Who turns 18 today which is a good thing because it
makes me feel a little less pervy I think he's cute :P

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL RADCLIFFE!

Life’s magic as Daniel Radcliffe turns 18

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe gains access to a reported $10 million fortune as he turned 18 yesterday, but he insists the money won’t cast a spell on him.

To the disappointment of gossip columnists around the world, the young actor says he has no plans to fritter his cash away on fast cars, drink and celebrity parties.

“I don’t plan to be one of those people who, as soon as they turn 18, suddenly buy themselves a massive sports car collection or something similar,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll be particularly extravagant. The things I like buying are things that cost about £10— books and CDs and DVDs.”

At 18, Radcliffe will be able to gamble in a casino, buy a drink in a pub or see the horror film ‘Hostel: Part II’, currently six places below his number one movie on the UK box office chart.

Details of how he’ll mark his landmark birthday are under wraps. His agent and publicist had no comment on his plans.

“I’ll definitely have some sort of party,” he said in an interview. “Hopefully none of you will be reading about it.”

Radcliffe’s earnings from the first five Potter films have been held in a trust fund which he has not been able to touch.

Despite his growing fame and riches, the actor says he is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

“People are always looking to say ‘kid star goes off the rails’,” he said. “But I try very hard not to go that way because it would be too easy for them.”

His latest outing as the boy wizard in ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ is breaking records on both sides of the Atlantic and he will reprise the role in the last two films.

The Londoner has filmed a TV movie called ‘My Boy Jack’, about author Rudyard Kipling and his son, due for release later this year. He will also appear in ‘December Boys’, an Australian film about four boys who escape an orphanage.

Meanwhile, he is braced for even closer media scrutiny now that he’s legally an adult: “I just think I’m going to be more sort of fair game,” he said. reuters

Why Harry isn't American

In an interview with The Telegram, Harry Potter Producer David Heyman reminisced about the early days of the film franchise, when a number of directors were keen on turning Harry, Hermione, and Ron into Americans and changing Hogwarts to a Hollywood high school. But Heyman, who optioned the first book in 1997, insisted that the film stay true to the book's English identity, and the payoff has been huge.

"Hollywood is risk-adverse and what makes them feel secure is to have an American in the lead," Heyman said. "This was before Harry Potter was the big phenomenon that he became, so they were entitled to that view. But for me, it would have destroyed the stories.

"For me, one of the things I responded to in these books is their Englishness. The story is very English. It has cultural specificity, but it has thematic and emotional universality."

ARTICLE: Harry almost went Hollywood

Wizard not the same with a Yankee doodle accent

CanWest News Service—London

Can you imagine the world of Harry Potter being relocated to a trendy Hollywood high school?

Don’t laugh. In the days when the J.K. Rowling books were becoming international best-sellers and Hollywood was starting to see them as a potential cash cow, one Tinseltown filmmaker said he was ready to take on the project — but only if the Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry acquired an American identity and became a reworking of Beverly Hills 90210.

Another filmmaker reluctantly conceded that if the first film, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, was to be made, it would probably have to retain its English setting — but in order to make the movie palatable, it would be necessary to turn Harry into an American.

And there was a further proposal — that Harry’s two friends, Hermione and Ron, should also be American because kids in the U.S. needed home-grown heroes who didn’t have funny accents.

British producer David Heyman winces at these memories, but he doubts that any such proposal could have made it to first base.

To begin with, Rowling had initially been reluctant to make a movie deal of any kind because she didn’t trust Hollywood. Secondly, Heyman was there to protect her interests — to make sure that the movies would retain their British sensibility, use a British cast and be shot in the U.K.

In a sense, Heyman has been a keeper of the grail for the reclusive author.

That was how he won the rights to the books in the first place — by pledging the movies would be true to their originals. But 10 years ago, he had no concept of Harry’s potential.

“I optioned the book in 1997,” he remembers. “What happened was that there was an article in a book publishing magazine, and a woman in my office read the article, called up the book’s agent, and a copy of The Philosopher’s Stone came in. It lay on the bottom shelf — our priority low point place — for several weeks.”

Heyman’s office was constantly seeking out potential film material from the piles of new books.

But it wasn’t until his secretary became so fed up with the “rubbish” she had been reading that she decided to take the Potter book home. At the firm’s Monday meeting, she reported that she had enjoyed this novel about a young boy in wizard school.

“I thought — what a great idea,” Heyman says now. “I read it and thought — this is fantastic. But I had no idea then that it would become the phenomenon it has become.”

Still, once he had optioned the film rights, he knew he had a responsibility to safeguard the interests of Rowling and the books.

He understands why there were proposals for an Americanized Harry Potter, pointing out that the American film industry tends to be insular-looking in such matters.

Some Hollywood pundits still deplore the fact that James Bond is not portrayed by American stars; more recently, the estate of British author C.S. Lewis blocked efforts to give the film versions of the Narnia Chronicles an American setting.

Currently, there is controversy over plans to star Tom Cruise in a movie about the Battle of Britain.

“Hollywood is risk-adverse and what makes them feel secure is to have an American in the lead,” Heyman says. He’s prepared to forgive industry colleagues for proposing an Americanized Harry Potter. “This was before Harry Potter was the big phenomenon that he became, so they were entitled to that view. But for me, it would have destroyed the stories.

“For me, one of the things I responded to in these books is their Englishness. The story is very English. It has cultural specificity, but it has thematic and emotional universality.”

“The stories and themes in the books are relatable.

“We’ve all been through having our first crush, having our first kiss, suffering from confusion and social isolation, being embraced by friends and ostracized by them, having teachers you like and ones you don’t like — all these are moments that have been experienced by British kids and also by North American kids and people the world over.”

Unlike other notable film franchises, there is a continuing consensus among critics that the Potter films have continued to maintain their high standards — Newsweek Magazine suggested last week that they keep getting better. Now, with only two more Potter films left to make, Heyman is cautiously optimistic these standards will be maintained.

“So far, so good,” he says.

“What I’m proud of is that I feel the films are continuing to develop and we’re not just resting on any laurels. We’re not just churning them out. I’m proud of the films — each one. I think the actors are developing. I think the kids in this film are better than in any previous films. I’m excited about the next two. We’re not there yet, but I’m excited about beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel — which is both an exciting thing and at the same time really scary and a little sad. Because there will come a point when it’s all over.”

Mon Jul 9, 2:46 PM ET

LONDON - Some actors might balk at being cast as an evil witch. Not Helena Bonham Carter.

( FULL ARTICLE )

11 new OOTP clips in English

The same 11 clips posted yesterday, which were dubbed in German, have now been released in their original English, which you can see courtesy of IESB. In addition to the clips, the site has posted up interviews with the stars of the movie, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

You can watch all of the videos at IESB though there is a likelihood of the site going slowly because of the heavy traffic, so please be patient.

http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2776&Itemid=99

In an interview with MTV News on Sunday, Order of the Phoenix Director David Yates confirmed what we surmised on Friday: Kreacher was the character who almost got the axe in the fifth film.

Yates told MTV: "It was Kreacher, actually. We took Kreacher out, and Jo said, 'Listen, guys, you don't have to put Kreacher back, but I'm just telling you, if you want to kind of keep a thread going for six and seven, you might want Kreacher to come back.' She basically told us Kreacher plays a role in Seven, in a sense. She hinted. We thought about it for five seconds, and he came back."

So now, back to theorizing: what role will Kreacher play in Deathly Hallows?

At today's press junket conferences in London, Emma Watson commented on the recent rumors surrounding her seemingly late decision to sign on for the final two Harry Potter films, saying that the media speculation was "quite frustrating and obsessing." Her full comments:
I didn’t sign the contract sort of immediately because I needed some time, actually, to figure out the logistics, as you can imagine, of combining making a Harry Potter film – making two more Harry Potter films – with my school timetable. I really want to go on to university. I really wanted to continue what I was doing. I didn’t want to have to give either one up, so I was kind of in this really difficult position. It just took a bit of time to work out how I was going to make that work.

Warner Brothers have been extremely supportive of helping me figure out ways to do that. For instance, they’ve given me Monday mornings off, so I can go to school and I can see my teachers and I can pick up my work. They’ve provided all of the tutors I need to get all my work done. Even though I’m over the age of 16, they’re still giving me the hours I need to get all my work done. They have got a box every Friday which I can put my work into, which they’ll send 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. I found it quite frustrating and obsessing all of the insinuations that were 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.

I am about to have a heart attack. I am about to die from pain. But I will not cry because this spoilers may just be the work of a religious fanatic who did it because the pope told him to to help end neo-paganism. That's right he wanted to spoil the ending to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to protect people from its "Neo Paganism"

OMG what a loon.

Warning: this article might contains spoilers about the end of the final Harry Potter book, or possibly a lot of made-up crap - don't read it if you think it'll ruin the story; but if your life doesn't revolve around an effing kid's book, go right ahead.

With the release of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows just one month away, speculation has never been higher amongst children and slightly creepy adults about how the book ends. Does Harry Potter die? Does Voldemort kill Harry Potter? Does Harry Potter start taking his clothes off and stabbing horses in the eyes again? Well maybe now we know - a hacker claims to have stolen an entire transcript of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows from publishers Bloomsbury out of outrage at all the paganism that Harry Potter dabbles in. And how does Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows end? Let's just say that Hermione probably shouldn't bother making any long-term plans.

Ever since JK Rowling began work on Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, literally the most important question in the whole universe was 'Will Harry Potter die?' Some said that Harry Potter would die, others begged JK Rowling not to kill Harry Potter and most of us didn't actually care because it's just a children's book and nobody ever made this much fuss over whether Mr Tickle bought it at the end of his book.

However, JK Rowling did say that two main characters would die by the end of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, although she wouldn't be drawn on which ones. But now we know. Sort of. Well, OK, we've got information from an anonymous source claiming to have hacked a transcript of the last Harry Potter book from a Bloomsbury computer, so it's just as likely that it was written by a non-hacker in a room full of cats on a rare break from blogging about what they had for their tea.

Even though JK Rowling asked everyone not to spoil the Harry Potter ending, the request has apparently gone ignored by a hacker named Gabriel because he claims the Pope told him to. To ruin the impact of what he calls a 'Neo Paganist' book, Gabriel revealed the following. Really, don't read this next bit if you don't potentially want the ending of the final Harry Potter book ruined, although we'll clearly think less of you if you do care that much about that sort of thing. Anyway, on this website Gabriel writes:

( SPOILER OR JUST CRAP? - THIS MAY BE SPOILERS DO NOT READ... )

Okay I think in fact I know that the French Movie poster for Order of the Phoenix is way freekin better than the American Version. The new poster for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was displayed on a promotional train in Paris yesterday, which showed Voldemort and his Death Eaters about to duel against Harry and the rest of his D.A. members on a pile of rock and rubble. It's way better than the American Movie poster.

( FRENCH MOVIE POSTER )

WB moves up OOTP release to July 11
Posted By Matthew on 05-29-07 @ 9:28 PM - 35 comments | Link

Coming Soon reports tonight that Warner Bros. has moved up the release of Order of the Phoenix from Friday, July 13 to Wednesday, July 11. This will allow the studio to take advantage of a five-day opening weekend rather than the standard three-day opener.

Universal, WB announce Harry Potter theme park
Posted By Matthew on 05-30-07 @ 9:47 PM - 19 comments | Link

In a special live webcast from Leavesden Studios tonight, a Universal Studios director and Harry Potter production designer Stuart Craig announced that a Harry Potter theme park will be built in Orlando, Florida in early 2010, just before the release of the seventh movie.

The theme park, called "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter," has been in the works for more than two years. Rumors about a possible Disney theme park have been floating around for even longer than that, but that deal clearly fell through at some point.

JK Rowling has been very involved in this process from the start, according to the Universal Studios director. Stuart Craig, who has worked on all of the Harry Potter movies, then became involved in the design process last November in an effort to add more authenticity to the park. The park will offer "immersive, engaging rides that are filled with story and fantasy," and it will "represent the entire saga, from book one to book seven."

If you weren't excited before, you will be now: check out this conceptual design for Universal Studio's upcoming Harry Potter theme park, set to open in late 2009 or early 2010. Two more amazing pictures are up in our galleries.

Since tonight's big announcement, JK Rowling has released a statement on the theme park, saying, "The plans I've seen look incredibly exciting, and I don't think fans of the books or films will be disappointed....I don't think fans of the books or films will be disappointed."

Tom Williams, chairman and CEO of Universal Parks and Resorts, also commented: "We are going to devote more time, more money, more expertise and more executive talent from throughout our entire organization and creative team – as well as from Warner Bros., our partners – to ensure that this entire environment is second-to-none."

http://www.veritaserum.com/galleries/displayimage.php?album=500&pos=0

By Bob Strauss, Film Writer
Article Launched: 04/28/2007 09:23:54 PM PDT

Emma Watson, who'll be seen as bossy Hermione Granger for the fifth time in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," (July 13) says that she'll be attending Hogwarts through graduation.

( READ FULL ARTICLE )

Alright I just saw the official international trailer for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Now I really want to see Order of the Phoenix even more. The International trailer is even better than the U.S. Version.

It includes scenes from Fred and George's flight from Hogwarts, Dumbledore's Army, Umbridge and Filch's attempts to keep order, and Fudge and Dumbledore clashing at the Ministry of Magic.

We also see glimpses of centaurs, thestrals, Snape, the Order, the DA, Azkaban, Bellatrix, Sirius and the Dark Lord himself.

MAJOR SPOILERS

See it HERE

Here's a cover story from Entertainment Weekly all about Harry Potter.

'Phoenix' Rising
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20016352_3,00.html

Secret schemes! Bloddy battles! A first kiss! Go behind the scenes of this July's eagerly awaited ''Harry Potter'' movie, and mull over seven key talking points

( ON TO THE READS )

There is so much New Harry Potter news , vids , pics at Veritaserum it will ease your harry Potter hunger.

and the new OOTP website is up

all info can be found

http://www.veritaserum.com/

From Rebecca Murray,

Grint's Busy Working on the Fifth Film of the Series
A Mini-Sneak Peek at the Upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: “There’s a lot of really cool scenes in this one actually. We’re just doing all the major fight scenes and little death eaters and Lord Voldemort comes back. It’s a lot darker this one, so it should be good.”
Grint confirmed Harry Potter fans won’t be seeing him play Quidditch in Order of the Phoenix. “No, it was a bit – that whole Quidditch thing it didn’t sort of come about. But it’s such a big book they can’t get everything in. I was a little bit disappointed, next year probably [could be for me].”

Pondering the Big Question: Harry Potter fans know that J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final book of the series will include the deaths of more than character. Grint’s aware of that fact and a little worried as to who will bite the dust. “There’s a lot of rumors going around but I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind. It’s all right because you can always come back as a ghost, so it’s not too bad.”

( MORE ANSWERS & PIC LINK )

Happy Birthday Tom Felton. He is best known for his role in the Harry Potter movies as the top Slytherin Draco Malfoy. He is born September 22, 1987.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM FELTON!
September 22, 1987

JK Rowling insisted on carrying her manuscript on to her flight
American airport staff almost stopped Harry Potter author JK Rowling boarding a flight because she would not part with the manuscript for the final book.
Rowling was not prepared to stow her top secret notes for book number seven in her check-in baggage when she flew back from a book festival in August.

Eventually she was allowed to take them on the flight, bound in elastic bands.

Air passengers recently faced baggage restrictions following the discovery of an alleged plot to blow up airliners.

The writer said she would have considered sailing back to the UK if security officers had not relented.

Her seventh Harry Potter book is to be the last in the hugely popular series.

Handwritten notes

The author was returning from New York where she took part in a charity book reading with fellow authors Stephen King and John Irving.

She wrote on her website: "The heightened security restrictions on the airlines made the journey back from New York interesting, as I refused to be parted from the manuscript of book seven.

"A large part of it is handwritten and there was no copy of anything I had done while in the US.

"They let me take it on thankfully, bound up in elastic bands. I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't - sailed home probably."

Rowling was recently named the celebrity world's ninth highest earner, making £41m in 2005 according to US business magazine Forbes.

Film adaptations

Worldwide sales of the Potter books are reported to have topped 300 million.

The first four film adaptations have helped make Rowling one of the UK's richest people, with an estimated personal fortune of £500m.

Filming has begun on the fifth instalment of the movie franchise, Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix.

The author also revealed she has yet to choose a title for the long-awaited conclusion to the boy wizard's adventures, and is choosing between two possibilities for the novel.

"I was quite happy with one of them until the other one struck me while I was taking a shower in New York," she wrote.

Warner Bros. announced in February that Helen McCrory would portray Bellatrix Lestrange in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but CBBC Newsround is reporting today that as she is expecting a child soon after the filming of her scenes, Ms. McCrory will be unable to play the role in the movie. In her place, Warner Bros. has cast Helena Bonham Carter, who played Charlie's mother in last year's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and voiced the title character in Tim Burton's Corpse Bride.

Several other new cast members have been announced as well. Apple Brook has been cast as Professor Grubbly-Plank, the replacement Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Young Sirius will be played by James Walters, Young Lupin by James Utechin, and Young Snape will be played by Alec Hopkins. Additionally, Jason Piper will fill the role of Bane the Centaur.