Links to threads on the film versions of Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Goblet of Fire (2005) and Order of the Phoenix (2007); and links to threads on the book versions of Half-Blood Prince (2005) and Deathly Hallows (2007).

ScreenGrab reports:

If you have kids between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, and you think that maybe it's time for the little sprouts to buy dinner for a change, why not plan to be in London during the first two weekends of July, when the producers of the penultimate Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, will be holding open auditions for the roles of Lavender Brown and Tom Riddle?

Is this right? Are they looking for ANOTHER actor to play Voldemort? We already saw Voldemort in his "Tom Riddle" guise in the 2nd film, where he was played by Christian Coulson, who turned 24 the year the film came out. Couldn't he play "Tom Riddle" again? Or do the "Tom Riddle" scenes in Half-Blood Prince take place when Riddle was younger? (It's been a couple years since I read the book, so I can't recall.)

FWIW, in the other films, Voldemort was played by Richard Bremmer (as the voice of the CGI face on the back of Ian Hart's head in the 1st film) and, of course, Ralph Fiennes (in the 4th and 5th films).

Looking forward to this one...

Naomi goes potty
HEAVILY pregnant Naomi Watts isn't letting motherhood -- or nationality -- stand in the way of a good role.
Naomi has just signed on for a supporting role in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, reportedly to play Draco's nasty mother Narcissa Malfoy. . . .
Also joining the Half-Blood cast is Joseph Fiennes -- real life brother of Voldemort Ralph Fiennes -- and one-time boyfriend of Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend.
Courier-Mail, July 24

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Townsend, y'all may recall, was cast as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, and was fired a few days into shooting and replaced by Viggo Mortensen. Townsend then got a front-row seat on Oscar night in 2003, when The Return of the King swept the awards -- because Townsend's girlfriend Theron was there to accept HER Oscar for Monster.

Anyway. Townsend missed his chance to be in ONE lucrative fantasy franchise that premiered in 2001, so now he gets to be in the OTHER one, apparently.

For a second I thought it was Naomi Judd!

Would that make this the first film the Fiennes brothers have both appeared in? What role will Joe play? What role will Stuart play?

'Harry Potter' Casting Rumors Untrue, Say Actors' Reps
"Not true," declared representatives for Naomi Watts, who was rumored to be playing the role of Narcissa Malfoy (and we think she'd do an awesome job, by the way. Heck, we picked her for the role last month!) "These reports are not true," echoed representatives for Joseph Fiennes. "Not true" was also stated by Townsend's reps.
MTV Movies Blog, July 25

Riddle starts off younger, but then becomes a Hogwarts student and the increasingly basiliskian Lord Voldemort over the course of the book, IIRC. Joseph Fiennes would be extremely wink-wink stunt-casting, considering his older bro is the scary incarnation of You-Know-Who, but Joe seems a bit long in the tooth to play Riddle as a Hogwarts student. (He's 37, according to IMDB.)

Interesting rumor about Naomi Watts. Personally, I pegged her Aussie best friend, Nicole Kidman (Her Paleness!) as Narcissa. Or Cate Blanchett. But then Cate ends up in every fantasy cast I assemble. And she's already filled her action-fantasy franchise quota with Indiana Jones.

But Stuart Townsend as a Weasley?? Goodness, that explains why Bill's been unseen all these years. He's been off modeling for Abercrombie & Fitch while his carrot-topped siblings were learning magic spells.

Hi,



In the book, there are lots of flashback/pensieve sequences involving Voldemorts's mother and father (who also was named Tom Riddle) and Voldemort himself before, during, and after Hogwarts. So they could cast lots of new Tom Riddle's. I supose if Christian Coulson is recast and is still suitable for teenage and post-Hogwarts scenes, they could add actors for very young Voldemort (at 11) and for his father.

Here's the most exciting development so far:

Bruno Delbonnel will be the cinematographer.

He shot Amelie, The Cat's Meow, Across the Universe, and A Very Long Engagement.

I hope this doesn't mean the film will be shot through a butterscotch candy wrapper.

Teen actor in upcoming 'Harry Potter' film killed
Rob Knox, 18, was stabbed after he got caught up in a fight outside a bar in southwest London early Saturday, London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Knox plays Ravenclaw student Marcus Belby in the upcoming film "Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince," the sixth installment of the popular series set for release in November.
Associated Press, May 24

USA Today reveals the youngest actor to play Tom Riddle, AKA the future Dark Lord Voldemort, yet.

Don't know if this is up elsewhere, but here is the actual trailer (not teaser) for the film

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/07/29/harry-...t-do-you-think/

Good stuff.

'Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince' Trailer, Shot By Shot: A Young Voldemort And Some Familiar Faces
The first trailer for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" hit the Net, and with it comes our first real look at how director David Yates is tackling the series' sixth big-screen installment.
And boy, is it ... different.
Shawn Adler, MTV Movie News, July 29

'Harry Potter 6' Moves To Summer 2009
Studio boss Alan Horn cited "repercussions of the writers’ strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films -- changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move Half-Blood Prince to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.”
Nikki Finke, Deadline Hollywood Daily, August 14

And what happens if the lava-hot franchise cools in a year? And...and...if they split "Deathly Hollows" into two films, will the series carry for another 5 or 6 years?

This is a big mistake. The studio, I think, is lying about the film's production schedule. Obviously, they are attempting to anchor in the same waters where THE DARK KNIGHT hauled its catch. I've always thought the holiday season was warmer to fantasy movies like Potter and Narnia. It especially was for The Lord of the Rings. Did the last Narnia even do well when the studio moved its release back 6 months?

The Harry Potter films seem to gross relatively close numbers, no matter if they are released in Fall or Summer - the July opening being nothing new for this series. With the exception of the first film (Sorcerer's Stone), which grossed $317 million, the films have maintained quite a remarkable average gross. Chamber of Secrets opened in the Fall and grossed $262 million - Prisoner of Azkaban was the first Summer release, and grossed $250 million. Goblet of Fire went back to a fall release, and the gross shot back up to $290 million, which would seem to indicate that Fall was a better release time, yet Order of the Phoenix was released in the Summer (July 11th, 07) and took in $292 million.

I'd be interested in knowing if the sales of tickets for the films has followed the same pattern as the sale of books - for example, Azkaban so far is the least popular film, did it also sell fewer books?

Not official, but the Huffington Post speculates that Radcliffe's other role may be an important factor in the move:

Ah, but Radcliffe is saying he might be naked in one of the Deathly Hallows movies, too (or at least, he might be naked on the set, which does not mean that he would be exposed on the screen). And come to think of it, didn't Harry have to hide his, um, egg from Moaning Myrtle when he got into the bath in Goblet of Fire?

Jason Isaacs Reveals Secret ‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ Cameo
In “Half-Blood Prince,” Dumbledore suspects that Lucius is secretly glad to be in prison after the debacle at the Ministry, where he failed to capture the fabled prophesy pertaining to Harry Potter and the Dark Lord. Maybe. But not happy at all about Malfoy’s sojourn in prison is the actor who plays him, Jason Isaacs, who thought the fact that his character was absent from the book meant that he wouldn’t get a chance to appear in the upcoming sixth movie.
MTV Movies Blog, September 11

The international trailer.

FWIW, I like the way John Williams' Harry Potter theme, once so bright and sparkly, has turned so deep and serious, like the theme to a war movie: