Academy, located in Blairstown, New Jersey, is hosting its 10th Annual Headmasters' Societies Games event, and who better to provide an interesting and intellectually stimulating lecture than John Granger, better known to most of the Harry Potter fandom as 'The Hogwarts Professor.'
John Granger has been lecturing on the symbolism and literary artistry employed by author J.K. Rowling for the past decade, making appearances all over the world at Universities and conferences.
Recently, MuggleNet staff interviewed John regarding his latest Ring Composition Theory, which you can read and listen to right here.
The Blair’s 10th annual Headmasters’ Societies Competition features students and faculty members being randomly assigned to one of four teams in order to compete against each other in a variety of intramural activities over the course of five days (which started on Monday, February 20).
All Skeptics programs are free and open to the public if you are able to attend.
YES it's true! MuggleNet will be hosting your Hogwarts Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations in June. This will be open to ALL fifth year students (which means you!)
O.W.L.s are examinations given by the Ministry of Magic to test your knowledge and understanding of the magical world in each of the subjects taken at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The standardized exams are administered by the Wizarding Examinations Authority (MuggleNet) and results of each exam will be sent by e-owl directly to you upon completion of each exam.
The subjects for your O.W.Ls will be in the following subjects: Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Divination, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, History of Magic, Potions, Astronomy, Muggle Studies, Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy.
Each of the exams will be timed and any answers not completed before time stops will be marked as wrong.
In order to pass the exam, you will need to take the time and study appropriately. For anyone worried about getting those top marks, you'll have at least one exceptional way to help prepare for the exams! MuggleNet Interactive will be holding tutoring sessions, led by the professors of MNI interactive classes. Be sure to watch for an upcoming announcement for the start of these tutoring sessions.
Additionally, we encourage you to practice speed and accuracy of knowledge of the magical world by playing the games we have established in our brand new MuggleNet Trivia Challenge Section. Special thanks to Sporcle for allowing us to share their games on the MuggleNet website.
Lastly, be sure to play MuggleNet's daily trivia challenge on the right hand side of the Home Page to help gain extensive knowledge into the magical world of Harry Potter.
Are you anxious to take your O.W.L. exams? Let us know in the comments below.
Our next featured fan art submission this week is titled, 'Your Mother's Eyes' and is from MuggleNet fan Jared. He has drawn an incredible piece that is far more than a duplication of the original screenshot from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2. According to the artist, "This is one of the most powerful scenes for me in the series so I wanted to share my work. I hope you like it."
You can view the full size image of this piece of art right here.
Noah's Notes: We do Jared, we do! this is one epic piece of art! in this moment before his death, Snape's face looks eerily cold the way that Jared drew it. His facial features almost seem to come together like a puzzle, building a great, drooping face that is slipping into darkness on either side. In spite of all that Jared captured the expression in Snape's eyes perfectly - desperation, and a sudden deep desire to see his true love's eyes one last time. Truly great work Jared, and we'll be looking forward to more fan art from you!
You can check out all of our terrific fan art and learn how to submit your own piece in our Fan Art Section. Additionally, we have recently created subsections of the fan art with Fan Art Music, Fan Art Poetry, and Fan Art Crafts.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 has three nominations for this weekend's Oscar Awards ceremony, all in the technical departments. Today a new interview came out with Special Effects Supervisor Tim Burke, who is one of those nominees, on his career with the Harry Potter franchise.
Tim has been the Visual Effects Supervisor at Mill Films for all of the Harry Potter films since Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, receiving an Oscar nomination for Prisoner of Azkaban, Deathly Hallows - Part 1 and now Deathly Hallows - Part 2. Even though he has not captured the coveted Oscar award for Harry Potter - YET! - he has received an Oscar for his work on the film Gladiators back in 2000.
During the interview with Studio Daily, he spoke of using miniatures for Hogwarts in the final film. Tim stated:
"We didn’t use any miniatures for Hogwarts. It was the first time we did away with the 24th-scale model. We used a third-scale viaduct for the sequence with the giants. We scaled the architecture they were running on to make the actors look taller. But we didn’t use miniatures to recreate Hogwarts."
When asked which scene was his favorite to produce, he stated:
"Funnily enough, I think the sequence of the [Hogwarts] shield forming and the destruction of the shield. Even though they weren’t perhaps the most complicated, they were some of the most beautiful. As Voldemort arrived with his army on the hillside, the teachers went into the areas of the courtyard and created a magical shield that enveloped and protected the school. We art-directed the shots at Double Negative and they are elegant.
It took a long time to create the magical shield. Then Voldemort bombarded the school and destroyed the shield. We wanted to give that an epic scale. We referenced the Hindenburg airship disaster, when it went up in flames, to get the scale of the flames and burning materials. That was the reference for pieces of cloth-like fire that dropped down onto the school. It was magical – not in a Harry Potter sense. It was beautiful and shocking at the same time. Those shots were completely CG and had a big design aspect, which is rewarding."
We believe Tim Burke's team will take home the first Oscar for the Potter franchise, what are your thoughts on their chances? Let us know in the comments below.
Update: We apologize for duplicating the post, but the original was accidentally deleted. Your comments cannot be shifted to this post, so we encourage you to try and continue your discussion on this issue in this new post.
If you were one of the lucky fans to gain access to the Beta test programs on Pottermore last July, you should consider yourself lucky. As millions of Harry Potter fans are still waiting for the public access to open on the site, it appears that the delay will be quite significant....again!
For millions of fans of the Harry Potter book series by author J.K. Rowling, the final book was a traumatic time for one reason: There would be no more Harry Potter to read. Sure, we still had the final movies to look forward to, but this past summer marked the conclusion of the film series as well. Where were we going to go to get our Harry Potter fix?
J.K. Rowling gave us that sheer unflappable breath of excitement last year when she had teamed up with Sony to bring us Pottermore, which would include never before released material and information on our favorite magical world. It was stated that JK Rowling had written over 18,000 words for the site, and for us Potter enthusiasts, we were pumped with adreneline, staying up all night to try and gain access to this new world on the Internet.
However, the excitement of the site has certainly been marred by both technical issues and a severe lack of content. Yes, we learned some new material during the Beta program, but once this material was known, we were looking for more and not finding it. Additionally, for those individuals who are still waiting for the public access that was originally set to open this past October, the delay has been extremely frustrating, and it'll only get worse as time moves on.
According to a new article by Guardian reporter and Harry Potter affectionado Shoshana Kessler (one of the millions still waiting to get in), the Pottermore team wrote back to her inquiry of when the site will be opening to receive this official statement in her email:
"We have decided to further extend the beta period so we can improve Pottermore before giving more people access. This means the site will not be opening to new users in the immediate future."
Disappointed? Frustrated? It is understandable that the excitement of Pottermore has escaped if not vanished into non-being, but can the site recapture your interest when it does in fact open?
Where will you go for your Harry Potter needs while waiting for Pottermore to open? Will it be myHogwarts? What about the O.W.L. exams MuggleNet will be giving this June? Is that enough for now? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Although it wasn't that along ago, only two years on February 20th of 2010, Stuart Craig revealed to the world that Professor Severus Snape died an "extremely good death" for the filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.
So why do we use this seemingly innocent article as our 'MuggleNet Throwback' of the week? Because this weekend, Stuart Craig and his team in the Production Design Departtment will be vying for the first Oscar award of the Harry Potter film series in the category of Art Direction.
Stuart's department is up against some strong competition at the Oscars, as he is nominated along with The Artist, Hugo, Midnight and Paris, and War Horse. At this time, it appears that the favorite to win this category is Hugo, but for all of the sweat, hard work and dedication that Stuart Craig's team performed over the past decade to bring 'The Boy Who Lived' to life, we are hoping his team comes out on top.
Stuart Craig's devotion to the Potter series is certainly evident; in the article from 2010, Stuart stated, "The last time I cried was a few days ago when we filmed the death of Alan Rickman's character, Snape. It's quite difficult to cry in rushes - where we watch the previous day's work - but he is an extraordinary actor and he dies an extremely good death."
How did you feel about Snape's death in Deathly Hallows - Part 2? How do you feel Stuart Craig and his Production Design team will do in Sunday's Oscar? Do they deserve to win the Oscar in your opinion? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Update!: J.K. Rowling's personal website has been affixed with the following message on its main page: "Although I've enjoyed writing it just as much, my next novel will be very different from the Harry Potter series."
While the site appears to be down for renovations, there is a form at the bottom of the page where you can enter your e-mail address and sign up for a newsletter, which will send regular updates as Rowling's book develops further.
Make sure to stick with MuggleNet for the latest details of this developing story!
After five years without publishing a book, J.K Rowling has decided to return to the creative sphere once again and today announced alongside her new agency, Little, Brown and Company that she will be releasing a new novel very soon. However this book will not be about our favorite boy wizard - or perhaps anything close - this new work is reportedly one targeted for adults.
JK Rowling has been telling us for a couple of years through her twitter account that "pen and paper" were her only priority, while we were hoping this was for the encyclopedia or information to be used on Pottermore. We are pleased to now conclude that her priority is, in fact, this new novel.
"Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world. The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life.”
We at MuggleNet are excited to eventually get our hands on this new work, and we'll of course keep you updated as more information comes in! We know we speak for the rest of you when we say we are happy to support Jo wherever she goes in her artistic career.
What type of novel do you think Jo is writing? Let us know in the comments below.
Unfortunately, over the last five weeks, MuggleNet has been attacked continuously by outside criminal hackers that have injected malware coding into the site time and time again.
The intent of these criminals has been to infect our visitors with viruses and while we have been able to remove all of the malware coding very quickly upon its injection, it has been a lengthy and tedious process. Additionally, visitors of the MuggleNet site are our No. 1 priority and we do not wish for any of your systems to be placed in jeopardy.
If you feel that your system has been subjected to a virus, we highly recommend that you run a virus scan on your system. We recommend http://www.malwarebytes.org/ as a tool for your PC.
Therefore, the day has come when we will be shutting down MuggleNet on a temporary basis with the exception of the news on the front page. Our incredible web development team at Spartz Media will then be leading the fight against these intrusions by cleaning up and securing each section of the site one at a time. We have given the team at Spartz Media a priority of the most visited sections to bring back up first, so we hope you will not be without your favorite section for very long.
This process will take some time to complete and we hope you will allow us the chance to finish this process and come back to us as soon as you are able to. We will continue to be the World’s No. 1 Harry Potter site when we return and we look forward to the many new projects we have lined up for you in the near future including a March Madness Character Brawl and the O.W.L. exams in June.
Earlier this morning, author JK Rowling tweeted once again, and instead of the same old tweet about 'pen being her priority', she confirms the news we shared with you yesterday about her new book that will be coming out for adults later in the year.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) - which administers the motion picture rating system in the United States - has issued an "R" rating (Restricted/Under 17 not admitted without parent or adult guardian) to Emma Watson's next film to be released Perks of Being a Wallflower for teen drug and alcohol use, and some sexual references.
This has not been a favorable rating to the producers of the film, as an "R" rating reduces the number of attendees to the film. Less attendence, less income. Therefore, the producers have appealed the decision of the MPAA.
The film is not scheduled to come out until later in the year, so there is plenty of time for the appeal to be reviewed and decided on.
The movie is based on the book by novelist Stephen Chbosky and is set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the 1991-1992 school year. The story follows the school year of the main character Charlie, played by Logan Lerman, and explores topics such as introversion and the awkward times of adolescence.
Yesterday marked the International Cinematographers Guild 49th Annual Publicists Awards celebration in which Hollywood publicity and marketing executives, producers, studio and network executives, celebrities and press attend the event.
During the event, Best Actor Oscar nominee Gary Oldman - the actor who portrayed Sirius Black in the Harry Potter franchise and is nominated for the Actor in Leading Role Oscar for his performance in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - presented the Motion Picture Showmanship Award to Harry Potter executive producer David Heyman.
Gary Oldman's presentation:
"This year, we honor the producer of the most successful film franchise of all time. We're delighted to recognize the person responsible for a collection of films that represents the best example of what can be accomplished with creative and smart publicity and promotion."
MuggleNet SnitchCenter (currently down for maintenance) now has the details of the Ohio Cup Quidditch Tournament that is scheduled for Saturday April 14th at the Beekman's Fields (West Campus) at The Ohio State University. You can follow the information posted for the tournament on their Facebook page.
The biggest tournament of the year for the midwest will feature fifteen teams competing for the top prize honors:
Pool 1: Ohio State University, Eastern Michigan University, Chestnut Hill, Carnegie Mellon, and Ashland
Pool 2: Michigan State University, Ball State, Miami, Denison, and Kentucky
Pool 3: Virginia Tech, Webster, Emerson, The Charles School, and Bowling Green State University
The tournament will be feature matches within respective pools with the top 12 teams advancing to the playoff round and ultimately the championship.
MuggleNet SnitchCenter will post the schedule of matches upon completion of the maintenance in the section. We will also have all of the results as they are posted during the tournament.
Tonight is the night for the stars to shine as the 84th Academy Awards takes center stage at the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles, California. The show will be hosted for the ninth time by comedian and film star Billy Crystal.
While we understand that Harry Potter fans around the world, like us, feel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 got snubbed by the Academy with its lack of nominations in the premiere categories, we still expect Deathly Hallows - Part 2 to win at least one Oscar this evening, which will be the franchise's first Oscar.
MuggleNet's staff member Kat and I have decided to share our predictions for the winners - a little in-house competition. The good news, is that we both predict at least one of the Oscars to go to the crew of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, we just don't agree on the category. Here are our predictions:
Category
Keith
Kat
Winners
BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Artist
The Artist
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jean Dujardin
Jean Dujardin
Jean Dujardin
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Viola Davis
Viola Davis
Meryl Streep
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jessica Chastain
Octavia Spencer
Octavia Spencer
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Rango
Rango
Rango
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Artist
Tree of Life
HUGO
ART DIRECTION
The Artist
Hugo
HUGO
COSTUME DESIGN
The Artist
The Artist
The Artist
DIRECTING
Michel Hazanavicius
Woody Allen
Michel Hazanavicius
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Undefeated
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Saving Face
Saving Face
Saving Face
FILM EDITING
Hugo
Hugo
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Iran, “A Separation”
Iran, “A Separation”
Iran, “A Separation”
MAKEUP
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Albert Nobbs
The Iron Lady
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Hugo
War Horse
The Artist
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
"Man or Muppet"
"Man or Muppet"
"Man or Muppet"
SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
La Luna
La Luna
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
The Shore
The Shore
The Shore
SOUND EDITING
Hugo
Hugo
HUGO
SOUND MIXING
Hugo
War Horse
HUGO
VISUAL EFFECTS
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
HUGO
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
Hugo
The Descendants
The Descendants
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
The Artist
Midnight in Paris
Midnight in Paris
How do you feel we did? Let us know your predictions in the comments below.
With only a few hours to go before the 84th Annual Academy Awards, the mystery of whether or not Harry Potter films will receive any Oscar is close to resolution. While nominated for three awards in technical achievement categories (Art Direction, Makeup and Visual Effects), the final film Deathly Hallows, Part 2 failed to secure a nomination in either Best Picture or Best Actor categories for its cast or crew.
While Potter fans have reacted negatively to the news (and warmed the hearts of the crew), the very humorous team over at How it Should Have Ended have created a special video showing how the Potter characters themselves would react to the news, and this year's Best Picture nominees. View the video on this feed or by clicking here.
Once again, Potter is nominated for the following: - Art Direction, Stuart Craig (Production Design) Stephenie MacMillan (Set Decoration) - Make-Up, Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin - Visual Effects, Tim Burke (superviser), David Vickery, Greg Butler, and John Richardson
We hope that Potter wins in at least one of the categories! Our entire Oscar predictions can be found here.
It's amazing and so incredibly disappointing that the Harry Potter films, which is the No. 1 film franchise in history and is based on the best selling book series of all-time, was never honored with a single Oscar Award.
Tonight at the Academy Awards, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 was nominated for three categories and lost each one of them. The Oscar for Art Direction went to HUGO, Makeup was awarded to The Iron Lady, and the Visual Effects Oscar was presented to HUGO.
The Harry Potter series (cast and crew) continue to receive awards from many of the other awards ceremonies, but were completely snubbed by the Academy Awards.
Let us know your reaction to this travesty in the comments below.
According to an article on MarketWatch, Pottermore has just announced today that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide eBook and digital audiobook distribution agreement with OverDrive, a leading global distributor of eBooks and digital audiobooks for their network of over 18,000 public and school libraries world wide.
Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne stated:
"We are keen to support public and school libraries, and OverDrive, as one of the leading suppliers in this market, provides us with a global network that helps us achieve this, as well as encouraging the discovery of these amazing books across the world."
The eBook series will be available in many languages like English, French, Italian, German and Spanish to start, but will expand with additional languages in the near future.
Readers will have immediate access to eBooks and digital audiobooks on a wide range of popular computers and reading devices including PC, Mac, eReaders, tablets and smartphones. Supported devices include Sony Reader, Kindle (US Only), Nook, iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Blackberry, and Windows Phone. Digital audiobooks will be made available for digital borrowing in the MP3 file format on listening devices such as computers, smartphones, and iPod.
We will provide more details as they become available. Are you excited for this release of the Harry Potter series eBooks? Let us know in the comments below.
Thanks to our friends at Rupert-Grint.US, we can share another video clip from the soon-to-be-released film Into The White starring Rupert Grint.
The film Into the White is about the events that take place during World War II when English and German pilots shoot each other down and later find themselves at the same cabin. In order to survive the tough winter in the Norwegian wilderness, they have to stand together. Its the start of a long and unlikely friendship.
This video clip takes place in their shelter as the Germans and English pilots sit down at the same table and share a meal while there is plenty of tension in the air.
Into the White will be released on March 9th, and the World Premiere, as we reported before, will be March 4th in Oslo, Norway during the FilmFest Oslo event in which Rupert Grint will be in attendance.
The Academy Awards recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, films, music, and more, and is one of the most prominent award ceremonies in the world. The first Academy Award show was held on May 16, 1929 at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood and yesterday marked the 84th Annual event, viewed in over 100 countries by millions of people worldwide.
Last night marked the final chance for the Harry Potter series to get recognized for its worldwide box office success, and aside from the severe lack of nominations it received from the Academy, it had lost in the three categories it was listed for: Art Direction, Makeup, and Visual Effects. So why is it that this film series gets swept under the rug by the Academy when most of the other awards ceremonies have given it its due recognition?
The Harry Potter film series is based off of the all-time best-selling book series of the same name. Millions and millions of fans flocked to the theaters over the past decade to watch these films bring the book series to life, which is certainly not an easy task considering the extreme depth of material written by JK Rowling throughout the books. But the Screen Adaptations by Steve Kloves and Michael Goldenberg (OOTP) were expertly translated to bring Harry’s story to the forefront.
The film series featured the most legendary of British talent including Dame Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Kenneth Branagh, Brendan Gleeson, Gary Oldman, Richard Griffiths, Jason Isaacs, Julie Walters, Robert Hardy, and many many more. Additionally, the iconic film sets were designed by Oscar winning production designer, Stuart Craig (The English Patient and Dangerous Liaisons) and Stephenie McMillan (The English Patient).
Overall, this incredible film franchise has received a total of 12 nominations from the Academy, all in areas of technical achievements such as costume design, original score, cinematography, etc. but has failed each time in winning its respective Oscar.
So why does Harry Potter keep getting snubbed by the Academy? Is it because it’s a children’s movie series? No, HUGO, took home several of the trophies yesterday, and a number of other “children’s” films have obtained the highest of accolades in the past. Is it because it’s a fantasy series? No, Lord of the Rings took home thirteen Oscars for it’s fantasy series in 2003. Is it because they are considered British films? No, another British film, The Kings Speech, won just last year.
In the end, it really is a mystery as to why the Academy refuses to acknowledge the all-time leading franchise in movie history with an award that it truly deserves, especially in any one of the technical areas. As this editor stated in the title, it truly is Harry Potter and the Oscar Travesty!
We will provide you another view of the Oscars and Harry Potter from MuggleNet staffer Kat, who is our resident award show expert, later today.
Emma Watson is certainly distancing herself from the Harry Potter brainchild and heroine Hermione Granger as she appears in another photoshoot for the upscale Lancome products.
Emma has previously appeared in a short film to promote the Lancome brand fragrance Tresor Midnight Rose, which featured her running through the streets of Paris at night, as well as a Pre-BAFTA meet and greet for her Lancome line of Rouge in Love lipsticks.
Lancome president Youcef Nabi stated: "Thanks to her charm, romanticism and her incredible modernity, Emma Watson has become the icon of her generation."
You can see some of the new photos of Emma right here: 1 | 2 | 3
Keep in mind that Emma is still in 'final negotiations' to portray the lead role of Belle in Guillermo del Toro's version of Beauty and the Beast, should the project actually see the light of day.
The 84th Academy Awards, held last night at the no longer named “Kodak Theater”, was a night of comedy, tears, surprises, and of course, snubs...and no, I am not talking about Harry Potter.
I have been watching, and loving, award shows as long as I can remember. I have always loved movies. From my very first viewing of Snow White at the age of 3 to just last week’s viewing of Beginners. Now while Keith called me an expert earlier, I am more inclined to say that I am an enthusiast. Out of the 34 major movies nominated this year (not including shorts, both live and animated or documentaries) I have seen 29 of them. You may disagree, but I believe that this puts me in the perfect position to tell you exactly why Harry Potter was never going to win an Oscar for Deathly Hallows - Part 2.
Before I jump into my argument, let me state that there were a LOT of movies this year that I thought deserved to be recognized and nominated. For Original Score alone, I thought movies such as Hanna, Super 8 and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo should have gotten nominations. Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Ewan McGregor should have received Acting nominations. I thought that the omission of Beginners, Warrior, Shame & Drive, just to name a few, from the Best Picture category was a serious overlook by the Academy members. The fact is, not every movie can be nominated. Not only would the show be 17 hours long, but the exclusivity of winning the award would be lessened if more movies were nominated in each category.
Having said that, if I were an Academy member, the movies I would have voted for would be very different than the movies that made it into the Best Picture category. You see, that’s the problem. It’s not that the median age of Academy members is 62, or that they are predominantly white males. It’s that movies are subjective. Every single person watches a movie and leaves that theater with a different impression of what they just experienced. For some, a movie like The Artist will be inspiring, fun, and refreshing, while for someone else it can seem contrived, predictable, or just plain boring. Unfortunately for Deathly Hallows - Part 2, the film suffers from just that.
As a huge fan of the books and films (and don’t tell me that I am not – I work for the World’s #1 Harry Potter site after all!), I absolutely adore the Harry Potter films. They portray the characters that I love, the plots that I adore tearing apart and delving into, and mostly, the love that I feel when I read the books. My favorite of the series as a MOVIE GOER, is Deathly Hallows - Part 1. It is the only film out of the eight that was easy to follow for non-book reading viewers (my boyfriend & mother can attest to that!), yet allowed the story to move along and continue to develop the intricate storyline that JK Rowling wrote in our beloved books.
Deathly Hallows - Part 2, while a great film for the Harry Potter fans that were looking for a true to book adaptation, was hard to follow for fans that had not read the books. There are too many plot holes, things left unexplained, and dramatic plot lines are brought to an end with a simple ‘snap’. Movies such as Beginners, a story about a 78 year old man (played by Academy Award winner Christopher Plummer) who comes out of the closet after his wife dies, does not suffer from the same problems. While it is based on a true story and is not an adaptation, I believe it’s a valid comparison. It leaves the viewer feeling not only the emotions experienced through the movie, but it forces you to think about the things in your life that you are holding back on, or in. From the non-book reading Harry Potter fans I have spoken too, while they liked the final movie, they were left confused, and not quite sure how to feel about the way the movie ended. Harry Potter was brought to a dramatic end; Harry defeated Voldemort, his lifelong enemy, the man who killed his parents, and then walked through the Great Hall looking…complacent.
Deathly Hallows - Part 2 suffers from the choices that were made in the previous films. By leaving out the S.P.E.W storyline, the house-elves were not able to fight along with the trio in the final battle, steal Harry’s wand at the Quidditch World Cup, or help us learn about Horcruxes with Hepzibah Smith. When the Gaunt’s storyline was cut out of the sixth film, the seventh & eighth films suffered from lack of Horcrux explanation. The list of these omissions goes on and on, and as fans we learn to accept them because we realize that the overall story, Harry’s story, is the most important part of the books. However, if you had never read those books, how would you feel as you walked out of Half-Blood Prince, asking yourself, “Who cares if he’s the Half-Blood Prince?”
Now let’s break down the three awards that Potter was nominated for, and ultimately lost. Art Direction. Stuart Craig did an amazing job at realizing Harry’s world. Hugo ended up taking that award, why? Because Hugo’s art department created an entire world out of 0’s & 1’s. Creating an entire digital world will almost always trump green screen & real world exterior shots. Next up was Makeup. I thought that if Potter was going to win an Oscar, this would be the one. The work that the team did on creating not only Lord Voldemort’s (non) nose and the Goblin’s of Gringotts, but the continuity that was brought from film to film was absolutely incredible. Although, we have to remember that the awards are given for a single film, and not a series. By the time we got around to Deathly Hallows - Part 2, the viewers and Academy members had been seeing Voldemort’s (non) nose for 4 movies. The Goblin’s were in Part 1, so really, even those weren’t new. While I don’t necessarily agree that The Iron Lady was the right choice for the award, what that team did in one movie, Potter had several movies to master. The achievement of getting it done in one movie, the more impressive feat, is the one that will always take the prize. Lastly, there was Visual Effects. Now this one I never expected Potter to take, since Rise of the Planet of the Apes was in the category. I don’t think there’s a single person on the planet who can say, with a straight and honest face, that Andy Serkis is not the best character/motion capture artist of our time. Sure, Potter had the removal of Voldemort’s nose, and the gorgeous dragon escape from Gringott’s…but really, what else? A few statues coming to life? While impressive to me, a fan, the voting members of the community were once again wowed by the creation of Hugo’s entire universe, in 3D none-the-less!
It’s true that while I do believe Harry Potter was never destined to win an Oscar at this year’s ceremony, I DO believe that it should have been honored. A montage, an achievement in film making award, or even just a mention by Billy Crystal (other than mentioning, reiterating, and even slightly poking fun at just how much money it made…), would have made the fans happy…at least the ones that realize that while we, the fans, love the Harry Potter films, that doesn’t mean that it deserves to win an Oscar. The film simply doesn’t live up to what fans of the movies, like myself, expect to see when they go to the cinema for an experience. Harry Potter is a fabulous escape into a bookish world that us fans love because we love it…not because it’s a great movie.
Jason Isaacs - the actor who portrayed Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter series - has a new show airing on NBC called Awake. We shared with you the pilot episode of the show earlier (unfortunately this was only available in the US), and today we have the official trailer for the premiere.
Awake features Jason Isaacs as a detective living in two different realities. His character, detective Michael Britten, regains consciousness following a severe car accident involving his wife Hannah [Laura Allen] and his son Rex [Dylan Minette]. Upon regaining consciousness, Michael begins to live in two realities, one while he is awake and the other while he is asleep. However, he is unable to distinguish which one is real and which one is the dream. His character begins moving back and forth between the two "realities", dealing with different personal conflicts and police partners as well as psychologists.
The executive producer of the series, Howard Gordon, also produced television hit series Homeland, 24 (this editor's favorite show), the X-Files, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show airs this Thursday on NBC at 10PM. Check your local listings for channels and times.
Will you be watching Jason in this new television drama? Let us know in the comments below.
According to a new article, Dan Radcliffe's new horror film The Woman in Black, has achieved a box office record...the most successful horror film in British history.
The film spent three weeks at the top of the charts in the U.K. leading to a box office gross of $23.2 million toppling the previous record holder of Nicole Kidman's The Others from 2001 ($18.9 million).
From the article: Hammer CEO and president Simon Oakes described the box office bonanza for the film as "an important achievement that affirms the re-birth of Hammer."
Additionally, The Woman in Black has attained a box office gross of just over $50 million in the United States, according to Box Office Mojo.
What did you think of Dan Radcliffe's new thriller movie? Let us know in the comments below.
Our next piece of Fan Art is titled, 'Dobby' and it comes to us from Rebecca. The drawing was done in colored pencils, and the full image of the piece can be viewed right here.
Noah's Notes: Fans everywhere can recognize this picture of Dobby from a notable movie poster for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1. Personally, I find the close up shot Rebecca chose to draw very interesting - the use of colored pencils as a creative medium was also an interesting choice. The artist formed Dobby's face by mixing line after line of colored pencil - a technique most expertly articulated in the nose if you take a close look at it. Though we don't see a lot of his face, Dobby's expression of solemn fear is very clear, and revealed in his eyes as well as the encroaching darkness in the background. Great job Rebecca.
At this time the fan art section is down for maintenance but will be up again in the near future.
Harry Potter Alliance (HPA) Creator, Co-founder and inspirational activist, Andrew Slack, will be the keynote speaker at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in the Twin Cities on Friday (March 2nd) from 4:30pm to 5:30pm. If you are in the area, feel free to attend, otherwise you will be able to view the livestream of the event at the main website right here.
Andrew will be one of the keynote speakers for the Laureates at the event along with Aung San Suu Kyi, who will be addressing the conference via video.
Additional events that Andrew will be speaking at on behalf of the HPA:
If you have not had the pleasure of watching one of Andrew's inspirational speeches, you can watch this one from the TEDxTransmedia event last year in Italy.
Andrew leads the way in explaining why thousands of the fans of Harry Potter today have been able to band together and standup against the issues facing our world.
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