Helena Bonham Carter Talks About The "Terrifying" Bellatrix Lestrange

A new profile from the LA Times Hero Complex blog focuses on Helena Bonham Carter and her infamous portrayal of Bellatrix Lestrange in the "Harry Potter" films.

The actress talks about her career and family, but also explains how she developed Bellatrix's character for the films.

“Bellatrix has really good fun, and she’s been a bit of surprise to me, in fact,” Bonham Carter said. “It wasn’t really there on the page. When I took it on, I found there wasn’t a huge amount to go by in the script, and I read the book and she wasn’t necessarily on the page there either, so I did ask [director] David Yates if I could bring a bit of other things or are these the Bibles? And he said yes, certainly, and apparently J.K. Rowling was very pleased with it when she saw it, and the childish dimension and the fact that she’s totally savage, that was a bit of departure.”


"I just felt she had to make an impression because there wasn’t much time in which to do so. And she had to be terrifying. She needed to be somebody you didn’t know what to feel towards. One moment she’s horribly revolting but then also weirdly sexy, maybe, or just disturbing to the mind when you watch her. There’s a lot of decaying, too, with the bad teeth. She’s been in prison for so long. The mad hair. She’s someone who has seen better times but still carries herself with the memory of what she was."

Bonham Carter also praises the crew working on the Harry Potter films and likens the experience to belonging to a "nice tribe."

“I love going back year after year. It’s refreshing. A lot of times in this business, it’s so transitory — it’s just 10 weeks here or there on a movie and then it’s over – but to see the same people over all that time, a decade, makes you feel really safe and secure. It was fantastically well-organized, the [assistant directors] are simply unbelievable, the best...It has been perfect for me, and I will miss it.”

More about Helena Bonham Carter and her thoughts about Bellatrix can be read at the LA Times. The interview also has some great information about Bonham Carter's next film, The King's Speech.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Emma Watson Discusses Life at Brown University, Dan Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, and More

The Daily Mail has a new article about Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), where she discusses many things, among them her experience thus far at Brown University:

On the first day at her US university - chosen over Cambridge because the latter was 'a bit Hogwarts-looking' - Emma Watson was bombarded by autograph hunters.

She was caught so unawares that she couldn't contain her shock: 'Everyone looked at me horrified, like, "Oh my God, what's wrong with her?"'

So how did she deal with the unwanted autograph hunters, once she had overcome her initial shock? In typical Emma Watson (and Hermione) style, it appears - with quiet determination.

She dusted herself down and decided that she would proceed as planned, on her terms. 'I just said, "I'm really sorry, but I'm here to study and I just want to be a student. Would it be OK if I don't sign, because you'll be seeing me around all the time anyway?"'

The fact that she has now completed her first year of studies is clearly something of a triumph, not least, she admits, because not a single shot of her in the shared uni bathroom has made its way onto the internet.

'One morning I was walking down the corridor from the bathroom in just a towel and I thought I must be mad, anyone could just snap me,' she says, laughing. 'But no one did. Not even when I had my birthday party. 100 people came, and not one person put a picture on Facebook.'

Watson also discusses how she thinks Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) have changed since she first met them, and the differences in her relationship with both of them:

She remains close to both Rupert and Daniel, and seems bemused by how they have both developed.

'It's funny, they've both gone completely opposite ways. At the beginning Rupert was very confident, really chatty, very outgoing, and Dan was the quiet shy one.

'I remember at the first press conference, he was so overwhelmed by the whole thing. Now, you can't shut Dan up. He's telling jokes, he's got this incredible energy. Rupert's gone quiet. He's much more reserved.

'We are like siblings. If I'm feeling a bit anxious or I need to talk something over with someone, Dan's the one I'll go to. We had this great weekend once. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere in Scotland in this castle.

'We were both meant to be in bed and I sneaked into Dan's room and stayed up watching movies all night, drinking Coke and eating M&Ms from the minibar.

'Rupert's the guy I go to when I want to be relaxed and have a good laugh. His dressing room is like a child's wonderland with every kind of game, every kind of sweet, every kind of whatever you can imagine. I go to him if I want to snuggle up on the sofa and watch television.'

Watson also talks about the adult actors on the set of Harry Potter and what she learned from them:

She cites Helena Bonham Carter and Emma Thompson as her role models.

'I learned from Emma how to behave on a set. She remembers everyone's name, she's incredibly courteous and considerate, and she makes everyone laugh.

'It's up to the leading actors and actresses to set the tone on a film set, and the first time I saw Emma I remember thinking, "That's the kind of actress I want to be."'

Indeed, when filming finished, Emma Watson bought all the crew members a Smythson leather notebook engraved with her thanks and a quote from Dickens:

'The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.' Emma Thompson would surely have approved.

Further on in the article Watson talks about the TV shows she watches to relax, her haircut, and juggling her schoolwork and her acting. You can read the rest of the article here.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Dan Radcliffe Talks About Differences Between "Deathly Hallows: Part 1" and "Deathly Hallows: Part 2"

Now that "Deathly Hallows: Part 1" is in theatres, Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter) has further elaborated on the differences between "Deathly Hallows: Part 1" and "Deathly Hallows: Part 2":

"The last movie is going to be really, really fast-paced and a load of action in it, and it is like a war film," Radcliffe told Reuters. "If we had done this book in one film, the stuff that would have got cut is most of this film."

However, it's Part 1 that the actor finds more appealing because it contains the most character development.

"Part 1, Radcliffe added, is "so sedate compared to what the next one is going to be like. The next film, because you've had all the plot set up already, you can just kind of enjoy the insanity of all the action."

Radcliffe also said that the cast and crew felt a tremendous amount of pressure to get the final two films just right. As a result, some scenes were being rewritten the day before they were shot.

"It was constantly moving and had a less settled feel than the other ones had had," he said.

Deathly Hallows Part 1 opened Friday with a franchise-best $125.1 million bow, winning the weekend. Part 2 is scheduled to open in July. ABC Family recently acquired TV rights to both movies.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Tom Felton Going Back to Leavesden Studios to Do Reshoots

LA Times HeroComplex blog is reporting that Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) will be returning to Leavesden Studios to do a single day of reshoots:

“I got the call today,” Felton said Tuesday. “I have to go back for one more day of reshoots. So I’m going back in a couple weeks to do, literally, one more day.”

The “Harry Potter” co-star, who has spent nearly half his life in the role of Draco Malfoy, said he will return to the blond-and-sneering persona for a single day of reshoots for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2,” the eighth and final film in the franchise. That film is due in theaters next summer; the final day of principal photography was last June and post-production is well underway. But at last week’s New York premiere of the seventh film there was considerable chatter about the three main stars - Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint -having been notified that they need to come back to Leavesden Film Studios just outside London for a bit more time in front of the camera. Now Felton is another Hogwarts student going back to wizarding school for a bit of post-graduate work.

“I knew that Dan, Rupert and Emma were called in and I was enjoying that, I was joking that, ‘Oh, I got it on the first take so I don’t need any of that, going back to do it again.’ And here I am eating my own words and going back to redo it. They just want to get a couple of extra camera shots. I don’t think anything was done wrong, they just want to cover it more. It could literally be a case of panning the shot five degrees to the left or whatever just to make sure the CGI shot work. So I’m going to go and serve my duty.”

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Jason Isaacs Discusses the Creation of Lucius Malfoy for the Films

In an Entertainment Weekly article, Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) discusses how he initially put together the character of Lucius Malfoy in the first Harry Potter film he appeared in, "Chamber of Secrets." Isaacs talks about the contributions he made to the character's costume (which includes the wig) and his accent:

“I went to the set, and they had this idea of me wearing a pinstripe suit, short black-and-white hair,” Isaacs recalls. “I was slightly horrified. He was a racist, a eugenicist. There’s no way he would cut his hair like a Muggle, or dress like a Muggle.” So Isaacs suggested instead that he wear a long white wig, and a particularly ostentatious wizard-like ensemble. “In order to keep the hair straight, I had to tip my head back, so I was looking down my nose at everyone. There was 50 percent of the character. I asked for a walking stick, which [Chamber of Secrets director] Chris Columbus first thought was because I had something wrong with my leg. I explained I wanted it as an affectation so I can pull my wand out [of the cane]. After a second’s thought, he said, ‘You know what, I think the toy guys are going to love you.’ He was completly right.”

Next: Malfoy’s accent. “There’s a particular art critic in England who has a voice like fingernails on a blackboard,” says Isaacs, who in real life has a far more accessible, slightly working class London accent. “I combined him with a teacher I thought was patronizing and sadistic when I was in drama school. To me what [the accent] smacks of is a sense of entitlement. I just wanted to find a voice that made him drip with the millennia that his family had been in power — complete disdain and contempt for anybody and everything else.”

Isaacs goes on to talk about director Chris Columbus's reaction to the accent and Daniel Radcliffe's (Harry Potter) opinion of it. You can read the rest of the article here.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

New AP Photoshoot of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint

Seven brand new photos from an Associated Press photoshoot featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint (Harry, Hermione and Ron, respectively) can now be found here in the galleries. Enjoy!

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

New Behind the Scenes Images and Set Pictures of "Deathly Hallows: Part 1"

Thanks to our friends at ScarPotter we have a few new behind the scenes pictures from "Deathly Hallows: Part 1," which you can view here in our Image Galleries. Most of them feature director David Yates working with the actors on various scenes, such as with Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) in Grimmauld Place, and Rhys Ifans (Xenophilius Lovegood) in the Lovegood's house.

We also have many new pictures of the sets used in "Deathly Hallows: Part 1," which can be viewed here in our Image Galleries. We get some really nice views of Grimmauld Place, the Lovegood's house, Sirius Black's bedroom, the Ministry of Magic, and many other sets.

Enjoy!

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Warner Bros. Announces Leavesden Studios Plans and Potter Set Tours in 2012

Warner Bros. have revealed their plans to redevelop Leavesden Studios into a "state-of-the-art filmmaking hub" and provide fans with behind-the-scenes tours of the Harry Potter sets.

Leavesden Studios which is located in Hertfordshire, England, has been home to the Harry Potter films for the past decade.

As part of the renovations, two new soundstages will be built to hold sets used in the Harry Potter films as well as numerous other film memorabilia. The behind-the-scenes tours of these soundstages are tentatively scheduled to begin around Easter 2012.

Early concept art of the new Leavesden can be seen at Empire Online.

Barry Meyer, Warner Bros. chairman and CEO expressed his excitement over the new project, saying:

"Our multi-million pound investment in creating a state-of-the-art, permanent UK film production base further demonstrates our long-term commitment to the skills and creativity of the UK film industry."

The project is expected to cost £100m, and will provide 300 new jobs in the filmmaking industry. In the past, Leavesden has also been used to film scenes from "The Dark Knight" and "Inception," both also Warner Bros. films.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)