MuggleNet | Press Junket

[Background noise, chatter and instructions, as everything is being set up] Media: Good morning.

Media: I wanted to ask each of you, what is it like to initiate a new director? Is there anything special to do on the first day, or night...? Dan: What? Like hazing?

Dan: Um, it's - I don't know, it's great - I think that whenever a new director comes on board theres always a real sense of excitement because it's - you're aware that something new's going to be brought to the table and that's always - I think that can only be an exciting propect. So I don't think we go through an particular ritual, do we? [laughs]

Emma: [laughs] No, there's no step-through ritual that I've - I guess it's just sort of - I guess - I don't know. It's really nice. We have - I mean, we have all the cast and crew that have been on the films since the very beginning, kind of been there for all four or five years, so there's sort of quite a nice, friendly sort of family. But hopefully it's not, though, too intimidating for newcomers because everyone's kind of really funny and just sort of everyone - it's not - it's - yeah. Rupert: And all the directors have always been quite different as well so it's always quite, sort of - exciting to get good ones. We've had some pretty good ones.

Media: We've literally watched the three of you grow up, and we're reminded in this movie - it's so shocking in a way. For the three of you, growing up with these characters, have you found that they've influenced you in real life, the way you are today, do you think? And I wanted to ask Emma, you seemed to have a journey of hesitation, I call it, before you commited to doing the next two pictures. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Emma: I didn't sign the contract, immediately, because I needed some time to figure out the logistics, as you can imagine, of combining making a Harry Potter film like you've seen a Harry Potter film, and combining that with my school timetable and I really want to go to University and I really want to go to - I really want to continue what I was doing. I didn't want to have to give either one up, so I was kind of into this really difficult - it was a really dificult position, and it just took time to work out how I was going to make that work. And Warner Bros has been extremely supportive of helping me figure out ways to do that. For instance, they've given me Monday mornings off so I can to school and I can see my teachers and I can pick up my work. They've provided all the teachers that I need to get all my work done. They - even though I'm over 16, they're giving me the hours that I need to get all my work done, they have got a book every friday which I can put my work into which goes, then, back to my teachers. They'll mark it and send it back to me. It just took a while just to figure out the logistics of how it was going to work, and it wasn't - I find it quite frustrating, actually, thinking about all the insinuations made about why I was holding off, but I just had to figure out a way to make it work for me and that took a bit of time.

Dan: And it's important to realize that when you commit to a Potter film, it is, on the whole, about a ten month commitment, and so it's never something - and especially if we were thinking about not only the sixth film, but the seventh. That's two years, and so it's never something that should be rushed into lightly, and a lot was made of it that was obviously generated by the media, I suppose. And in terms of growing up with the characters, that's sort of a question that gets asked in different ways a lot and - [laughs] you sort of - it's one that I think people always want us to say, "Yeah, we couldn't live without them," and while they've been a major - I don't know if they've actually influenced us. I don't know - well, certainly for me - I can only speak for myself - I can't say that Harry, as a character, has influenced my character too much, personally. But I don't know how you guys feel about that. [laughs]

Emma: Yeah, it's really funny, we get asked a lot about growing up and being on camera, and growing up in the limelight and all of that sort of thing. But it's a really funny question to ask us, because we can't see ourselves from the outside - if that make sense. It's a bit like - trying to look at it from different perspectives, and it's so funny. But, um - yeah. I mean, I sometimes - sometime I feel like I barely have to act, because I just - I'm so - I feel so close to my character and I just feel like I know her so well. And I think we're quite similar, in a lot of ways, so it's - my job isn't too hard, really. So I'm quite lucky like that. So, yeah, it's nice - yeah, we've kind of grown up together. I think - I'm actually - all of us are a teeny bit older than our characters, so in a way it's nice because we've kind of experienced what are characters are going through before them, so we kind of have - we kind of know what it's like to have been through that experience and we can apply it to what we're doing in the film. So it works quite well, really.

Rupert:Yeah, for me it's really weird, sort of looking back at all the films, it seems like one long, big film...

Rupert: And it's weird looking back at the early ones, but it's just, sort of, how young I am, and how changed, now. And it is really weird, but - no, I've really enjoyed it. It's been a really good part of my life and - yeah, I've really enjoyed it.

Dan: I had a - I had a hideous reaction at one point, from looking at a screening of Harry Potter 5, and there was a picture of me on screen from - unsurprisingly - and then there was - a clip from me in the first film, at one point, is used in the first film, and I just heard loads of girls go "Awww!"

Media: Have the three of you preordered your books weeks ago, or does JKR give you preview?

Dan: Only J.K. Rowling's husband has recently found out what happens. I don't think anybody else...

Emma: It’s - the security on the books and making sure - it's kept pretty tight, so - I think we get one the night that it is released.

Emma: We've known her for ages, and it would feel really awkward asking her for an autograph, now.

Emma: I would never do that. I bet like in twenty years I will really regret it.

Media: Hi, with your Potter paycheck, what's been the biggest thing that you treat yourself to when you are not doing the scene?

Emma: When you say an ice cream van, it's not just like the shell of an ice cream van.

Dan: I've not really had - I have - I shouldn't have let you go first then, should I?

Dan: We can't top that. Ah - no. Nothing particularly exciting. I mean, I'm quite interested in artwork, and things like that, but I'm not going to - I've never sort of been into cars or anything like that, so I don't think I am going to black out into a classic car crash in which I think the people seem to expect me to.

Dan: And - yeah. So I don't think I'm going to be doing anything particularly exciting. And I would like to point out at this moment in time...

Dan: Which was reported a while ago, I think, in London Lite. And it's completely untrue, and the best that the article said that I was working with Fiat to provide - to get just the right shade of green.

Emma: [laughs] I - again, I haven't, really. I bought myself an Apple Mac - my little laptop, which I love. It's my pride and joy. It's - actually, I've used it so much that it hasn't got any memory space on it, anymore.

Emma: [laughs] But, yeah, that was my - but I'm learning to drive at the moment. I'm taking my lessons, now, so I suppose at some point I'll be wanting to get a car. But as soon as I - I'm finding driving so hard [laughs], and getting in a car is so intimidating, I can't really imagine myself buying myself a big fat sports car, or anything that just has an engine bigger than - I mean, smaller than![laughs]. I want something really small - really safe, and really sort of unintimidating. Because I've already just - I'm really sure, yet, but that's going to be my next biggest…

Emma: Yeah, yeah. A Punto. Then they really will have something to write about. Yeah. [laughs] What shade of green?

Media: Dan, Harry goes through a great deal of emotional stress and angst in this film. So does Alan Strang in Equus. I'm just wondering do you leave these things at the end of the day or do you take them home with you?

Dan: And he - yeah, no - I know what you mean. Sometimes, I suppose, it could be hard to detach yourself from a certain character. Particularly after - I mean, having done the show for sixteen weeks, you do get very attached to him and, in a way, you do miss going out and doing it night after night. But, at the same time, it is essential that you do just now leave it behind and move on, and now it's time for - I'm doing another film in August, and then on to Harry Potter. So it is time to just keep moving on to other things, now.

Dan: The stage experience was phenomenal. I mean, I think it came out at exactly the right time for me, in that it was just - I think at that stage it was what I needed to do. And it was great fun. It was fantastic. I met some brilliant people, and got to work with Richard Griffiths in a totally different capacity. Because as Uncle Vernon it's great and we all have a laugh, but he's only - normally around for a week, a week and a half. And, so, to spend sixteen weeks - or more, doing [unintelligable] with him was - this kind of character was fantastic.

Media: Matthew Vines from Veritaserum.com. What message do you want people to leave the movie with? From the movie as a whole, or from your performances, individually?

Emma: Well, I guess, in a big way, what this film is about Harry being in a really difficult place. He's really - he feels really isolated, he wants to isolate himself, because he thinks if he does that if he does that he won't have as much to lose. I think the film is about Harry’s journey to realizing that he did not have to do it on his own, and the importance of his friends, and the importance of his friendship, and that you need to look at it in a positive way, and that actually the friends that he has, and the people that he has behind him - what's scaring him is that he might lose them and that gives him something to fight for. And that makes him a much more powerful wizard/man than Voldemort, so - but I think, for me...

Dan: I also think it's about - in terms of Harry’s character - it's about sticking to your guns, and, if you know there is something that it the truth, and you know that it's right, then you can't let yourself be compromised by other people and outside forces. And I think that's what Harry and Dumbledore go through the film, and I think that - for me that's - [to Emma] along with everything that, obviously, you said - is another central message that the film gives. Of course, individually, I don't really know what people...

Emma: I think it is the natural stuff. I mean, it's nothing we've really thought about.

Emma: I mean, just as we've grown up and we've worked with different directors, he's brought out different things in us, and helped us to develop...

Emma: ...and we've learnt more. It's - you sort of - for every film we learn something new, and we kind of bring all everything we've learned together in everyone...

Dan: ...we have all grown and developed, and I think - and it does add something to the film, certainly. I think, yeah.

Media: There is so much speculation about the book. How would you feel if your character doesn't make it in the book? Do you have any feelings about that?

Rupert: I mean, in a really cool way. It's quite a - it doesn't really matter, because it would be the last one. I think - no, I would like for Ron to survive.

Rupert: I don't know. There's a lot of rumors going around that he is going to have to, but I would like to see what the outcome is.

Emma: I haven't really contemplated it. I'm sort of praying that she's going to make it. I don't know why, but I think she is going to make it. I hope so. I don't know why, but I guess, also - I dunno - I'm such a big fan of the books, and I remember with the Philip Pullman trilogy, His Dark Materials, I remember to the end, just knowing that both of them are going to live on - sorry if this is ruining it, for those who haven't read it... [Everyone laughs]

Emma: I'm just assuming that everyone's read the books. When you know that the heroine who is supposedly going to live on, but you don't know - I hate endings that don't wrap themselves up - I know that's really like - I don't know. Really - what's the word? Perfectionist of me, but I really like that to be an ending. So in a way, it would be nice for there to be some sort of...

Emma: That is not what I'm saying. But it would be really nice to sort of wrap the characters up - to know which direction they are going in and what - hopefully, you know, Hermione will have a really cool career in something or other, or she will be doing something really great with her intelligence, or that the Harry-Voldemort connection thing will have hopefully sorted itself out, and... [Everyone laughs]

Dan: A couple of years ago, I said that I really - that I would like Harry to die. Because that is, as you say - that's a conclusive ending...

Dan: And they - but I am going to steer away from that now, because the next day the headlines were, "Radcliffe Wants Harry..."

Dan: Which is, you know, awful. So, no, I do think it would be... [Emma laughs]

Dan: ...fitting, in a way, because I think that he - when you consider the prophecy that was made about him and Voldemort and things like that - one of them's got to go, and I think - well, I don't know, to be honest. There is nothing, really, you can say, because I think that he might, but that is based upon absolutely nothing. [laughs]You know?

Reporter: They are taking bets, and it is overwhelming that Harry is going to die.

DR.co.uk: All of you guys are growing up and getting into leadership and things like that. How easy did you find it to become leaders and teachers of Dumbledore's Army?

Rupert: I don't know - Ron isn't really either of those two. [Everyone laughs]

Rupert: No, I like to do those things. No, it was really good, and there was a really good sort of atmosphere on set, and we did loads of stunts, which was really cool.

Rupert: Yeah, and I got pulled back on a wire, cause me and Hermione had a duel.

Dan: Can't hurt. Yeah. There's no shame in it. But those scenes worked great - for me, anyway. I was thinking that it is sort of, you know, he starts off as this very reluctant leader and teacher, but by the end he is Henry V! [Everybody laughs]

Dan: To the point where David Yates, the director, did actually once give me a note that said, "Dan, when you bring Henry in, reel him in a bit - you don't want to go quite that far."[Emma laughs]

Dan: But - so it was great. But the only problem with those scenes was that the set we filmed them on had under-floor lighting...

Dan: ...and it had - that whole place is mirrors, and so in every shot you had to have...

Dan: ...fires all around, so there would be reflections in all the mirrors, which meant that the set seemed to be a degree hotter than the sun. [Everyone laughs]

Emma: It really, literally, was like walking into an oven. But the one thing is that it was an inclosed set, because of the door, and so everything was closed off, so it was - oh my gosh. It was so hot.

Media: What thought have you each given to your careers post Harry Potter? What would you like to do next?

Dan: I don't know, just keep acting and hopefully do really interesting and different things, and hopefully continue to find things that are really difficult for me to do, and challenging me, and things, so I don't become complacent, or whatever. So just carry on, really, and I'd like to write, I suppose, as well, in a very very long way away, but that's another thought. But, yeah, I suppose for now I hope to continue the way I'm going.

Rupert: Yeah, I suppose it is the same for me. I just want to - I haven't really given it that much thought, but I think that I want to continue acting and - I don't know. Just sort of see how things go from there.

Rupert: If it doesn't work out, I've still got the ice cream van. [Everyone laughs]

Emma: It's funny. In this sort of - I don't konw. You can't really say, "This is what I want to do," because it's not really your choice. You know, this business is completely unpredictable. You never know what films are going to be made, what work is going to be out there. You just have got to ride the - just see what's out there, I guess, but ideally I'd love to try some theater at some point. I'd love to a period drama. I'd love to - you know there are loads of things I want to do. I also really like to sing, and I'd love to - don't worry. I'm not going to release a single or anything. [Everyone laughs]

Emma: Yeah. A couple months? A couple weeks? No. No, no. Don't worry. I'd love to do something which has music in it, or - I don't know. There's loads of things I am really interested in, but it is just what comes up, really, and it is also what works in terms of scheduling. I've still got the next two Harry Potters to do and juggling that with school and stuff. Next summer, I've got some time, so I'm aiming to get something there. But, again, it's just - I don't really want to do something just for the sake of it. I'll really want to wait for the right thing to come along - and, yeah - just to do the right thing. And, I mean, hopefully - hopefully will. But you just got to - you just got to see what's about, and get yourself out there and audition for lots of different bits. And just - yeah. So.

Media: Does each film, having a different director at the helm, have a different feel to it on the set while you're making it, or do they all sort of run together, and like you said earlier, seem like one big long film? And how would they...?

Ron: Yeah, I thought this time felt a lot more relaxed, because David sort makes you feel very calm, and he's really laid back.

Emma: Eccentric, a very big British character. [distractedly in the background] Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah - there definitely is a different - definitely it is a different atmosphere with each director, just with regards to their personality. They've got to set the pace of the day. And they, you know - so it - definitely. But with this one, was kind of - as Rupert said, kind of quite laid back, sort of quite chill, quite kind of - it was quite a nice atmosphere. I always felt like David...

Emma: I always felt like David sort of had time to talk to us about what was going on, and - yeah, he always had time to listen to us, and liked to talk about - talk it through and sort it out and just really - yeah, just really think about it, which was nice.

Dan: And, you know, for me, even more important than how David had, you know, time to talk to us, is that, you know, he doesn't just talk - he talks to everyone.

Dan: He's just a lovely man. And you know, it's - he's an absolutely - we're very lucky, because he's a fantastic director, and he's a delightful man.

Dan: Because he's very, very quiet, but he's absolutely just - he's just fantastic, and we're incredibly lucky to have someone like him to direct us.

Dan: And also, he - it was more laid back, but at the same time, there was a - the energy that was there, it was a very quiet energy, and it was really - it was incredibly focused. And he knew from the moment he got onto the set, the kind of story - the story he wanted to tell and the way he was going to do it. And so, the energy that was there, was - a, it was so incredibly focused, and there was a real drive and ambition with David to make the movie the best one yet.

Emma: Yeah. Also, another - sorry, I'm sorry, I remember this is amazing - if you can imagine coming into a series - the fifth film of a series, and if you consider the size of the cost, and the amount of actors he's dealing with, and the amount of crew members he's dealing with - it never actually occurred to me, because I just didn't think about it, but David actually managed to learn everyone's name.

Emma: And he really made an effort to do that. And it wasn't just me, Dan, and Rupert. It was everyone in the cast. He made sure that he knew their names. He went and spoke to them. He knew them as people. He didn't just - he really made an effort to become part of the crew and the team, and I like - I really admired that. I was like, wow, that's really - I really respected him for that, and that's really cool.

Media: There was a - way back - it also said in one of the production notes that you were pushed harder, you thought, than on any of the other films. So if you could talk a little bit about the work on that...

Dan: Yeah. It was just a thing that David would come up to me at the end, after a take or after a - whatever, but - no, after a take - and he'd say, "That one, that one, it was good, but it wasn't real," You know? And, or "You can get it better than that," or - you know. And there were times when I was thinking, "I can't."[Emma laughs]

Dan: "I don't know how." But, actually, in the end, I could. And he was not - but the great thing about David was that he also knew when to - when he'd got as far as he was going to get. And so he's - the thing, I do like to be challenged, and that's why David came at the perfect time for me, because he is totally willing to do that.

Emma: Yeah, I felt - actually, I felt a bit nervous about working with - because I just thought, well, I don't know this guy. I'll go and watch some of his previous work. I was looking at the films that he's done, The Girl in the Cafe, and Sex Traffic, and the performances that he got out of people in those pieces of work - I was just like, oh my goodness, how am I ever going to live up to that sort of standard of acting quality, I guess, and just how real everything was, and how - I guess the thing that occurred to me most about David and the most about this film is it really made me feel something. It really makes me feel. I know that sounds weird, but - I'm, yeah. So I was really like - I really was so eager and really earnest to kind of, to live up to expectations and for him really to get the best out of me that he possibly could. And it felt - I was really nervous, but I was also really excited, because I thought, wow, I really think this guy can take me to a new level, which I think he does with all of us.

Emma: And that's really nice. And also, having seen - David's staying on for the next one - having seen the film - it's amazing and it stands alone, but it feels like it's unfinished business. It feels like...

Emma: I still feel like there's so much more that I can learn and I can get out of him, so it's sort of a really exciting concept...

Emma: ...even though we're working with the same person again. So it's really - yeah, it's really exciting.

Dan: I am thinking of getting David Yates into his director chair and breaking his legs so he can never leave.

Media: Can you talk a bit about the audience and how it may have changed over the years, or grown? I know in America the books and the films seem to appeal to girls as much as boys. But over the years, what kind of audience have you heard from and what do they tell you they're responding to in the films?

Rupert: Um, I don't know really. I think it's quite a varied audience, I suppose. Quite - the younger ones, particularly, and it's - they've probably grown up by now.

Rupert: I've always had a, quite a - people have always - when I get recognized, I've always heard, sort of taken things about the films, and I've had a good feedback from the film.

Dan: I mean, yeah. It's quite unique, in a way, because it does attract a huge range of people. And that's what's great about it, because you know that Potter, in a way, is one of the few films that - I mean, obviously, the market thing, and all that, it's targeting certain groups of people, but really it doesn't just appeal to one demographic of people.

Dan: It appeals to a huge range of them. And then - we get response from a lot of people of different ages, and all around the world. And also, I mean, as you said, the people that were - the amazing thing about it is that the people who were ten when the first film came out, and, indeed - what? Seven when the first book came out. Then, you know, they've grown up, and they're now our age, and the nature of Potter and the fantastic storytelling means that younger kids are still coming to it, so it's got this sort of - this audience that regenerates itself through generations.

Emma: What I love is that, I'll be out and about and one day I'll have a seven or eight year-old come up and ask for a autotograph and say, "Oh my god, I'm a really big fan, love the films," and the next day, 30? 40?

Emma: Like, literally, it ranges from like, grandmas to young kids. It's amazing, the way it's absolutely universal. I really like that. I really like that there's adults and there's four year-olds - I mean, I think they're definitely thicker along, they're getting a lot darker, and they're getting a lot more true. And I think we've all grown with that initial audience we first had in the beginning. We've sort of - we're taking them on a journey. I don't think anyone would be - I don't know, "Harry Potter's too young for me," or anything like that.

Emma: ...it's really not. You know, I think it's still bloody scary. I think it's still, you know - I don't think - it's amazing, it really does manage to give every type of audience what they want, I think. So, yeah. It's good.

Dan: Whoa, good luck. No, I think Harry does have bad aspects and I think everybody has, in a way. I think he can be - when he lashes out in the film, he lashes out at his two best friends, and I think that's something a lot of people do simply because they know that, ultimately, they'll be okay. You know, so I think there's - so, I think he can be possibly - I think he can be selfish, because he does have this desire to - you know, he feels he has to live up to this image of himself that all these people have of being, you know, this sort of great defender of rights and magical things.

Dan: And this is - yeah. Yeah - another particular way of saying it. I think he does feel he has to be a hero and so he has to go it alone, so he does try to cut himself off from people. So, I think those would be a few of them. And also, possibly in the third film, when Snape infers that he's like his father and he's arrogant, I think there's possibly some truth in that that we're possibly going to see more of. I don't know. I don't know, but possibly. And there you go - be very diplomatic. [laughs]

Emma: Yeah, well, you have to consider, and you have to remember that this is a boy who has never met his parents, who is living with the Dursleys - which I think is anyone's worst nightmare - he's been completely isolated from everything and everyone, he's probably quite lonely - no one in the world will ever understand what it's like to be him, or go through what he's gone through. He's just lost his Godfather, which was the only other family member he's had, he's world famous, everyone know who he is, and looks at him. Considering all of that, you know, it's a job that he's actually sane, and that he is a really nice guy, and that he isn't more, kind of, screwed up, or self-centered, or - you know, not completely gone off the rails.

Emma: Or not completely - I mean, he's a survivor. He's a fighter. He's pretty strong.

Dan: J.K. Rowling did say - at one point, I remember her saying that if you - because a lot of people had a problem with the fifth book, because they said that it was, you know, they didn't like Harry's anger in it - they felt he was too angry, and somebody did say - and, J.K. Rowling did just say, if you haven't understood Harry's anger in the fifth book, then you haven't understood the four book previous to it, because if you did, then you would see that he had a right to be this angry.

Media: Daniel, I just saw December Boys, and it was a great performance, but there are some similar themes to Harry Potter - the loneliness and being an orphan. Tell us a little bit about that and about the film you're going to be doing in August.

Dan: Oh, right. Okay, yeah. December Boys is a film I did in Australia in 2005. It's about four boys who grow up in a Catholic orphanage in the outback of Australia, and who are, due to a generous donation to the orphanage, are all sent on holiday for their birthday month, which is December - hence why they are the December Boys. And it's about - they all have their various rights of passage stories while they are away. And I think it's a really sweet, genuinely warm and heartfelt film, and hopefully other people will like it, too. As you said, there are similar themes in that - now - the tally is now up to three orphans.

Dan: Harry, David, and Maps. And - yeah. That - so there are similar things, there. But it is a very different film, and it's a very different character from Harry, because Maps is much more sort of restrained than Harry. Harry lets a lot out and Maps doesn't at all. And with - and later in the year I'll be doing My Boy Jack, which is about Rudyard Kipling and his son who was sent off - who wanted to go and was sent to war, despite having failed numerous army medical tests because of - his eyesight was so bad. And so, very, very sad story - and yeah. I mean, you can get that that one doesn't end happily. And it's an absolutely beautiful, beautiful script written by David Haig, who is also playing Rudyard Kipling. So, it's very touching, yeah.

Ben (MuggleNet.com): What do you think is your favourite scene to film, and why?

Dan: I like the scene after the kiss with Cho Chang, because - [laughs] we're all just in hysterics.

Dan: And I think a lot of that was genuine. I think that day we were just in quite a giggly mood. And if you watch it, you can watch me - and well, all of us, actually, trying to keep it together. It's like the scene in The Usual Suspects.

Dan: Well, not that scene, but there is a scene in The Usual Suspects, at the beginning, where they're doing the lineups, when all of the men are just - they're doing the scene, and they're just laughing hysterically, and they can't keep it together, at all. And the director was getting really angry about it because he can't keep them under control, and in the end, actually, it really works that they're all laughing, because they all know each other, and in that way it's a very sweet thing that they're all in hysterics with each other. But I also loved doing anything with Sirius. Yeah, and all that. What you talking about?

Emma: Yeah, that was my favourite one as well, just because I have such good memories about filming it. I mean, I genuinely was - I don't know if you remember, but...

Emma: [inaudible] ...oranges. I honestly don't know why. Dan did something before the third or fourth take, and, literally, David - I remember, just filmed me just laughing. Dan and Rupert just stopped, and I was still going. I was on the floor, just laughing. And he just filmed all of it, and carried on right until I stopped. Which was ages. And so my laugh is really genuine. Which was really - I know. I just think it feels like it's a scene that kind of brings together our real friendship and...

Emma: ...our characters' friendship. It's just like - [whispers reverently] it all comes together. It all comes together beautifully.

Emma: Yes. Exactly. So that's one of the things. I'm really fond of that scene. I really like it.

Rupert: Um, I don't konw, really. It's - there's loads of scenes that are really fun. I think - one of the funnest ones to sort of do and watch back was the Hall of Prophecies. Because that was like...

Rupert: ...there was nothing there. There was no set at all; it was all a green screen.

Rupert: Nothing. And then looking back - watching it, it's really weird. But, um - no, it was pretty cool.

Dan: The only ones I don't particularly warm to are anything on a broomstick, really.

Dan: Erm, for obvious reasons. You know, I think - generally speaking, we have lots of fun all the time.

Media: Emma, you mentioned that it was difficult being world famous, and I wonder how the three of you deal with things.

Emma: Erm, it's really - I guess - well it's difficult for Harry, because of the fact that he - he's lived all of his life just this normal boy. And then suddenly he came into really - and then suddenly he just found out that he was a wizard and that he's famous, and - in a way it feels kind of easier for me, because it almost feels like I've never known anything different. I was so young when I first started doing this that - and it kind of builds up quite gradually, as well. But I've kind of learned other strengths along the way, just from experience, and just sort of built up my confidence, and - in myself, and being able to deal with it. And I've also just been really well looked after, I have to say, amongst Warner Bros, and in particular Vanessa Davies - just from the very, very beginning they've really just taken care of us. Not just as the kids from Harry Potter, but as individuals and people that she's really fond of. Stuff like we've had that kind of family idea, like we've - they really, genuinely care about us as people. And we're not just - I don't know - vehicles, or...

Emma: I don't know. It's really - no, it's really helped. And, I guess, me and Dan and Rupert all really have very strong families around us, as well, who have taken care of us, and - I think that's what keeps all three of us sane - there's that, and depending on really strong base - a really strong identity outside of ourselves. All of us know that we're worth something, apart from what everyone thinks of us, like in what - we have stronger identities than what people write in the press, or what people think, or - I don't know, you just have to be...

Emma: I think we - we're strong enough that we'll - I mean, we can laugh about it...

Emma: ...but some of it's frustrating, some of it's annoying. Some of it's freaky, some of it scares us, but, uh...

Dan: Because it is - you know, it's bizarre. But it's funny. It is funny. And, actually, - you know, for - obviously there will always be certain things that some people will be able to do that we can't do, and that's fine, but we also have a load of opportunities that have been extended to us, and that's amazing. We're all so very fortunate. I mean, it is obviously a very strange experience, but I think - what Emma said about not being thought of or treated as, you know, entities, and that will either sell a film or not sell a film, is - to actually have been treated like - you know, really just fantastically.

Media: And I assume you didn't know each other before this whole thing started, but what are one or two things that you've learned from each other?

Dan: Ah, no. These guys have probably learned nothing but trivia from me, really. Because that's sort of what I'm full of, really. [laughs]

Dan: To be honest, I don't think we've ever - because we're all the same - pretty much the same age, we've never really deigned to give each other advice. I don't know, it's - it will be very odd for me to, say, turn around to Rupert and say, "Rupert! Now, then..."

Dan: Because we're all the same age, it's like - advice is something you get from people that are older than you, really.

Emma: I don't think I've really learned anything. Because I think it's more like - we're just - we're friends, you know.

Emma: Like, um - if I'm having boy troubles I'll occassionally go and track Dan or Rupert and say, "What's going in here?"

Emma: Yeah. It's just sort of friendly banter, and friendly advice, and just sort of - just generally supporting each other, I guess.

Thanks to Haley, Jessica, Christina, Shelly, Luke, Eloise, Karen, Matt, Leah, Laura B, Rebeca, and Briana

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Press Conference

Friday, June 22nd, 2006