Live from the London “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” Press Junket

by · October 22, 2005

MuggleNet, the Leaky Cauldron, and a bunch of other sites and press representatives are on a conference call at the moment. We will be listening in on and participating in a conference with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, followed by one with Clémence Poésy, Robert Pattinson, Stanislav Yanevski, and Katie Leung, and finally a third conference with Mike Newell and David Heyman.

UPDATE: The conference has now concluded, lasting just over two hours. Our notes from the show (first brought to you live as they occurred in conjunction with Leaky) can be found below.

Interview with Dan Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson

  • Emma: “There has been a lot of speculation about whether we’re going to outgrow our parts but it works out really well because each one takes about a year.”
  • Dan: “There is always this thing of, ‘Will you get too old for your part?’ People play a lot younger than they actually are in real life. I don’t think it’s as big an issue as a lot of people make it out to be.”
  • Dan doesn’t like iPods because he’s obsessive about having the actual CD and sleeve.
  • Dan joked about whether the kids would fall into wild Hollywood lifestyles: “I’m planning on buying 20 Porsches and crashing them all just for the extravagance!” The kids don’t go to the parties they’re invited to most often; Dan feels like he’s “fooling people” because it’s this massive thing (the film) and yet he’s so low-key that he feels like he’s tricking everyone.
  • Emma loved all the arguing in the film – she thought it was realistic of the characters.
  • Mike Newell treated them like adult actors, said Emma. Dan added that on other films, they could “get away with more.”
  • Emma, on walking down the stairs at the Yule Ball, said: “I didn’t know there were so many ways you can walk down stairs until that day.”
  • Rupert said he thinks he’ll continue acting for his career. Emma doesn’t want Harry Potter to be the last thing she does; she loves getting on stage and reacting to a live audience. Dan loves acting and is trying to figure out what the attraction was: He has no idea. He says it has something to do with power because you have a character and it’s up to the actor to determine how the character is seen. He says he has a huge passion for acting and is “maybe” interested in eventually directing because he’s been inspired by the directors he’s worked with so far.
  • Dan: “Me and Harry are not very good with women. I’ve got better now. But I think any man ever who says he has never had an awkward moment with a girl is a liar. He’s either a liar or he’s delusional.”
  • Dan: “The thing with Harry and Ron is that they are the worst dates in the world with these two poor girls!” Afzhan, his date, is also one of his best friends. “You have sort of the ballroom casualties who are outside weeping because the night has gone so horribly.” Emma: “Including Hermione!”
  • Emma on the Yule Ball: “I loved doing it because I can relate to what she goes through. I so know that frustration where guys can be so insensitive… Hermione is so insecure about herself and she’s never really had any attention from a guy before that when she sees Viktor looking at her it’s like, ‘Is that guy really looking at me?’ […] She does not know what’s happening to her and she gets caught up in this whirlwind.”
  • Emma, on what she wants to see happen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: “For goodness sake, Hermione and Ron just need to get it together! It’s just been so long now!”

Interview with Clémence Poésy, Robert Pattinson, Stanislav Yanevski, and Katie Leung

  • Stan: “Krum is the world’s David Beckham. […] I think he’s got two sides: very sporty, very concentrated but also, he’s got a big heart.” Yanevski wants to continue acting.
  • Clémence: “[Fleur] is the kind of girl we’ve all had in our school. Miss Perfect, kind of annoying at the end but always well-dressed.”
  • Pattinson: “It’s impossible to hate [Cedric]. He’s good at sports and very athletic; he kind of vaguely takes Harry under his wing and they get closer, as the film draws to a close.”
  • Katie: “[The role] has brought out a lot of confidence in me.”

Interview with Director Mike Newell and Producer David Heyman

  • David Heyman is happy with the 12A rating because he doesn’t feel [the Harry Potter books] are children’s books and calls [Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire] a “generous, smart, funny thriller.”
  • Mike Newell, much to Warner Bros.’ chagrin, says the movie has all the elements of a great Bollywood film.
  • Two years ago, Mike Newell met with Jo Rowling, and they discussed the moral challenges inherent in the book and how important it was for Harry to stand on his own morality.
  • Mike Newell: “I can’t stand myself sometimes.” He hates his work, all the time, he says. “I always hate the end result, and this time, and it may be a very bad sign, this time I don’t hate it. This time I think it’s what I tried to do, what we all tried to do, which was to make this wonderful, terrifying thriller ride. So it pleases me very much.”
  • Dan Radcliffe likes to do his own stunts. He’ll go to the gym several times a week during lunch and has become a “jock,” says David Heyman.
  • Jo has not seen the film yet but will soon.
  • Jo Rowling OK’d putting Barty Crouch in the first scene. “Oh, that could have happened, yes,” she said when they called her to ask about it.
  • Mike Newell says that Jo Rowling is not “the best returner of a phone call I’ve ever come across” but is very sweet and available and gives the filmmakers the freedom they need to make their own work. David Heyman calls her “the most generous of collaborators.”